LeBron James: Even Cleveland Would Say Heat Forward Should Win NBA MVP Award

It's incredible how a one-hour television program can change how the best basketball player in the world is perceived.

Since "The Decision" aired last July, LeBron James and his "golden boy of the NBA" status has seen a 180-degree turnaround. LeBron is unquestionably the villain of the league, getting cascaded with boos everywhere from Boston on opening night to Sacramento in an obscure regular season game in December.

What has surprised me most is the venomous fashion at which the media now perceives LeBron as well. Around this time every year, all the talking heads make their prognostications about who is most deserving for various awards. This year, it's been a new cast of stars who've inexplicably leap-frogged LeBron James, including Amar'e Stoudemire, Derrick Rose, Kevin Durant and Dirk Nowitzki among others. 

Did I miss something? Each one of the above mentioned potential candidates are enjoying terrific seasons, without question. But make no mistake, this award is the property of LeBron Raymone James so long as he avoids any meaningful injury for the next decade.

If you look at his other-worldly statistics, the impact made in Miami upon his much ballyhooed arrival and the complete devastation levied in Cleveland upon his departure, LeBron James is absolutely deserving to hoist the Maurice Podoloff NBA MVP trophy for the third consecutive season.

Everyone made the assumption that LeBron was conceding to the "better player" in Dwyane Wade by joining him in Wade's backyard of Miami. Common logic was that LeBron's stats would take a significant blow, and by LeBron's own admission, any realistic MVP consideration would go out the window. Turns out that couldn't be further from the truth. James' gaudy averages of 26 PPG, 7.2 RPG and 7.3 APG this year are almost identical to his jaw dropping career marks.

What people didn't account for is that in Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, LeBron is now playing with the two most talented teammates he's ever had...by a country mile. I was always immensely confident that James could play alongside anyone in the NBA and flourish.

He could play with selfish, shoot first players like Larry Hughes. He could play with guys with only one discernible skill, like Daniel Gibson. He could play with guys who have no offensive game and create easy scoring opportunities for them, like Anderson Varejao.

While LeBron's cupboard is more full than any player's in the league, perhaps his greatest skill is his getting teammates involved. Great players are often measured by whether or not they can make others better, and LeBron James has boosted the performance of his teammates for seven years in Cleveland.

Drew Gooden, Sasha Pavlovic, Anthony Parker, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Mo Williams, Delonte West, Daniel Gibson, Andersen Varejao, James Jones, JJ Hickson and likely many more all enjoyed the best seasons of their respective careers while feeding off of LeBron's immense talents.

Look at them now. Gooden is meddling on an irrelevant Milwaukee bench. Pavlovic just ended a 10-day contract with Dallas (the Mavericks didn't pick up the option, he's now on the street). Parker is shooting 38 percent without the wide-open looks LeBron created for him.

Williams is shooting 38 percent from the field and 26 percent from three, and slugging through the worst year of his career. Varejao has been revealed as just a talentless, effort guy. Hickson is shooting a paltry 43 percent, down from his career-high 55 percent with LeBron a year ago.

Possibly LeBron's greatest achievement was dragging a severely flawed roster all the way to the NBA Finals in 2006-07. For comparison's sake, Kobe Bryant wouldn't have even led that team to the playoffs, as he proved earlier in the decade with a roster that was even better than what James was going to battle with every night. Don't even get me started on a LeBron vs. Kobe debate, although it might be high time I write an updated sequel to this piece.

At this point a season ago, the Cleveland Cavaliers boasted the league's best record at 37-11 and were in the midst of a 13-game win streak. This year, with by in large the same core guys in Cleveland sans LeBron, the Cavs are staggering along at an 8-40 mark. Losers of 21 straight games, which is fast approaching the NBA's all-time mark for sequential futility, the Cavs have dropped 31 of their last 32 contests overall.

That represents one of the most dramatic one-season turnarounds in professional sports history, and is very indicative of the fact that no franchise has ever been so reliant on a single player in what is supposed to be a "team" sport.

It would be business as usual in Cleveland if James had opted to stay. Their lineup would've been Williams, Parker, James, Jamison and Varejao (a lineup that won 61 games in 2009-10). James would be making his annual trip to the All-Star game, likely hauling along another undeserving teammate with him.

The Cavs would be in the mix for best record in the league, Byron Scott would be the coach of the East All-Stars, LeBron would again be putting up ridiculous numbers and they'd be well on their way to the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. LeBron would also be a shoe-in for NBA Most Valuable Player.

One player in the entire league is valuable enough to make a flawed, below average roster into a championship contender. That one player is named LeBron James.

We all saw the hostility and venom that Cavaliers fans spewed towards James on his first game back at Quicken Loans Arena on December 2nd. But do you think for even one minute these fans wouldn't accept King James back, given the opportunity? Hell yes they would.

They're pissed because they knew how valuable he was to the Cavaliers. The second he uttered, "I'm taking my talents to South Beach," the fanbase cried, burned jerseys, tore down colossal murals and turned over cars because they knew it meant a return to the NBA Draft Lottery for the next decade. Despite owner Dan Gilbert's vitriolic message to Cavs fans that they would win a title before James would, Cavs fans foresaw the forthcoming apocalypse and knew there was precisely nada they could do about it.

He was the best they'd ever had, one player who transformed a downtrodden franchise into an exciting, perennial contender. By himself.

Everyone talked about how much this would hurt Cleveland fans, how much it would hurt the nearby Cleveland economy. But there was still a realistic expectation that the Cavaliers would compete for the eighth and final playoff spot without the King. Well, we know how that turned out.

Back to the principle of the argument, which is who deserves the NBA MVP. This offseason, many NBA All-Star caliber players switched uniforms. Imagine if Amar'e Stoudemire had led his new team to a 34-14 record to this point in the season (like LeBron). The MVP award would have his name engraved on it before the All-Star break. Envision Carlos Boozer averaging 26, 7 and 7 (like LeBron) for the Bulls? He'd absolutely be the frontrunner to take home MVP.

The media, and we as a fanbase, discount James because he won the award the past two years, and because of his flawless track record. LeBron's CAREER averages are 27.7 PPG, 7.1 RPG and 7.0 APG, so when he posts seasons like this year after year, it just comes to be expected. In addition to this, reporters are hesitant to bestow MVP honors to the same player, so the fact that LeBron won the award in 2008-09 and 2009-10 will hurt his chances, fair or not.

But to me, that should hold no bearing in MVP consideration year to year. Michael Jordan was clearly the best player in the NBA from (at least) 1986-1998, but has only five MVP awards to show for it. Wilt Chamberlain is the owner of four MVP awards, and was the best player in the league for 11 or 12 seasons. What I'm saying is a player shouldn't be harmed by his consistent greatness, but inevitably they are.

LeBron James is by far the most talented player in the league, by far the most complete player in the league and by far the most valuable player in the league. Now give him his rightful MVP trophy, even Cleveland would tell you he deserves it.