Filed under: Basketball
"When we decided to come together our Most Valuable Player chances kind of went out the window."
Both James and teammate Dwayne Wade have been consistent front-runners for the MVP trophy, but since they started playing together, their stats have taken a dip. Wade is averaging just 24.5 points per game, his lowest total in more than five years. James is averaging 24.4 points per game, significantly less than the 29.7 he averaged last year.
"I don't know how you classify the MVP thing," James said. "Do you classify it as most valuable to his team, if you take that person off his team how do they play? Or is it how is he playing numbers-wise? I don't know."
It appears that with his decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat, LeBron James traded in his MVP chances for an opportunity to win an NBA title. While the tradeoff might be questionable to some, the reality for James is that he's already won enough MVP awards to secure his legacy as one of the greatest players in NBA history. What he needs now is to avoid the tarnished legacies of players like Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone and Charles Barkley, none of who can claim an NBA title.
At this point, the Miami Heat are one of the top teams in the NBA with a 26 - 9 record. Some would even say they are the hottest team in the league right now, given that they had an abysmal start earlier in the year. LeBron took a big risk to leave the comfort of Cleveland for his Miami adventure, but I predict that it will pay off for him. Staying in Cleveland likely would have led to one frustrating season after another, relegating him to the "Patrick Ewing Files" of basketball disappointment. Ewing spent year after year starring for some very talented New York Knicks teams, but was never able to win a title. That experience likely haunts him to this very day.
LeBron's comments, in their honesty, tell us something about James and also about the game. With regard to LeBron, his honesty is refreshing, as he consistently makes comments that rise above the meaningless sound bite. For example, when he went back to Cleveland to play the Cavs, LeBron didn't try to pretend that it was just another game. Instead, he honestly reflected on the vast emotion he would feel coming back to his home court. LeBron's remark about his MVP chances tells us that the MVP Award is primarily built around a game that focuses on the stats of the individual and not his value to the team or his overall ability as a player. If one were to base the MVP trophy on which player the other teams would choose for their team first, the winner would clearly be either LeBron James or Kobe Bryant. The math of the MVP is actually quite simple. But since LeBron has won that trophy more than once, it's time for him to win the one that counts. So far, he's making all the right moves to get there.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.