Cleveland Cavaliers: 3 Reasons LeBron James Will Win MVP

Last season, LeBron James lost his MVP crown to another superstar player who’s just starting to enter his prime in Kevin Durant. KD had a serious season to knock off James as the league’s best regular season player for 2013-14, percolating most when his partner in crime, Russell Westbrook, sat out due to injury. It seemed at times that LeBron was just trying to keep up; it’d be silly to think he didn’t know about Durant’s push to the next level.

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But in doing so, he wore himself out completely after capping off an extraordinary month of basketball that February with a 61-point performance against the Charlotte Bobcats-now-Hornets. For the rest of the season and into the playoffs, LeBron simply looked gassed. He’d been to The Finals three years prior and the wear and tear from the incredible amount of minutes finally began to show.

Disturbingly, The King looked mortal by the end of the regular season. And a much-deserving KD took the MVP award and everyone else’s hearts with his emotional acceptance speech.

So why assume LeBron can take that award away from the reigning MVP this season? Why think he can steal it from younger legs, from a player in a much tougher conference? Well, there’s a few reasons:

1. He’s No Longer the Pack Mule

LeBron spent all of last season carrying the Miami Heat, dragging them to the second seed in the Eastern Conference. He rebounded, defended, scored and directed traffic the whole way. Never once did he ask to take nights off.

Due to the heavy lifting during the regular season, LeBron’s defensive prowess slipped. Unlike the guy he wore number six for, LBJ had trouble guarding quicker players on the perimeter and bigger ones down low. It used to be that opponents were actually scared of going up against LeBron. His pressure and strength were just too much. But since he took over so much of the offense, his effort on the other end began to slip and by the time the playoffs rolled around, things like this were happening:

Via regressing.deadspin.com /

Yeah. That’s Alan Anderson.

Now that James has some much needed reinforcements in Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters, Shawn Marion, etc., he won’t have to do quite as much anymore. He’ll still be asked to do a lot, but not everything. Ultimately, this should result in a more efficient LeBron, as we’ll talk about in the second reason. Which is …

2. He’s in a Different System

David Blatt’s system will be very unlike Erik Spoelstra’s. There will be lots of movement, back cuts and extra passes. Essentially, the Cleveland Cavaliers will be trying to play San Antonio Spurs-type basketball.

This should mean that LeBron’s efficiency will return to peak condition. He won’t be having to control the ball for the majority of possessions, and will have more options with what to do when on the attack. Unlike in Miami, where the offense ended up being stagnant far too many times over the course of 48 minutes.

Blatt’s style and a change of teammates will allow LeBron to get out and run more like he used to. This is probably why he decided to drop so much weight this summer. With guys like Kyrie able to handle the ball and teammates who can run the floor, LeBron will be able to have his squad push the tempo and ultimately try to dictate the pace for every game they play.

Also, depending on how Blatt uses the depth of the Cavs, James may even not have to play as many minutes this season, which would be a blessing to a man who has (almost unfathomably) already logged more play time than Tim Duncan did at the same age. Speaking of fatigue …

3. Voter Fatigue is Over

The reason LeBron lost the MVP award to Durant wasn’t solely based on the fact that KD had the better season. It was also based on the fact that LeBron had won the last two MVPs, wasn’t doing anything extraordinarily better than he had in seasons past (indeed, worse) and didn’t have the deliciously tempting storyline of “His All-Star teammate went down, what will he do now?!” to work with. Though in retrospect, carrying a slowly regressing Bosh and the corpse of Dwyane Wade should count for something.

Either way, that’s all changed for this season. Now, James is no longer the reigning MVP. He’s going to be the one with the more interesting story lines and all while in a new (old) jersey. LeBron will have the “Can he make the new Big 3 work?” story in his favour, the “Can he finally get Cleveland a title?” story and the ever popular “Can he really get to MVP number five?” story.

The Cavaliers are easily this season’s most intriguing team to watch and, fair or not, it will play a role in deciding whether or not LeBron adds more hardware to his collection come the season’s end. Add in the fact that we may all get to see a refreshed James this season, and he almost has to be considered the MVP favourite.

All told, it’s a two-man race for the MVP, despite a number of other applicants who will most certainly make a run to hopefully be included in the conversation. Last season, the age-old conundrum ran rampant: do you give the MVP to the best player in the league, or the best player that season?

Clearly, the latter won out last season. Just as Derrick Rose managed to squeak one out over LeBron in 2011. But perhaps that debate won’t have to occur this coming season. Perhaps The King will return to his fresh, seemingly immortal self and have a stellar season to go along with his title as the best player in the world. As with all good things, I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see.

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