24 Dec 10 No Respect for LeBron James

Marc Serota/Getty ImagesRon Artest has come out and announced that after Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant is the next best player in the league. Now, Durant is a truly remarkable player but I think this is just Artest trying to stir up some drama.There has been so much hype and attention given to the Miami Heat that I think Artest just wants everyone to remember who the champs are. Nobody has forgotten that the Lakers repeated, but the idea of having LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh on one team is somewhat mind Reebok Minnesota Vikings #4 Brett Favre Realtree camo Jersey
boggling.Either way, James is definitely getting highly criticized for this move.In the preseason MVP votes, LeBron only received one vote out of 28. It seems as if the NBA GMs are predicting the young Kevin Durant to be hoisting the MVP trophy, with Kobe in secondplace. LeBron went from being the back-to-back MVP winner to being a long shot for the award. How does this make sense?It seems as if LeBron’s decision to team up with another elite player in Wade has left people thinking less of him. My question is, what if the Heat end up winning 60 plus games this season. They have averaged 45 wins in the past two seasons and although Bosh is a big name player, the reason for the increase in wins will most likely be LeBron’s presence. So now doesn’t an increase of 15 plus games signify that LeBron is a value player to that organization?I am not saying that LeBron should be the MVP favorite, plus I do kind of like Durant’s chances. My only point is that maybe people should not take LeBron so lightly and stop looking down on him for his decision to join the Miami Heat. Pau Gasol is one of the top big men in the league and yet Kobe is still strongly considered for the MVP award and therefore LeBron deserves Reebok Minnesota Vikings #69 Jared Allen Realtree camo Jersey
similar respect.Who knows what will happen with LeBron and the Miami Heat, maybe they will hit the 70 win mark. I also think Durant will lead the Thunder past the Lakers this year, but maybe Kobe will get the three-peat.All I know is that it is going to be a crazy season and only time will tell who the true MVP is but maybe all these doubters should not count LeBron out just yet.