So I got my MVP ballot from the NBA today.

Back in February when I was at the All-Star Game in Houston, I worked up this story about how LeBron James wasn’t really a competitor for the Most Valuable Player Award this season.  I backed it with plenty of commentary from voters and my own individual research.  I fully believed it then and stand behind that story.

However…

After watching LeBron’s performance in March, when he averaged  32.9 points, 8.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists in 14 games, my mind is being swayed.  In February I was sold on voting for Steve Nash again for the MVP because the Suns were just as good as last season without Amare Stoudemire and a bunch of different players.  I also liked the idea of voting for Nash because it affirmed my decision to cast my vote him last season when myself and 126 other voters picked him over Shaq in a very tight race.  For this, I might add, the Miami Herald’s Dan LeBatard inferred that I was a racist and, I suppose, anti-American. If I remember correctly, I had LeBron fifth on my ballot (you list five names) and he finished sixth.

While I’d probably still cast my vote for Nash, I am getting closer and closer to seriously considering giving James my vote.  Of course I could be called biased because I see him every day.  But when you think of where the Cavs would be without him, it gives so much weight to the argument.  Yes, Nash did it without Stoudemire but James carried his team without Larry Hughes.  Not that it is equal, then again the Suns are just simply better than the Cavs.  As I pointed out in the story, the last time a player from a team that didn’t win 50 games won the MVP was in 1982.  The Cavs probably aren’t going to get to 50 and James isn’t going to win.  But knowing my fellow voters, watching what he’s done down the stretch is going to pave the way for him to win it in the future.

Some other things:

–I get the Cavs point in not celebrating making the playoffs, but this would’ve been an appropriate moment to pound their chests.  I mean, they shoot off fireworks before every game and have confetti rain down when they win games, so it isn’t like they lead the league in being stoic.
–The other night LeBron said he was a football player first and didn’t mind taking hits.  Well, not that I’m willing to get clubbed in the head by DJ Mbenga nor have I ever played wide receiver, but I did watch LBJ play football in high school.  I know the highlights you’ve seen and all, but not he almost never went across the middle, he was also rather infamous for alligator-arming when defenders were around on the sideline (that photo aside).  Not that I blame him with that million-dollar body, but I think the truth should be told.
–The NBA breaks up the votes for awards, not every traveling beat writer gets a vote for everything.  I will make my own decision on the MVP, but I’m more than willing to listen to blog loyalists input on my vote for the All-NBA team, All-Defensive team, Most Improved Player and Rookie of the Year.
–Might want to check out these Cavs sites I’ve been to recently: Cavsworld and the LeBron Meter.
–I see my appearance on Cold Pizza was picked on by some blog readers.  I must say it was traumatic, they made me wear makeup (I can’t imagine how this leaves the door open for Tucker) and then I had to go cover practice.  Lucky, no one noticed, even on my ears (alas, yes, they did!)

Before you get started, check out my Sunday Column on Flip Murray perhaps pricing himself out of Cleveland and LeBron’s best individual rivalry.

Here’s some stuff from the last week or so:

–Donyell Marshall has grumbled for the last few months about how the media has concentrated too much on his poor field goal percentage this season and not enough on what else he contributes, especially rebounding.  It was an interesting tactic, Damon Jones’ first reaction to his prolonged slump was to go into denial about it as well.  After heating back up recently, Marshall. admitted he’d gotten down on himself because he was shooting so poorly.  Jones also copped to his bad play recently, revealing to me that Shaq had called him up and told him to shape up, which led to him putting in more practice time.  Both are playing better now, perhaps admitting there was a problem was the first step.

–I always thought Ira Newble’s role would be as a situational defender, but I didn’t think it would be for individual possessions late in games.  Three times in the last week Mike Brown has thrown him out there at the last second for just a few seconds.  I wish I could’ve seen his face when he was told to sub in for the last shot against the Lakers last week after not taking off his warmup all day.

–I thought my unofficial tracking of Newble’s efforts on jump shots, 1-of-28 by my count by the way, was a woeful stat.  That was before I was informed by Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer last week that I’d seen history when the Bobcats rookie Kevin Burleson made a basket against the Cavs.  Apparently it was his first hoop since Jan. 13, since then he’d been 0-of-33 shooting.  Can you get your mind around that?

–Might be wise for Cavs fans to root for the Indiana Pacers to pass the Washington Wizards for the No. 5 playoff spot.  Of course, things may be different with Larry Hughes, but the Cavs don’t seem to have the defenders to play with the Wizards, at least based on the last two matchups.

–If you’re interested, I will be answering questions on Hoopshype about the Cavs this week. Should you want to submit one go to the web site.

–Since some have asked about blog favorite Bob Finnan of the News-Herald, here’s an update:  He became sick during the Cavs road trip to Dallas.  After coming home he had to go into the hospital for a week but is feeling better and was recently discharged.  I’m hoping he can be back doing his great reporting this week.

Some things cannot pass without comment.  This story is surely one of them.  If you don’t want to read the link, here’s the gist: The 10-bedroom, 11-bath L.A. mansion former Cav Carlos Boozer bought last year was the subject of a January lawsuit.  I remember linking a story on here that said Boozer paid $8.6 million for it and now this new story said it is up for sale at $11.9 million.  Whatever, it’s huge and it’s nice.  Anyway, Apparently C Booz rented the house to Prince.  No, not Prince Fielder. That Prince as in Purple Rain Prince, "The Artist" Prince.  Therefore, it should come as no shock that, like the Cavs’ plan to let him out of his contract to re-sign him to a below-market-value deal, Prince’s lease didn’t follow the expected script.

According to the lawsuit papers, for his $70,000-per-month rent, Prince deemed it OK to paint purple stripes on the exterior of the home along with his "Prince" symbol.  He also painted his numbers "3121" on the outside, that’s also the name of his album being released today.  They must mean something, but I’m not hip enough to get it.  And why not, at that price.  Had Carlos called Dan Gilbert to finance his $8.6 million crib at 5.5 percent over 30 years, the monthly payment would be like 48k.  Much, much less if Dan got him to sign off on an interest-only deal.  I mean think of the positive cash flow for CBooz charging Prince 70 grand.  That’s like $900,000 a year.  Prince, I mean haven’t your accountants taught you anything about equity.  But that’s just the tip.

The lawsuit, which by the way was dropped about a month ago, probably after Prince copped to some more cash, said the Boozers were also not happy that Prince put down purple monogrammed carpet in the master bedroom and ripped up baseboards and put down black carpet in the basement.  CeCe Boozer has much better taste than that.  (By the way, if any of you are Curb Your Enthusiasm fans, I’m picturing Crazee Eyez Killa’s house from season two).  But taking the cake is that Booz was angry that his walls had been ripped up because, get this, Prince was getting ready to put a in a beauty salon.  I guess Prince had put in plumbing and piping "for water transfer for beauty salon chairs."  I mean what can you say to that, you couldn’t make that up.

OK, but to me, the incredible irony here is what is most funny.  Before Boozer signed his $68 million deal with the Jazz and he was barely scrapping by on the NBA minimum of like 500K per season, he actually got sued by former Browns defensive back Percy Ellsworth because of a rent and property dispute over in Westlake.  Ellsworth said Boozer owed him $12,500 for rent that he didn’t pay and another $2,500 for taking Ellsworth’s washer and dryer when he moved out. That suit dragged out for months before, two weeks after he got a huge signing bonus as part of this Jazz contract, he cut Percy, who had long since been cut by the Browns himself, a check to cover it.

All of this sort of makes me wonder if I should pass on Eminem’s offer to rent out my palatial estate this summer.

Based on my e-mail and what I heard on talk radio once I returned to Cleveland from Dallas today, the Cavaliers fan base is discharging what I can only assume was some pent up anger at Mike Brown for his performance during the losses in Miami and Dallas.

Someone who left a comment on one of my stories recently on Ohio.com said Brown’s performance is the "elephant in the room" when it comes to the Cavs troubles, meaning no one really wants to talk about it.  That moratorium, it seems, has been lifted.

During the road trip I had several conversations with Coach Brown about how he’s evaluated himself so far this season for this story which is in Thursday’s Beacon Journal.

Brown’s style isn’t classic, he isn’t fiery or stately in his mannerisms, which is what public sees.  His treatment of players is almost always positive and supportive, though not particularly inspiring.  He has excellent theory on the game and experience to back it up but thus far his results have been inconsistent.  He’s really tried to stick to his plan and his principles.  He’s stressed defense and tried to get a rotation going.  Then again, he can’t make shots for Damon Jones and Donyell Marshall.

For all the talk about offensive issues and overall team softness, the Cavs are going to make the playoffs for the first time in eight years.  For a rookie coach, Brown is going to post a solid record despite having to go through much of the year without Larry Hughes.  He’s going to have the second-best record for a Cavs first-year head coach.

There is a lot of room for improvement on the bench for the Cavs, I’ve suggested they hire an offensive coordinator in the off-season.  The anger now is understandable, but I will suggest giving a rookie more time and to keep perspective for the time being.

Orlando — Elton Alexander, a college basketball writer for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, is one of my mentors in this business.  For three years, while I covered Kent State and the Mid-American Conference, I spent hours sitting next to him watching games and listening to his knowledge of the game.

He has several sayings that have always stuck with me that are apropos at every basketball level.

My favorite is "hold your water."  This is in reference to how a team should behave when their opponent is on a crazy run, mostly due to just making lots of jumpers.  Happens all the time, the inferior team knocking down eight or nine in a row or something and taking a big lead.  The better team should not panic and "hold its water," stay solid and within your game and not get wild trying to match them.  You should get the inference here.  In poker, the advice would be to not "play on tilt."

But today, we’re going to talk about another of his sayings…"handle your business."  This means beat the teams you should beat.  Sure, it sounds obvious, but frankly, it would be good advice to the Cavs.  They haven’t always done that.  This year and let’s not even talk about the last two seasons.

Heading into tonight’s game in Orlando, the Cavs have re-built a four-game lead over the Pacers for the No. 4 seed.  Actually, since they own the tiebreaker, it’s like a five-game lead.  The Pacers would have to pass the Cavs, not tie.  So with 20 games left, if the Cavs "handle their business" they should finish this off.

It is fair guess to set a goal of going .500, 10-10, over the rest of the season.  They are 18-16 over their last 34 games, FYI. That would put them at 46-36 for the season.  May I point out that if they go 11-9, yours truly will nail his preseason prediction of 47 wins.  Ahem.

If that is the case, Indiana will have to go 15-5 to pass them.  Uh, not likely.  The Wizards, currently five back of the Cavs, would have to do the same.  By the way, 12 of the Wizards last 16 games are on the road.

By the end of the season, then the Cavs will have Hughes back and, theoretically, be full strength for the playoffs and also have homecourt advantage.  So there it is.  All together now…Handle your business.

Three more things:

1. Read about LeBron late here.

2. I went to Indians spring training yesterday in Winter Haven (thank you for canceling practice Mike Brown) and enjoyed a game in 77 degree weather.  Other than Orlando/Disney traffic, life was grand.  I can see why so many make it a vacation.

3. T-minus 3 days until Sopranos season six starts.  Do not attempt to contact me between 9-10 Sunday night.  Yes I will be in South Beach, yes I will be in front of the TV.

First, for some breakdowns and analysis of Cavs issues, check out my Sunday column on why the Cavs need an offensive coordinator.  I know that Terry Pluto and I have been on the Cavs a lot in the paper over the last couple of days, but the point is to point out to fans why the team is struggling.  It is still a good club and it’s going to make the playoffs, but after watching the Cavs fold over the last two seasons the media is responsible to the fans for painting an accurate picture.

Now, on to the topic of the day.  I’ve been bickering with several Cavs officials and coaches recently about how many points LeBron James would be averaging if he were a junior in college right now.  For the sake of argument, let’s say he’s playing at an ACC school.  That’s a high-scoring conference, I know.

It is the belief of some that LeBron would be averaging 40 points or more per game, perhaps as much as 45, considering his physical size and ability to get to the basket and finish.  Considering players like J.J. Redick and Adam Morrison are averaging 27 points per game or whatever, some say LeBron would re-write all the scoring record books.

It is my belief that he would be averaging about the same as in the NBA, about 30 points per game considering he’s a team-first player who would draw double teams.  Also, because there’s a 35-second clock and eight fewer minutes in the game, there are just simply fewer possessions.  I’ve asked LeBron about it and he pretty much talked in circles, saying "It depends on what kind of team I’m on."

So, with all the conference tournaments getting going and college basketball’s golden season upon us, let’s have your opinion in the comments section below.

LATE ADD: As a FYI, LeBron averaged 30.4 points as a senior at St. Vincent-St. Mary.

So aside from the shots in the comments section in my previous post, I’ve gotten a load of e-mail about my stating that Flip Murray should, as I quote from below, "never attempt another 3-pointer under any circumstance."

Now hear this, I firmly stand by it.

Despite the fact that he was the hero last night, making a game-winning 3-pointer to beat the Bulls.   Having a guy who is a 20 percent 3-point shooter taking that shot down by two points is not a good play.  Most of the time, that is not going to work out for the wine and gold.  LeBron James was in traffic and he made the smart play at that second.  Flip was open and once the ball came to him he had to take it, the Cavs are fortunate that he made it and they won.

The way this team goes, I expect them to run off four or five straight wins now.  The major props I give to Flip for last night had nothing to do with the 3, it was the way he wasn’t afraid to attack the basket in the fourth quarter.

Whether it is the double teams or that he’s just tired at the end of games, LeBron is just settling for long jumpers these days.  He’s perhaps the greatest player on his generation, but right now that’s a black mark on his game and his team, because it is largely the scheme’s fault.  Flip attacked the glass and scored 11 points in the fourth quarter and he scored the Cavs last seven points.  He wasn’t being double-teamed like LeBron, so it was easier.  But he also showed the nerve to try to make it happen.

As for my other comments:

–I never said Eric Snow was Ben Wallace.  I said Snow, like Wallace, can be effective even though he’s usually not a danger to score.  Gary Payton circa 1995 isn’t sitting on the bench to come in, people.  Eric is the only true point guard the Cavs have and he’s the only perimeter player who truly cares about defense right now, so he must play more down the stretch.  I’m not just making this up.  I’ve talked to scouts and other league executives not to mention I’ve watched all but one game this season in person.  LeBron isn’t a point guard, he shouldn’t be running the point more than a few times a game because it makes it too easy to get the ball out of his hands. And he sure shouldn’t be leading a break, he should be finishing them.  Damon Jones has been playing harder, but he’s at his best when playing alongside Snow if you haven’t noticed.

–LeBron went 11-of-13 at the free-throw line last night.  He missed his last two at a bad time in the fourth quarter.  That is another issue.  He’s been on a bad free-throw track of late as have a the Cavs.  But last night when he was 11-of-11 they were still in danger of losing.  On the list of worries for this team and LeBron, free throws are way down the list.

–I do regret saying the Cavs are in the bottom third of the league defensively.  In some stats, such as field goal percentage defense and 3-point defense, they are.  The points per game they are in the upper half.  So I’ll say that as a whole, they are an average defensive team right now.

Chicago — I will be spending this weekend writing about what is wrong with the Cavs and what must be done to fix them.  So I don’t want to let too much of my thunder go here.  However, following the fifth straight loss to the Kings, I think it is time for some hard realities to be addressed.

Things that are true
–LeBron James is tired, I don’t care what he says.  It is why he’s been falling off in the second half all the time.
–Playing LeBron at the point guard is no good, it doesn’t work.  More on this later, but trust me, it makes him too easy to defend.
–Nobody ever wants to throw the ball to Zydrunas Ilgauskas, so I wouldn’t blame him if he never passed.  This is a fundamental failure of how the Cavs play the game, they do not use their second most valuable asset to anywhere near his potential.
–Eric Snow is not the problem, he’s an answer.  He needs to be playing more because he gets the Cavs into their offense and wants to play defense all the time.  Yes, it is 4-on-5 on offense, but the same goes for Ben Wallace of the Detroit Pistons and they survive just fine.
–For all his talk, Damon Jones is actually very insecure about his ability, which he why he talks about himself so much.  You can see it in the way he passes up shots because he’s lost faith in himself.
–Flip Murray should never attempt another 3-pointer under any circumstance, but he is a good addition because he can get baskets when the offense isn’t working.
–Mike Brown’s weakness is offense and no one on his staff seems to be able to offer difference-making help.  Only rarely do they make in-game adjustments that actually work.  Usually, the offense gets worse as the game goes on, especially after halftime.

Things that are false
–The Cavs are a good defensive team.  They aren’t.  Brown has a good scheme but doesn’t have the players to make it work.  They are slightly better than at the start of the season, but all-in-all, they are in the bottom third of the league.
–The Cavs will miss the playoffs.  They’ll make it, but it will be a fight to avoid the seventh or eighth spots the way things are going now.
–LeBron or Z are to blame for the struggles.  The role players have been letting this team down all season.  Starting with the inconsistency of Donyell Marshall and Jones, who are having bad seasons compared to their contracts and recent numbers.
–LeBron needs to score 30 points for the Cavs to win.  No, he needs to average about 25 and Z needs to average about 20.
–The missed free throws are big problem.  It’s not good, but it isn’t making much of a difference and overall LeBron has been shooting them at near his average for his career.  There are so many bigger and more important issues.
–The Cavs are an above .500 team.  Maybe their record says it, but they aren’t.  Without Larry Hughes, they are simply average at best.  In fact, they’re 14-16 without him.  They’ll probably do well to be .500 for the rest of the season.

More later.

Also, read about Dan Gilbert’s first year as an owner and Terry Pluto’s perspective on it.