SPORTS NEWS: LEBRON JAMES TO BE NAMED NBA MVP

BREAKING NEWS, AS FAR AS TECHNICALITIES GO. LOL LEBRON JAMES, KING JAMES, IF YOU WILL, BE NAMED NBA MVP TODAY AT 4PM. I CAN’T SPEAK FOR ANYONE ELSE, BUT I’M SURE THIS ISN’T SHOCKING NEWS. HIS TEAM HAD THE BEST RECORD IN THE NBA, THEY CONQUERED THE DETROIT PISTONS, A TEAM MANY BELIEVE WAS A DYNASTY IN THE 2000’S, HE MAKES HIS TEAM BETTER, & THEY HAVE ALL OF THE RIGHT PIECES TOGETHER TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP. HOWEVER, NONE OF THIS WOULD BE REMOTELY POSSIBLE FOR THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS IF LEBRON JAMES WASN’T IN A CAVALIERS UNIFORM.

Video link: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4135617

LeBron James To Be Named MVP

The NBA will announce LeBron James as its MVP on Monday

Tags: NBA, Cleveland Cavaliers, Lebron James

The NBA will announce LeBron James as its MVP on Monday, The Plain Dealer of Cleveland and The Associated Press have reported, citing unnamed sources.

A day before the Cleveland Cavaliers begin their second-round series against the Atlanta Hawks, the league will anoint James, 24.

The announcement will be made at James' alma mater, St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio, the reports said. The Cavaliers called a news conference for 4 p.m. ET but didn't specify the nature of the event.

ESPNEWS will carry the Cavaliers' news conference, expected to announce LeBron James as the NBA's MVP, at 4 p.m. ET

His Cavaliers teammates were expected to attend.

James, whose Cavaliers swept the Detroit Pistons in the first round of the playoffs, averaged 28.4 points, 7.6 rebounds and 7.2 assists during the regular season, his sixth in the NBA, in which Cleveland won a team-record 66 games and earned the top overall seed in the playoffs.

James' coach, Mike Brown, also was honored by the NBA last month as its coach of the year. Since the ABA/NBA merger, it is only the fourth time the MVP and coach of the year came from the same team that also finished with the league's best record. The last time it happened was 2004-05 (Mike D'Antoni coach, Steve Nash MVP, Phoenix Suns), but in the group of four, only the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, who won 72 games, won the championship.

The Cavs host Atlanta on Tuesday after the Hawks finished off the Miami Heat in Game 7 of their first-round series Sunday.

James, who will become the first Cavaliers player to win the award, finished second in voting for defensive player of the year.

At 24 years, 106 days, he will be the youngest player to win the award since Moses Malone (24 years, 16 days) in 1978-79. Wes Unseld was 23 when he won it in 1968-69.

Focused from the start of the 2008-09 season, the 6-foot-8, 250-pound James sharpened his magnificent skills this season.

“

We don't have anyone in the league like him. Baseline to baseline he has to be the fastest or one of the fastest guys ever.

”

-- Cavs assistant coach Chris Jent

He started a career-high 81 games and set personal bests in field-goal (49) and free-throw (79) percentages. James became just the second player to post five straight seasons of at least 27 points, six rebounds and six assists. The other is Oscar Robertson, whose well-rounded game is the one James' is most often compared.

James was in a three-way battle all season with Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant and Miami's Dwyane Wade for MVP honors. The trio -- teammates last summer on the U.S. Olympic team that won gold -- seemed to upstage each other on a nightly basis.

It's no surprise James would select his high school for the ceremony. It's where he won three state basketball championships and where he burst onto the national scene, becoming a Sports Illustrated cover subject at just 17 years old. He announced plans to skip college in the Fighting Irish's quaint gym and recently filmed a "60 Minutes" interview there, where his retired No. 23 jersey hangs on a wall.

A few days after the Cavaliers were eliminated in last year's Eastern Conference semifinals, losing a Game 7 in Boston, James got back in the gym.

Despite scoring 45 points in the finale, James didn't feel he had done enough to get his team past the Celtics. So he went to work. He spent endless hours at the Cavaliers' training facility working on his jump shot, which has never looked better or been more accurate. He practiced finishing at the rim with his left hand, making him nearly impossible to stop inside.

James also began lifting weights like never before, adding muscle to his considerable frame. Then, once he began working out with the Olympic team, James set out to refine his defensive game and became an elite stopper, often guarding the other team's best player -- regardless of position.

In a league of remarkable athletes, James, with his package of power and speed, may well stand alone.

"His leaping ability with his strength and explosion, he's by himself," said Cavaliers assistant coach Chris Jent, who spent most of last summer working with James. "We don't have anyone in the league like him. Baseline to baseline he has to be the fastest or one of the fastest guys ever, and he can do it with the ball.

"And then once he gets there, his jumping is up there -- maybe by himself. That combination along with his mental attitude and aggressiveness make him unguardable."

SOURCE: ESPN NEWS

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.