It’s not particularly surprising that LeBron James was named MVP today – he certainly deserved it. What was surprising, though, is the margin by which he won it. There are 121 first place votes cast, and James picked up 109 of them. He’s the youngest player since Moses Malone in 1979 to win the award, and the third youngest ever. Cleveland coach Mike Brown was also named coach of the year last month, and that raises a surprising stat – this is just the fourth time that a team has had the MVP, top coach and the best record in the league in the same year. Just one of those teams, the 1996 Bulls, has gone on to win the title.
It turns out you don’t have to be smart to be a top point guard. Prep star John Wall is one of the top high school players in the country, but he has yet to pick a college for next year. You’d think that in that situation you would want to keep your nose clean and avoid anything that could cause you problems down the road, right? Apparently not. He was picked up last week leaving a house with two other guys. A house that they had broken into. That’s an excellent way to improve the whole recruiting process.
Carlos Zambrano hurt his hamstring trying to leg out a bunt yesterday, and he’s heading for the DL. It’s obviously way too soon to tell for sure, but the early prognosis is that he could be out for two or three weeks. A hamstring injury is never a good thing for a pitcher, but especially not for a big guy like Zambrano. This comes at a very bad time for the Cubs – they are already falling behind the Cards, and they don’t have the real pitching depth to weather this storm if it lingers for too long.
A-Rod had a home run in seven innings in the field in an extended spring training game today. That’s the most he has played, and he obviously looked alright doing it. The word out of the Bronx is that he could be back as soon as Friday. Let the circus begin. The Yankees strike me as a fragile team right now anyway, and A-Rod is going to bring all sorts of added attention thanks to the book published about him this week, so this could be the kind of distraction that the team doesn’t need. The team has finally played some good ball, winning four of their last five, so this re-introduction could be poorly timed. At least they are waiting until a meaningless road series against the Orioles to bring him back instead of high profile home tilts against the Red Sox and Rays.
Fresh off the best first round playoff series (maybe ever), the Celtics are poised to play in what could very well be the best second round series as well. This one has all kinds of intrigue to it. The Celtics have to regroup emotionally after a very tough series, and they need to find a way to be competitive against a tougher opponent without their best player. The Magic have to prove that they are ready for the big time, and Dwight Howard must have all sorts of pent up frustration after having to miss game six because of a suspension. Both teams face pretty serious injury situations, but both teams play a tough, grinding style. The stakes are huge here, and it should be fantastic. I’ll be pulling for the Magic, I think.
