Well, another loss upcoming for the Raps tonight. They’ve lost 10 in a row in Cleveland or something insane like that.

Still, it’s another chance to watch LeBron James; whether you like the guy or not, he is amazing to watch. That SI story on him came out last week, and what’s amazing is how big he’s gotten. Word is - Bron, the Cavs and the NBA won’t officially confirm it - that he’s up to 275 lbs. 275! He’s 6′8″!!

It’s amazing to me that anyone can think there is a better athlete in the world than James. People say Dwight Howard is the best athlete in the NBA because of what he does with his size. But I say James does even more with his size. Given his strength and the length of his stride, I’m willing to bet he’s faster than anyone right now except maybe Devin Harris. He’s probably physically stronger than anyone except Howard and Shaq. I bet he can jump higher than anyone.

His footwork is markedly improved, and here’s why I think he’s the better athlete than Howard - Howard can jump out of the gym but still isn’t smooth or graceful. I used to think LeBron looked sort of mechanical at times, but over the past couple of years he’s become real smooth with the ball. I’ve never seen a combination of grace and power like that. Remember that commercial where he jokes about joining the Browns? I’m sure he could! There’s probably five positions he could play - and be dominant. Wide receiver? He’d haul in anything and be impossible to bring down. Safety? He’d be killing guys if they went over the middle. Corner? How could you throw the ball past him? Linebacker? He’d cover more field than Ray Lewis and if he came on the blitz, who would be able to block him? And as long as he could learn to throw a football, he’d be the most athletic QB of all time.

The scary thing for the rest of the NBA is, he’s still rounding into form as a basketball player. He’s only going to get better! And to think, now that he’s got a decent team around him, he doesn’t even have to do as much. I’m willing to wager if he was on a “worse” team he could average 40 points and 12 rebounds a game - as long as his desire was there (I sometimes wonder how engaged he is in the game). Who could stop him, besides himself?

Certainly not anyone on the Raptors. Here’s a scary thought. Kobe scored 61 points last night; James and Kobe are considered the MVP front-runners. I think it’s possible James tries to out-score Kobe tonight, and James is no dummy - he knows just how weak the Raptors D is, and if there’s a good time to score 75, tonight is it.

With Zydrunas Ilgauskas out, you’d think the Raps would have an advantage up front, but if you’ve ever watched these two teams play then you’d know that Sideshow Bob simply owns Chris Bosh whenever they meet. And given Bargnani’s struggles the past couple, well, I’m not counting on him to do much. I think he’s reverting to his December form. Great. Well, maybe JO will have a big game.

As for the rest, well, you’re got Jose Calderon, still apparently dealing with The Hamstring that Won’t Heal (I mean, seriously!?); look for a big night by Mo Williams. Mo’s got the strength advantage and his and LeBron’s dribble penetration will wreak havoc on the Raptors’ D. I admit I was wrong about Williams, I didn’t think he’d have much impact in Cleveland, but he’s been very impressive. If Jameer Nelson is hurt and has to miss the all-star game, I expect Mo to get the nod.

As for the two-guards, Pavlovic and Parker, well, I’d take Parker over Sasha on my team anyday, but that dribble penetration is gonna force Parker to help and give Sasha plenty of open looks from downtown. Of course, AP will get time on James too, as will Moon, Joey and probably even Kapono. Joey might have the best chance at slowing LeBron down; he’s the only Raptor who comes close to being physically strong enough for James to even notice when he runs them over.

Sigh. It’s not going to be a pretty game, I can guarantee you that. In fact, the only reason I foresee the Raptors “holding” James under 40 is that the Cavs are gonna be winning by such a huge margin, he’ll sit most of the second half. Cavs by 30.

PS For what I hope are the final words on the ridiculous Stephen A Smith story, I direct you to Scott Carefoot’s Raptorblog and Michael Grange’s From Deep Blog, both of whom said it better than I. And let us not speak of it again.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 at 10:56 am and is filed under Game Previews, Toronto Raptors.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.