Jim Souhan: LeBron is basketball's greatest athlete -- ever

The knock is that he hasn't won a championship in Cleveland, but without King James, the Cavaliers are hardly much better than the Wolves.

By JIM SOUHAN, Star Tribune

Last update: October 31, 2009 - 12:37 AM

Target Center on Friday offered that classic sports matchup: The Unstoppable Force and the Wafer-Thin Object.

LeBron James, making his only appearance in Minnesota until the NBA Finals, was forced to contend with the stiletto-like limbs of Corey Brewer all night. James offered further evidence that he is the greatest athlete ever to play basketball, surviving Brewer's nudges to compile 24 points, nine rebounds and six assists in 33 minutes in Cleveland's 104-87 victory.

Yes, that's right -- James is, with apologies to Brian Cardinal, the greatest athlete ever to play the game.

Just look at him. He's listed at 6-9, 250 pounds, but he's probably heavier than that. He's as tall as Magic Johnson, as powerful as Karl Malone, and as fast as ... Adrian Peterson?

I asked James what would happen if he raced the Vikings running back. "In what, the 40 or 100?" he asked.

You pick. "I don't know," he said, smiling. "I don't want to get that started."

Here's a piece of blasphemy: James might just beat Peterson in a race. James has always been remarkably fast in the open court, and even as the Cavs lost their first two games, James was proving that he is as deft and agile as he is swift. Against the Celtics in the opener, James chased down Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen on breakaways, soared improbably high, then flicked their layups away without fouling them.

Who else James' size in the history of the NBA -- or the history of the world -- combines that kind of size, strength, speed, leaping ability and agility? Other than Mark Madsen.

In the idiotic banter that can pass for a sports debate these days, James often gets downgraded because he hasn't won a championship yet.

Have you seen the Cavs play? Take away James, and they're a little better than the Wolves, without the promise of Jonny Flynn and Ricky Rubio and the powerful cerebral cortex of David Kahn.

Seriously, the Cavs without King James would be like Coldplay without the guy with the tight pants.

Before he took on Brewer the Bludgeon, I asked James what kind of defender gives him the most trouble. Unfortunately for Brewer, he didn't say, "Ethereal."

"Ummmmmm ... myself," James said. "It's not always about a guy stopping me from scoring, I do other things to affect the game, I feel my presence on the court affects the game, I also rebound, I defend, so it's not like I'm out there trying to score a bunch of points and guys holding me under my shooting percentage or anything like that."

Translation: "You really think anybody can stop me?"

James put on a predictably spectacular display Friday night, hitting three-pointers, running the floor, one time in the second quarter spinning through three Wolves, surviving Brewer's love tap and finishing with a layup.

Luckily for Brewer, when James dunked on him, The Bludgeon wasn't close enough to James' altitude to make the poster.

In Beijing last summer, while Kobe Bryant was expected to take the biggest shots, it was James who was most impressive in terms of physical prowess and versatility.

A Cleveland reporter asked James if adjusting to the arrival of Shaquille O'Neal reminded him of adjusting, midseason, to the arrival of other acquisitions, such as Delonte West and Wally Szczerbiak. That will be the first and last time Wally is mentioned in the same sentence as Shaq.

"Kind of the same," James said. "Because they were coming into a whole new system, so we almost had to push the Tivo pause button and let them catch up. That's what we're doing right now."

The suspicion here is that by the playoffs, the Cavs will be running the same primary play they were running last summer:

Hand LeBron the ball, and get out of the way of the greatest athlete ever to play the game.

Jim Souhan can be heard at 10-noon Sunday, and 6:40 a.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday on 1500-AM. His Twitter name is SouhanStrib. jsouhan@startribune.com