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LeBron earns another MVP award, and teammates’ admiration

By Barry Jackson, McClatchy Newspapers –

There has been uninterrupted excellence from LeBron James all season, culminating in Saturday’s NBA MVP Award.

But do you know what else there has been inside the privacy of Miami’s locker room? A new level of admiration for James from his teammates — for the way he has sharpened his game, matured as a person and become more enjoyable to be around because of his mental resolve to become a happier, less-distracted superstar since last June’s failure in the NBA Finals.

(PHOTO: The Miami Heat’s Lebron James smiles during a press conference where he was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player for 2012, at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida, Saturday, May 12, 2012.)

“The guy,” Juwan Howard said, “is so warm and pleasant to be around. He’s so misunderstood. He doesn’t get enough credit for how unselfish he is, on and off the court. I believe he would give you his last dollar or last meal.”

For years, James has been considered a good teammate, one who bought headphones for Heat players last year and takes rookie Terrel Harris and others out for meals at Soho Beach House and other pricey places. But he’s looser now — “That’s the way he needs to be; that’s his personality,” Mike Miller said. And that makes the team looser.

One example: A few weeks ago, James got permission, for the first time, to play blaring rap music when the media is in the locker room before games; he was shaking his body to the rhythm before Game 2 of the Knicks series.

“He’s happy every day now,” Udonis Haslem said. “I haven’t seen him down at all this season.” Dwyane Wade calls it “being more at peace, more himself, more relaxed.” As James said, “I was playing with hate last year instead of love.”

According to James Jones: “There were days last year he let everything outside the game dictate his moods. Now, the only thing that sways his mood is the team’s performance. Everything else is irrelevant.”

The new mind-set was a conscious decision by James, made easier by his fiancee (who accepted his proposal last New Year’s Eve) and two children living with him in Miami; the three were in Ohio last season so his kids could finish their school year.

“To have my kids and fiancee around this year, and a lot of my family and friends, has done some amazing things mentally, given me peace of mind and allowed me to go out and play the game I love,” James said privately Friday.

Here’s what else changed from his first year here: “The maturity level,” Jones said, “to understand people’s perception of him can’t define you. He’s more confident, more efficient on and off court as far as his time, rest, preparation. He always wanted to prove to himself he’s the world’s best player. Physically, he’s unparalleled. Mentally, he had to be tougher. He’s been that this year.”

Jones said one of James’ “biggest challenges was making the transition from the game’s most dominant athlete to the game’s most dominant, efficient and prepared athlete.”

James has achieved that, and “it was mostly what I did before the season that got me here now,” he said. Beyond sharpening his post game with Hakeem Olajuwon, meeting with Magic Johnson and others, James worked harder than ever.

“I stayed in the gym twice a day. I was on the court. I was in the weight room. I was on the football field running and conditioning. I wanted to prepare my body mentally and physically for a shortened season. I only took a couple weeks off and then was working non-stop from July to December.” He is routinely the first Heat player to arrive before games, 3 ½ hours before tip-off, to do pilates and other work.

James has said what bothers him most about failure is letting teammates down. Heat players have told him to stop that. “Damn right I have,” Howard said. “I said it last year, and I repeated it again this year. He wants to win more than any one of us.”

Harris marvels at how “humble” James is as a global icon. Biggest surprise for Battier? “How generous he is with teammates,” noting he will sign anything for anyone’s relative, or whomever.

The biggest prize James can give them is helping win the Finals. But his teammates, whom he called to the stage for his MVP presentation, will always appreciate what Battier calls an “historic year.”

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