Cleveland LeBron James takes NBA MVP award

LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers was awarded the 2008-09 NBA Most Valuable Player on Monday, at the same time becoming the first Cavalier to win the award.

ClevelandCavaliers'LeBronJamestalksalongsidehis
trophyafterbeingnamedtheNBAMostValuablePlayer
(MVP)duringaceremonyatJames'almamater,AkronSt.
Vincent-St.MaryHighSchool,inAkron,OhioMay4,
2009.REUTERS/AaronJosefczyk(UNITEDSTATESSPORT
BASKETBALL)

James totaled 1,172 points including 109 first place votes, easily outdistancing Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers. Miami's Dwyane Wade was third followed by Orlando's Dwight Howard and New Orleans' Chris Paul.

James led Cleveland in scoring, rebounds, assists, and steals. The forward also helped Cleveland to an NBA and franchise best 66-16 season, a 21-game improvement over last season. On top of that, James led the league with seven triple-doubles this season and became the 12th player in NBA history to record three consecutive triple doubles.

Lebron James said, "You look at tall the greats who've ever played this game of basketball...Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul Jabar, Dr J., Oscar Robertson. All of these guys layed down the path for guys like myself, Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, Dwayne Wade just to name a few. To be voted most valuable player of the NBA is unbelievable."

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Denvers Warkentien named NBA Executive of the Year

WASHINGTON, May 3 (Xinhua) -- Denver Nuggets vice president of basketball operations Mark Warkentien was on Sunday named the 2008-2009 NBA Executive of the Year for managing biggest trade of the season.

Warkentien received nine of a possible 30 votes from a panel of NBA executives. Cleveland's Danny Ferry finished runner-up with seven votes, while Orlando's Otis Smith was third with six.

Warkentien has been the architect of several trades since coming to Denver in 2005. However, his most successful move was acquiring four-time All-Star guard and home-grown product Chauncey Billups from Detroit for Allen Iverson on November 3, 2008.

Billups played micro-wave oven effect to help Denver win franchise-tying 54 regular-season games en route to capturing its sixth division title in team history since joining the NBA in 1976.

The second-seed in the West, Denver won its first playoff series since 1994, easily disposing of New Orleans in five games to advance to the conference semifinals against the Dallas Mavericks.

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