I saw Lebron James play in high school a few years ago on ESPN. I muted the TV though, so I didn’t have to listen to Dick Vitale rant and rave about surrounding yourself with “good” people.

James dunked a few times, didn’t move without the ball and played rather lackadaisically on defense. He clearly could dominate Glenbrook North and Highland Park high schools, but what about the Lakers and Spurs?

He had a lot of potential, but there was no way he was going to live up to the hype that was accompanying him in the media and basketball community. For crying out loud, the man was being anointed the greatest thing since MJ, yet legally he still wasn’t able to watch Show Girls!

Now in his second year, I am ready to admit that I was wrong about James, similar to when I predicted before the season that Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich was merely a role player.

This past week King James recorded the first two triple-doubles of his career, and they will definitely not be his last. Lebron has the capabilities of averaging a triple-double over an entire season, a feat that has only been accomplished in NBA history by Oscar Robertson.

Despite averaging 25 points, seven rebounds and seven assists per game so far this season, I believe the best is yet to come from this basketball prodigy.

There have been other players in the past who have put up incredible numbers in their first two years in the league. However, no other player in recent memory has had this type of positive impact on his teammates and the ability to literally carry a team in his second season.

The Cavaliers are currently 24-15 and sitting atop the NBA’s central division. Besides James, this is a squad composed mostly of NBA journeymen and role players.

It is amazing that Lucious Harris, Ira Newble and Robert “Tractor” Traylor are all playing over 17 minutes a game for this squad. How has Traylor not eaten himself out of the league and where in the world does he order those 6XL mesh shorts from?

Jeff McInnis and Drew Gooden are both having career years as a result of the utter domination that Lebron has exhibited.

He is so unselfish and possesses such great court vision that he enables his teammates – especially center Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Gooden – to take high-percentage shots.

Some people like to have the opinion that Kobe Bryant is the best perimeter player in the league.

However, when Bryant was healthy, the Lakers were barely above .500. Kobe was playing selfishly and failing to utilize newly acquired All-Star and Olympian Lamar Odom.

If James were playing alongside a talent like Odom, it would be lights out for the rest of the Eastern Conference.

If there is anybody in the current NBA who is capable of achieving Michael Jordan-esque results, it is unquestionably James and not Bryant.

It is clear now that Kobe needed Shaq to win titles. We shall see in the upcoming years that Lebron will merely need a solid supporting staff – not necessarily another top-five player in the league on his team – to win championships.

This is merely the tip of the iceberg for Lebron.

It’s like Seinfeld – we are seeing the “Chinese Restaurant” now, but the future holds the “Soup Nazi,” “yada yada yada” and Susan dying from poisonous envelopes.

And who knows, by the end of it Lebron might be considered the greatest player ever not named Michael Jeffrey Jordan.

Jacob Bressler is a senior in communications. He can be reached at [email protected].