Now might be a good time to once again look at the debate about “what actually makes an MVP.” Lebron James, the man who would be Mike, has won his second consecutive Maurice Podoloff trophy. He did so in convincing fashion, by a landslide, most of his votes coming from the mainstream basketball that cover the NBA. Looking strictly at the numbers it is not difficult to figure out how James won the accolade for the second straight year: nearly 30 points per game, over seven rebounds and eight assists, over a steal and a block per game. When people say he can do it all, you do not need to take their word for it. All you have to do is look at the numbers and see for yourself.

And yet, is he really the most valuable player in the NBA? By extension, and this is strictly a personal bias on this writer’s part, that makes him the best player in the world. We’ve seen the numbers, and those are pretty much at par with the last three seasons of his still-young career. This is a young man who can only keep getting better in spite of all he has achieved already. If we look at the company he keeps, he is one of only 10 players to ever win the MVP award in consecutive years.

The last player to do it is himself still very much in action, Steve Nash, currently taking on the San Antonio Spurs and the other still-active back-to-back MVP Tim Duncan, in their own second round series out in the West. Others who have turned the trick include bums named Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan. That is the kind of company James now keeps.

One thing however that has separated him from this pack is a distinction more dubious than meritorious – James, like Nash, has yet to win an NBA championship. Russell, the starting center, heart and soul of those legendary Boston teams of the 1950’s and 60’s, leads everyone on this list with 10 championships as a player. Jordan and Abdul-Jabbar have a half dozen each. Certainly James would be happy to win it all just once. Getting that Ring is the one achievement that James desperately needs if he is to truly be among the greatest to ever play the game.

He might actually be able to get that done this year. He scored 35 against the Boston, one of the best defenses in the league, to give his Cavaliers the 1-0 edge in their Best-4-out of-7 second round series. He did it in spite of an injured elbow that supposedly would keep him from being dominating. “The elbow is just fine, thank you,” declared Celtics head coach Glenn “Doc” Rivers, with just a hint of irony and sarcasm in the post-Game 1 media availability session. Even the Boston players on hand had to laugh at that one.

James also has arguably the best Cleveland team he’s ever had this year. Yet another Maurice Podoloff trophy owner was brought in during the off-season to shore up the middle, 7-foot-1 mastodon Shaquille O’Neal. O’Neal might be averaging career lows across the board this season, but with James for a teammate he does not need to be the main man. Instead he is focusing on controlling the defensive boards, altering or blocking a couple shots, and basically providing the fear factor for opposing teams. He very nearly broke hotshot Celtics guard Rajon Rondo in half in that Game 1 win with a typically hard playoffs-level foul. “I’m here to help the King get his Ring, and I always aim to please,” said the ever-witty giant in one preseason interview. “We can get it done, we will get it done.”

Antawn Jamison, another all-star, was also brought aboard to provide some additional offense and off-side rebounding, and as expected 7-foot-3 Zydrunas “Z” Ilgauskas has returned to Cleveland in time to make a major push for the title. Anderson Varejao, the versatile Brazilian big man, heady pointguard Maurice “Mo” Williams, power-leaping utility forward Jamario Moon, and deluxe combo-guard Delonte West, are all coming together to try and give James his title. “I couldn’t have won this (the Podoloff trophy) if it wasn’t for these guys,” James declared during the MVP awarding ceremonies held in his old Akron stomping grounds.

This second round series against the Celtics promises to be the first truly huge test for James, not just in terms of being a basketball player, but also being a leader for the Cavaliers. This series and its outcome will test whether or not James really is the most valuable player in the league. Even after a Game 1 loss, the Boston Celtics are still pretty much a veteran team with tons of pride. They have wall-to-wall all stars themselves in Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Rey Allen, Rasheed Wallace and Rondo. They have enough utility players who accept and understand their roles like center Kendrick Perkins and Glenn “Big Baby” Davis. This is a tough team that can easily turn this series around and ruin James’ title plans.

And of course, James has not yet fully disclosed what his plans are for the future. Everybody and his brother in the great state of Ohio would love to see James play for the Cavaliers until the day he retires, but James has kept his cards close to his chest on that score. “Wherever else I might be you can never take me out of this city (Akron),” he said during his awarding. Those are the types of statements you never want to hear if you are a Cavaliers fan, more so if you are Danny Ferry, the GM. Cleveland management has assembled a heck of a team for James this year, but if they want their MVP to stay here and win a few more MVP awards, and maybe a couple of NBA titles to go with those, they also need to look further into the future, perhaps bring in another young talent to ensure that James keeps winning in Cleveland.

For now the King is clearly savoring the moment, soaking in the love and the adulation of his court and his subjects, and he might just win his first NBA championship this year. But the future is more important, a future of titles and cementing a legacy of greatness, and as much as he wants to stay in Cleveland, that is not yet a sure thing. Until he does what the other back-to-back MVP winners have done, until he gets his championship, the uncertainty looms heavily over all of Ohio. Only one thing can erase the doubt: The King needs to win the Ring.