NBA's best team has only one more All-Star than Knicks

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio - LeBron James is "hands down" the NBA's most valuable player for a second straight season, according to his coach, Mike Brown. But there doesn't appear to be a lot of value in the rest of the Cavaliers, who take the best record in the NBA (40-11) into Saturday night's game against the Knicks at Quicken Loans Arena.

After practice here Friday, Brown said, "I don't know how you can make a case for anybody else" to win the MVP this season because James, who is averaging 29.4 points, 8.2 assists and 7.1 rebounds per game, "is playing at an exceptional level right now."

Although James always seems to get his due, what annoys Brown is that the rest of the team isn't getting nearly enough respect. Consider that the Cavaliers are sending only one representative to All-Star Weekend in Dallas next week.

The Celtics have three players in the All-Star Game. The Lakers and Hawks have two each. The Cavs have James, which means they currently have one more All-Star than the Knicks do.

What annoyed Brown just as much as the snubbing of Mo Williams as a reserve - he also blamed himself for Shaquille O'Neal's failure to make the All-Star team, saying he held Shaq back earlier in the season - is that impressive second-year forward J.J. Hickson didn't get an invite to the Rookie Challenge Game and Daniel Gibson, who ranks second in the NBA in three-point percentage, wasn't asked to participate in the Three-Point Shootout.

Given that they have the best record in the NBA, the Cavs aren't going to have much of a presence at the NBA's midseason showcase.

And that will be a key element in the fevered recruiting process come July 1, when James will become a free agent. The Knicks - who are owned by Cablevision, which also owns Newsday - hope to convince him that he could have just as strong a supporting cast in New York, with a young core of Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler and possibly David Lee as key pieces. There also will be salary-cap space to add other pieces via signings and trades in 2010 and 2011, the latter when there will be an additional $18 million available.

James recently made it clear that he no longer wants to address the topic of free agency or anything involving the summer. He has made himself less available to the media in recent weeks, including Friday.

Brown took umbrage with the notion - most of which emanates from New York - that if James were removed from the lineup, the Cavs wouldn't be a playoff team. It was something Ron Artest (a New York native, mind you) said Jan. 22 when the Lakers came to the Garden a day after losing to the Cavs.

"Yeah, everybody is entitled to their opinion, and I'm OK with that," Brown said. "But yeah, we have some good players on this team. We have some good players who helped LeBron be who he is. He is a great player, possibly the greatest to ever play, but again, his teammates have contributed to it."