That would be 12-30-84, LeBron James' birthday.

At 24, he's more than the best player in the league (not to mention, the rightful MVP). He's a new kind of player, an archetype never before seen. And his physical dimensions — 6-foot-8, about 270 pounds — might be the least of it. LeBron James is blessed with a preternaturally wise basketball sense. What's more, he has what so many pro athletes come to lack, people skills. Something about LeBron James makes his teammates want to be better than they are.

Consider the league's second-best player, Kobe Bryant. A couple of years ago, Bryant became famously frustrated with a rookie named Andrew Bynum. He went so far as to vent his frustrations to a guy with a cell-phone video camera. Bryant was 29, a veteran of 11 seasons.

Now contrast that episode to James, already playing for a team without much firepower when he lost his shooting guard, Delonte West, to depression.

"Whatever you've got to do, I want you to know that we'll be right here, waiting for you," James, then 23, told him.

West shot 5-for-8 with five assists in Cleveland's playoff opener on Saturday. Judging from Cavs' 18-point victory, their 66 regular-season wins, and the injury to Kevin Garnett, they shouldn't have much difficulty getting to the Finals. It would be James' second such trip in the last three seasons, and again, it got me searching for some comparison.