BDL Book Review: 'LeBron James: The Making of an MVP'

"LeBron James: The Making of an MVP" starts out at something of a seriousness deficit. It's difficult to believe that a glossy, magazine-style 156-page softcover with 90 photographs eating up a hefty chunk of real estate will provide what advance materials claim is the "definitive biography" of basketball's most transcendent star. To their credit, co-authors Terry Pluto and Brian Windhorst of the Cleveland Plain Dealer (who also collaborated on 2007's "The Franchise: LeBron James and the Remaking of the Cleveland Cavaliers") do their level best to bridge the gap. Pluto (writer of the ABA bible "Loose Balls" and a columnist twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize) and Windhorst (the P-D's Cavs beat writer and one of the league's most respected reporters) draw off interviews with James' high school friends, teachers, coaches, and NBA and USA Basketball front-office personnel — as well as more than a decade of reporti...