LeBron has arrived

He was wearing throwback jerseys long before retro was hip. He was driving a Hummer before he even held a high school diploma. He was anointed savior of the Cleveland Cavaliers, and he had not yet played in so much as his first NBA game.

To call him the chosen one may be an understatement. To lump him with Magic, Bird and Michael is more like most would have it.

Some with the Jazz try denying it, suggesting LeBron James ain't all that.

"He's another guy, another night," shooting guard Raja Bell said.

Truth be told, though, the 19-year-old visiting the Delta Center with his home-state Cavs tonight is not your run-of-the-mill rookie sensation.

Rather, the No. 1 overall selection in the 2003 NBA Draft is all that, and more.

"First of all, he's so mature," Jazz assistant coach Phil Johnson says. "I mean, he's big, and he's mature, and he's mature-sounding with his public-relations stuff."

"He's already a superstar," Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko maintains.

"I think the hype is so incredible now," fellow Jazz starter DeShawn Stevenson adds, "that . . . you have to label him like that."

Heck, even Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan — never one to buy, or feed, the hype over anyone — gushes over what it will take to guard him.

"I don't know if any(body can)," Sloan said Friday. "He's really a talented guy. We just have to do the best we can, and try to give each other help."

Help defense indeed is part of tonight's plan for the Jazz, who are well-aware that even on a 12-27 team James and his 20.2 points, 6.3 assists and 5.8 rebounds per game are cause for concern.

"He's intent. He's got his mind made up, a lot of times, to get into the paint," said Bell, who along with Stevenson is likeliest to draw responsibility for guarding the 6-foot-8, 245-pound point-forward. "When a guy is determined to get there, sometimes there's not a whole lot you can do — he's just gonna keep driving in.

"So," Bell added, "you've got to funnel him, and know that your help-side is gonna step up and make him get rid of the ball once he makes his penetration."

That alone, though, may not do the trick.

"I think the best thing I can do, or Raja, or anybody guarding him," Stevenson said, "is try to make him have tough shots."