Shouldn't preparation for your 15th NBA season be a grind?

Not if you're the Association's resident cyborg, LeBron James, apparently.

"He seems younger," Cleveland Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue observed at media day. "I call him 'Benjamin Button.' He seems younger, he just seems happier with the game right now, just having fun. Enjoying the game. Hopefully it carries on for 82 games and into the playoffs."

James credits his kids and his fans for that. But might there be another motivating factor—or quite a few—behind this?

How about the fact that despite wearing the label of the world's best player for a good decade, he's more than four years removed from his last MVP award? Or that adding a fifth to his collection would tie him with that ghost from Chicago he's been chasing?

Perhaps it's the possibility this could be James' final campaign with the Cavaliers. Or that he's buoyed by the arrival of banana-boat buddy Dwyane Wade on Thursday, as reported by ESPN.com's Adrian Wojnarowski, and spurred by former sidekick Kyrie Irving's request for and receiving of his ticket out of town.

It's probably all of the above, plus his ticking biological clock and several other factors. Either way, it would be foolish to dismiss the 32-year-old's chances of reclaiming the hardware in 2017-18, especially when this five-step blueprint could deliver it.

Organize the Roster Behind Him

You'd think after three straight Finals trips Cleveland's training camps would have the mechanical familiarity of a bike ride. But these Cavs are different—definitely in personnel, probably in playing style too.

The roster has been reworked to the point name tags and icebreakers might both be required. Eight players with guaranteed contracts weren't on last season's squad. Five others who logged 2017 playoff minutes for them aren't around anymore, including Irving, their regular-season usage leader.

And that's just what has taken place so far.

Sources told The Vertical's Shams Charania that Cleveland was still "actively" shopping Iman Shumpert in late August. Kevin Love's name has bounced around the rumor mill so often it feels like "Groundhog's Day" at this point, he said at media day. And the Cavs could always use the Brooklyn Nets' 2018 first-rounder to facilitate a blockbuster deal.

The movement alone is dizzying, and that's before trying to fit the puzzle pieces together. The uncertainty of Isaiah Thomas' health, the attempt to elevate Love into the second scoring slot and the potential spacing issues attached to Wade and Derrick Rose—only a brilliant basketball mind could sort this all out.

But imagine all the MVP bonus points James would receive if he gets everyone in line behind him. This could be the deepest roster he's had in Cleveland, but his challenge is to make it appear the most cohesive as well.

Quarterback a Top-4 Offense

Yes, the Cavs have had top-four offensive efficiency rankings each of the past three seasons. No, pulling off the feat a fourth time would not be maintaining status quo.

Not when James is working without Irving, who emerged as the ultimate bail-out option. Uncle Drew had the best scoring rate (1.12 points per possession) of anyone who averaged at least 2.5 isolations per game last season. Not to mention, he shattered his previous career-high total in points (25.2) while flirting with a 50/40/90 slash (47.3/40.1/90.5).

Based on last season's numbers, Thomas looks like a reasonable facsimile. He was an All-NBA second-teamer, after all, thanks to personal bests in points (28.9), field-goal shooting and player efficiency rating (26.5). But he gets more of his offense off others' assists than Irving did, which could prove problematic as Thomas moves from a top-five passing offense to a bottom-five one.

And all of this assumes Thomas is healthy, which the Cavs admit he won't be for months.

"Based on his progress thus far, and after several weeks of evaluation and monitoring with the Cavaliers medical team and Cleveland Clinic Sports Health, the team and Thomas are hopeful he will be in position to return by January," the team announced Monday.

These Cavs have more ball-dominant guards and inside-the-arc scorers. Spacing could be an issue, especially if Love spends more time at the elbows than the perimeter. Oh, and the margin for error to qualify as a top-four offense has been thinned by the Western Conference's weapons race.

Since Cleveland won't help James' MVP case at the defensive end, it needs enough offensive domination to make up the difference.

Post a 30-Plus PER

James last brought home the Maurice Podoloff Trophy in 2013, so if voter fatigue were an issue, it shouldn't be anymore.

But the King has always had a bigger problem—his own superhuman standard of excellence.

"[James is] setting his bar so high that I think people are just used to looking at it," Shumpert said in May, per Chris Fedor of cleveland.com. "They're used to seeing 30, eight and eight and three steals and two blocks. ... It's Bron's fault. He did it to himself. You wanna be great all the damn time then we're not going to vote you for MVP."

James has made greatness the expectation, so we demand more. If he's not historically amazing, then he's not the MVP.

That might sound like an absurd rule, but it's long been established. James has only won the MVP award when he's had a PER of 30.7 or better. For context, only four other players have ever reached that threshold: Michael Jordan (four times), Wilt Chamberlain (three), Stephen Curry (once) and Anthony Davis (once).

Leading the Association in PER isn't enough, by the way. It wasn't in 2007-08, when James (29.1) finished fourth and Kobe Bryant (24.2) took the crown. And it didn't work in 2010-11, either, when Rose (23.5) swiped the hardware and James (27.3) slipped to third.

It's G.O.A.T.-like behavior or bust, unfair as that might sound. If the roster improvements around Russell Westbrook and James Harden eat into their video game-style volume numbers, James' stat sheet could monopolize the wow factor with a 30-plus PER.

Steal the Solo Spotlight

As fun as the wave of offseason movement has been, it didn't help many MVP stocks.

Westbrook pinned his win to a ridiculous individual achievement that his entire team felt. Not only did he become only the second player to ever average a triple-double, but he made those across-the-board efforts count (the Oklahoma City Thunder went 33-9 when he triple-dipped and 14-26 when he didn't).

But the 2016-17 Thunder were a mesmerizing solo act; this year's group features a symphony of stars.

Harden, last year's silver medalist, built an incredible statistical profile with nearly complete control of the offense (29.1 points, 11.2 assists and 8.1 rebounds). But his new copilot with the Houston Rockets might be even more capable behind the wheel—nine-time All-Star and four-time assists leader Chris Paul.

The Golden State Warriors added more depth behind their stars, which could make Curry and Kevin Durant look less important when it comes to the individual honor. Conversely, the San Antonio Spurs' lack of movement could improve Kawhi Leonard's numbers but still hurt his MVP chances if they slip down the standings.

Irving might build an interesting MVP case, assuming the Boston Celtics put him in the driver's seat. But he'll still have one teammate who was an All-Star last year (Gordon Hayward) and another who's been selected four times in his career (Al Horford).

Granted, James isn't on an island in Cleveland. Thomas and Love were both 2016-17 All-Stars, while Wade and Rose have 15 All-Star selections between them. But Thomas is out indefinitely, Love faces yet another offensive transition and any All-Star talk involving Wade and Rose is done in past tense.

It's possible James has the best opportunity to flood the stat sheet for an elite team, at least until Thomas returns to 100 percent.

Secure East's No. 1 Seed

Since rostering James has also meant securing a spot in the championship round for seven years running, it's hard not to coast through the 82-game marathon.

That won't stop the fans and media alike from panicking during rough patches or exaggerating any and all apparent issues. But it's fun to pretend we don't know where the story is headed, as if looking up in the standings at the Celtics last season or the Atlanta Hawks in 2014-15 stopped Cleveland from reaching its destination.

"The Cavaliers have proved repeatedly over the last three seasons that they don't need home-court advantage to win in the Eastern Conference playoffs," ESPN.com's Kevin Pelton noted.

No matter which seed Cleveland grabs—Vegas pegs it for No. 2—it still has the 6'8", 250-pound golden ticket to the Finals.

But for James to reclaim his regular-season throne, he needs the Cavs to outperform their projections. Award voters love compelling narratives, and James rallying his patchwork troops after they were left reeling by Irving's trade demand would be tough to top.

Plus, team success typically plays a large role in this decision. Since 2000-01, 12 clubs piloted by MVP winners captured their conference's top seed and just five fell short (including James' 2011-12 Miami Heat).

If the Cavs can check off this box, James should have the combination of stats, success and storylines needed to return the MVP to Northeast Ohio.

Unless otherwise indicated, all stats from Basketball Reference or NBA.com.

Zach Buckley covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @ZachBuckleyNBA.