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Kyrie Irving has finally started practicing in 5-on-5 drills after fracturing his kneecap in last year’s playoffs, and he should be back on the court pretty soon if all goes well in the next few weeks. LeBron James clearly needs his point guard’s help, because the Cleveland Cavaliers recently dropped an overtime thriller to the New Orleans Pelicans followed by a less exciting loss to the Miami Heat with James on the bench. The Cavaliers probably can’t get past the Eastern Conference Finals without their point guard, but hopefully he will have better injury luck than he has ever had during his career.
That is why the Cavaliers have handled the situation in the way that they have. Irving has not had much good fortune concerning injuries going back to his college days, and who knows how many more seasons James has left at an MVP level. He obviously wouldn’t win that award if the season ended today, because Stephen Curry is like an alien from another planet right now with the way he’s playing on the court. The Irving-Curry matchup would have been so much fun to watch in the NBA Finals last year, and ideally the fans of the league will get to see that duel in a full series rather than just for one game.
Irving changes the dynamic of the Cavs for a couple reasons. Firstly, he can take over the offense for stretches and allow James the precious time to rest on the bench for a bit. This will be crucial to extending LeBron’s career, because he now has so many miles on his odometer that a falloff will be coming in the next few seasons. How soon that happens remains to be seen, and it will largely be decided by Irving’s ability to stay on the hardwood. The second most important part of Kyrie’s presence is that it allows James to play off the ball and run the floor. This creates mismatches against the defense, because there is really nobody in the league who can guard LeBron in the open court.
Basically, once Irving returns, the Cavs will swiftly take control of the conference again, and if he stays healthy they could even win the whole thing.
Dave Daniels is a Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on twitter: @AllDave_AllDay, like him on Facebook here or add him to your network on Google.
