Kyrie Irving to be back this Thursday (Thunder) or Sunday (Philly)

[RidonKs]

please let it be thurs...

[Straight_Ballin]

The leader of the cavs is going to be back!

[dubeta]

Cringeworthy trolling from this 50 year old

[Gus Hemmingway]

Cringeworthy trolling from this 50 year old

[returnofthemack]

The "since he's been drafted" preface I don't believe applies much to the present. There was a time when Derrick Rose was playing 80+ games a season, too. That guy missed 6 games in his first three seasons, and virtually all were end-of-season games where he was held out because their playoff position was already set.

Now, just a few short years later, he is a shell of the guy who won an MVP. I don't think many people care much anymore that he was almost completely healthy his first three years. And I don't think his body does, either.



The last two seasons, Westbrook has played a combined 113 games to Irving's 146.

The biggest difference in how they started their careers was that Westbrook was almost immediately on contending teams and Kyrie was drafted to a team still in tank-mode for his first two seasons. The Cavs were holding him out multiple games for "contusions" (ie: bruises) in his earlier years.

Having Kyrie on the floor for 70+ games in 2012 and 2013 would have been counterproductive to the goal of getting high draft picks.

Agreed. My favorite as when the cavs annouced to the media that Kyrie was injured and going to miss a few games after a game but before Kyrie gave his post game interview. When they got to the interview the reporter asked Kyrie about the injury and it was pretty clear by his response that he Kyrie hadn't been informed of his injury yet. lol.

[2swift4u]

Just wanna see Kyrie back on the court. He's one of the most entertaining guys to watch in the NBA.

[RedBlackAttack]

Agreed. My favorite as when the cavs annouced to the media that Kyrie was injured and going to miss a few games after a game but before Kyrie gave his post game interview. When they got to the interview the reporter asked Kyrie about the injury and it was pretty clear by his response that he Kyrie hadn't been informed of his injury yet. lol.

Haha. I had forgotten about that one but I do recall that incident since you brought it up.

There were some contentious moments between Kyrie and his family, and the Cavs organization because they felt he was being held out specifically for tanking purposes (and he was). In retrospect, it was the correct move for the team, but it is funny now listening to people carry on about how much he was "injured" early in his career. One or two of those incidents were true injuries that would keep him off the court on this team... when he broke his hand in the preseason a few years ago and a shoulder issue in 2013.

That was pretty much the extent of it.

[Meticode]

Having Kyrie on the floor for 70+ games in 2012 and 2013 would have been counterproductive to the goal of getting high draft picks.

And now this year Westbrook is on his way to playing 70+ games and Irving is on his way to a sub 60 game season already missing a quarter of the season due to injury.

[34-24 Footwork]

Kyrie is easily the smoothest aesthetically pleasing player to watch in the NBA by far. Although Curry has his moments, Kyries' ability to counter anything the defender does it crazy...

[RedBlackAttack]

And now this year Westbrook is on his way to playing 70+ games and Irving is on his way to a sub 60 game season already missing a quarter of the season due to injury.

So... you're assuming WB is going to be injury-free this season? Unlikely given recent history.

If it holds, it will mark the first time in three years Russ has played more games.

[LBJMVP]

was hoping he was gonna come back against the knicks next wednesday because I'm gonna be at the game and it would have been sweet to go to his first game back. hopefully with a game or two under his belt he will be in better game shape and I get to see him go off though.