The Cleveland Cavaliers championship hopes last season took a major hit when Kyrie Irving went down at the end of game one with a fractured kneecap. At the time, the projected timetable for Irving's return was about four months which would have put him on track to return at the beginning of the season. Now it is being reported that Irving is going to take a slow approach to his return, and he may not play in NBA games until January, according to Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group.
Irving has said all along that he didn't want to put a date on when he would return from the injury, but a January return would be almost double the initial timetable. The Cavaliers have a talented enough roster to be able to withstand the loss of a superstar like Irving for a few months and allow him to get fully healthy before he returns to the court.
The Cavaliers will go into this season more concerned with being healthy for the stretch run than their standing in the Eastern Conference, but they still have LeBron James and Kevin Long among other very talented players, so they should still win their fair share of games. If Irving were to sit out until January, newly signed Mo Williams will likely take over the starting point guard spot with Matthew Dellavedova as his backup.
Irving is coming off a season in which he was named to the All-NBA third team, and it was his third consecutive All-Star season. The former Duke Blue Devil has quickly emerged as one of the top point guards in the league and last season, he averaged 21.5 points and 5.1 assists per game while making a career high 42 percent of his three point attempts.
Irving is an enormous part of the Cavaliers push for a championship next season, but they will still be a surefire playoff team without him for the first few months of the season. If Irving were to sit out for the first few months, the Cavs will likely be able to withstand it and getting a fully healthy Irving back for the stretch run, and the playoffs will be huge as they look to finish the job this season.
