Kyrie Irving's injuries should worry Cleveland Cavaliers: Bill Livingston

Is Kyrie Irving injury-prone? Even granted that his Summer League injury was a fluke, even given the Cavaliers’ denial of that premise, there is ample reason for concern.

Danny Johnston, Associated PressCan Kyrie Irving avoid injury and stay on the court?

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- If you saw the tape of Kyrie Irving spinning through the U.S. Olympic team's defenders, baffling one and all, you know what a major talent the Cavaliers have on their hands.

The Cavs, however, face another bad break with injuries after Irving apparently went Nick Hagadone on a padded wall in a team scrimmage, following the young point guard's spectacular efforts against the Olympians in Las Vegas. Irving has a broken right (dominant) hand, on which surgery was performed Wednesday, which the Cavs called "successful," adding they expect him to be ready for training camp. They might have an injury-prone prodigy.

Even if the summer injury was a freak one, it took away time for Irving and the fourth overall pick in this year's NBA Draft, Dion Waiters, to play together in the NBA Summer League.

It was probably better for Irving's burgeoning confidence that he played with the USA Select Team against the Olympians anyway. The media buzz that created led to widespread predictions that the 2011-12 Rookie of the Year will be the NBA's next big star. Irving was all set to play Kobe Bryant one-on-one in a game for $50,000, to be donated by the winner to charity, before the injury.

With Irving, Waiters would almost surely be having a smoother transition in the backcourt. The shooting guard of the future, the player coach Byron Scott called the second-best in the draft behind shot-predator Anthony Davis -- Waiters is shooting 12-for-40 from the field and one-for-six from the three-point arc in his first three Summer League games.

An ecstatic Scott compared Waiters to the Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade for Waiters' fearlessness in penetrating the lane. Right now, because of the brittleness factor, that analogy seems to fit Irving better.

Wade has played nine NBA seasons. The wear and tear of attacking the basket so often for so long with a relatively slight, or at least non-LeBronian, frame is showing on him.

As for Irving, he is only 20 years old. But with his spinning and crossovers, he gets to the rim more often than a free throw by Chris Dudley. Punishing fouls await at the rim in attempts to discourage such plays.

Perhaps significantly, Irving has proven fragile before. He played only 11 games in his only season at Duke after suffering a toe injury. He returned in time to play well in the NCAA Tournament and allay doubts about the toe.

Irving missed three games after he banged his head against the knee of Wade in a fall during a game against the Heat last season. He missed a total of 10 more games after spraining his right shoulder in a collision with Milwaukee's Ergan Ilyasova. Irving said it was the same shoulder he had injured as a sophomore in high school. He did not play in 15 of 66 games overall, two of them by coach's decision, and was on the inactive list twice.

It doesn't mean Irving is going to prove fragile throughout his career. Zydrunas Ilgauskas' career appeared to be over because of recurring foot problems. Then a medical miracle restored him to the lineup, and he became the franchise's all-time leader in games played. Still, this is not an event with Irving, it's a trend.

Nor does it mean that Waiters will continue to shoot 30 percent overall (and 16.7 percent from the arc). As Mike Hargrove used to say when he managed the Indians, it's a concern, not a worry.

Irving has shown far more for the Cavs than the Browns got for Montario Hardesty, whom they picked in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft despite his injury history in college. Hardesty missed all of the 2010 NFL season with a torn ACL. But wishful thinking about injured players by the local franchises can create its own set of problems. See the Indians' gamble on Grady Sizemore for this season.

By the way, despite Irving's edge in quickness and youth, it was hard to see him countering Bryant's size and experience in that proposed one-on-one game. An NBA axiom is to go with the good big man over the good little man. In this case, the latter can only have a hot hand if he has a mended one.

To reach Bill Livingston: blivingston@plaind.com, 216-999-4672 Twitter: @LivyPD

Source: http://www.cleveland.com/livingston/index.ssf/2012/07/kyrie_irvings_injuries_should.html

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