Cleveland Cavaliers: Should Kyrie Irving Sit Out Because Of Injury?

After fighting through injury for two games, should the Cleveland Cavaliers continue to play Kyrie Irving or should they sit him?

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Even when Kyrie Irving has been on the court in the last two games for the Cleveland Cavaliers, it doesn’t even feel like he’s even out there.

That’s how bad it’s gotten as the 23-year-old point guard tries to battle through a foot strain. Irving re-aggrevated the injury in Game 3 against the Chicago Bulls. An injury he says he originally hurt in the Cavs’ first round series against the Boston Celtics.

During the last two games — since Irving re-injured his foot — he’s only averaging 11.5 points, one assist and four rebounds on 22 percent shooting (5-23) from the field. The Cavs are 1-1 in those two games.

His shot chart during the two games in Chicago was pretty bloody. Though, perhaps the most telling stat since the injury is that Irving is 0-10 from inside the restricted area — meaning that his explosiveness and ability to finish at the rim against bigger opponents is gone. And that’s kind of a problem when Cleveland’s offense is predicated on dribble-drive penetration.

Thus, leaving LeBron James to almost have to do everything himself — distribute, score and play defense. That’s probably something he didn’t envision when he left Miami for Cleveland last summer, but that’s a different topic for a different day.

Question is, considering this information, should Kyrie Irving even be out on the court if he isn’t going to be effective?

That’s the exact question that he recently asked his teammates, too.

"[via Cleveland Plain Dealer]“I asked them if they still wanted me out there,” said Irving.…For me it’s just about the mental toughness and just willing myself and counting down the minutes and getting the stops that we need,” Irving said. “That’s a great team over there so you have to pick and choose your spots, especially on the offensive end.“They corralled me to the sideline knowing I can’t really escape it or anything like that. I just tried to use the pass and space out and use myself as a decoy the best I can. That’s the best thing I can do. If I get an open look I’m still going to shoot it. Those guys still trust me and still want me out there.”"

His teammates answered with a resounding yes, as you would expect. But if Irving is going to be playing 40 minutes a night on a bum foot, which happens to be the case over the last two games, wouldn’t you expect for his one remaining strength to be utilized?

For some reason, it’s not.

Despite the lack of explosiveness that he’s shown in the last two games, Irving can still shoot pretty soundly. He’s 3-6 from 3 since the injury. By my count, 50 percent from 3 is not bad.

If he’s not going to be utilized as essentially a three-point shooting specialist, why in fact would Irving actually be on the court?

Taking it a step further, while Irving was on the court in the Cavs’ Game 3 loss, he had a team-worst minus-8. Sunday, in Game 4, he — like most of the other team’s starters — finished with a plus-7.

Essentially, Irving doesn’t really have much an impact on his team one way or another with the injury. If the Cavs are going to win, his presence on the court doesn’t make them any worse, it seems.

The biggest liability that he portrays is probably on his own team’s offensive end, not on the defensive end, when LeBron is forced to bring the ball up while being guarded by Jimmy Butler.

Though, if you’re the Cleveland Cavaliers, where the margin for error is small, you’d have to think about cutting Irving’s minutes. Perhaps it may in fact bring up his effectiveness. At the same time, some time off the foot might actually help the healing process.

The Cleveland Cavaliers may have the best two players in this series when Kyrie Irving is healthy, but that certainly hasn’t been the case over the past two games.

With the injury, should Kyrie Irving be playing 40 minutes a game, though?

Next: How the Chicago Bulls managed to lose the series against CLE in one game