Kyrie to Durant ...

[Openheimer]

Harden got injured in a game Kyrie played in. he got re-injured in a game kyrie played in. Harden averaged over 38 minutes per game in the 7 games KD/Kyrie/Harden were together.

Harden getting big minutes has nothing to do with kyrie missing games.

So Harden’s injury and re-injury didn’t have anything to do with the extended usage before Kyrie came back?

And 38 minutes with big 3 all in the game is the same as 38 minutes when you have to carry the entire team by yourself?

Stupid is fine. But don’t go FULL stupid.

Hardens played these minutes with this type of usage the last few years he was at the Rockets. Really, what's changed?

We have the best team in the league at Full strength. The only objective that matters is to get to postseason healthy and I will never blame anyone, not the coaching staff and not the players if they give Kyrie and KD some extra days off.

I mean KD is coming off an Achilles injury. An injury that finished the great Kobe Bryant, we should be handling KD with kiddy gloves this season as it's the only prudent thing to do.

And Kyrie has 1 less ring because they made him play with a hurt knee in 2015 which ended up costing them the finals when he fractured it.

We need these guys for the finals. Not a Twolves game in April in an already shortened season with a crazy schedule. If we expect 7/11 to play every game in this sort of condensed season I would say that is going FULL STUPID...

Harden is a 31 year old player with more mileage and wear and tear then 99 percent of the league.He isn’t that young buck he was a few years ago . Soft tissue injuries at over 30 are common for athletes

[sashaturiaf]

I think once the playoffs start. We will all look back at these discussions and see how pointless they were. How you personally feel about a guy taking personal days off pales in importance compared to the road to the championship. You think Harden who is starving for a championship is going to let Kyrie jeopardise it for personal reasons? No chance in hell

Playoff basketball is different, and it's all that matters for this team. In the meantime I fully trust our medical staff and coaches to make sure everybody is in the best possible place mentally and physically once the games that matter start.


Look at the Laker role players, that time without AD and LeBron had made them more a more confident and cohesive unit. These guys are all NBA players they can all play. Outside of the big 3 the team doesn't have a whole lot of championship level experience, I'd rather put them through some adversity now and figure it out than have them crap the bed in the conferences finals. And that goes for Nash and the coaches too..

[GTR11]

I think once the playoffs start. We will all look back at these discussions and see how pointless they were. How you personally feel about a guy taking personal days off pales in importance compared to the road to the championship. You think Harden who is starving for a championship is going to let Kyrie jeopardise it for personal reasons? No chance in hell

Playoff basketball is different, and it's all that matters for this team. In the meantime I fully trust our medical staff and coaches to make sure everybody is in the best possible place mentally and physically once the games that matter start.


Look at the Laker role players, that time without AD and LeBron had made them more a more confident and cohesive unit. These guys are all NBA players they can all play. Outside of the big 3 the team doesn't have a whole lot of championship level experience, I'd rather put them through some adversity now and figure it out than have them crap the bed in the conferences finals. And that goes for Nash and the coaches too..

How you set your bed is always important, process is what make us who we are. If some choose to have selective memory than I'm just feel sorry for them.

[ecuhus1981]

Like so many of your takes, GTR11, I *think* I agree with you. I can't always tell for certain your exact POV.

I always say, everyone wants to win on game day. Champs build those winning habits by working smarter and harder together than everyone else, while runners-up rest on their laurels.

Injuries happen, we can't help any of Kevin's or James' absences. Kyrie's missed time feels different. It's tougher for me to believe we're as locked in and committed as we need to be, when Irving had been an (at least physically) healthy scratch so often.

[MrDollarBills]

^
To MDB's and WS' somewhat conflicting points of view, I see both of your positions.

I don't think anyone on this board feels that Kyrie should play all 72, previous health risks be darned. No one here has a problem with maintenance days for physical recuperation. It's a packed schedule, and our Big 3 are not spring chickens anymore.

Some folks here seem to have a problem with maintenance days for mental recuperation, and I wouldn't even lump myself into that camp. All I'm saying is, when does it stop? If Nash puts a cap on it now, will that prevent Kyrie from missing games in the postseason? I'm all for physical, mental and spiritual wellness. There's a point of diminishing returns there, and an opportunity cost that impacts the rest of a team to whom you are supposed to be committed to cooperating.

My other problem is, I know things come up unexpectedly in everyone's lives. But the main job of a 3rd wheel is to pick up the slack when one of the two bigger superstars needs a rest. Kyrie has been even less accountable when we need him most. Maybe it doesn't bother KD or James, maybe I'm projecting my frustration onto them you'll say. Possible. I still feel that the team needs to find out whether they can rely on him going forward, and we can't walk on eggshells or treat him with kids gloves about it. If he can't commit to the daily drudgery, then we don't need him taking 20 shots a night when the lights are brightest.

My thing is, outside of speculation, no one really has a definitive answer as to why Irving is taking personal days. The consensus seems to be surrounding his fiancée and a newborn child. We don't know what's going on, but those two speculated reasons alone are enough for me to say everyone needs to mind their own business and let things play out.

What if there are health complications going on with the mother and child that we aren't privy to as to where Irving doesn't want to be too far away right now (hence why he hasn't gone on road games far from the area)? If there is, then your stance, and Slick's stance, is really out of bounds and it's putting basketball before human lives. We just don't know what's going on, nor is it our business, but the team is fine with giving personal time to attend to a family matter so I think we need to leave it at that before condemning him without any facts.

[ecuhus1981]

I keep saying one thing, and you keep reading another. I am not judging him, and we have no idea the exact nature of his absences. We don't need to know any of that information, to know that a championship team loses structural integrity when so many key players miss so many games.

[Prokorov]

My other problem is, I know things come up unexpectedly in everyone's lives. But the main job of a 3rd wheel is to pick up the slack when one of the two bigger superstars needs a rest. Kyrie has been even less accountable when we need him most. Maybe it doesn't bother KD or James, maybe I'm projecting my frustration onto them you'll say. Possible. I still feel that the team needs to find out whether they can rely on him going forward, and we can't walk on eggshells or treat him with kids gloves about it. If he can't commit to the daily drudgery, then we don't need him taking 20 shots a night when the lights are brightest.

Exactly.

When 2 of the BIG 3 are down with injuries, that's when the only healthy one is needed most of all, but that's exactly when Kyrie took the opposite approach and became even less dependable. Not as a player, but that he would even show up to play. At this point, when the other BIG 2 are down, we don't even know if the healthy one is showing up from one day to the next?

That makes it even more infuriating, or at least disappointing.

Even if KD and Harden are cool with it, I, as a fan, am not.

If I can use a combat analogy, it's like leaving your wounded on the battlefield.

IF people think that Kyrie isnt entitled to miss time for family reasons, excused by the team, and supported by his teammates that on them.

If people think that kyrie doesnt have the right to miss time because of his kid, thats on them. State, federal laws and the NBA all entitle him that time.

If people cant handle that because they work for some awful people who break the law or for some deadend job that isnt kyries problem.

The team doesnt need to walk on eggshells or treat him with kidd gloves. marks and his staff does a great job creating an open culture.

Kyrie is the reason we even have a superteam to begin with

[ecuhus1981]

^
None of that means anything when it's time to close ranks.

[Prokorov]

^
None of that means anything when it's time to close ranks.

All of it matters.

[ecuhus1981]

No it doesn't, and I'll bet you need the last word.