Cavliers rookie starlet Kyrie Irving was evaluated Thursday at the Cleveland Clinic by Dr. Rick Figler.

With the new head injury policy in place by the league, Irving will be guaranteed to be slowed into returning to play. Concussions are notoriously hard to pinpoint a return timetable on so we'll have to follow this one closely to see when he plays again.

A good part about the process is that a league hired neurologist must pass the player in a series of tests before he can participate again. The process will definitely take a couple days so expect Irving to miss a bit more action.

The incident where Irving injured himself was when he crashed into Heat forward Chris Bosh and then fell and nailed his head on Dwyane Wade's knee.

For the season Irving is 18 points for the 10-14 Cavaliers.

The NBA announced the reserves for the 2012 All Star Game on Thursday night. Cavaliers fans will be disappointed to find out that both Kyrie Irving and Anderson Varejao were left off of the team.

Varejao leads the NBA in offensive rebounding and is averaging 11 points and 11.8 rebounds per game.

Kyrie Irving is 8th in the East in PER at 21.66 and is averaging 18 points and 5.1 assists per game on 49/41/83 shooting.

Here's the full list of players that were selected as all star reserves:

The Eastern Conference reserves:

Miami Heat forward Chris Bosh

Atlanta Hawks guard Joe Johnson

Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert

Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce

New Jersey Nets guard Deron Williams

Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng

Philadelphia 76ers forward Andre Iguodala.

(h/t CBS Sports)

Other snubs around the Eastern conference include Brandon Jennings, Rajon Rondo, Greg Monroe, and Josh Smith.

There's no question that Cleveland Cavaliers rookie point guard Kyrie Irving would be named to the 2012 NBA Rising Stars roster. Fortunately for the Cavs, teammate Tristan Thompson will be attending as well as one of nine first-year players selected by NBA assistant coaches to participate in this All-Star event.

In the past, the game featured the NBA's top rookie and sophomores going head-to-head but this year the league is changing things up. The selected players will be in a pool and then "drafted" in playground fashion by "general managers" Shaquille O'Neal and Charles Barkley.

TNT's Kenny Smith will serve as the honorary Commissioner and Ernie Johnson will host the live Rising Stars Challenge Draft on Thursday, Feb. 16, on NBA TV at 7 p.m. ET. The game itself will be televised live nationally on TNT at 9 p.m. ET.

For more on the stats that earned Irving and Thompson their first trip to an NBA All-Star event, see the press release on the Cavaliers web site. The full Rising Stars roster is available after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

It should come as no surprise to Cleveland Cavaliers' fans that Kyrie Irving was named NBA Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for January. Irving earned the honor for the first month of the NBA season by leading all his rookie classmates with 18.1 points per game.

Irving, the first overall pick from the 2011 NBA Draft class, averaged 4.9 assists per game and had a stellar field goal percentage of .511. In addition to leading his fellow first-year players, Irving is the fourth-ranked point guard in the entire NBA with a PER of 22.68. That trails only Chris Paul, Derrick Rose, and Russel Westbrook.

Highlights of Irving's first month as a pro include:

Jan. 12 @ Phoenix: Registered 26 points, three rebounds, six assists and two steals in a 101-90 win over the Suns.
Jan. 16 @ Charlotte: Tallied 25 points, four rebounds and a season-high seven assists in a 102-94 victory over the Bobcats.
Jan. 27 vs. New Jersey: Scored a season-high 32 points, in addition to six rebounds, two assists and two steals in a 99-96 loss to the Nets.
Jan. 29 @ Boston: Posted 23 points, four rebounds and six assists in an 88-87 victory over the Celtics.

Ricky Rubio from the Minnesota Timberwolves won the Rookie of the Month award for the Western Conference.

The Cleveland Cavaliers will be without a viable shooting guard on Tuesday against the Boston Celtics.

Anthony Parker was injured during the 2nd quarter of Sunday's 88-87 win in Boston and was unable to return with back spasms. Daniel Gibson sat out Sunday's game with a stiff neck and stayed over night in Boston to have additional tests on his neck. Neither guard will be able to play in Tuesday's game which means that you (yes, you) may have a chance to be the starting shooting guard for the Cavaliers!

Seriously though, if I had to guess, I'd say that Mychel Thompson will be the starter. If not Thompson, it will be Alonzo Gee. Or Byron Scott could use my idea and just pick a random fan from the crowd.

Here's your daily reminder that Kyrie Irving is a total boss.

@PDCavsInsider:

Irving over his game-winner for Cavs vs. Celtics on Sunday. "It's time to move on.''

Yeah, spinning through the lane for the lefty layup game winner in Boston -- no big deal. Nothing to see here, carry on.

Saturday night my hometown Dakota Wizards had a fan appreciation night in their D-League game against the Iowa Energy. Everybody could get a general admission ticket for free. Being as I was home for the weekend and hadn't been to a Wizards game in years because of their high tickets prices I decided to head out to the game to watch some hoops and relax at the Bismarck Civic Center.

Sometime during the second quarter I was looking at the Wizards roster and realized that their lead assistant coach was none other than the Cavaliers 1996 first round pick, Vitaly Potapenko.

Potapenko was hired by the Dakota Wizards in September after a stint with the Indiana Pacers last winter. He helped both Jim O'Brien and Frank Vogel guide the Pacers to a playoff berth where they ultimately lost to the Chicago Bulls.

Continue reading this post »

Big Z is coming back to Cleveland! The Cavaliers decided that a year away from the organization was too long for Zydrunas Ilgauskas when they announced that the former Cav would be joining the front office to assist GM Chris Grant.

Here is the official announcement from the team.

Ilgauskas played for the Cavaliers for 12 years after being drafted 20th overall in the 1996 draft. As you probably know, Big Z spent last season playing for the Miami Heat in search for his first NBA championship. Unfortunately (?) he didn't get it and announced his retirement this past off-season. During his tenure with the Cavaliers, Z was perhaps the most beloved player on the roster and his love for Cleveland was apparent.

By joining the front office of the organization, Ilgauskas will likely be responsible for assisting in the scouting and evaluation of potential prospects, especially international players. I'm not so sure about Z's experience in running a franchise but he spent a very long time in the NBA and certainly has a firm grasp on the workings of an NBA team.

Ultimately, I'm not sure if this is much more than some good PR for Dan Gilbert and the Cavs, but either way, I'm glad that Big Z is back. He was nothing but class while playing for the Cavs and even when he left after the 2009-10 season, he took a full page ad in the Plain Dealer to thank his fans in Ohio (this cannot be said about every player that left in free agency that year).

On the behalf of Fear The Sword and Cleveland Cavaliers fans everywhere, welcome back Big Z!

The NBA changed the look of its website just after the NBA Lockout became official just after midnight tonight.  They issued a press release that you can read over at SBN-Cleveland.  They also released a handy FAQ on what exactly is going on and what the future might hold.  Feel free to print it out and keep it handy:

Q. What happens in a lockout?

A. All contact between NBA players and the teams ceases. No communication. No use of team facilities. No contracts signed. No free-agent shopping. Players still owed salary for the 2010-11 season will continue to receive payments but other benefits (insurance) are suspended.

Continue reading this post »