Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue recently confirmed that the team will watch the minutes of LeBron James and Kyrie Irving this coming season as a precautionary strategy to ensure that they will be 100 percent come playoff time next year.
James, who will turn 32 in December, had been in six straight NBA Finals, something that was not done by any player in a long time. Lue and the other Cavs officials are reportedly being careful to ensure that the four-time league MVP's ludicrous minutes played season after season will not catch up to him and take its toll.
The three-time NBA champion and three-time Finals MVP is actually gunning for a seventh consecutive Finals appearance and so restricting his minutes this coming regular season is crucial for the Cavs if they want to win back-to-back titles.
Meanwhile, Irving is not with LeBron during all those years, but his history of season-ending injury issues makes it also important to watch his minutes so he can be at his best in the postseason.
Lue had recently told reporters that he had already "charted a course of action" on how to rest both players based on their schedule this coming season.
"Yeah, I've looked at the schedule," said Lue, as per Cleveland.com. "Just seeing what makes sense and what's smart when playing four-in-five type of nights. Can't run our guys into the ground. We have to be smart, understand we have to take care of our bodies and take care of our key guys. Make sure that when we get to the playoffs we're ready to go."
Bleacher Report noted that the Cavs might give James "a night off or two" during stretches when the team has to play three games in four nights as they also have "two five-in-seven stretches".
James is one of the most durable players in the NBA and had never been injury-prone, although it is interesting to note that he had never played a whole 82-game season in his entire 13-year career so far. The most he played was 81 games during the 2008-2009 season also with the Cavs.
"My thing is just making sure guys are healthy, continue to limit LeBron's minutes and he was at an all-time low last year, watch Kyrie's minutes because we know we're playing for something big," Lue said.
"We know when we get to the playoffs it's going to require a lot of minutes so with those guys and with Kevin (Love), just have to watch guys getting to the red zone," he added.
