Kyrie Irving's Health Remains Biggest X-Factor for Cleveland Cavs Next Season

One of the favorites to win the 2016 NBA championship, the Cleveland Cavaliers will certainly need a little luck, and a whole lot of healthy bodies, to capture their first title in franchise history.

Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love and Iman Shumpert all suffered serious injuries during the 2015 playoffs. Although the latter two are big difference-makers for Cleveland, the Cavs' season will largely depend on the health of Irving.

The 23-year-old point guard fractured his left kneecap while driving on Klay Thompson late in Game 1 of the Finals against the Golden State Warriors.

The original recovery time was set for three to four months, which general manager David Griffin recently updated, per Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group.

"Kyrie is rehabbing well," Griffin said. "He's in Miami. He's doing really well actually with his rehab protocol. He feels very good. He's certainly on pace right now for where we need to be."

With all the attention zeroing in on LeBron James and the rest of the Cavaliers' free agents this summer, we tend to forget just how much Irving means to the team.

In the end, his health may once again be a determining factor in the quest for a title.

Quick Adjustment

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The meshing of Irving and James was one of the biggest storylines for the Cavaliers last season.

After all, it took James and Dwyane Wade months (some would argue years) to fully click on the court. Irving was the Cavs offense for three years before James announced his return. How would he fare as a sidekick without the ball in his hands?

As it turned out, pretty darn well.

Although he was sharing shots and the spotlight, Irving's scoring actually increased alongside James and Love. Reaching 21.7 points per night, Irving's output was good for ninth overall in the NBA.

The primary reason for this was the better quality of looks. In Mike Brown's offense in 2013-14, Irving was often forced into tough isolation situations, resulting in off-balance jumpers and low-percentage shots. His 20.8 points in that season came on just 43.0 percent shooting from the field, a career low.

Open shots seem more plentiful around No. 23.

While Irving possesses one of the most beautiful handles in the league, he's perhaps even better playing off the ball. He nailed 46.6 percent of his catch-and-shoot three-pointers last season, an increase of 15 percent from the previous year, per NBA.com.

Irving proved he could not only work with James but complement the four-time MVP with his superior outside shooting in a way that Wade never did.

Irving had a career-high player efficiency rating of 21.5 alongside James, despite posting a career low in usage percentage.

While James and Wade captured two titles together, Wade's age and deteriorating body ultimately hurt their future as teammates. Although he's already a three-time All-Star, Irving won't turn 24 until March. He's also locked in for the next five years, by which time James will be 35. Irving essentially gets the last remaining years of James' prime while forming his own legacy.

Irving is exactly what the Cavaliers need next to James, and his presence (or lack thereof) has already demonstrated his importance to Cleveland's success.

The Irving Effect

While James leads the Cavaliers in nearly everything, Irving has overtaken him as an offensive threat.

He's a far better shooter and can get to the rim with an acrobatic arsenal of moves. While James fails to get a lot of contact calls because of his size and strength, Irving's stature is better suited to drawing whistles. When he does get to the line, he is shooting a cool 86.2 percent for his career.

We saw Irving absolutely explode against the Portland Trail Blazers and San Antonio Spurs, dropping 55 and 57 points, respectively. The latter mark set the franchise record, surpassing James' previous high of 56.

The Cavaliers recorded 10.3 more points per 100 possessions with Irving in games than without him last season, a greater total than Love, Shumpert and J.R. Smith combined.

We saw how poorly Cleveland played when James had to briefly rest in the Finals without Irving and Love. The Cavaliers had zero playmakers available to create offense for themselves or others.

While adding Mo Williams helps provide some insurance, he certainly does not compare to Irving.

A healthy Irving means a scoring guard who can easily handle 36 minutes per night and throw the offense on his back if necessary. With Irving in attack mode, James can play the role of distributor, setting up other shooters and looking for open big men inside.

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The Cavaliers struggled mightily without Irving in the regular season as well.

Even though Irving took part in a career-high 75 games, the Cavs sorely missed him in the other seven. Cleveland went just 1-6 without him and clearly missed the starting point guard and offensive dynamo.

As Joe Gabriele of Cavs.com states:

"

The days of Kyrie Irving surprising anyone with superstar-level production are officially over. In his four NBA seasons—and especially during this past campaign—Irving has proved that there's no stage too big, no lights too bright and no opponent (in any arena) too tough for the three-time All-Star to overcome.

"

Golden Path Ahead

Even before talking championship possibilities, Irving is turning heads with his own personal statistics.

For starters, he's the first and only player in NBA history to average at least 20 points and five assists while shooting better than 39 percent from deep over his first four seasons.

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As Gabriele notes, Irving is joining some elite company in other areas as well:

"

This year, Kyrie became one of five players in league history to average at least 18.0 points, 5.0 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game in each of his first four seasons (joining LeBron James, Oscar Robertson, Grant Hill, Steve Francis). He became the fourth-youngest player in league history to make three All-Star appearances (joining LeBron, Kobe Bryant and Isiah Thomas) and is one of five players in NBA history to reach 5,000 points and 1,000 assists before the age of 23 (along with LeBron, Kobe, Derrick Rose and Tracy McGrady). Irving's 444 three-pointers made before turning 23 are the most in league history.

"

While these names and numbers are great, Irving's legacy will ultimately come down to jewelry.

He's not the stereotypical Robin to James' Batman, because at some point, Irving will be better than James.

It may take two years. It could be five. Possibly even eight. However long it may be, however, this team will eventually become Irving's Cavaliers.

For now? He just has to stay healthy.

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While his path is laid out for a tremendous amount of individual and team success, Irving must first focus on the season ahead and finish what the Cavs came so close to accomplishing.

If he shows signs of problems with his knee and can no longer drive and explode like before, Cleveland's chances of winning its first title would drop exponentially. If he comes back at full strength and enjoys another 75-plus-game season, the Cavs should be a lock to once again win the Eastern Conference.

Irving has said how he feels the Finals would have unfolded if he and Love had been healthy and available.

Next season, he may get the chance to prove it.

Greg Swartz has covered the Cleveland Cavaliers and NBA for Bleacher Report since 2010. Follow him on Twitter: @CavsGregBR.

All stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.