The Cleveland Cavaliers have been stretched thin; depth has been an issue. For the first time in recent memory, they’ve been losing a significant amount of games with LeBron James suiting up. Sharpshooting 2-guard J.R. Smith (thumb) returning should definitely help, and he’s ahead of schedule, reports Chris Haynes and Dave McMenamin of ESPN:
Cleveland Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith, who is on target for a mid-March return, could take the court in as soon as three weeks in his comeback from a right thumb fracture, league sources told ESPN.
The sharpshooter is progressing well in his recovery from the injury that he sustained in late December, sources said. Barring an unforeseen setback, Smith will be back on the floor next month.
At the time of his injury, it was not anticipated that Smith would return to the lineup before late March or early April.
A team source told ESPN that Smith will have his right thumb reimaged during the All-Star break, and that could adjust his timeline. Asked to characterize Smith’s rehab process so far, the source said, “great.”
Smith is shooting with the injured hand without severe pain, sources said. He is in the process of strengthening the wrist and thumb area along with trying to get his conditioning up to speed, a source said.
Meanwhile, because no team can ever have multiple good things happen at once, Tyronn Lue tells Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com that the Cavs are concerned about Kevin Love’s injury:
Lue said he was “definitely concerned” about Love’s knee.
“Always concerned when guys are going down,” Lue said. “And we’re already limited as it is. Definitely concerned, but gotta see how he feels. Just, get evaluated tomorrow and see how he feels.”
GM David Griffin is also unsure:
“I would love to be able to tell you that he’ll miss three games and be back, but I can’t right now because we don’t know,” general manager David Griffin said.
