Welcome Back, Tristan Thompson

It seems like just last week when we were rolling out the red carpeted box score for first-overall selection Kyrie Irving. Missing three games thanks to a wayward Dwyane Wade kneecap, Irving returned with a vengence and consistency we have come to appreciate over the first two months of his rookie campaign. The juxtaposition between he and fellow freshman Tristan Thompson — aside from the obvious polar opposite approach to difference-making — had multiple folds. Irving’s injury didn’t exactly occur within the flow of the game; his head collided with Wade’s knee after a foul on the point guards way to the basket.  Once cleared, he was able to pick right up where he left off. Thompson had to take things at a slightly slower pace. His game, rooted in the two springboards which you or I would call “legs,” relies on one of the body parts he injured through the course of a contest. “Bouncey,” as he says. Making matters a bit worse, Tho...