Like we need more important pieces to be out:https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/46423700/kevin-durant-envisions-signing-extension-stay-rockets From the article: DFS is mentioned in the last 2 paragraphs. Apparently he is still recovering from off season ankle surgery…
if Stone doesn’t stop playing and hire an Etsy witch to deal with this curse… Durant and Udoka both said Monday that the plan will be for Durant to take on some of the ballhandling duties in the wake of VanVleet's injury. yeah, I don’t like this…dude is 37, and this is about to be turnover city…FVV is so mediocre, yet his injury is devastating
It's not really so much about KD's turnovers with an increase in duties. It IS about the dramatic increase in risk of injury.
I thought this was well established about DFS - he has been moving tenderly the last few years and finally had an offseason surgery he had been putting off so he can hopefully play without pain this year. Personally I thought he looked a bit slow in the handful of times I saw him play in LA so if this can help him in that regard, I'm all for it. This shouldn't change anything significantly about the team defensively - thats is our deepest skill set....what it does do for us though is impact our shooting to start the season because Fred and DFS were likely going to be our best shooting players after Durant, Jabari, and hopefully Reed. That being said - the offense is going to be in transition a bit anyway - I think we were always going to have to rely on defense to start the season - it just might look a bit worse than what it other wise would be. Fred is a big loss - no doubt....but DFS missing a few weeks to start the season and having to play his way back into shape because his offseason was spent in recovery is less of a concern - just remember the "I told you so" when DFS doesn't look so hot to start the year and it takes a minute for him to get back into game shape. He will be fine long term with this team - the real question is going to be: - can Amen take a superstar leap as a player? - can Amen be a primary ball handler? - can Reed become a meaningful contributor offensively without giving up too much defensively? Houston will be fine if two of the above happens and will be in great shape for the future by the end of year if all are true.
This is the **** that happens when you start replacing young guys with old guys. You start to become the 76ers. This is why I hated teh KD trade. Dont get me wrong we had to trade Jalen but we could have stayed young.