[Dazzling Dunks and Basketball BloopersParticipant]

On paper, the nets enter this season with as much talent as any team in the league and they will be expected to compete for a championship. However, there are a ton of huge question marks surrounding this team as well. At the top of the list has to be what they will ultimately be getting from their franchise centerpiece in Kevin Durant.
We all know Durant’s resume speaks for itself and he is one of the most unique and talented players of all time. But the track record of guys coming back from Achilles tears is generally not good. It would be unreasonable not to expect some level of regression, especially for a guy that is 32 years old. The question is how pronounced it will be, and how it will impact his ability to stay healthy moving forward.
Almost every player that has suffered the same injury experienced a significant decline in performance and never got back to same level they were pre-injury. For guys like Kobe and DeMarcus cousins, it marked the end of their time as elite players and led to other significant injuries in the future. The fact that Durant has had a full 18 months to recover could work to his advantage, but you also have to wonder if that is almost too much time.
Durant is nearly 7 feet tall and extremely skilled, so he should be able to still be an elite level player even if he never fully regains his previous athleticism. However, I think there is going to need to be some serious monitoring of his workload early on. There will undoubtedly be some rust and some level of patience will be required. He’s probably not going to resemble the player we are used to seeing initially. The goal has to be to hopefully get him back to an elite level by the time the playoffs role around, but to be extremely cautious early to make sure he doesn’t get injured again. I am definitely looking forward to seeing him back on the court and hope he can stay there.

[sniperParticipant]

Well let’s say KD loses some of his speed, mobility and hops.. He can’t beat people off the dribble like he used to, and he can’t keep up with 3s or some modern 4s like Giannis, defensively, so you might have to hide him on low-scoring 5s. What would that player look like?

The first thing that pops into my mind is, he’d look a lot like Dirk at the same age. Not as crafty in the post as Dirk maybe, but probably an even better deep shooter. And Dirk at 31-32 was the most dominant player in the playoffs and led his team to the title, so there’s that.

[RUDEBOY-Participant]

dominique wilkens ruptured his achilles in 91-92 season,returned the next season averaged 29 pts and went on to make 2 all star teams & 2 all nba teams…. rudy gay returned from the same injury…..wesley matthews sustained the same injury in march of 2015.returned in time for the start of the 2015-16 season….

reports say durant has look good in practices..i dont know if that’ll translate to actual games becuz of the intensity….if u can remember, he said he could’ve played in the bubble,but felt it was best to wait until the new season…

[Dazzling Dunks and Basketball BloopersParticipant]

Domonique is probably the sole example of an elite player that tore his Achilles and was able to get back to that elite level. Although he never quite regained his previous athleticism, his production was on par with his previous levels until the natural aging process set in. What made it all the more remarkable was that it was almost 30 years ago.
Kobe was older and already had other significant injury concerns. He probably rushed back from the injury too quick. Cousins is a huge guy so you can say he’s not exactly comparable to Durant. It’s true guys like matthews and gay came back relatively successful and have managed to stay injury free. But neither has gotten back to their pre-injury level either.
We’ll see how this impacts Durant. How much speed and athletic ability will he lose? How much rust will he have? Will he still be as versatile on defense? I think the way the nets roster is constructed you are definitely going to see more of him at the 4 and 5 positions, operating out of pick and pops and in the mid-post area primarily instead of off the dribble on the perimeter. I think it’s the type of role he would’ve eventually moved to as he aged anyway, but it may be somewhat sped up now by this injury. But the primary concern will be his ability to stay healthy moving forward.

[BlueWaffleIronParticipant]

Absolutely. His game isnt really based off athleticism at all. It might slow him down a little defensively, though I also think he won’t be able to play the free safety role like he did in Golden State when he had Klay and Dray to constantly switch everything with him so you’ll probably see a defensive drop off regardless. Offensively his game is all based on skill and hes tall and long enough to still get his shot off over any 3/4 even if he cant jump out of the gym anymore. Dirk did it his whole career, and KD has a very similar game with much better handles and passing skills. I still think he could easily average a very efficient 30/7/5 while still being close to 50/40/90 territory. He probably won’t have to with Kyrie and all the skilled perimeter players the Nets have but don’t doubt his skill. As long as the injuries don’t linger he’ll be fine and the Nets will most likely be contenders.

[RUDEBOY-Participant]

I Wonder how the KD & Kyrie friendly experiment will last before Kyrie does or says something sensitive KD doesnt like?

[canadabasketballisrisingParticipant]

I bet by offseason 2021 something will happen that will offend sensitive Durant at least to the extent Gobert was annoyed by Mitchell.

[Author]

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