The Nets are happy with Kevin Durant‘s progress in rehabbing his surgically repaired Achilles, even though there are still no plans for him to play this season, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post.
Durant went through a 25-minute workout this afternoon at Barclays Center and told Lewis that it went well. Coach Kenny Atkinson said seeing him on the court is having a positive effect on his teammates.
“He’s progressing. I know he’s working extremely hard,” Atkinson said. “He’s a quiet personality, but when he needs to say something, he says it. Usually what he says is spot-on. We don’t want to bother him too much because he’s locked into his rehab. He’s a guy who likes to work in the shadows. He doesn’t want all the attention, but he’s working his tail off.
“When he walks in the room, we all become more confident even though he’s not playing — it’s just that way. I enjoy talking to him about the game and his opinions about what’s going on in the league. ‘Hey, what is this team doing? Did you see this? What do you think about this player?’ It’s a real treat for me to have a guy like that around and for our players. They love it. He’s around all the time, so it’s great.”
When the Nets signed Durant in July, they understood it was very unlikely he would be able to suit up for them this season. The ruptured Achilles that he suffered during the NBA Finals comes with a long recovery process, and both parties agreed the best way to protect Brooklyn’s four-year, $164MM investment in Durant was to let him take the entire season to recover.
Atkinson confirmed to Lewis tonight that the plan hasn’t changed.
“No, I think we’re all on the same page. That’s not going to happen,” he said. “Progressing. I don’t have my medical book up here. I can’t give you what stage or any of that. It’s great when you’re there every day. You see incremental progress. That’s all I can give you.”
Interesting to see what level he returns to. Odds are not the elite top 3 player he was but wouldn’t be shocked to see him be extremely productive
I assume the biggest obstacle will be coexisting with Irving, who seems to constantly be a bad, selfish teammate.
Have u ever heard a team press release that it’s not progressing well.
Nice story coach.
When Durant came back in the finals everyone said, be safe, just post up in the corner, shoot 3s, and be long defensively. Dern fool tried to be a top-of-the-key big-play-maker and promptly injured more achilles. His comeback will have the same parameters. He doesn’t need to do much more to be worth his big salary. Keep talking to him coach.
Yep, all he had to do was get Steph the ball and nope, he had to be the closer.
KD went from his first season being the ultimate team guy, which led to that GSW team being pretty much the greatest team ever, and left the team a sorry, twitter-obsessed, me-first wreck that cost GSW the finals vs the Raptors by trying to be the man. From team-first to me-first. Proof positive that the NBA needs to put an end to this terrible era where only stats matter and wins don’t.
Hopefully when he comes back he puts Kyrie in his place. Seriously though, and even as an admitted Celtics fan, Kyrie needs his “LeBron” to reel him back a bit.
Kyrie is a great player when he’s number two and knows it. He’s good on his own but he needs that guy one step up to utilize him and keep him in check. I get his frustration he had under Bron, but Bron helped magnify Kyries plusses. Kyries a solid Pippen, not a Jordan.
Lol this is for the 90s ball fans…imagine if Kyrie shot threes like Sam pancake Perkins lol.
Flat Earth amiright?
That’s good, see you in the Fall.
His rehab from Draymond hurting his feels isn’t going as well.
I’ve been wondering what happened to him???
I think Denver is the ideal type situation for Kyrie. I don’t see how it could possibly happen. But if Denver had Kyrie instead of Jamal Murray, Denver would be significantly better. All Kyrie would have to do is score within the Denver system. Just put up tons of shots efficiently. Very few play-making responsibilities. Anyhow since this won’t happen, I hope Jamal becomes the scorer Denver needs.
At least it isn’t like decades ago when such an injury usually meant a career was over or practically over. Case in point, the late Bob Rule who was destined to be one of the league’s superstars. He went down with an Achilles injury. Came back but never even close to what he’d been.
As a Dinwiddie fan, I would prefer KI & KD both view themselves as additions, but who knows how it will go.
I suppose the “old” Nets team has been mostly replaced. Not sure if this is good or bad, given the importance of talent.
DeJordan is being called a mentor, even though JAllen knows the way the Nets rose.