The Rockets were struck by lightning at the beginning, and Van Vreett s ACL tear apart may be reimbursed for the season. Who can take the lead?

Van Vreett ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) torn, season reimbursed.

This is really a lightning strike at the beginning and bolt from the blue for the ambitious Houston Rockets who recruited soldiers during the offseason.

As mentioned before, this year, this Rockets are very similar to the Toronto Raptors in the 18-19 season. A very solid team team has directly added an ace forward player (Leonard/Durant). With the lower limit already very stable, the upper limit has made a qualitative leap, becoming the first echelon in the Western Conference and even the entire league to challenge the Thunder.

Van Jordan, who also played in the Raptors back then, was essentially a role in the Rockets, much like Kyle Lowry at that time.

With Durant, plus Shin Kyung, who was reborn in the European Cup, and young people such as Ethan and Smith, Fan Datou now does not need to play at the All-Star level. What he needs to do is to organize and stabilize the morale of the army, and exercise the role of an on-field coach.

With the rise of the Rockets in the past two years, Van Vreet is the team's invisible hero. He is not a talented ball-holder like Doncic and Alexander. But as a league veteran and former All-Star with nearly ten years of experience, he sets an example on and off the court, giving the Rockets a very good role model for young people.

Last season, his "15 pick-and-roll" and Shin Kyung were the starting move for most of the Rockets' offenses. At the same time, as a veteran over 30, his defense is also tough and solid enough.

It can be said that in Udoka's system, he is the most indispensable figure behind Shen Jing.

The Rockets not only solved Durant in the offseason, but more importantly, they only sent out two players, Jaren Green and Dillon, who contributed to the middle and last season in the starting lineup, and got a killer like Durant, and also released playing time for Jabarry Smith, Ethan and Shepard.

Get the two reliable veterans Finney Smith and Capela again. It can be said that under the original idea, the Rockets are probably the "Thunder Challenger" with the most reasonable lineup structure and new and old combinations in the entire league.

After the 18-19 season, they once again became real champion contenders.

If you have to find a little problem, it is roughly that their backcourt staff is relatively thin, but it is understandable.

First of all, Van Vreet's career attendance rate is good. Except for missing 14 games due to injury in February this year, he has never suffered any serious injuries throughout his career.

Secondly, Amen Thompson will further enhance his tactical status and ball rights in the new season. There is not much room left for the No. 1 position, so there is no need to invest repeatedly here.

Before the free agent market opened this year, the Rockets would rather pry the Lakers' corner and dig Finney Smith than strengthen the backcourt.

Finally, they still have 24 years of peach blossom Shepard, which is the team's new player with the second only to Jalen Green in 21. It is impossible to give up too early. Even if Van Vreet is not injured, it is generally estimated that Shepard will have more than 20 minutes of playing time in the new season.

Van Vlitter's injury can be said to be the weakest key point in the Rockets at present.

Among other players, Shin Kyung has two bodyguards, Capela and Adams, and Durant and Amen are not there, and there are electric fans and Ethan.

There is only Van Vreet, whose substitutes are Shepard and Aaron Holiday, but the former is too young and the latter has limited qualifications.

It can be said that precisely because Udoka and the management have absolute trust in Van Vritte, when he fell, there was indeed no "Plan B". The Rockets have used their cap space to the extreme during the offseason. Because they won Finney Smith with the full middle class, they were "the first hard hat (the total salary cannot exceed 195 million under any circumstances)" throughout the 25-26 season.

The current total contract amount of the team is 193.7 million, so they can't even pay a veteran's basic salary.

If the team does not want to not have a genuine starting guard all season, they need to find a draw without a total salary increase through trades.

Considering that the trade has just been made during the offseason, new players such as Finney Smith also have a signing freezing period, and they will have to wait until after December this year to make real deals.

Then in the first two months of the season, they can only rely on their existing lineup to compete in the regular season.

Fortunately, their lineup is thick enough. In addition to the core framework of Durant Shinkyung Amen, Udoka can test with two forward players, Finney Smith and Jabbarri, and significantly increase Amen's ball-holding authority while the lineup is large.

This is also a rare opportunity for Amen Thompson.

Because of his performance last season, the whole league is waiting and see whether he can develop stable ball-holding offense and shooting. With his game style and offensive and defensive influence, as long as he has the average level of league ball-holders, he can get rid of most of his opponents.

This opportunity also applies to Shepherd.

The entire rookie season has limited opportunities as a Tanhua. The fierce competition in the West and Udoka's strict military governance have made him have very low fault tolerance on the court.

But now, even if the Rockets will not quickly transfer him to the starter, he can still be the team's only current real point guard to get a lot of time to prove his quality.

Of course, if you can't play a convincing enough performance in the first two months of the new season, then he and Van Vreet are likely to become the most important chips in the Rockets' mid-season trading..

Saying this may be a bit cruel for Shepard, but he is indeed not as lucky as Jaren Green and Shin Kyung. The Rockets are not as good as they were a few years ago, and it is impossible for him to have a lot of games for him to learn and improve.