Kevin Durant says the quiet part out loud about the Rockets' brutal start

As the Houston Rockets started off their season in brutal fashion, dropping their matchups with both the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Detroit Pistons, a number of the team's flaws came to light in the absence of starting point guard Fred VanVleet.

Yet, Kevin Durant, who had excellent performances in both of these games, is not worried about the team's ability to rebound, citing the dissatisfied mindset of the coaching staff as a sign that this team knows how to turn things around:

"The coaching staff is pissed off, the players are pissed off and it's early too, so for us to feel that way, I like that kind of energy."

Kevin Durant via Chancellor Johnson

Although it is, of course, still very early in the season, and Houston has plenty of time to get back on track, early performances like these are still worrying, and the team's veterans will need to continue to keep this faith in order for the Rockets to figure things out.

Kevin Durant notes that the coaching staff is very unhappy with their performance so far

As VanVleet went down late in the offseason with an ACL tear he suffered in a team mini-camp, almost everyone who was aware of Houston's roster construction knew there was going to be a problem. Although both Amen Thompson and Reed Sheppard are capable passers in their own right, their ability to facilitate an entire offense is questionable at best.

This, undoubtedly, has played out through the Rockets' first two games. Against defensively capable teams, the Rockets have struggled to control the ball, leaving them with a complete lack of offensive flow. Unless Thompson or Sheppard makes a massive leap quickly, this will be a problem that will continue to haunt Houston as the season wears on.

At the same time, Ime Udoka is certainly the right coach to get this team back on track.

Last season, with a budding and mistake-prone young core, Udoka leaned into a hard-nosed, defensive identity that still allowed the team to be highly competitive in the Western Conference. Although they ultimately fell short in the playoffs as a result of their offensive limitations, it was his guidance and injection of energy that led them to a strong regular season performance in the first place.

With the expectations the Rockets have heading into this season, of course the coaching staff is severely unhappy with their performance so far.

Yet, like Durant, fans should see this as a good sign: a representation of how far the organization has come since they began their rebuild. Expectations are high, and one should expect their performance to meet these expectations sooner rather than later.