NBA Analyst says the quiet part out loud about Kevin Durant's effect on Rockets

As the Houston Rockets enter the season without starting point guard Fred VanVleet, the team will need to lean heavily on young guards Amen Thompson and Reed Sheppard to hone in their playmaking and ball-handling abilities on the fly.

Yet, as was pointed out by Bleacher Report's Andy Bailey, the Rockets may have a little more room for error given the defensive attention that both Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun will command.

Although Thompson and Sheppard have never before been asked to take on this type of a workload, and such a transition could be relatively dicey for Houston, they can take solace in the fact that neither player will at any time be the focal point of opposing defenses.

Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun will make the shaky Rockets backcourt's life a little easier

As the Rockets wrapped up their offseason, their most glaring weakness was already in the depth of their backcourt, as they brought in multiple players to bolster their frontcourt this offseason and left their guard spots mostly untouched.

These anxieties, moreover, came to fruition when VanVleet tore his ACL in an offseason team mini-camp, leaving Thompson and Sheppard to take over primary playmaking responsibilities for the team.

In many ways, this development is not completely disastrous. Thompson averaged 4.3 assists per 36 minutes last season, and Sheppard, in his college days, showed the ability to make the right pass and handle the ball under pressure when called upon.

Yet, the two players will still be learning to take on the position and the resultant offensive burden as the season wears on, and according to Bailey, Durant and Sengun could make this process a little less painful for the young duo: "Kevin Durant and Alperen Şengün are both capable of handling plenty of playmaking responsibility. They'll command a lot of defensive attention too, which should give Thompson and Sheppard a little extra space while they're learning on the fly."

Durant, as a 26.6 point-per-game scorer, and Sengun, as the team's most dominant offensive threat in the paint, will form a lethal due for Houston this season, and, undoubtedly, much of opposing defense's attention will be focused in on preventing these two players from dominating the game on the offensive side of the ball.

Therefore, Sheppard and Thompson are unlikely to have other teams' best defenders guarding them night and night out, meaning they will have more space to tighten their handles and get a grip on what being primary playmakers truly means within this offense.

While it remains to be seen how this will truly play out, Bailey has faith in Sheppard's and Thompson's abilities, and, as a result, has kept them ranked fourth in his NBA power rankings even after the VanVleet injury.