Houston Rockets: D-Mo May Not Be Ready For Training Camp

We’ve got less than a month to go before the Houston Rockets start training camp.

It has been a whirlwind of a off season — maybe not compared to last year but it was still notable.

This off season was more of a theme of continuity, bringing back the guys that mean the most to us.

The Rockets re-signed Patrick Beverley and Corey Brewer to multi-year deals.

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In the free agency realm, the Rockets were able to rescue Ty Lawson from the Nuggets and add some more depth to the front line with Marcus Thornton.

As much as Daryl Morey has tried to push for that continuity this off season, the reality exists of the unknown.

What am I talking about?

I’m talking about the health of Donatas Motiejunas‘ back.

According to the Houston Chronicle’s Jonathan Feigen, D-Mo wouldn’t say if he’d be ready:

Motiejunas was non-committal about being cleared for camp as he returns from back surgery. Had no specific timetable. Said "week-to-week."
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) September 11, 2015

It’s quite troubling to hear this news considering that he had the back surgery toward the end of last season.

It was expected that he’d be ready by now but there definitely plenty of concern that he’s still not ready.

The Rockets worked him extra hard this season as Dwight Howard and Terrence Jones were in-and-out of lineup being sidelined for a variety of maladies.

Here’s D-Mo’s take on how the rehab has been going when he talked with Feigen at a 9/11 firefighters charity event:

"“It was a long summer for me,” Motiejunas said. “It was probably one of the longest summers of my life. It was really tough for me, day-by-day, to bring mental toughness to practice. Overall, every day-by-day, come in, do the same stuff, it was mentally challenging, big-time. Every day I feel better and better. That’s the most important.”"

It’s important to note that D-Mo said that his injury shouldn’t affect his status when training camp starts but that’s his word over the medical staff overseeing his progress.

I hope that he’s right because we could use his versatility out on the court with his ability to be a stretch-four, playing hard on both ends of the court.

The Rockets lineups were usually in the plus category any time that he appeared.

What’s more concerning is that D-Mo is eligible for an extension this year but it’s highly likely that he won’t get it because the Rockets are expected to be cap-poor for this season and the next.

Second-round pick Montrezl Harrell has yet to be signed and Howard’s four-year, $88 million deal will expire next season as well as Ty Lawson having a $13 million non-guaranteed option for 2016.