During this time, the Nets successively signed several players with base salaries and non-guaranteed contracts, and eventually a total of 18 players participated in the preseason.

Throughout the month of October, the Nets played eight preseason games in a variety of locations, including trips to Asia and Europe in addition to the United States and Canada.

No way, in order to enhance the alliance's influence in the world, David Stern can be regarded as well-intentioned.

In these eight games, Ji Liang has also gone through the motions, and he has proven himself that he has also gone through the motions in the preseason, averaging less than ten minutes per game.

In addition, players with good strength such as Armstrong and Billups also did not get much time.

The players who played the most minutes were mostly rookies and fringe players on the team, and this was Coach Rivers' final look at them to determine the regular season lineup.

There are only 15 spots in the regular season, and most of them have already been confirmed, and no one wants to give up hope, so the competition is naturally fierce in order to get a spot.

In those eight games, Coach Rivers has given rookies and fringe guys plenty of playing time, looking at their characteristics and strengths, and leaving useful players.

Evan Eschmeyer: 211 cm, 116 kg, average physical fitness, rough technique, poor shooting, some rim protection.

Mark Hendricksen: 206 cm, 100 kg, poor defense, lack of confrontation ability, some projection.

Elliot Perry: 183 cm, 68 kg, very poor defensively, but extremely fast and has excellent breaking ability.

Rucios Harris: 196 cm, 86 kg, poor offense with the ball, aggressive defense, some running and shooting ability.

……

These four players have outstanding flaws compared to other fringe players, but they also have certain merits and have great hopes of being selected for the regular season squad.

In the preseason, the Nets' tactics were relatively simple, focusing on blocking and fast breaks, but due to the slow speed of the interior, it was difficult to play fast breaks.

In addition, when the main or main substitutes are on the court, the Nets play very well, especially in the backcourt, and always maintain abundant firepower.

Unfortunately, under Coach Rivers' arrangement, the main and main substitutes have very little playing time, and when rookies and fringe people come on the court, the scene suddenly becomes a mess, especially the defense is a mess, and the opponent takes it for granted.

In order to compete for a regular season spot or a guaranteed contract, as long as they get the basketball, regardless of whether they have offensive ability or not, they are left with the basket in their eyes, which causes them to rarely pass the ball, and the cooperation is naturally sparse.

In their eyes, as long as they get good data, there is a good chance that they will stay.

By October 15, the Nets naturally had a poor record due to the lack of playing time of the main players, ending the preseason with a 3-5 record.

Of course, the other teams are not much better, all of them are mainly lined up and do not pay much attention to the pre-season.

The preseason is equivalent to a practice match, which is mainly focused on running in the lineup and scouting newcomers, while determining the regular season roster.

Perhaps because of Chi Liang, Corey Margeti has played a lot of time, and he is also the best player other than the main player, averaging 16 points and 4 rebounds per game in eight preseason games, showing good immediacy.

However, due to the poor preseason record, the media's evaluation of the Nets is polarized, some think that the Nets have a strong lineup, and some look down on the Nets, thinking that their internal defects are very large, if Chi Liang and Cage are injured, the consequences are unimaginable, and the style of play is no different from last season, relying too much on the performance of the stars.

It is also for this reason that when the official first power list was released, the Nets were finally ranked 15th, and many experts believe that the Nets want to qualify for the playoffs, and there is a lot of suspense.

With the support of Paul Allen, this year's Trail Blazers lineup is stronger than last year, with the twilight Scott Pippen, the young and frivolous Rasheed Wallace, Lithuanian White Tasabonis, "Big Si" Damon Stoudemire and many other All-Star cadres, the lineup is not strong.

In second place is the Lakers, Phil Jackson did not come alone, he brought three assistant coaches Jim Clemens, Frank Hambrunn and Tekes Winter, as well as AC Green, Ron Harper, John Sully and Brian Shaw and other veterans to shoot.

Of course, the most important thing is that O'Neal, Kobe and Glen Rice can form a triangle offense, and with their joining, the Lakers have formed a team with both old, middle and young, and a balanced offensive and defensive lineup, intending to maintain the glory of the purple and gold.

In third place is the defending champion Spurs, even if David Robinson is a year older, but the Spurs Twin Towers are still the league's No. 1 interior combination, and their deterrent power is not strong, and their biggest weakness is that the backcourt and bench strength are relatively mediocre. But out of trust in the defending champions and the Spurs twin towers, the Spurs will be officially ranked third in the first power rankings.

The top three in this issue of the power list are all Western teams, even if the league tries its best to curb it, in the end, there is still a pattern of strong west and weak east.

The following rankings are the Pacers, Jazz, Suns, Heat, Nuggets......

Among them, from the perspective of the lineup, the Suns are not unstrong, with the Big Four consisting of Hardaway, Kidd, Gugliotta and Cleverford Robinson, and the sixth man on the bench is Rodney Rodgers, as well as rookie Sean Marion.

Clifford Robinson: All-Star power forward, is a well-known iron man in the NBA, and one of the most famous players played by second-round picks, who can play inside and out, balanced offense and defense, and offense covers beyond the three-point line. The biggest flaw is that the rebounding ability has never been outstanding.

Before Nowitzki, he was the most player in history to hit more than 1,000 three-pointers.

The Nuggets, ranked eighth, have a pseudo-triumvirate composed of McDyce, Van Horn, and Van Exel, with few defects in the lineup and strong competitiveness.

After the preseason, all teams begin to recuperate, giving players time to rest and actively prepare for the regular season.

Among them, the Nets have three days off.

Over the course of three days, the Nets' uniform team began discussions and eventually developed a 15-man lineup for the regular season.

Centres: Michael Cage, Jim McIlvain, George Muressan, Evan Eschmeyer

Power forwards: Ji Liang, Jamil Fayk

Small forwards: John Newman, Eric Williams, Corey Margetty

Quarterbacks: Kendall Gill, Corey Kidders, Rousios Harris

Point guards: Darrell Armstrong, Billups, Eliot Perry