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After two days of rest after the preseason, the regular season will officially begin.

This is a busy two days for the uniform team, signing players, promoting the game to fans, determining tactics, summarizing the gains and losses of the preseason, etc...

Unfortunately, the Knicks rookies didn't get many opportunities to perform in the preseason. The only thing Van Gundy reused was Ben Wallace, who served as a backup center after Ewing was off the court.

Van Gundy liked Chuck Hayes very much when he saw Chuck Hayes when he was in the Rockets, and let him start with Yao Ming, who was just a weakened version of Big Ben. The same rough brother, Big Ben beats the floor-flowing Hayes in terms of rebounding, resisting people, and blocking shots. Van Gundy loves him to death.

Yang Rui felt that if Van Gundy's erroneous thinking was not corrected, the Knicks would not be able to compete with the Bulls even if they had a team of All-Stars, because Van Gundy liked to rotate seven or eight players to death, and he couldn't play his offensive strengths at all.

Like the vast majority of Chinese fans, Yang Rui was extremely disappointed in the Rockets' Van Gundy in his previous life. He made Yao Ming gain weight and hit the low post, and McGrady made a large mid-range shot when he had the opportunity. Others watched the fun outside, and the Rockets never passed The first round of the playoffs.

In the preseason, many rookies averaged less than 10 minutes per game and had no chance to perform. For a player like Bowen, he can't even get statistics at this time.

Atkins and Jackson were the worst, averaging less than 5 minutes per game. Van Gundy hates their style, and speeding up the offensive rhythm will inevitably affect the defensive strength, and it is also prone to mistakes.

For the sake of defense, he gave up, and he ignored the advantages of both of them.

The most embarrassing thing is Chris Mills, whose annual salary of 3 million is already middle-class in this era. The annual salary of the Knicks ranks fifth, but he has to share playing time with Starks, Houston, and Johnson. 15 minutes.

Since it doesn't matter if there is Mills or not, why did the management poach him? !

Before the start of the regular season, the NBA officially announced the first phase of the strength list. The Knicks were obviously not favored and only ranked tenth. This is still because the Knicks have a luxurious lineup, and the performance in the preseason may be even lower.

What makes Yang Rui feel relieved is that although Van Gundy gave the veterans a lot of time in the last two games, manager Ernie Grunfeld did not ignore the potential of young people. All five players he drafted in the summer league stayed. With this impressive performance, he will be more comfortable in the management.

The five newcomers have their own strengths, and their high quality and low price are the main reasons why they won the contract.

Ernie and Van Gundy have different ideas. In addition to looking at the player's game experience, he also has to consider salary matching for the future of the team.

The same tall and thin man, the veteran Herb Williams wants 770,000 US dollars, and Moore only needs 270,000 US dollars.

Although Herb was able to score 19.9 points, 9.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists at his peak, that was 12 years ago. Born in February 1958, he will reach the age of 40 during the season, and he can't run anymore.

Jackson's $270,000 price-performance ratio is far better than the experienced and unpotential Anthony Bowie. His advantage is that he can play the 2, 3, and 4 positions. When he is a guest power forward, his super mobility can help the team.

Bowie's physical fitness and shooting are not as good as Jackson's, so it is reasonable to be eliminated.

Ben Wallace is the person Van Gundy admires the most. He signed a four-year long contract with the team at once.

Ernie is very economical. Ewing is old, and his annual salary is 20.5 million US dollars this season. He won't be able to maintain his state for a few years. What the Knicks need most now is to train a successor to the center. Although the big book is short, the defense is very tough.

Bowen signed with a one-year base salary of 330,000. Because of his desperate defense, Van Gundy is more pleasing to his eyes.

After the summer league, Atkins signed a two-year contract. He hardly played in the preseason. If Ernie didn't value him, he would be the most likely to be out of the summer MVP. Van Gundy hardly gave him playing time.

Not to mention arranging tactics.

For this reason, Atkins approached Yang Rui several times, hoping that he could speak well and persuade Van Gundy to send him to play. Yang Rui can only let him practice three-pointers and wait patiently.

The Knicks' 14-man lineup for the new season is confirmed, leaving a vacancy, and they can make targeted signings in the free market when they encounter injuries.

Centers: Patrick Ewing, Ben Wallace, Buck Williams.

Power forwards: Charles Oakley, Mickey Moore, Larry Johnson.

Small forwards: Stephen Jackson, Bruce Bowen, Chris Mills.

Shooting guards: Allan Houston, John Starks.

Point guards: Chris Childs, Charlie Ward, Chucky Atkins.

The coaching staff was not idle, and the four gathered in the office to find the root cause of the preseason loss.

Van Gundy believed that the star's poor condition caused the loss, Thibodeau and Sharman agreed, and had no idea at all.

Yang Rui really wanted to tell Van Gundy "you lost because of your brain damage", but then the two might fight directly, so he thought about it for a while and decided to express his thoughts in a more gentle way.

"I think the root cause of the Knicks' unsmooth offense lies in the habits of the players. If you want to play a good offense, the top priority is to disrupt the lineup and boldly use new players."

Van Gundy frowned, disbelieving. "What habit?"

Yang Rui quickly drew a tactical map on the tactical board, made the player number, and said: "Larry Johnson should attract the defense at the bottom corner, attack from the strong side, and Ewing's air-cut misplaced attack, attracting double-teams can be divided. The ball was given to him, but he couldn't stand up at all, so he rushed to the basket and hit his back after a while. Ewing knew his habits, so he was not active in cutting, and mainly focused on outside jump shots. At this time, the screen did not come out."

The three older coaches all thought about it, unable to raise objections.

Yang Rui went on to say: "Ewing and Houston's off-ball screens are average. Another reason is that Charles habitually passed most of the ball directly to Ewing, and then formed a one-on-one match. He ignored Houston's running position and passed the ball. It's half a beat slower, not as good as Jackson's, so I suggest that the point guard be replaced by Ward to start."

"But he defends better." Van Gundy shook his head.

"So we will never be the main attacker?" Yang Rui rolled his eyes.

If Yang Rui was the head coach, he would have slammed Childs in the preseason. How many times have I said it to Houston? You can't understand human language, can you? You can only see Ewing, right? Is Ewing your wife? !

Then, Childs might be very aggrieved and said: "If Ewing is a woman, who would dare to look at her?"

Childs is a defensive point guard with poor organization. He can shoot from mid-to-long range and is unstable. Van Gundy insisted on letting this guy start for a season, and he deserved to be eliminated by the Heat.

Van Gundy frowned, feeling powerless, but he didn't want to show it. The management had put pressure on him to come up with a plan as soon as possible to strengthen the offense.

He couldn't do it himself well, and he didn't want to listen to Yang Rui's arrangements on the offensive end, so he was struggling.

P.S.