Who will be the role players now that everyone's been reborn?

After training camp ended, the Suns' "Decision 1" surgery caused a huge upheaval within the team. However, it's too late to tell who was right or wrong now. Tomorrow, the Suns will play their regular preseason games!

Their first stop was Texas, where they would face the Spurs and the Rockets.

In the first game, the rivalry and grudges from last season's Western Conference Finals will be reenacted, but unfortunately, the Suns are no longer the same team.

Last season, the Suns still had their "run-and-gun" starting five, yet they were still eliminated 1-4. Now, three of their "run-and-gun" players are gone, while the Spurs' core framework of "Big Three" (Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Tony Bowen) remains intact. In addition, the Spurs have acquired Finley, who is only $268 million for one year (the Mavericks paid $1594 million), and Nick Van Exel, who earned $1193 million last season but can now be brought home for only $114 million. With the addition of these two All-Star backcourt players, this Spurs team, with its full strength, is determined to defend its even-numbered championship title from 06.

Duncan, Finley, Bowen, Ginobili, Parker – the Spurs' strongest lineup is ready for action.

Meanwhile, on the Suns' side, D'Antoni is adjusting the lineup. Nash, Marion, Raja Bell, and James Jones are all in the lineup. Kurt Thomas, who was originally the secret weapon for the playoffs, is filling the position where Stoudemire is absent.

As a result, this formation was ineffective.

Kurt Thomas, lacking physical gifts, couldn't withstand Duncan's low-post isolation plays alone. With the Suns' perimeter help defense, Duncan passed the ball out, and Ginobili's open three-pointer punished the Suns' defense.

Finding an interior player from the Eastern Conference to match up against one of the "Big Four" power forwards from the West is simply outrageous.

It's said that many players who can't compete with star centers in the Western Conference become dominant in the Eastern Conference, but in the Western Conference, they only get beaten up!

The Spurs easily executed a combination of inside and outside play, completely taking control of the game. No matter how hard the Suns ran and fired their offense, the Spurs remained unmoved!

The Suns scored 116 points, 122, demonstrating excellent offense.

The problem is the defense; allowing 120 points makes beating the Spurs an impossible task.

陈东替补出战20分钟，8投5中，三分4中2，进帐12分4助攻3篮板1抢断1封盖，只看数据表现，陈东NBA季前赛首战表现完全称的是惊艳，毕竟出战20分钟拿12分4助攻，40分钟就24分8助攻，妥妥的全明星级别的表现。

In short: The Suns' run-and-gun offense has lost three of its five key players, making it difficult to hide their decline. Chen Dong easily scored 12 points, showing promise for the future!

Two days later, the Suns will play the Rockets at the Toyota Center.

With the individual conflicts between Stoudemire and Yao Ming resolved, D'Antoni replaced James Jones with Chen Dong as one of the starting five, making it possible for the Chinese derby to start.

In the first minute of the first quarter, Chen Dong also performed admirably. After Nash broke through Alston and drew David Wesley's help defense, Chen Dong gracefully made a three-point jump shot and scored, giving the Suns an early lead.

Turning back, Alston launched a high-post play, assisting Yao Ming for an easy dunk over Kurt Thomas, scoring two points in response.

Interior defense is a weakness the Suns can never overcome. They sacrifice height for speed, while Yao Ming's unparalleled height advantage can shatter the rim of their small-ball lineup.

However, after losing possession, the Suns quickly inbounded the ball from the baseline. Nash received the ball and advanced the court, making a long pass across the entire court to find Marion, who was rushing up the court. Marion received the ball, drove into the paint, and leaped up for a powerful one-handed dunk.

Juwan Howard had just crossed the center circle line when Marion received an assist from Schweinsteiger, and the game was over.

This offensive move set the tone for the entire match.

Yao Ming frequently attacked the basket in the low post and scored. In the first half, he made 10 of 12 shots and 4 of 4 free throws, scoring 24 points and 6 rebounds, a top-level performance. However, the Rockets searched all over the world for a point guard to pass the ball to Yao Ming and only found the mediocre Alston. His passing was fine, but his strength was too weak. He was matched up against Nash, the league's best point guard. His defensive skills were no match for Nash's speed.

Once the Suns picked up their pace, the Rockets' defense was essentially down two players, or rather, three: Yao Ming, Juwan Howard, and McGrady, who didn't want to play defense...

Moreover, the backcourt duo consisted of Alston and David Wesley, and none of the starting five players had defensive talent, except for McGrady.

The problem is that having a two-time scoring champion defend him is even more difficult than having Yao Ming run from the frontcourt backcourt to block Marion's layup.

With their exceptional small-ball offensive system, the Suns triumphed over teams with conventional big-ball lineups, ultimately emerging victorious.

There was no way around it. The Suns could run and shoot for 48 minutes straight without stopping, but Yao Ming couldn't keep up. He played 48 minutes in the game, but only played 20 minutes in the first half before stepping off the court again. Small-ball tactics were a natural counter to Yao Ming and his team.

In particular, Yao Ming chose to gain muscle and weight, but physical fitness is a talent problem that Yao Ming cannot solve.

Om-!

The Suns defeated the Rockets 120-101, a 19-point advantage. The Yao-McGrady duo combined for 50 points, but it wasn't enough to secure a victory. Apart from Yao and McGrady, the other Rockets players were too mediocre, especially the interior players, who were all countered by the small-ball style of play. The Rockets' goal against the Suns was to minimize their losses.

Besides Yao Ming, the Suns also have two veterans in the paint, which is quite a disadvantage against the Suns. How can you win?

Chen Dong started the game and played for 26 minutes. He made 7 of 14 field goals, 3 of 6 three-pointers, and 2 of 2 free throws, scoring 19 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists. His performance was only so-so. After all, Yao Ming played less but scored more points. Comparison is the thief of joy.

Leaving Texas with a 1-1 record, Chen Dong truly understood the common saying: "The Rockets are weak, and the Spurs are old!!!"

The Suns' second stop is Los Angeles, where they will face off against Kobe Bryant's Lakers, the Warriors, and Carmelo Anthony's Nuggets.

Without Stoudemire as a scoring threat, no player on the Suns could respond to Kobe's scoring. Moreover, Kobe directly guarded Nash on defense, which reduced the Suns' offensive depth from the root. With Kobe's top-notch performance on both ends of the court, Kobe led the mediocre Lakers to a 115-110 victory over the Suns.

The Suns then emerged victorious in their high-scoring duel with the Warriors. However, in their final game against the Nuggets' run-and-gun offense, it was the Suns who fell.

Without Stoudemire leading the charge, three of the Suns' five-man run-and-gun offense were gone. In this two-week, five-game preseason series, the Suns were no longer the regular season champions of last season. With their extreme run-and-gun tactics, they were evenly matched against everyone, ultimately achieving a 2-3 record as expected.

Chen Dong mostly came off the bench, averaging 23 minutes of playing time per game, and managed to put up a well-rounded stat line of 14 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 block. His three-point shooting was particularly impressive, with a 58% success rate. While the Suns' primary focus was offense, Chen Dong's defensive performance was unremarkable. However, for a rookie, he demonstrated an excellent ability to adapt to the intensity of NBA-level competition.

Well, mainly as a role player, in a mature, high-speed run-and-gun system, the difficult tasks have already been done by others. Chen Dong only needs to do simple shooting to deliver a decent offensive performance.

Of course, as a newcomer, Chen Dong's weakness is that he makes a lot of mistakes, averaging 3.5 per game.

This is a matter of individual adaptability, but also a matter of head coach D'Antoni's inhumane approach. When adjusting the lineup, he made Chen Dong try almost every position on the court to see which one worked best. This kind of unorthodox approach put Chen Dong in an unsuitable position, so it's understandable that he didn't perform well and made more mistakes.