In the big scheme of things, a preseason loss to the Celtics won’t mean the world to the rebuilding New Jersey Nets, but to Yi Jianlian, last night’s game may end up meaning more than a can of Campbell’s chicken soup on a cold winter day.

Despite fouling out in the third quarter, Yi ended up with 15 points, shooting six for nine from the floor in less than 21 minutes. Not bad if you ask me. If this guy can put up numbers similar to that during the season and the team’s bench can produce someone else to play power forward and contribute [maybe Ryan Anderson?] for 15-20 minutes a game, then good times will be had in New Jersey.

Well let’s be fair here, things won’t be as bad.

I know Nets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe has a lot of love for Yi’s game, going as far to compare him to Dirk Nowitzki, but I don’t think anyone has seen him in enough crucial situations to truly trust that assessment yet. Sure, he scored 15 points, but Kevin Garnett and a host of other players were out of the lineup for Boston yesterday. Let’s see how this guy performs against those guys before we start comparing him to legitimate NBA superstars.

However, if he keeps up this kind of play 20 games into the season, you can expect me to fully claim I had the utmost amount of faith in him and his game, despite the inconsistency he showed last season and proclaim him as one of the most promising young players in the NBA today [wink].

Aside from Yi’s play, I also liked what I saw from Chris Douglas-Roberts offensively. Just like Yi, he’s another player that will be an intriguing guy to watch this season. Last year, aside from Boki Nachbar, the Nets really didn’t have a consistent offensive threat off the bench. If DR can continue to produce for them like he did last night, this team will the depth needed to stay alive in the craptastic Eastern Conference.

In spite of that though, I must say that it has been great to finally get back in the swing of things after a long summer off. Olympic basketball is one thing, but NBA basketball is another. Guys play their hearts out for their country, but play for their pride and reputation in the NBA. With all the cosmetic changes the Nets made this season, regardless of where they finish, I believe they will be more than interesting to write about as well. So many players have something to prove this season that, I think it’s impossible not to have something interesting to discuss here.