New-look Nets expecting to avoid the dreaded Play-In Tournament

The new-look Brooklyn Nets will open the preseason on Monday night when they visit LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.

And while much remains to be seen about this team in the post-Kevin Durant/Kyrie Irving Era, point guard Spencer Dinwiddie expects the Nets to challenge for a top-6 seed in the Eastern Conference, which would mean avoiding the dreaded Play-In Tournament involving seeds 7-10.

“I think it’s a little bit far down the road, but I don’t think anybody wants to be in the Play-in and obviously we don’t own our [draft] picks, so we’re not going to be tanking,” Dinwiddie said on the YES Network during Monday’s media day. “I think we have too much talent here to tank so I definitely expect us to try avoid that Play-In, for sure.”

Per one betting site, the Nets face odds of 100/1 to win the NBA championship and, per another, they are tied for the eighth-longest odds to win the Eastern Conference, with the new-look Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics facing the shortest odds, respectively.

The Nets will likely have to finish better than teams like the Toronto Raptors, Atlanta Hawks and Chicago Bulls -- and maybe even the rival Knicks -- to avoid the Play-In.

The Bucks added Damian Lillard and the Celtics traded for Jrue Holiday, who was initially dealt to the Portland Trail Blazers in the Lillard deal.

Nets coach Jacque Vaughn knows those teams will be the favorites in the East.

“There’s some [strong] starting fives there,” he said on the YES Network. “I think we traditionally have a tough time with Boston and I think it stays the same way. Their guard play is now elevated with the addition of Holiday.

“And it changes the scouting report with Milwaukee now. Now Giannis is going downhill and you always talked about stopping him. Now he’s going to throw it to Dame at 40 feet so it will make our challenge and year great. I think it’s great for basketball, the evolution of the game whether it’s the In-Season Tournament, whether it’s the offenses the way they are in our league these days. It’s challenging for the defense but great challenge.”

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Dinwiddie especially likes what the Celtics have done by adding Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis to superstars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

“I like Boston,” he said. “I think if you look across their top six that’s a pretty big-time top six, whether you decide to go big or small in the starting lineup, you still have Derrick White or [Al] Horford] off the bench, who are big-time players as you saw in the playoffs.

“And they still got Jayson Tatum who’s going to be in the MVP conversation and Jaylen Brown who obviously just signed the biggest contract in history.”

Nets forward Dorian Finney-Smith pointed out that the Bucks and Celtics will now have to manage the new egos in their locker rooms.

“It’s only one ball, that’s big-time players with big egos so they’re going to have to figure out how to work that out but we just focus on us,” he said on YES.

As for the Nets, they will feature Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson and Ben Simmons (whom they hope is healthy).

GM Sean Marks has already said the Nets hope to “unleash” a healthy Simmons after he was shut down last February due to a nerve impingement in his back.

Of Bridges and Johnson, Marks said on YES: “They’re actually better than we thought. It will be exciting to see how they can take another step, all of them.”

Brooklyn also has group of players in the final years of their contracts, including Dinwiddie, who is due to make about $20 million. Nic Claxton, Royce O’Neal, Lonnie Walker IV and Dennis Smith Jr. are all in the final years of their deals.

All of these guys, and others, are fighting for minutes and roles on the team.

“We wanted to acquire guys — and keep guys — that have a chip on their shoulder, something to prove,” Marks told reporters.

“I think that’s what we’ve seen so far, just on their own, playing pickup games. It’s been loud, it’s competitive, and I think that exactly fits with J.V.’s model of what he’s wanting to achieve during training camp. So to have all these guys come in here to fight for positions, to fight for minutes and so forth is the No. 1 goal for us.”

This year’s team figures to feature much less drama than those that included Durant, Irving and -- dare we utter his name -- James Harden.

But Finney-Smith says it’s up to the new-look Nets to prove they can earn a playoff spot and, hopefully, avoid the Play-In Tournament.

“It’s going to be tough but we just gotta focus on us,” he said on YES. “Nobody is expecting us to do anything major but that’s what we’re here for. We’re here to prove everybody wrong.

He added: “Who would’ve thought Denver was going to win it last year? It’s whatever team is healthiest and playing the best throughout the playoffs.”

CAM JOHNSON UPDATE

Vaughn said Johnson will miss “a few days” going into camp with a hamstring injury, but Johnson downplayed the injury.

“I’m already starting to take care of it, it’s already starting to feel better, so I’ll be fine,” he said on YES.

The 27-year-old small forward out of North Carolina averaged 15.5 points and 4.4 rebounds last season with the Phoenix Suns and Brooklyn.