Nets: Playing a game of ‘Bubble: Keep or Drop’ with BK guards

The Nets have some tough roster decisions to make after leaving the Bubble.

Yet another victory, this time a 108-96 affair over the Orlando Magic, has the Nets sitting pretty in the seventh seed and just a game under .500 on the season.

With the Nets bubble big three + Garrett Temple all resting, a different Bubble Net got a chance to shine:

With Jeremiah Martin among so many of the baby Nets shining in the bubble, that got me thinking: how many of these ballers can we expect to see in future seasons?

With this exercise, I will attempt to identify which guards on the current Nets roster will be around for the 2020-21 season (stay tuned for further editions in the next few weeks).

Caris LeVert and Jarrett Allen, barring a trade, are locks to make the roster next season. Joe Harris is a big question mark as an unrestricted free agent, and his situation has been frequently discussed on Nothin’ But Nets.

Here’s the roster and salary situation at the guard spots for next season, courtesy of Spotrac:

Those are a lot of players for not too many spots. And remember,  avoiding roster redundancy is key. With Kyrie Irving and Spencer Dinwiddie (again, barring trades) likely back in the fold, the need for high-usage players shrinks.

Sean Marks will have a lot of tough decisions on his hands. Today, we will make three decisions on current Nets guards.

Jamal Crawford: DROP

This ruling is not the fault of J-Crossover. He poured in five points and three assists in this six minutes of bubble action through Tuesday’s game, and a nagging hamstring injury has kept him from playing more.

The entire NBA landscape is rooting for him, though.

With Irving, Dinwiddie, LeVert, Kevin Durant, and a host of younger players to be mentioned later in this article likely to be around next season, there’s just no realistic path to playing time for Crawford. The Michigan alum turned 40 in March, so it’s not like he’s a developmental prospect in ANY sense.

He could be the 20-21 version of Iman Shumpert, a veteran to have on standby who can contribute in a pinch. But his experience and knowledge has proved invaluable in the bubble, especially the “big brother” relationship he’s developed with another Michigan alum, Caris LeVert.

This is a must-watch:

A team with explosive personalities (see Durant, Kevin) can never have too many stabilizing veterans. But assuming the team has other contributors filling this role, Crawford’s roster spot should go to someone roughly half his age.