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.

Chris Chiozza: KEEP, TWO-WAY CONTRACT (if possible)

Chris Chiozza is what Theo Pinson should have been.

In his two years with the team, Pinson was one of the least efficient players in the NBA. Among qualified players, Jordan Poole finished last in the NBA with a True Shooting Percentage of 45.4%. Pinson checked in at a clean 37%. Among players with over 300 minutes, only Dennis Smith Jr. finished with a worse Win Shares per 48 rate than Pinson (LOL Knicks).

On top of all this, Pinson isn’t even a natural point guard; he was an off-ball guard who happened to have decent assist numbers his senior year. But following injuries to both Kyrie Irving and Caris LeVert in November, Pinson was pressed into lead guard duties behind Spencer Dinwiddie.

Chiozza clears this low bar: he is a natural lead guard! Though his turnover frequency has been concerningly high (18.7%), a near-30% assist percentage is encouraging. A 54.8% True Shooting Percentage, higher than Dinwiddie’s, LeVert’s, and certainly Pinson’s, has been buoyed by strong three-point shooting.

I mean, he can hit a three from anywhere: 

Ideally, Chiozza isn’t playing serious minutes either. But on another two-way contract, “Cheese” will continue to get minutes for the Long Island Nets while being able to provide lead guard minutes if the varsity squad needs him. These are the exact type of players Sean Marks should be rounding out his roster with.

***Of course, this is assuming another club doesn’t swoop in with a guaranteed contract. The Nets should match that.

Tyler Johnson: DROP

This one is tough. Long the apple of Brooklyn’s eye, this marriage will likely be short-lived.

Johnson is a 28-year-old coming off of a season of dreadful shooting in Phoenix: his 48.1 TS% gave the aforementioned Jordan Poole a run for his money. Johnson has enjoyed more success from outside in the bubble, but the Fresno State grad is still a ways off from his peak Miami days.

He still iced it against the Clippers, though. We’ll give him that.

But just like the previous two players in this exercise, there’s just simply not a path to playing time in guard spots. Johnson does carry the “pedigree” of marksmanship, and perhaps a handful of playoff microwave shooting bursts could be enough to show he can stick as a spot-up shooter.

However, that role will likely be covered by a combination of Joe Harris, Garrett Temple, and the outstanding Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot (more on him later in the week), all players who can contribute in other facets besides shooting.

Nets: 3 Players Who Should Be Untouchable in Trade Talks

Here are three Brooklyn Nets players who should be untouchable in potential trade talks, even as Brooklyn looks to form a Big 3.

With Johnson unlikely to sign a two-way contract, his path to a guaranteed roster spot as a fifth guard will likely have to come from another team.