Brooklyn Nets: How will Shabazz Napier fit in next season?
By Alec Liebsch
How he fits
The main takeaway from Napier’s time in Portland is his development as a catch-and-shoot player. Well, what better place to fire off 3s than in Brooklyn? Kenny Atkinson craves 3-pointers like I crave coffee, as evidenced by the team ranking second in 3-point attempts among all NBA teams last season.
Boy, do the Nets need shooters. Firing them off at an eye-popping clip did not have favorable results; Brooklyn finished 20th in the league in 3-point efficiency. Napier’s mere presence will open up Atkinson’s offense.
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Positionally, Napier technically fills a need as a guard. But really, he’s just here because he can shoot and handle the ball in the same body. D’Angelo Russell hasn’t proven to be effective doing the latter; ditto for Spencer Dinwiddie with the former. Napier bridges that gap, being able to cover for either.
In reality, the Nets don’t care for traditional positions offensively. Caris LeVert and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson have moonlighted as lead distributors, and will likely continue to do so. Napier’s skill-set just adds another potential head to that hydra.
At his worst, Napier is just coming off screens and getting hot in spurts. At his best, he is the bridge between Russell and Dinwiddie when the two don’t play together. That three-headed monster could rival the 2013-14 Phoenix Suns, who deployed two of Goran Dragic, Eric Bledsoe and Isaiah Thomas at a given time.
How Napier fits in as a player is simple: Shoot when you can, penetrate when you can’t. The real question, though, is how those skills get showcased.