Brooklyn Nets: How will Shabazz Napier fit in next season?

How he affects current roster

For those of you (awesome) people who read my pieces regularly, you know I’ve had concerns about the guard rotation for quite some time now. Napier has the kind of versatility to stick around and alleviate my gripes.

Although Napier can only guard 1s and offensive liabilities, his shooting will carry him a long way on this team. His specified “position” will likely be as a 1, simply due to being the shortest player on the roster. However, everyone knows the game isn’t played with such rigidity these days.

Barring another trade, one of D’Angelo Russell or Spencer Dinwiddie will probably lead the offense in regularity. They should be staggered so that one is always on the court, not only because of their shortcomings as a duo, but also because they each need touches in a lead role.

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Because Russell is still a liability on the less glamorous end, he and Napier probably won’t share the floor much either. Dinwiddie isn’t the next Tony Allen, but he’s a palpable defender with enough size and length to defend bigger guards. Napier is bound to get most of his minutes next to Dinwiddie, likely with other backups.

Napier understands the ways of being a complementary player, and that part of his role won’t change in Brooklyn. They’re not looking for him to pull out the old UCONN role and get buckets with regularity. His heat check shooting will be on full display though, no matter who he plays with.

This gives Atkinson some rotational flexibility. He can be part of a multi-faceted attack with another ball-handler, spot up next to two others, and even run the show on his own. The possibilities are as close to endless as a low-usage guard allows for.

Napier averaged 20.7 minutes with Portland last season, which figures to be around his average for 2018-19 too. I estimate a more conservative average, barring injury (*knocks on wood incessantly*). About 16-18 minutes a night is my guess, with most of them next to Dinwiddie. The few he does otherwise will either be with Russell or Hollis-Jefferson as another ball-handler.

Thanks to the exportations of Jeremy Lin and Isaiah Whitehead, Napier isn’t stealing many minutes from another fellow guard. The only major fallout from this is probably Caris LeVert losing his main playmaker minutes, also known as Point Caris.

Napier’s contract is a mere formality to discuss. It is a two-year minimum contract, so at worst the Nets can cut him without much of a sunk cost. Additionally, he doesn’t eat into next year’s immaculate cap space much either.