Is the Brooklyn Nets' Guard Room Too Crowded?

The Brooklyn Nets are in a unique situation compared to most NBA teams that are rebuilding. While the Nets are still early in their rebuild, they already have a plethora of talent to look forward to.

Brooklyn has welcomed a league-record five first-round picks to take the floor this season, four of whom are guards/wings. Egor Demin, Nolan Traore and Ben Saraf are all playmaking guards, while Drake Powell is more of a 3&D wing, interchangable at shooting guard and small forward.

Not only that, but the Nets have star scorer Cam Thomas returning to start at the two. Joining him in the guard room will be Terance Mann, Tyrese Martin and Kobe Bufkin, not to mention the four rookies above.

Brooklyn still has to finalize its roster as training camp carries on. The team currently has 21 invitees participating, but 19 are on standard contracts. The Nets will have to make four cuts before the start of the regular season to get down to the 15-person limit for an NBA roster.

Tough decisions will have to be made, and they already have been. The Nets recently waived Keon Johnson after a season in which he averaged 10.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. He wasn't the most efficient, but his production could have easily kept him from being the first major cut of the preseason.

Thomas, Mann, Demin, Traore, Saraf and Powell appear to be 100% safe, considering their contract sizes or draft position, but the rest of the names are up in the air. Martin, who is already 26 years old, seems like an obvious choice.

Bufkin, who Brooklyn recently traded for, should stay on the roster, considering he was the No. 15 overall pick in the draft just two years ago. He still has the potential to pan out, and could get more opportunities with the Nets.

That leaves them with a few forward who could be cut, but ultimately a crowded guard rotation. Even with the number of playmakers Brooklyn has, the team is thin in terms of true point guards. Demin and Saraf works better on the wing, and the rest of the guards (aside from Traore) aren't floor generals.

Preseason will give the Nets a better feel for who works best with whom. Thomas, Demin, Michael Porter Jr. and Nic Claxton are expected to have four of the five starting spots locked. The fifth is up for grabs, and it will likely be a guard to balance out the rotation. Brooklyn could have multiple undersized forwards this season.