Jae Crowder Big Part Of Trend

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/celtics_nba/boston_celtics/2015/06/jae_crowder_big_part_of_trend




Jae Crowder big part of trend






Photo by: Stuart Cahill
BIG PLAYER: Forward Jae Crowder gives the Celtics versatility on both ends of the court.


Monday, June 22, 2015
By:  Mark Murphy




Jae Crowder’s powerful build and lack of height were a contradiction for NBA scouts when the forward left Marquette in the spring of 2012.

Crowder was 6-foot-6 and 230 pounds, so those scouts naturally called him a tweener — a power forward in a wing player’s body. The Celtics forward admits to even going along with the stereotype.

“People said they didn’t know what position I was,” Crowder said. “I bought in and said I didn’t have a position. I’m a basketball player. That’s what I told them.”

As it turns out, Crowder just had to wait for the right trend to come along. For now, anyway, being a basketball player without an inked-in position seems to please general managers and coaches who want to build according to the Golden State Warriors model.

As long as you can hit open 3-pointers and defend multiple positions, lack of size doesn’t matter nearly as much as athleticism and length. Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra referred to the phenomenon two years ago as assembling a team without positions.

That was simple so long as Spoelstra had LeBron James, the most versatile player in the history of the game. But it became a trend. Golden State shut down the Cleveland Cavaliers and James with Draymond Green and NBA Finals MVP Andre Iguodala, a pair of do-everything forwards who could also hit that all-hallowed 3.

Crowder, already capable of guarding all three frontcourt positions and maybe even a few 2-guards, is working on that part of his game now. He’s in a Celtics system that demands that players be able to switch on defense and hit from deep.

And as the team prepares for Thursday night’s draft, the parameters have changed for judging those so-called tweeners from yesteryear.

“I see that trend,” Crowder said. “You saw that especially with the two teams that played in the Finals. It’s so obvious where this league is going. I look at (Green) and see someone who is like me. Tweener is not a bad thing now, unless you can’t do anything that good to begin with.”


Combination lock

The Celtics need across-the-board upgrades in scoring, and as such their pre-draft workouts featured a lot of players carrying those combo forward credentials.

Virginia’s Justin Anderson shot 45.2 percent from downtown as a junior while attempting roughly six 3-pointers per game. If that percentage reflects his true range, and the 6-6 forward is able to continue his reputation for tough, all-comers defense in the NBA, then he fits an in-demand category — that of the so-called “3-and-D” player.

“The name of the game now is physicality,” Anderson said. “Smaller guys who can be versatile. You see what Draymond Green is right now.”

Everyone does, and everyone hopes.

The Celtics worked out two particularly intriguing 6-9 forwards last week in UCLA’s Kevon Looney and Arizona’s Brandon Ashley. Both are a little too light to play a traditional power forward role, though Looney, in particular, has been able to dominate on the glass thanks to a 7-1 wingspan.

“You see guys like Draymond, who can honestly guard just about any position on the court, can handle the ball offensively, push the break and shoot the ball, create plays,” Ashley, who’s well aware of Green’s challenging climb into the league as a second-round (35th overall) pick, said.

Green was, indeed, taken one pick after another player who had to fight for attention — Crowder (drafted by Cleveland and traded to the Dallas Mavericks).

“Guys like that, when he was going through this draft process, people were telling him he couldn’t even play in the league,” Ashley said. “He wouldn’t be there. So for him to have such a huge impact on the team like that, and for them to win the championship, that’s huge. That means a lot for guys like me, who are somewhat similar, who may be a little bit undersized for the power forward position, but who do have that versatility.”

Instead, it may be the more traditional power forwards now facing a challenge. Louisville’s Montrezl Harrell is smart enough, though, to understand that he has to remain true to himself.

In an attempt to develop the perimeter portion of his game, the power forward attempted 37 3-pointers last season, after taking only three the year before. Alas, he only shot 29.2 percent with the increased shot total from behind the arc. By the time he worked out for the Celtics two weeks ago, Harrell was determined to stick to his strengths.

“Yes, I have heard it. That’s one of the things people have said,” Harrell said of the pressure to add a deep jumper. “But the crazy thing is that’s not why the NBA scouts love me. They love me because of my high energy and the passion I play with on every possession. The high motor I play with in every game. I definitely have heard it, but it’s not what they’re looking for me to do right now. When I get to an organization that you see everyone transformed into being able to hit the jump shot, that comes along with work. But that’s not what they’re getting me to do right now.”


Value of Euro

If the NBA is indeed downsizing, responsibility also falls on the skill sets of the players now coming into the league. The European game is encroaching on its more physical American cousin.

“Everyone thinks they’re two positions down,” Austin Ainge, the C’s director of player development, said. “Every center thinks he’s a small forward, every small forward thinks he’s a point guard. Just keep subtracting. But everyone wants to be able to shoot from the perimeter now and every coach wants it. The players would be crazy not to be able to add it to their game.”

The players would also be crazy not to work on their ability to switch on defense. The new model is Green, who doesn’t care if he’s guarding Cavaliers big man Timofey Mozgov or James.

“We’re all cognizant of some evolution that way,” Ainge said. “Switching seems to be more popular, and speed and skill seems to be a little more valuable over size. Trends can go the other way if somebody else wins. You can’t overreact to one year or two years. Golden State won because they had the most talent. If (Cleveland’s) Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving are out there with (Tristan) Thompson and Mozgov, then we’d be saying Golden State couldn’t win because they weren’t big enough. You have to take it in stride and context.”



bob



.

Wow, that's quite an evolution in just the three years since 2012.  But it's the one relatively new development (in contrast to the trend toward more threes and dunks) that most gives me hope that the future of the NBA will consist of substance that honors the game rather than mainly gimmicks that (imo) besmirch it.

Sam