Jae Crowder Making it Easier for Celtics to Forget Jeff Green
In their most recent trade the Boston Celtics shipped out the team’s leading scorer and arguably best player. Unfortunately, Jeff Green was never able to play consistent enough to be the top option on a contending team and no longer fit into the Celtics’ long term plans. The problem for the Celtics is that Green was still the team’s leading scorer. Offense has been the Celtics’ strength this season and losing the top scorer could threaten their chemistry and production.
A man named Jae Crowder is the reason no one will be missing Jeff Green too much. With Green out Crowder sees his role on the team increase drastically. In a matchup where Anthony Davis put up 34 points and 9 boards, Crowder had great timing in picking when to break out. Jared Sullinger stole the show with 27 points and 10 rebounds, but without the impact of Crowder the Celtics would have certainly fallen to the Pelicans.
Jae Crowder had a career night with 22 points. In a game where the team surrendered 100 points Crowder’s additional offensive boost was a difference maker.
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As good as he was offensively it was the defensive side of the ball that Crowder made just as much of a statement. Despite having to deal with one of the most dominant forces in the paint in Anthony Davis, Crowder still came out as a +11 on the game, second only to Marcus Smart‘s +15 off the bench. Highlighted with an incredible block on Tyreke Evans, Crowder had two blocks to go along with 4 steals and only two fouls.
Crowder has made it clear that his potential on the offensive side of the ball can certainly make up for the loss of Green’s 17.6 points per game. There is a much smaller sample size on Crowder. However, he has shown the ability to be reliable at the line and that combined with his aggressive nature could lead to a lot of easy points.
The defensive side of the ball is where Crowder may even be an improvement over Jeff Green. The Celtics have shown little to be excited about on the defensive side. However, both Avery Bradley and Marcus Smart are reliable defenders, if Crowder can also be effective they start to show much more promise on the defensive side.
Crowder certainly has a long way to go and he still has a lot to prove before he can be a trusted part of the offense. That being said, his performance against the Pelicans demonstrated his potential as a two way player. If Crowder can continue to take advantage of his expanded role in the offense Jeff Green will be an after thought for the Celtics.