Was Jae Crowder Wrong For Sounding Off On Kevin Durant?

Celtics small forward Jae Crowder may have made a mistake by publicly criticizing Kevin Durant’s signing with the Golden State Warriors

When Kevin Durant announced his intentions to join the Golden State Warriors, all of us in Celtics Nation felt a tinge of aggravation that he would not be coming to Boston.

As a matter of fact, you would be hard-pressed to find NBA fans outside of the Bay Area who completely accepted Durant’s decision to join forces with the team that knocked the Oklahoma City Thunder out of the playoffs last season.

Many felt that it was a sign of weakness in the 2014 NBA MVP, as he succumbed to his Goliath rather than continuing to fight with the franchise that he spent the first nine seasons of his career with. Instead of sticking with the city that he essentially helped rebuild upon the arrival of its first marquee professional sports team, he decided to take his talents west, burning a plethora of bridges in the process.

However, nobody in Boston feels quite as spurned as Celtics small forward Jae Crowder, who sounded off on Durant on Thursday afternoon. Crowder is still disgusted by Durant for absorbing the in-depth information that the team gave him in their meeting prior to his decision and deciding to head to Golden State.

"“We were the only team in the NBA to beat both (Cleveland and Golden State) on their home court — the only team in the NBA, the Boston Celtics,” Crowder told MassLive.com. “We told him that. We played him clips from both games and told him basically the scouting report of how we guarded Steph (Curry) and Klay (Thompson) — our entire game plan, basically. That’s what made me mad. We (expletive) told him everything we do to beat these guys, and we beat them, and he went and joined them. I mean, that’s part of the process, but I did not think he would go to those two teams … I felt like afterward, I was talking to Isaiah, like maybe after you sit back, you shouldn’t have told him everything, but who the (expletive) thought he was going to Golden State, realistically? It was like a slap in the face for us, basically.”"

Even after dropping an expletive-laden fury of quotations, Crowder continued to pile on with his disliking of the new-look Warriors.

"That team is for sure the villain of the league,” Crowder said. “Every other NBA guy, friends of mine, are really disgusted from how the league is turning on that standpoint. Everybody is joining together, everybody wants to go to Golden State or Cleveland. I’m looking for sure to beat Golden State the most.”"

While it’s understandable that Crowder is upset that Durant now has the potential to give his new team inside information on Boston’s game plan in stopping two of the most dangerous shooters in the NBA, this is not the outlet to express his displeasure on the topic. Moving forward, this could steer other pending free agents from holding a meeting with Boston. If Crowder’s bashing of Durant in the media is any indication, what is to suggest that another free agent will not receive the same treatment from a member of team should they hold a meeting with Boston and decide to sign somewhere else?

Although it is true that Crowder’s frustration comes from Durant’s signing with the Warriors, a team the Celtics endured two strenuous, playoff-like battles with during the regular season. It still could keep free agents from holding meetings with Boston’s players involved if they are not leaning towards joining the Celtics.

Undoubtedly, it is encouraging to see the Celtics become a band of brothers with as much chemistry and determination to succeed as they have. This is certainly evident by the way Crowder discusses his conversation with point guard Isaiah Thomas following the meeting with Durant. He mentioned to Thomas that he might have shared a little bit too much of the playbook with the 2012 All-Star MVP.

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However, expressing his displeasure publicly only hinders Boston’s reputation with potential free agent targets. In the future, Crowder must learn to hold his tongue in these types of situations.