The Allen Crabbe Move Has League Implications

Another day, another move. On Tuesday afternoon, Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Portland Trail Blazers had traded Allen Crabbe to the Brooklyn Nets for Andrew Nicholson.

While this may seem like a small move, it has league wide implications.

First off, the Portland Trail Blazers get to right their wrong with the Crabbe. Last offseason, Portland severely overpaid him at 4 years, $74,832,500 with an annual contract of $18,708,125. That, along with Evan Turner‘s $70,000,000 over the next 4 years had the Blazers buried from the neck up. By paying 2 middle-of-the-pack players near max contracts the team was unable to compete in the arms race like other West teams.

Well, now they can. Adrian Wojnarowski stated that the Trail Blazers are interested in Carmelo Anthony.

Reports have circled that the Blazers were trying to facilitate a possible three-team trade with the Knicks and Rockets. Moe Harkless, Meyers Leonard, and Ryan Anderson were all listed as candidates to be included for a potential deal. The headline of this move is Anthony heading to the Rockets.

This was quickly shot down by Woj saying that the Blazers only are interested in acquiring Anthony for themselves.

Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum seem into the idea of Anthony joining their team. Recently, the Lillard spoke to The Oregonian.

"“I can only imagine what it would be like having him iso’ing on one side, and C.J. in a corner, and me on the opposite wing and Nurk (Jusuf Nurkic)…I can only imagine how hard it would be to guard us when it’s already hard to guard us.“We can compete with anybody in the West, but I think when you get to those teams like Golden State, if we happen to run into them in a playoff situation now—we getting in the paint, and if they want to help off someone like Melo…good luck.”"

CJ McCollum continued upon these Melo-to-Portland fantasies via Instagram.

Opening up cap space for Melo is just the first effect of this trade.

Another facade of this is centered around the Rockets. The Rockets now have another threat pursuing Anthony. The only other team that seemed to be vying for the star forward was the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Lately, the Cavaliers have reportedly fallen out of the race allowing Houston to take their time while working on a trade. With the Blazers now in the running, the Rockets must push for action.

Houston is likely looking to low-ball the Knicks similar to the recent trade hauls for Jimmy Butler and Paul George.

As you already know, Portland isn’t known to underpay. Just ask Turner and Crabbe. On top of that, the Blazers have more young talent than the Rockets. They could offer any combination of Meyers Leonard, Moe Harkless, Noah Vonleh and even rookie Caleb Swanigan. The Crabbe move makes Portland a legit Melo suitor forcing the Rockets to ramp up their efforts.

The final team this move effects is your beloved Boston Celtics.

It seems the Nets just won’t give up. I mean, come on! You can’t just fall on the sword for us and accept failure again? You just have to keep getting average players, to make up an average team, in the most below average conference EVER in the NBA.

Brooklyn is now becoming a more well-rounded team and decreasing their chances at the #1 pick.

Don’t get me wrong, Crabbe is by no means a franchise changing player, but he’s good. He’s a solid sixth man for the Nets with Jeremy Lin and D’Angelo Russell as the starters.

This past season, Crabbe notched career highs in points (10.7), field goal percentage (47%) and three-point percentage (44%). Even with his low usage percentage (14.9) he was able to be an efficient scorer.

His defense has been impressive as well. Crabbe actually posted the third highest defensive rating on the Trail Blazers at 108.9.  Also, he routinely tasked with defending opposing teams top players like Kawhi Leonard and Steph Curry.

With a new starting lineup of Lin-Russell-Carroll-Booker-Mozgov and bench contributions from Crabbe, Sean Kilpatrick and Caris LeVert the Nets have a chance. Not a chance at the playoffs, but a chance to not be the worst.

Teams like the Atlanta Hawks, Indiana Pacers, Chicago Bulls, and possibly even the New York Knicks may be worse.

Next: Silent But Deadly Boston Celtics

Allen Crabbe to Brooklyn doesn’t tear down the chances of the Nets getting the first pick, but it definitely makes things more difficult.