Versatile Jae Crowder is Jazz's Swiss army knife


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DALLAS — Jae Crowder isn't in the Jazz's starting lineup.

But given his role since being traded to the Utah Jazz, he might as well be. He's playing nearly 30 minutes a game for the Jazz. And it's easy to understand why. When Crowder is on the court, the Jazz outscore opponents by 11.6 points per 100 possessions. The lineup where Crowder plays at the power forward position, alongside Ricky Rubio, Donovan Mitchell, Joe Ingles, and Rudy Gobert has outscored opponents by 30 points per 100 possessions.

But Crowder's not just playing the four. He's also playing shooting guard and small forward, taking on a variety of roles as Quin Snyder's Swiss army knife.

That's a familiar position for Crowder, who's played a similarly versatile role since being drafted No. 34 in 2012.

"He turned out to be one of the most resourceful players that has come into the league in the last six or seven years," his former Dallas head coach Rick Carlisle said on Thursday. Carlisle has followed Crowder's career with interest since the Mavericks traded him to the Boston Celtics in 2014 as part of the Rajon Rondo deal.

What does resourceful mean?

"He just finds ways to win," Carlisle said. "He finds ways to impact the game, little things, nuance things. He's a great cutter and underrated passer. He's learned how to shoot the three consistently. He had some problems from the free-throw line early on, and he's solved that completely. He came into the league as a very good midrange shooter, which was unique."

That also explains why Crowder struggled so badly in Cleveland. The Cavaliers took away his versatility. Every quote from his teammates and head coach in this ESPN feature about Crowder's adjustment to his new team basically begs him to shoot the ball when he's open.

But that's like using a Swiss army knife for its scissors. Crowder's best skill isn't shooting the ball and, in fact, you'd probably like that task to be given to someone better at it.

Crowder hasn't shot any better in a Utah uniform than he did in a Cleveland one. He's still at about 25 percent from mid-range and 33 percent from deep. But through 17 games in Utah, he's playing a much bigger role. He's finished 30 plays as the pick-and-roll ballhandler in Utah compared to just four in 53 games in Cleveland. Handoffs are similarly up; 20 plays in Utah compared to just five in Cleveland. He's driving to the rim more frequently in spot-up situations, and he's passing the ball for assists nearly twice as often as he did in Cleveland. He's just a bigger part of the offense.

"It doesn't put too much pressure on anybody," Crowder says about Snyder's system. "Everybody's involved, everybody's playing off one another. It makes us more dimensional, makes us tougher to defend."

"We maybe need Jae to do more so than the other teams he’s played on before, even Boston," Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey said.

Lindsey is right, and so far, there's been some trouble with that. The role Crowder is playing is probably more than he can handle right now. For as versatile as he's been, he hasn't been good in pick-and-roll situations (just 4th percentile) or handoff plays (12th percentile). You get the feeling that he needs a longer dose of the Jazz's player development system, the one that turned Joe Ingles into a pick-and-roll/dribble handoff wizard.

But the greater level of participation hasn't hurt the offense much, it's less than a point worse with Crowder off the floor, and it has seemed to make an impact on the defensive intensity Crowder is bringing from night to night.

The Jazz's defensive stats with Crowder on the floor are superb. They allow just 93.2 points per 100 possessions, and when he shares the floor with Gobert, that number goes down to 87.6. When he's with the rest of the starting lineup? 85.0.

It's been both surprising and impressive just how quickly Crowder has adapted to the Jazz's defensive system. After a couple of games being a beat late on rotations, it seems like Crowder is one of the Jazz's most reliable system performers. That wasn't always the case with Rodney Hood, the guy Crowder replaced in the rotation.

Snyder is all about playing team basketball, working together to get offensive and defensive advantages on both ends. Crowder fits in perfectly with that ethos. After all, that sense of teamwork is what Crowder, Utah's "sixth starter," says he's all about.

"My approach was to be beyond my years, they always used to say that (about me)," Crowder said. "How I approached the game, how I approached work. I had a worker's mentality. And I think that carried over to the court and into the locker room and gaining the respect from older guys.

"I don't know where that comes from, but that's what I'm about. I put my heart out every day and try to give it my all."

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