Q12543 wrote:AbeVigodaLive wrote:lipoli390 wrote:Crowder just committed two consecutive turnovers that led to buckets by the Nuggets. Just shows you that being an experienced veteran with playoff experience might be overrated. Give me talent and players with high basketball IQs and I don't care a lot about how many years they've been in the League, how many playoff games they've played or how many rings they have.
Crowder has a whopping 66 TOs in 82 career playoff games... has had 1 or fewer TOs in 68 out of 82 playoff games... and has never had more than 8 TOs in any playoff series.
So it's kinda ironic his entire career is being ripped for a one minute stretch where he had 2 TOs.
[Note: As for "high basketball IQ" ... sometimes it comes from playing many years in the league. It isn't always the case... but sometimes, the two are connected.]
I think with a guy like Crowder, the term "knows his role" fits best. And I do think that comes from some level of experience. He probably realized pretty early that he wasn't going to be a star, so he honed in on defense and improving his 3-point shot. PJ Tucker, Trevor Ariza, Dorian Finney-Smith, Royce O'Neal, Mikal Bridges, Robert Covington....the list goes on, but just SUPER valuable players to a team that already has a couple of high usage stars. Where these guys have succeeded is where our version of that guy - Josh Okogie - has failed, being a total non-factor from outsdie the arc despite having multiple offseasons to get better in that area.
Crowder is not a good three point shooter. It's even held him back at times in his career.
But he has been good enough to continually find himself starting on playoff teams as a tough, defensive minded stand-over there type. His past two seasons (Miami/Phoenix) have been his best seasons behind the arc. No idea if it's sustainable or not.
But even if he regresses (34.6% for his career)... him being bigger and smarter than Okogie with a much better chance of making a three pointer (27.3% for Okogie)... is HUGE.
