Smart plays best with ET in the game. It takes pressure off of him. I think turner will be the starter at SF when all is said and done.
I've thought this all along as well - at the end of the day ET our best small forward. His level of talent and skill is so far beyond Crowder's that it's not even funny.
Crowder really only has one thing that he does better than Turner (defense) and that is purely a result of his personality (motor, toughness). His actually level of skill/talent is really quite low.
If Turner isn't starting for Boston when the regular season begins it will be because of rotational fit, not because of lack of talent.
Completely agree. I still think that deal given to Crowder is a bargain though. He complements that second unit perfectly: not needing the ball, slashing, broken plays, corner threes (and of course his defense).
I'm not sure I would call it a 'bargain' so much, as this suggests we got a lot more player than we paid for.
I do feel it is a solid deal though, possibly a 'good' deal, at a stretch. I see it about on par with the deal we got Bradley and Green on, both I which seemed about fair to me at the time.
Taking in to account the rising cap, the deal works out to be roughly equivalent to a full MLE, which I think is about right for a player of Crowder's caliber, give or take.
I don't think Crowder is ever going to develop much beyond a fringe starter / glue guy in terms of talent/skill level. At the same time though, I think he's going to be the type of guy who's market value is always higher than the sum of his skills/talents (think: Shane Battier, Amir Johnson, Robert Horry). So taking all of that in to account, I think the deal will prove to be a pretty solid one.
LBJ has a good 5-10 yrs of great/good play left in him, we need Crowder even if he's coming off the bench.
I wouldn't go so far as saying we NEED Crowder.
There is no real shortage of "Crowder-like" guys in the league - guys who are seemingly purpose built to disrupt the opponents best offensive SF. For example, our very own Jeff Green shut down everybody from Lebron, to Carmelo to Durant when he was here. Crowder is far from irreplaceable.
That said I do like him, especially in a bench role, and I would like to keep him around for a while.
However if I had a chance to trade him for say, Josh smith, I wouldn't hesitate. I think Smith's versatility would make him an outstanding fit on this team, and if Crowder is the guy he's replacing then you can't even complain about his shooting (since Crowder's is no better).