Jae Crowder could be playing for the New York Knicks right now instead of the Boston Celtics.
Knicks president Phil Jackson revealed in an interview with Charley Rosen of Today’s Fastbreak that he had a chance to trade for Crowder in 2014 but opted instead to acquire a second-round pick.
I think the biggest mistake I made was actually this…One of the first deals I engineered when I came back to New York was to trade [Chandler] and Raymond [Felton] to Dallas for Shane Larkin, Jose Calderon, Wayne Ellington, Samuel Dalembert, plus a second-round pick that the Mavs owed to the [Boston] Celtics. In talking with Boston, I was given the option of taking that pick or else taking [Crowder]. I liked Crowder but I thought he wouldn’t get much of a chance to play behind Carmelo [Anthony], so I took the pick which turned out to be Cleanthony Early. While Cleanthony has missed lots of time in the past two seasons with us, he still has the potential to be a valuable player. Even so, I should have taken Crowder. Anyway, for all of us, making mistakes are part of the learning process.
Crowder, 26, is a key player for the Celtics and was the team’s third-leading scorer last season. The versatile combo-forward had a career year last year, as he averaged 14.2 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.7 steals per game in 73 starts. He figures to be a big part of Boston’s resurgence. Meanwhile, the jury is still out on Early, who has spent most of his short career with New York in the development league.
Executives don’t always get it right when it comes to player evaluations, and Jackson really missed on Crowder.
