Brooklyn Nets: Has Allen Crabbe found his groove in Brooklyn?

When the Brooklyn Nets acquired Allen Crabbe many wondered if he would be worth the money the team would be dishing out to him. After a stagnant start to the season, Crabbe may however be finally finding his rhythm.

In 2016, one of the first moves Sean Marks made in his very first offseason with the Brooklyn Nets was signing free agent swingman, Allen Crabbe. Only problem was there was a catch with Crabbe’s deal. Portland had the ability to match his contract with Brooklyn due to the fact he was a restricted free agent.

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Unluckily for the Nets, Portland would in fact go on to match his deal. However, the following offseason, in an attempt to clear up cap space, the Trail Blazers would trade Crabbe. He went to the Nets for Andrew Nicholson, who they would end up ultimately waiving.

This move was a big deal for Nets fans. They highly coveted Crabbe and he fit their system. With the team already dishing out money with other salary dumps, some looked at the move as a risky one. Others felt since they’re already dishing out money for the next few seasons, go through with the Crabbe experiment.

With only 23 games left in the season, fans still aren’t sure how to rate Crabbe’s year. Crabbe has had many ups and downs with in his first season in Brooklyn. However, Crabbe looks like he has hit his stride. He was already having the best season of his career, but with his recent play, many are intrigued and wonder if Crabbe may finally be beginning to finding his rhythm and developing like many others have under coach Kenny Atkinson.

In the final four games leading up to the All-Star break, Crabbe has been feeling it from beyond the arc. In those games, Crabbe averaged 25.3 points while shooting 50% from the floor and 43% from deep. These are great numbers and encouraging going forward. Will Crabbe ever average 25+ points in a season? Probably not. But if he keeps these numbers up, he can be a threat that can erupt at any time.

Crabbe has been even bigger for the team than stats will show. In the Nets loss to Detroit, Crabbe put up a career high 34 points and despite the outcome, sparked the Nets near comeback bid and kept them in the game the entire night. Three days later against the Pelicans, Crabbe poured in 28 points including a clutch shot to tie the game up and send it into overtime.

Not only has Crabbe come up big offensively, his work off the ball has been exceptional. Crabbe has experienced a career high in nearly every other facet of his game this seaon. His defense and rebounding has been great for the Nets. And he makes for a great 3-and-D player going forward.

Also, we hear many comparisons with how the Nets culture has been constructed to look like that of the Spurs’. With that said, a player that Crabbe can be compared with is none other than Spurs shooting guard Danny Green. Both have proved their worth on defense and are 3-and-D type players. Many people feel both players have contracts that are too high for their value. But both players’ value to their team is very high and go beyond just the statistics.

Has Crabbe finally started to find his groove in Brooklyn? No one can be sure off of his latest hot streak. But it’s certainly something to look out for as the Nets enter the last leg of the season. We’ve seen it took a season for both Joe Harris and Spencer Dinwiddie to finally get comfortable in coach Atkinson’s system and both have been exceptional players for the team. With Crabbe style, the Nets may have found a lethal part of their team going forward. Crabbe has shown fans glimpses of how deadly he can be on both sides of the ball.