Nothin' But Nets
Fansided

Brooklyn Nets 2018-19 Primer: Nets need consistent Allen Crabbe

By Phil Watson

BROOKLYN, NY - APRIL 9: Allen Crabbe #33 of the Brooklyn Nets and Jerian Grant #2 of the Chicago Bulls looks on during the game between the two teams on April 9, 2018 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)
BROOKLYN, NY - APRIL 9: Allen Crabbe #33 of the Brooklyn Nets and Jerian Grant #2 of the Chicago Bulls looks on during the game between the two teams on April 9, 2018 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Allen Crabbe’s first full season as an NBA starter with the Brooklyn Nets was a mixed bag, with a career game in April mixed in with a lot of inconsistency.

In the penultimate game of the 2017-18 season for the Brooklyn Nets, everything came together for guard Allen Crabbe.

On his 26th birthday, Crabbe gave fans at Barclays Center a tremendous gift — a career night in which he scored a career-high 41 points on just 15 shots, going 12-for-15 overall, hitting a sizzling 8-for-11 from 3-point range and making all nine of his foul shot attempts.

More from Nothin' But Nets

Crabbe added five rebounds and four assists in Brooklyn’s 114-105 win over the Chicago Bulls, giving everyone at least a glimpse of the potential Nets general manager Sean Marks saw when he signed Crabbe, then a restricted free agent, to a four-year, $75 million offer sheet.

It was the same potential Marks saw when the Portland Trail Blazers were looking to move Crabbe to clear some room under the salary cap in the summer of 2017. Crabbe ended up coming to Brooklyn in a deal that sent forward Andrew Nicholson to Portland.

Crabbe was coming off the best season of his career to that point, one in which he averaged 10.7 points and 2.9 rebounds in 28.5 minutes per game as the sixth man for the Trail Blazers, shooting a very solid .468/.444/.837.

Last season, he got off to a slow start due to an ankle injury sustained in training camp, starting just two of the Nets first nine games before getting clearance to start again.

His last bench performance was his first big game for the Nets. Playing 29 minutes, Crabbe scored 25 points on 6-of-12 shooting, hitting 4-of-8 from deep, in a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on the first game of a five-game Western swing on Nov. 3.

But Crabbe was far too content at times to settle for the 3-point shot and put up some clunkers, particularly in December, when he logged a 3-for-14 night from deep against the Washington Wizards and put up a pair of 2-for-10 performances from behind the arc.

December was a disastrous month for Crabbe. In 14 games, he averaged 10.6 points per game on .352/.307/.810 shooting, a True Shooting percentage of just 48.9.

He arrived at the All-Star break in February putting up 12.5 points per game on shooting of .397/.363/.840 — disappointing to be sure.

Crabbe showed signs of life after the week-long break and upped his scoring average to 15.1 points per game over the final 20 games he played, with his shooting ticking up to .435/.414/.878.

That got his final numbers to .407/.378/.852 with a 13.2 points per game average in 29.3 minutes a night — both career-highs.

The tendency to settle for 3s made Crabbe much easier for defenders to account for him. He averaged 7.1 attempts from beyond and just 3.9 shots inside the arc last season, a 64-36 ratio of 3s to 2s.

And of those 2-point attempts, the most (11.2 percent) came from the dreaded, inefficient deep 2 area, where he made just 31.2 percent.

He was terrific at the rim, converting 73.9 percent of his shots, but only 8.3 percent of his 827 attempts came from there. Crabbe may have been helped by the pure shock value invoked by putting the ball on the floor and coming across the 3-point line.

Live Feed

NCAA Basketball: 10 best players from state of California of last decade
NCAA Basketball: 10 best players from state of California of last decade /

Busting Brackets

  • Chicago Bulls: 4 sharpshooters to sign out of free agencyPippen Ain't Easy
  • The Portland Trail Blazers are experts in the second round of the NBA DraftRip City Project
  • Portland Trail Blazers: 3 former Blazers to bring back in 2020 Free AgencyRip City Project
  • NY Knicks CAA Files: Unrestricted Free Agents Leon Rose might targetDaily Knicks
  • Miami Heat: 4 guys on the market that they should take a look atAll U Can Heat

    • What the Nets need most from Crabbe this season is consistency and efficiency. If he flirts with not being able to clear the 40 percent threshold from the floor, Brooklyn will struggle. At his best, Crabbe forces defenses to account for him with a man and potential help when he heats up.

    That becomes even more true when he’s willing to use his driving skills — which are solid — and not just settle for contested or rushed 3-point attempts.

    At 6-foot-6 and 210 pounds, Crabbe has the requisite length and quickness to be a decent enough defender on the wing, but like many players who came up as scorers, defense can be a struggle for Crabbe in terms of engagement.

    Improvement for the Nets this season will have to be tied to what they can patch up defensively, where they were 28th in points allowed and 22nd in defensive efficiency last season.

    Pace-and-space may rule the NBA, but defense is still necessary — of the bottom 12 teams in the league in scoring defense, 10 missed the postseason.

    Crabbe has the gig (provided the Nets don’t do something earth-shattering such as trade for Jimmy Butler). Now he just needs to get more comfortable in the starter’s role.

    Next. 25 greatest individual games in Nets history. dark

    If Crabbe can let the game come to him, it should go a long way toward making him a more consistent threat on the offensive end. That, too, will go a long way toward making the Brooklyn Nets a more consistent threat to win games.