Following a year filled with difficult circumstances, Utah Jazz forward Jae Crowder is hitting the reset button for 2018-19.
To say that Utah Jazz forward Jae Crowder is coming off a down year is putting it lightly. In August of 2017, he was unexpectedly traded by the Boston Celtics — with whom he’d reached his apex as an NBA player — to the Cleveland Cavaliers. That same night, his mother died of cancer at the age of 51.
By February of this year, he had fallen out of favor in Cleveland and was getting shipped off once again, this time to the Utah Jazz. And while some of the clouds may have begun to part at that point, Crowder is aiming for a clean slate heading into the Jazz’s 2018-19 campaign.
In an interview with radio commentator David Locke at Jazz Media Day, Crowder summed up a tumultuous season as follows —
"“Last year, come playoff time, I ran out of gas. Mentally and physically, I was just fatigued. A lot was thrown at me and I just felt like I was kind of tired. I was warn down; my energy level was not where it should be.”"
Crowder continued —
"“The passing of my mother weighed on me,” he said. “I didn’t want to play basketball, to be honest with you.”"
Given the circumstances, who can blame him for feeling that way? But Crowder is looking to turn over a new leaf in year two with the Jazz band. He was a bundle of energy throughout media day; a player that looks to have found his smile.
The change in countenance has been accompanied by physical changes as well. According to Crowder, working out and playing ball have become fun again. His rediscovered zest for the grind, coupled with a new diet, has resulted in him losing 14 pounds. Crowder hopes trimming down will get his mobility back to where it was with the Celtics.
Over three years in Beantown, Crowder averaged 13 points, five boards and 1.3 steals per game. He also knocked down over 35 percent of his triples.
If he can get back to that level, it would be huge for the Jazz. Even as he scuffled last season, he remained a big-time positive on the floor in Utah. The Jazz D surrendered just 95.8 points per 100 possessions when Crowder was in the game; the best mark on the team. In his 744 minutes with the team, the Jazz were plus-144 in total. By comparison, Derrick Favors was 145 points positive over 2,153 minutes.
Also: the five-man lineup of Crowder with Ricky Rubio, Donovan Mitchell, Joe Ingles and Rudy Gobert boasted a massive net rating of 27.4. That number was tops league-wide among five-man lineup combinations that played at least 190 minutes together.
All of this was accomplished with Crowder in a zombie state. His ’18-19 campaign already has a different vibe entirely.
Heading into training camp, he’s bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and determined to make even more of an impact this season. It’s an incredible turnaround and one that could pay huge dividends for a Jazz team on the rise.