Portland Trail Blazers guard Allen Crabbe just completed his first year under a big contract. What went right and what needs improvement in 2017-18?
Portland Trail Blazers guard Allen Crabbe has completed his first season as a paid man, and the results were mixed.
Last summer Crabbe received a four-year, $74.8 million contract in restricted free agency. The price was so high due to the Brooklyn Nets offering him that amount, and Portland choosing to match it. Crabbe made $2.6 million in total over his first three seasons in the league.
Crabbe admitted during the July press conference for his signing that even he didn’t foresee getting that much money for his services.
"“Once I started going into meetings with my agent and just hearing interest from other teams and all this stuff, and with the salary cap going up and everything — you know, a contract last year compared to what the contract could be this year — I started to hear numbers I was not even expecting.”"
While the payday was great for Crabbe, that contract now seems to cloud any discussion about his output. In 79 appearances, he averaged 10.7 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 28.5 minutes per game.
Crabbe shot 46.8 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from three. His three-point percentage, on 3.8 attempts per game, was second-best in the NBA. It was also a 5.1 percent improvement from 2015-16.
While he barely managed to average over double-figures, the sharpshooter from Cal had some big nights. His biggest came in a Jan. 8 double overtime loss to the Detroit Pistons. Crabbe had a career-high 30 points on 12-for-15 shooting from the field in a losing effort. He also hit all five of his threes.
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His second-most noteworthy game was his regular season finale, an Apr. 6 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Crabbe scored 25 points and knocked down a career-high eight three-pointers on 10 attempts.
Despite his impressive scoring nights, he did disappear at times. For instance, he scored single-digit points in 38 regular season games. Crabbe also failed to reach double-digits in the Blazers’ playoff series against the Golden State Warriors. He scored 22 points total in those four games.
He was also a major part of the team’s defensive struggles. On a Blazer team that finished the season with a 110.8 defensive rating, Crabbe had a team-worst 114 individual rating.
Following the season, Crabbe underwent foot surgery in mid-May. Specifically, the procedure repaired a stress reaction of the fifth metatarsal bone in his left foot. He missed the last three games of the regular season due to left foot soreness, so this hopefully fixed that issue. The surgery was declared a success and he should be ready for training camp.
Heading into the offseason, Crabbe has expressed self-awareness about his need for improvement. It’s interesting comparing his interviews between the July press conference and his April exit interview. In July, he limited his scope of development more so to what he did with the ball.
"“Just being more comfortable with the ball in my hand, find other ways to score than just the one-dribble pull-up or the two-dribble pull-up. But I feel like that is one of the biggest things for me is just being comfortable with the ball. Doing a better job at rebounding, just continue to fill up the stat sheet in a way that can help contribute to the team.”"
But in April, he spoke of elevating his all-around game.
"“Definitely need to get stronger. In that area, I do need to do that. Another thing: just find other ways to just be effective instead of just standing in the corner or coming down off pin-downs and flares and stuff like that. You know, just trying to find easier ways to get it going offensively.“I had a couple struggles that I had this year on the defensive side. So I wasn’t too pleased with that, in that area, too much. So just going back and looking at those things, and really putting forth that effort this summer and improving on those things.”"
There is still plenty of room for improvement. 2017-18 will be Crabbe’s fifth season, but he is only 24 years old. His jump shot is a useful weapon, but now it’s time for him to expand his game.
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We’ll see how much more Allen Crabbe can become before his lucrative contract runs out.