NBA Trade Grades: Portland Trail Blazers dump Allen Crabbe to Brooklyn Nets
Brooklyn Nets
In terms of talent being exchanged, the Brooklyn Nets did very well to get Allen Crabbe for the remaining three years and $19.9 million on Nicholson’s contract.
In his 10 games with the Nets last season, he averaged only 3.0 points and 2.7 rebounds in 11.1 minutes per game while shooting 38.2 percent from the floor — hardly the kind of numbers that leave an impression, even for a Brooklyn team devoid of talent that’s searching for diamonds in the rough.
Crabbe’s salary is inflated to an alarming degree, but it’s less of a problem for the Nets, who lack the draft assets to rebuild or the established talent to attract free agents. In other words, there are only so many avenues for this team to get better at the present moment.
Perspective for BKN re: Allen Crabbe. Nets essentially paid 3 years/$37M for a 25 year-old 2 guard. Good investment on 10.2M per.
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) July 25, 2017
In Brooklyn, Crabbe will take on a larger role and should be able to spread the floor from three-point range.
Head coach Kenny Atkinson has quickly become renowned for his emphasis on player development, and with Crabbe only being 25 years old, he fits the mold of what the Nets are trying to build.
With Jeremy Lin hopefully healthy, DeMarre Carroll entering the fold and D’Angelo Russell joining the backcourt, not to mention the drafting of Jarrett Allen and internal growth from Caris LeVert and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, the Nets are suddenly a more interesting team.
The Nets owe the Boston Celtics their 2018 first round draft pick, so they have no incentive to tank next season.
Yes, they have some albatross contracts on the books between Crabbe, Timofey Mozgov and DeMarre Carroll, but this is the best — and only — way for a team like the Nets to start creating a winning environment for the future.
The biggest struggle may be for Atkinson, who now has a plethora of multi-positional players to choose from when selecting his lineups.
Can probably assume DeMarre Carroll is going to play a ton of four now. Nets are going to have a lot of lineup combos 1-4 next year.
— Michael Gallagher (@MikeSGallagher) July 25, 2017
Allen Crabbe is hardly a blue-chip prospect, but the Nets eventually got one of their restricted free agent targets, and even better, it happened after the first year of that massive four-year offer sheet.
The Nets probably should’ve pushed harder for a first round pick to take on Crabbe’s contract, but seeing as how Brooklyn made him that offer sheet in the first place, general manager Sean Marks probably didn’t have as much leverage there.
All in all this is another solid move for Marks, even if the Nets will likely be one of the worst teams in the East again next season.
Next: 2017 NBA free agency tracker - Grades for every deal so far
Grade: B