I doubt Crowder makes the same leap this year that Butler did in his 4th season, but comparing their first full-time seasons (Butler @24, Crowder @25) is eerily similar, with a clear small advantage to Crowder:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&p1=butleji01&y1=2014&p2=crowdja01&y2=2016
Crowder is the better scorer, shooter, and rebounder, and comparable defender.
Did Jimmy have better skills to build on? Maybe. But it's pretty ironic to discuss Crowder's ceiling in a thread about Butler.
Two areas that are crucial are Crowder's lack of athleticism/hops and a lack of ball-handling. Those two things have really helped Butler's explosive penetrations and ability to get into the lane in traffic. Crowder is just so thick and muscular that he has hardly any lift. For a 6'6" guy, he's not that much of an above the rim player, which is why he struggles to finish a lot of his attempts at the rim.
With that size and bulk, you'd think that Serena Williams
would be a good post player, but apparently not
. That's a major part of Butler's game, in addition to his ball handling, passing, and shooting skills, all of which are far superior to Crowder's and make Jimmy one of the best shooting guards in the league, probably even the best in the game when you factor in his defense. I know that both of them went to Marquette, but they're completely different players, and Serena is never going to be half the player that Butler is - sorry. Comparing Jae Crowder to Jimmy Butler is kind of like saying that Denzel Valentine is the Draymond Green of shooting guards, when that simply is not the case. Other than the fact that both guys can pass and attended Michigan State, they practically have nothing in common and are completely different players, just like Crowder and Butler. Sure, Jae and Jimmy are both in-your-face defenders from Marquette, but that's where their similarities end, imo. Call me when Serena Williams
ever does something like this, which broke a Bulls' record set by Michael Jordan -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSwv3Bt4gaENo one on our team, not even IT, can do something like that (or maybe he can, but expecting anyone to even come close to such a performance is quite unfair).
As far as the trades from yesterday are concerned, I was never interested in making either deal, nor even different ones with the same result (acquiring Easter Island
/Butler). All that mattered, to me, on Thursday night, was who Danny would select, and even without a trade with Chicago or Philly on the horizon, we should have taken Dunn, imo.
jpotter33 - would you have traded Crowder to Atlanta for 12 and 21, and do you think that the Hawks would have taken it?