Jae Crowder
Milwaukee Bucks

Player Facts

Height: 6'6"
Weight: 235lbs.

Wingspan: 6'9.25"

Date of Birth: July 6, 1990
College Experience: Marquette (2 years)

Selections

All Star: 0
All-NBA: 0
All-Defensive: 0

Player Grades

Speed/Explosiveness: 6
Physical Strength: 9
Positional Size: 6
Positional Wingspan: 6
Paint Scoring: 6
Midrange Scoring: 4
Three-Point Scoring: 8
Dribbling: 5
Passing: 6
Perimeter Defense: 8
Interior Defense: 7
Rebounding: 7

Embed from Getty Images

JUMP TO SECTION

> Intro

> Shooting Threes

> Roving Without the Ball

> Finishing + Remaining Offensive Value

> Defensive Physicality

> Perimeter Work

> Oscillating Three-Point Clip

> Shoot-or-Bust

> Getting Shot Over on Defense

> Beacon Bacon

>Link to Player Contract & Salary Info

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*All statistical data courtesy of NBA Advanced Stats

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STRENGTHS

Intro

The undersized Jae Crowder gets by with his gritty, physical defense and ability to knock down open shots. He's a dense 6'6", 235 lbs., built similarly to guys like P.J. Tucker and Draymond Green. Crowder has eased into a near full-time power forward role after entering the league as a three.

That muscle mass helps Jae be able to guard the game's biggest wings. Super-sized wings like LeBron James, Paul George, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Kevin Durant have all been assignments for Jae. He came into the league with an NBA body already, weighing around 241-pounds and boasting a 6'9.25" wingspan.

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Shooting Threes

Jae stays within himself on the offensive end. The only thing he could look to pull back on is his three-point attempts when he's not feeling it. Still, he's done a solid job of nailing corner jimmies from penetrators like Donovan Mitchell, Ja Morant, Jimmy Butler, and Devin Booker.

Examining his volume, Crowder hit 112 catch-and-shoot threes in 2021-2022 as he donned Phoenix Suns attire. He nailed these at a respectable 36.2% clip. Jae is never one to be bashful about getting shots up from deep.

Roving Without the Ball

He also moves smartly without the rock as his more offensively talented teammates go to work. Jae is a timely weakside cutter and uses his bulk to complete the cut with two points. He also streaks in from the slot three area to the front of the rim to bail out his driver who's getting swarmed.

Jae recorded more points off cuts than guys like Joe Harris and Gordon Hayward in 2018-2019. He can also be used to run off pindowns and spot-up shoot the basketball. Crowder plays good team basketball and will get rid of it if swarmed or make that one-more pass in these situations.

Finishing + Remaining Offensive Value

He finishes up his cuts and his occasional slashes with force at the cup. He plays a physical brand of basketball and this is where it shows on the offensive side. The Marquette product shot a commendable 63.6% at the iron during 2020-2021.

His scoring profile essentially ends there. If not a three, he'll make the odd interior basket on slips, cuts, or otherwise. He pads out his offensive value with hard off-ball screening and a readiness to crash the offensive boards/box out.

Defensive Physicality

Crowder is a physical defender at 235 pounds. That mass is employed in the post against taller and longer players. Jae will drop his center of mass and make it even more difficult to move him down low.

He actually defended 72 post-ups in 2018-2019. That number is significant because it was second to only Rudy Gobert on that Utah team. It was more than big man teammate Derrick Favors as well as other five's like Bam Adebayo, Joel Embiid, and Mitchell Robinson.

Perimeter Work

He can of course still do good work on the perimeter, a necessity given the amount of forwards he checks. He doesn't have tremendous straight-line burst or lateral quicks but makes up for it with energy and strength.

He's also wise, understanding angles and opponents' tendencies. Jae was in the 60th percentile defending iso's in 2018-2019.

His opposing points-per-play was stingier than Mikal Bridges, Ben Simmons, and Klay Thompson for 2018-2019. Jae's ability to not be out of his element against guards on switches helps to stabilize his iso defense advanced metrics.

He really does make his mark as a positional defender. The "defensive disruptor" stats like steals and deflections tend to be pedestrian. This isn't to say his off-ball defense is flimsy; he is actually in the right place most of the time and can expertly squash a DHO. He takes timely digs on slashers.

WEAKNESSES

Oscillating Three-Point Clip

Jae really can't do much beyond his spot-up shooting on the offensive end. He is a traditional 3-and-D player with limitations even within that. For example, his three-point percentages are suboptimal on the whole.

Crowder is willing to take open threes and this alone garners some respect from the defense. He can shoot himself into a slump or shoot himself out of one. Still, a year-after-year high-volume upper-30's or low-40's from deep is much more desirable considering he doesn't give you much else as a scorer.

From 2017-2018 to 2019-2020 he was below league average from long range. Zone by zone, he tends to be better in the corners than anywhere else as is the case with most shooters. However, the discrepancy in percentages is vast.

In 2019-2020 he made 35 of 93 corner three-balls for a solid percentage of 37.6%. That dropped to 33.3% on all other triple tries that year – 100/300 on above-the-break threes.

Shoot-or-Bust

Once Jae is ran off the three-point line, it's a win for the opposition. His three-ball may be streaky, but he doesn't have much of a catch-and-go game. Crowder's handle can be a bit clunky and he seldom takes one-dribble pull-up two's or floaters of any kind.

Jae embarked on a measly 1.3 dribble drives per game in 2019-2020. This resulted in just 42 points for him over the entire season. Additionally, he's just around average as a playmaker on his takes and in general.

Getting Shot Over on Defense

His undersized stature can only be compensated for so much with pure muscle. He can get shot over in the post or when bigger players face up on him. As a big-minute four-man, Jae should at least provide competent defense on centers in a pinch. At 6'6", this isn't always the case.

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Players Appearing in This Analysis – Check Out Their Profiles
bacon
Beacon Bacon

Jae's first year at Marquette had him playing next to 4 other future NBA'ers, headlined by Jimmy Butler