Out of his shell
Nets need aggressiveness, consistency from Crabbe
PORTLAND, Ore. — Allen Crabbe admits he’s going to be extra fired up Friday facing the Trail Blazers, the team that traded him away. If so, the Nets hope that added incentive can help him snap his skid and break his inconsistency.
“Yeah, I’m a little more excited. After I got traded and the schedule came out, this is the first game that I looked for,” Crabbe said. “It’s no negatives. It was a good time here. But it’s going to be fun playing against old teammates and coaching staff, so I’m looking forward to it.”
It’ll be more fun if Crabbe — whom the Nets inked to a four-year, $75 million offer sheet two years ago, then traded for this summer — shakes his malaise. With a bigger paycheck and bigger role comes bigger responsibility. “For us, he’s a starter. In the beginning we had him in and out because he was on a minutes restriction. Now we popped him into the starting lineup. He’s got to be able to be an elite starter in this league. That should be his goal,” coach Kenny Atkinson said. “He’s trying to get his rhythm, and [we’re] challenging him to be more consistent. ... But [he’s] doing great. We love him.” Still, they need him to play better. Atkinson said for Crabbe, “the sky’s the limit.”
When asked if Crabbe can be Kyle Korver, whom he tutored in Atlanta, Atkinson gushed, “I think he can be more.”
That’s high praise, but right now the Nets just need the fifth-highest paid player in team history to earn his keep.
While Crabbe’s maligned defense has improved, his 3-point shooting has dipped from second in the NBA (44.4 percent) to 78th (37.1 percent). After a 25-point outing in Los Angeles against the Lakers, he followed with 15 at Phoenix, and just three in Denver on 1of-8 shooting.
“That’s one of the biggest things I’m trying to change is the inconsistency, having 20 one night and the next night having three or four. That’s something I’ve really been trying to focus on,” Crabbe said. “It’s just me having that mindset to be aggressive. When I’m aggressive, getting the shot attempts up, things happen.”
Not a pick-and-roll player, Crabbe relies on bigs to set screens, so he can get open off pin-downs and the like. The Nets’ raft of injuries and everchanging lineups has robbed him of that.
“It’s a product of us not being in sync. ... We’ve tried small-ball more than I’d like. I don’t think that’s conducive to take a screener off the floor. He needs screens to get open,” Atkinson said. “He needs a team to function for him to be efficient. That’s on me. That’s on our offense functioning well. When we function well he gets 20, 25 points.
“Listen, I’m not making excuses for him. He still hasn’t caught his full rhythm yet. It’s going to get there ... and it’s on him a little, too. In Portland you could be [hot] one or two out of every five nights. Now with us, we need it every night. You can take once in a while that maybe you don’t have it. But we just need more consistency from him.”
Crabbe missed the summer rehabbing from foot surgery, then much of training camp with an ankle sprain on that same foot. But he won’t use that as an alibi.
“I don’t think so. I’ll take the blame for the inconsistency. That’s on me,” Crabbe said. “I’ve had enough time ... I don’t attribute my inconsistency to time off. It’s just me. Certain games I’ll be aggressive. Certain games I’ll find myself trying to play the right way.
“Here I can make mistakes and play through those mistakes. You’ve got to take those chances, take risks.”
Pushing player development, the rebuilding Nets encourage that.
“They’re always telling me I’m that type of player who plays not to make mistakes,” Crabbe said. “But here [they say] ‘That’s the only way your game’s going to grow. Take risks, make mistakes, get out of your comfort zone.’ ... They’re giving me the freedom to do that.”