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Robb: Jae Crowder Eager To Prove Celtics' Strong Second-Half Was No Fluke

BOSTON (CBS) – When Jae Crowder arrived in Boston from the Dallas Mavericks last season, in the trade that sent Rajon Rondo packing, he wasted no time making his presence felt in the locker room of a floundering team.

It was just eight games into his Celtics career when he called out his teammates for a lack of effort following an ugly loss against the Charlotte Hornets. Crowder's own youth, bench role and inexperience did not cause him to hold back at the time, and the outburst immediately established Crowder as one of the leaders in a revamped Celtics locker room when Jeff Green was dealt away days later.

On Monday, the Celtics rewarded Crowder for that passion and role in the team's second-half turnaround, officially signing him to a five-year, $35 million dollar deal. The small forward was introduced next to trade additions Perry Jones III and David Lee, as well as the free agent signings of Jonas Jerebko and Amir Johnson.

The mix of youth and seasoned veterans on stage at the press conference signaled a new step in the Celtics rebuild, in which the focus will no longer be just on developing young talent. It's a shift that Crowder wanted to be sure was in place when he signed his new long-term deal.

"I think that was the biggest thing for me, because I'm a winner," Crowder said of the team's commitment to improving. "When I first came here and we were -- you guys were saying, 'Tanking' -- it was bad. I didn't want to be a part of it, selfishly. Because I don't like losing. I had to ask. I had to ask our direction moving forward. And he responded well, as you can see. I'm pleased with the guys that we brought in and the guys we picked up. And the moves we're still trying to make."

Johnson and Lee will immediately upgrade a front line that features plenty of young talent already in Kelly Olynyk, Tyler Zeller, Jared Sullinger and Jerebko (among others). Danny Ainge indicated on Monday that the team was happy with its roster composition heading into the season, signaling that the team likely plans to head into training camp with 17 guaranteed contracts on the roster and heavy competition awaiting for spots in Brad Stevens' rotation.

And if a couple young guys are stuck watching on the bench because of guys like Lee or Johnson? So be it, says Ainge.

"Part of developing is learning how to play and all these guys that are up here right now know how to play, and they're gonna teach our young guys a lot about how to play. We don't want players given minutes just unconditionally. We want them earning minutes, and we brought these guys in because we want to win basketball games, and we want to win playoff games, and that's why these guys are at this table here today."

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Perry Jones III, David Lee, Amir Johnson, Jae Crowder and Jonas Jerebko are introduced by the Celtics. (WBZ-TV)

The situation is better for Brad Stevens, who now has more talent and flexibility on the roster than ever in his third year as Celtics head coach. Still, nearly every member of the Celtics roster can make a fairly strong case to be included in the team's rotation, which will create quite the juggling act for Stevens to manage throughout the year.

"Brad did a great job of managing the many different players we had on the roster," Ainge explained. "These are guys we just think are better players than what we've had. We think they can add to our team. Not necessarily better individual talent, but as Wyc mentioned, great team players. Brad's biggest challenge is gonna be managing the roster, getting the guys the minutes that they all think that they're gonna want. That's gonna be the biggest challenge because of our depth."

After missing on the chance to land any big stars, that depth should continue to be Boston's greatest strength heading into the 2015-16 regular season, as the team attempts to prove its 24-12 finish to last season was not a fluke. Playing above .500 basketball for 82 games is something Crowder and the rest of the players at the podium Monday are eager to prove they can sustain.

"I think these guys are going to help us -- the guys who were here and with us last year -- move forward," Crowder said. "I don't think we're going to go backwards. I think we're in the right direction moving forward. That's to win playoff games like Danny said, and we didn't do that last year. So that's our next goal. We're taking steps. Of course we want Banner 18, but at the same time we have to win a playoff game first before we get to Banner 18. I think we're moving in the right direction."

Brian Robb covers the Celtics for CBS Boston and contributes to NBA.com, among other media outlets. You can follow him on Twitter @CelticsHub.

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