Robb: Phil Jackson Turned Down Chance To Acquire Jae Crowder In 2014
BOSTON (CBS) – Danny Ainge has played his cards right when it comes to trades over the past three seasons of the Celtics rebuild. From top scorer Isaiah Thomas all the way down the roster to role players like Jonas Jerebko, Boston's front office have managed to nab players with upside at minimal cost to the franchise's long term vision.
Outside of Thomas, the biggest steal of Ainge's recent tenure may have been nabbing Jae Crowder in the team's 2014 trade with the Dallas Mavericks. The young small forward was playing limited minutes off the bench for Rick Carlisle when he was dealt with Brandan Wright and Jameer Nelson for Rajon Rondo and Dwight Powell. Two years later though, he's clearly the best player involved in that deal after developing into a versatile starting wing for Brad Stevens.
While Crowder has thrived with the additional opportunity he's been given in Boston, we found out this week that the Celtics were close to never having a chance at landing the 26-year-old in the first place.
In a recent interview with Charley Rosen on Today's Fastbreak, Knicks president Phil Jackson revealed he had the option of acquiring Crowder in the summer 2014 as part of a Knicks-Mavs swap that sent Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton to Dallas:
I think the biggest mistake I made was actually this," Jackson said in the interview. "One of the first deals I engineered when I came back to New York was to trade Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton to Dallas for Shane Larkin, Jose Calderon, Wayne Ellington, Samuel Dalembert, plus a second-round pick that the Boston owed to Dallas.
"In talking with Dallas, I was given the option of taking that pick or else taking Jae Crowder. I liked Crowder but I thought he wouldn't get much of a chance to play behind Carmelo, so I took the pick which turned out to be Cleanthony Early. While Cleanthony has missed lots of time in the past two seasons with us, he still has the potential to be a valuable player. Even so, I should have taken Crowder."
For a point of comparison, Early was selected with the 34th overall pick in the 2014 Draft and has played in just 56 career games, averaging 4.3 ppg. Crowder was nearly an All-Star reserve last season and is signed for the next four seasons at a bargain average annual value of $7 million per year.
While the Knicks have made a number of acquisitions last off-season to make them competitive in the Eastern Conference next season, turning down a chance at Crowder is a choice that could haunt the franchise for years to come.
Brian Robb covers the Celtics for CBS Boston and contributes to NBA.com, among other media outlets. You can follow him on Twitter @CelticsHub.
