Jae Crowder's performance
Crowder didn't perform all that well in the 2022-23 season, but it felt easily excusable at the time. He hadn't played for the whole season before the trade happened, so it was expected for him to be a bit out of touch, and the team really fell apart on its own in the playoffs.
There was little blame for him even if he didn't play well. He was expected to play better in his second season, and he did... For just about eight games.
Crowder's first weeks of the 2023-24 season were great. He was a total menace from three, shooting over 50 percent while having and impact on the defensive end, which led him to play almost 28 minutes a game. However, then he got injured against Orlando and missed a total of two months. And once he got back, he never felt like the same player.
His shooting was way more irregular in the second stretch of the season, and his defense was far from the best we've seen from him. He started the season as a kind of sixth man, but as the year went on, he not only lost that spot but was overtaken by most of the bench players. And it was about to get worse from there.
His lowest point came in the playoffs, where he was just a non-factor. Averaging just 2.3 points while shooting 1-of-7 from three before getting two DNPs was just a really sad end to a season that was a complete fall from grace for the veteran forward.