Jae Crowder wasn’t exactly a throw-in on the trade that send him, Solomon Hill, and Andre Iguodala to the Heat, but he wasn’t the main piece either. The main piece was definitely Iguodala. Heat fans were definitely happy to acquire Crowder, who fits neatly into the supposed Heat “culture” that their fans can’t stop crowing about, but they were happier about Iguodala.
So it’s kind of funny that Crowder is severely outplaying Iguodala right now. SEVERELY. It’s not even close, really. Crowder is scoring at a higher rate than he ever has in his career up to this point, at a higher percentage than he ever has in his career up to this point. In both measures, he’s better than he’s ever been. The fit is just too perfect. He’s too good. I don’t want to imply that he’s a better fit in the offense than Jimmy Butler, but, you know. Yeah.
Meanwhile, Iguodala is scoring at a lower rate that he ever has in his career up to this point. I don’t know why everybody thought that Iguodala would somehow get revived in Miami, but he hasn’t been revived. He’s flatlined. Somebody should get out those shocking pad thingies (derfobbilators? Will my spell check know what I’m talking about here?), yell “clear!” in a really important voice, and zap Iguodala in the chest with them repeatedly because I don’t think he’s gonna make it otherwise.