Deep down, every NBA player knows they’re a candidate to be traded. It’s a well-worn cliché in the NBA, but true nonetheless: in a league where Kevin Garnett, Allen Iverson and Shaquille O’Neal have all been traded in the last 18 months, virtually anyone can be dealt.
But still, on draft day, every player envisions setting down roots with the team that selects them, and dreams of being the rare player who spends his entire career with one team.
Javaris Crittenton is no exception. So it came as a shock on that afternoon in February when the Lakers’ rookie guard was called to Phil Jackson’s hotel room and told he was traded to Memphis as part of the Pau Gasol deal. Along with all the usual tumult that comes with a trade – learning a new system, new teammates, a new city, etc. – came the added kick in the pants that Crittenton’s girlfriend had transferred to USC so she could be with him in Los Angeles.
But for Crittenton, there was another side to the trade: playing on a title contender meant he was limited to mop-up duty, averaging just eight minutes a game mostly in blowouts. But as part of the Grizzlies’ youth movement, he was going to be getting a much better chance to establish himself.
“It definitely throws you into a whirlwind, but in my situation I wasn’t playing a lot in L.A. I’m a rookie and Phil has his outlook on rookies, and I just felt like this was a better situation for me,” said Crittenton last week after the season had wrapped up. “It helped me mature, like ‘Welcome to the NBA’. It was a wakeup call. I think that was one of the toughest things for me to deal with, getting traded in the middle of my rookie season. I don’t think anything can shake me up now after having been through that.”
When the trade occurred, Crittenton, who’d played point guard for much of his life, joined a crowd at that position along with fellow youngsters Mike Conley and Kyle Lowry. Grizzlies General Manager and Vice President of Basketball Operations Chris Wallace said at the time, “Basically we’re going to lock those three guys in a room and see which two emerge,” suggesting that somewhere down the line one of them would be traded.
However, once he got here, on top of everything else, Crittenton had yet another adjustment to make: a change of position. The plan of platooning all three players as point guards didn’t come to pass, and Crittenton instead slid over to the two-guard.
“It’s just the way it worked out. I came in in the middle of the season, I didn’t know a lot of the plays, and being the point guard you have to know the plays and be able to tell other people their positions, and I had to come along,” he says.
Besides, at that point Crittenton was just happy to be playing, regardless of where on the floor it was. For his part, Wallace came away pleased with the progress Crittenton made in the short time he had after the trade.
“Javaris didn’t get a chance to play at the point because we had Mike and Kyle and they took up the full 48 minutes. He’s going to play the point in the summer league some, he’s played it in the past, so it’s clear to me he can play it. He just didn’t get that opportunity (this season),” said Wallace. “But we’re very excited about what Javaris did on the offensive end of the floor. He had several big games for us and now we just have to smooth out his entire package, he’s got some real talent. He can get to the basket whenever he wants to, which is a real edge in this game.”
As for Wallace’s statement after the trade about locking the three in a room and seeing who emerged, he amended his feelings on the subject after the season.
“I may have been a little premature with that. I’m not saying it’s going to happen. On paper that looked like it was the way to go right then. As things have unfolded all three of those players have continued to develop and we’re excited about their future, so we may move (one of) them, we may not,” he said.
Crittenton insists his natural position is the point, and would like to return to that spot. At 6-5, 200 pounds, he’d hold a marked size advantage over most of his point counterparts. Regardless of what position he ends up playing, one area he’ll need to improve is his shooting. Despite his ability to get to the hoop, Crittenton shot just 40.0% from the field and 26.5% from three-point range after the trade.
Luckily for the Grizzlies, Crittenton understands that, and said he’s heading into the offseason planning on working on virtually every aspect of his game.
“I’m working on everything- ballhandling, definitely being consistent with my shot, strength, speed, I’m working on everything,” he said. “This was my rookie year, it was Welcome to the NBA, and now I see what’s going on and I just have to work to get better so I can play in this league.”