Nov 9, 2014; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Jae Crowder (9) during the game against the Miami Heat at the American Airlines Center. The Heat defeated the Mavericks 105-96. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Jae Crowder isn’t the most consistent player the Dallas Mavericks have. He’s not the best shooter nor even the best playmaker.

But year after year, Crowder finds ways to improve his game. Yet somehow, there are stints where Rick Carlisle doesn’t reward him for his effort, even though he deserves it.

Crowder is now in his third year, and he hasn’t peaked. He was a project when he came into the NBA. Once upon a time, I thought he had the kind of skill set that could turn him into the next version of Shawn Marion.

Maybe that was a little farfetched, but nonetheless, when Crowder has seen minutes this season, he’s made the most of them, even when Richard Jefferson is getting minutes that he shouldn’t be getting.

Here’s the reality of the situation: Crowder is playing on a team that is the worst defensive unit in the league, yet the former second-round pick might be Dallas’ best defender at this moment.

Ignore the 44 percent 3-point shooting Crowder has allowed, because no Dallas player can defend a 3-pointer to save their life right now.

Crowder is allowing 40.5 percent on all 2-point attempts, and overall allowing 42 percent shooting from opponents. The average shooter Crowder is defending shoots 47.1 percent from the floor.

That means Crowder is forcing opponents to shoot 6.6 percent less than their given percentage.

On shots from 15 feet or greater, Crowder is allowing only 38.6 percent shooting. He’s seeing about 2.4 attempts from 15 feet and out each game he plays.

When the Mavericks win, Crowder is even more efficient. He’s allowed 4.5 attempts per game, and opponents have only made 39.7 percent of all shots.

Meanwhile, Jefferson is allowing 43.2 percent on all shots, and 47.1 percent shooting on all 2-point attempts. That’s with Jefferson averaging three more minutes than Crowder. Jefferson is getting these minutes based on being a veteran, and that’s understandable.

But the long-standing problem of Carlisle holding his young players back continues to be true.

It’s hard to knock Carlisle on anything, because he’s arguably the second-best coach in the NBA behind Gregg Popovich. He’s one of the best game managers the league has. When it comes to developing young talent, Carlisle is definitely not the best.

There are plenty of young players who have talent, yet were stuck at the end of the bench. Shane Larkin showed plenty of promise in his rookie season, then the Mavs – in typical Mavs fashion – went for winning now rather than later.

Of course, right now, that looks to be the right decision. But Dallas now has to deal with plenty of point guard problems because of it.

Bernard James showed plenty of potential, but didn’t get on the court enough. His shot-blocking ability is something that could be coveted if needed, but with the way Carlisle works his rotations with this season being a clear indication, James wouldn’t have seen the floor anyway.

The debate could go on all day on whether the problem is Carlisle mishandling his rotations, or just the Mavericks being a poor evaluator of talent. A perfect example would be Shan Foster, a late-second round pick of Dallas’ in 2008, Carlisle’s first season as Mavericks head coach.

Foster was an amazing talent at Vanderbilt. In his senior year, he averaged 20.3 points on 52 percent shooting and 46 percent from 3-point range. It was absurd that a guy of Foster’s talent fell that far. Dallas had big plans for Foster, like him being the next best Sixth Man or even the eventual replacement for Josh Howard.

That didn’t happen. Foster didn’t play a single minute with the Mavericks. He got invites to Las Vegas to play on Dallas’ summer league team, but nothing more after that.

Foster ended up playing five years overseas before retiring from basketball, never playing in the NBA now at the age of 28 years old.

Dallas hasn’t been good with young players. The Mavericks haven’t had a good draft pick since Josh Howard. Rodrigue Beaubois was the last glimmer of hope Dallas had regarding the development of a young talent.

Beaubois had all the tools to succeed. He was athletic, had unlimited range and could score. But one broken foot later, Beaubois rarely saw the court when Dallas won the championship in 2011. The world hadn’t heard from him until he played for the Los Angeles Lakers’ summer league this team this past summer.

The good sign for Crowder is that he brings something to the table that Carlisle likes. Maybe that’s also a sign why the Mavericks haven’t given up on Ricky Ledo. It could be a sign of the times that Dallas does need to get younger.

Crowder showed Sunday night that he can contribute in a bigger role, maybe as the backup to Chandler Parsons. Crowder had a bench-high nine points before Jefferson decided to make all four of his attempts in garbage time in the 23-point win over the Milwaukee Bucks.

He’s not the most perfect players Dallas has, but Crowder does everything that is liked. He was made fun of early on, but he’s proving that he hard work has paid off. Crowder needs more minutes, and it’s time he gets them.

Crowder isn’t going to reach Shawn Marion status at this rate, and if Dallas doesn’t keep him after this season, then the Mavericks might want to disqualify themselves from the draft forever.