Despite a solid core, the Boston Celtics are finding it incredibly difficult to sign free agents currently. However, the Celtics were able to secure an important player for the organization by re-signing forward Jae Crowder.

Report: Jae Crowder reaches five-year, $35 million agreement with Celtics: http://t.co/c1STpKiGgB #NBA pic.twitter.com/mUxzcKEx2e

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— NBA.com (@NBAcom) July 2, 2015

Boston acquired Crowder from the Dallas Mavericks last December in the Rajon Rondo trade. Crowder went from being an overlooked and underrated bench player in Dallas, to one of the many reasons why the Celtics were able to make such a remarkable turnaround and ultimately secure an Eastern Conference playoff berth.

Crowder is never going to be a dominant scorer, but he was able to average 13.7 points per 36 minutes last season, which is respectable and a figure that wouldn’t have been possible had he stayed in Dallas. What Crowder does lack in offensive upside, he makes up for defensively. At 6-foot-7 and 240 pounds, Crowder is simply bigger than most small forwards in today’s NBA.

Many in the media will claim the Celtics overpaid for Crowder considering he hasn’t shown a ton of consistency in his three-year career, but those whispers will be nothing more than noise. The Celtics are not bringing Crowder back to town hoping he’s going to turn into a star. But at just 24 years old, it’s entirely possible Crowder continues to blossom and ultimately turns into the player many thought he’d become going back to his college days at Marquette.

Timothy Downs is a Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com. You can ‘like him’ on Facebook add him on Google or follow him Twitter @Tidow1212.