The only people who used to get rich from playing basketball were the superstars who stuck around the NBA for more than a decade. Now it seems like every teenager with a little hype can get a 7-figure NIL deal from a big-time college program. However, if you are a great player who works hard you can carve out a nice little career for yourself in pro basketball. Javon McCrea was conference ROY as a freshman, an All-American as a senior, remains the leading scorer in school history, and has spent more than a decade playing pro basketball in the US and overseas. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Javon about being a sensational scorer and having a nice long pro career.
At Newark High School you set a Section V record with 17 BLK in a single game: what is the secret to being a dominant shot-blocker? The biggest key is being in the right place at the right time. Some nights your opponent will challenge you a lot, and other times you can get a lot of blocks just by helping out your teammates on defense.
In the 2011 CIT as a freshman at Buffalo you scored 7 PTS in a 1-PT win over Western Michigan: how on earth did your team win after making only 7-23 FT? That year we had a great defensive team with a lot of guys in addition to myself who were 6’5” and above like Mitchell Watt/Titus Robinson/Dave Barnett.
You finished that season by leading the conference with 63.1 FG% and being named MAC ROY: how were you able to come in and contribute right from the start? It was due to a lot of hard work that I put in during the offseason. I worked out for hours at a time and by the time I arrived on campus I was confident/in shape.
The school made a coaching change after your junior year: how hard was it to get a new coach for your final season, and what was the most important thing you learned from Coach Bobby Hurley? It was bittersweet: I am still close with the coach from my 1st 3 years (Reggie Witherspoon). When Coach Hurley came in you could see his level of intensity for every detail. He also had an assistant you might have heard of who was big on analytics: Nate Oats!
As a senior you averaged a double-double: how were you able to balance your scoring with your rebounding? It is all about effort at the end of the day. I know where to be positioned on the court: if a guy shoots from the corner it is most likely to come off the rim on the other side. I learned a lot of rebounding tips from Kevin Love.
In your final regular season game you scored a career-high 34 PTS/13-18 FG in a win over Bowling Green: was it just 1 of those situations where every shot you put up seemed to go in because you were “in the zone”, and how did it feel to finally make a 3-PT shot (the only 1 of your college career)?! That was a great game. We played against Richaun Holmes, who later spent a decade in the NBA. It was Senior Night so I wanted to go out and perform for everyone, and we ended up winning the MAC East regular season title that night.
In 2014 you were named MAC POY/All-American: what did it mean to you to win such outstanding honors? It is always great to have your hard work recognized. My teammates and I propelled the school to do great things in the years after that: the guys who came after me were able to upset Arizona in the 2018 NCAA tourney.
Your scoring/rebounding increased during each of your 4 years in college: how were you able to keep improving every single year? I worked tirelessly every offseason by training every single day. There are a lot of unseen hours in the gym that helped me get where I needed to.
Your 2004 career PTS is the most in school history: what is the key to being a great scorer, and do you think that anyone will ever break your record? The key is that I only attempted a couple of threes during my career. Many people think that shooting a lot of threes is the best way to score a lot of points, but for me the key to putting the ball in the basket is to get as close to the rim as possible and then make a lot of layups. Even with the extra COVID year, I think it will be tough for anyone to break my record because there are so many kids these days transferring schools every single year.
Since graduating you have played pro basketball overseas and in the ABA: how does basketball in other countries compare to basketball in the US, and what do you hope to do in the future? Basketball in other countries is tough: there is solid competition, but you also have to deal with different languages/adversity/food. There were a lot of years where I gained a lot of weight: sometimes that burger sounds better than other options on the menu, but nutrition is important. You also have to handle your money while spending time away from your family. Playing for the Buffalo Extreme in the ABA the past few years has been great because now my friends/family can come see me play in person.
