If you are going to show him then that would be the only reason I would crop. Otherwise I like natural ears and your boys ears are great IMO!
I would leave him on the BB lamb and rice and stay away from the high protein until he is over a year old. Orijen is way to high for a puppy IMO. They should only be on a high protein diet if they are very active working dogs. A regular house pet doesn't need that and the highest I would go is 28% protein. I wouldn't risk him knuckling over again. My girl is 8 months and she was knuckling as well. Her breeder had her on TOTW prairie which was 34% and then I switched her to BB wilderness chicken....again 34%. Obviously it became and issue for her and she had a soft tissue injury in the same area the knuckling occurs in (wrist area). She just came off strict crate rest to heal it after 10 days. Knuckling can cause lameness and cause injuries. Again, she is 8 months and I just caught the knuckling about 2 weeks ago. I have her on BB lamb and rice 22% as well and I also added flax seed oil to her food. I actually used your dogs picture as my example in my knuckling thread. I didn't have a picture of Bella holding her leg like your pup so I hope you don't mind
Its all good we are all here to help each other