I Freaking Hate Jamal Crawford

[jlprk]

Untll Lin, Knicks fans were crying over Felton's absence. They value him in a trade. As for other GMs, just remind them he was the 5th pick in the draft. He's worth far more than, say, Bayless. At the minimum, we could get 3 or 4 first round picks to supplement the 5 or 6 that all the teams were offering us for Wallace.

 

[PapaG]

That play wasn't ran for Batum. I have it DVR'ed he was basically jumping up and down for the Crawford to pass him the rock. Reluctantly he finally did.

That play out of the time out was run for Batum. McMillan said so on the 5th quarter last night. Plus, Nic should have saved some of the energy that he expended getting Crawford to pass him the ball, because that was a flat, ugly shot that was wide open.

 

[MickZagger]

That play out of the time out was run for Batum. McMillan said so on the 5th quarter last night. Plus, Nic should have saved some of the energy that he expended getting Crawford to pass him the ball, because that was a flat, ugly shot that was wide open.

I have it DVR'ed. I've watched it. It was a Crawford ISO play and Williams and Griffin brought the double out top and Crawford was forced to pass to Batum in the corner.

I'll cut the 41% three point shooter a little slack on that miss.

 

[BBert]

I'd honestly rather play Babbitt at backup SF and Batum at starting SG than play Crawchuck a single minute. For real.

Crawford COULD be a decent player if he had a brain, less tunnel vision, and a different coach. Just because he's the 'best' guard we have available on the bench doesn't mean he has to act like he's the only player on the team, and by all appearances Nate encourages it. Cut Crawford. Fire Nate.

 

[Minstrel]

Crawford COULD be a decent player if he had a brain, less tunnel vision, and a different coach. Just because he's the 'best' guard we have available on the bench doesn't mean he has to act like he's the only player on the team, and by all appearances Nate encourages it. Cut Crawford. Fire Nate.

While I think you may be a little extreme with your "0 minutes for Crawford" platform, I agree with you that Crawford does have the talent to be a good player, he just kills the effectiveness of his talent with terrible decision-making. In some sense, he's the guard equivalent of Travis Outlaw...he's got natural talent and the ability to hit extremely high degree of difficulty shots (an important skill, because not every possession can yield an easy shot)...but his scoring efficiency has been terrible many years (including this one) because he just can't get a handle on when to shoot and when not to.

He's not all bad. His turnover rate is quite under control, unlike Felton's, and he actually has assisted on a pretty decent number of his team's possessions over the years. He's almost a very valuable player on offense, but if he hasn't learned shot-selection by now, he probably never will. Like Outlaw, his best role is as a gunner off the bench in very limited minutes. Someone who can hopefully inject some offense when things are stagnant, or against a defense that's challenging everything, and then back off the court.

His minutes are actually down from his Knicks and Hawks days, and the Blazers just don't have other guard options, so I really can't fault McMillan for his usage of Crawford. I'd like to see Batum play more minutes, but Felton is the guy who's minutes need to be eaten away first. Even with his low scoring efficiency, Crawford is maintaining a pretty solid PER based on his assists, low turnovers and grabbing a few rebounds. I think PER probably overrates Crawford a touch (it's well known that PER skews a bit higher for players who use a lot of possessions) but nowhere near enough to explain the disparity between him and Felton (16.4 versus a godawful 10).

 

[bemac]

Wow....Serious ignorance here. Crawford is what he is, and happens to be pretty damned good at it. Hate him? Seriously? The guy has made a career of doing his thing....He get's to Portland and suddenly he's hated for it. Brilliant.

 

[Rhal]

Wow....Serious ignorance here. Crawford is what he is, and happens to be pretty damned good at it. Hate him? Seriously? The guy has made a career of doing his thing....He get's to Portland and suddenly he's hated for it. Brilliant.

He isn't hated for what he is, he is hated for how the coach uses him. Crawford is great next to a PG who can run an offense, not great as a PG because then the offense becomes 1v5.

 

[Boob-No-More]

He isn't hated for what he is, he is hated for how the coach uses him. Crawford is great next to a PG who can run an offense, not great as a PG because then the offense becomes 1v5.

In the 4th quarter, it wouldn't matter if he had a "PG who can run an offense" next to him, because Nate's 4th quarter offense has gone from the Roy ISO to the Crawford ISO. Actually, it's still the Roy ISO with Jamal Crawford playing the role of Brandon Roy. Unfortunately, Jamal Crawford isn't very good at playing Brandon Roy. Same script + different actor = different ending.

Point being, until we get a different coach, it doesn't matter what position Crawford is playing or who else is on the court with him, the 4th quarter offense is going to be Jamal Crawford going 1-on-5. And the team is going to continue to lose >80% of their close games.

Yep, I agree Crawford is what he is, it's the coach that is using him in a way that shows off his weaknesses more than his strengths. He's more Vinnie Johnson (spark off the bench) than Brandon Roy (closer). Unfortunately, Nate is more Nate McMillan (mediocre coach) than Chuck Daley (Hall of Famer).

BNM

 

[e_blazer]

Sounds like you may "have to endure" a little less Crawford tonight:

McMillan does plan on making one slight tweak to his rotation, however. He said he intends on playing rookie guard Nolan Smith at point guard behind Felton, which means Jamal Crawford — who has played backup point some in recent games — will mostly play shooting guard on the second unit.

 

[Rhal]

Sounds like you may "have to endure" a little less Crawford tonight:

Best news i'v heard all week. Maybe he will try Ewill if Smith starts sucking.

 

[BBert]

Sounds like you may "have to endure" a little less Crawford tonight:

I guess if Crawchuck is OCD when he has the ball in his hands, and Nate can't control him, best thing to do is take the ball out of his hands and sit him in the corner. I don't mind passing him the ball for a catch and shoot within something that resembles an offense, or giving him the ball with less than 5 seconds on the shot clock so he can 'create' in an emergency. Just get him under control and make him a last resort instead of the ONLY option, for the love of god.