Jordan Crawford
SG – 6’4″ – Xavier
The third post in a quality series of posts from our valued TWolves Blog Forum member “Pants.” His forum posts and further discussion can be found HERE. (Feel free to join us, we’re always looking for more quality members.) As a poor follower of the Wolves, Pants is always trying to talk himself into a light at the end of the tunnel. Usually that means talking himself into players we have, or could potentially have. How many guys will be stars from this draft, probabably a few? Will they be available to the Wolves? He’s going to do his best to convince himself that they will be.
There are many things that make NBA stars, but when it comes to being a guard who can be in a rotation for 8-10 years you need to be able to get and make shots. If you have that skill teams will find minutes for you whatever your height, or defensive ability. Anyone who watched Xavier play Kansas St. in the NCAA tourney knows that Jordan Crawford really looks like that kind of guy. Clearly he isn’t going to be bamboozled by the NBA range. I watched most of Xavier’s first game pondering why Jordan Crawford’s name was so familiar before one of the announcers finally mentioned that he was the infamous LeBron posterizer. On the topic of that dunk, I HATE when people make a big deal of a help defender getting dunked on as they slide over to defend.
Jordan put up stellar, stellar numbers this year after cooling his heals a year; thanks to Kelvin Sampson doing what Kelvin Sampson does… in destroying a resurgent Indiana program. He averaged 20 ppg and 39% from 3 point range (taking almost 6 per game). I’d really like him in a Gilbert Areanas type role next to a SG like Turner who can handle the point for stretches. I’d also love him next to big PG like Rubio who needs a 3 point shooter to open up the floor, and is also big enough to cover whatever defensive deficiencies Crawford surely will have (6’3” and lacking the silly wing span of a guy like Eric Gordon). It is hard to project any 6’3” SG as a starter on a good team, but guys who tend to make shots also tend to get in the game and stay in the game.
One problem with getting value out of Jordan is that he’ll have to be on fire to pass Wayne Ellington on the depth chart. The two guys are pretty darn similar but Ellington has a year in the pros learning the system under his belt. If Ellington can help grease the wheels of one of the bigger trades at the top, Crawford really could be effective in a similar role. Looking at the other players out there, I see Jordan being a significantly above average player given his slot in the 20’s.
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