jordan crawford scouting report — Crawford’s uniform was ready to go after last night’s loss to Denver. (Photo: LetsGoWarriors.com Instagram account)
ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The pregame press conference preceding the Denver Nuggets versus Golden State Warriors game was a hotbed of questions about the recent trade that sent Toney Douglas to the Miami Heat, draft picks from the Heat to the Boston Celtics, and Jordan Crawford and MarShon Brooks to the Warriors (read scouting report here, and the Celtics’ perspective on the trade here).
It was a multi-faceted discussion. Golden State’s general manager Bob Myers gave an inside look into the trade and the topic of Jarrett Jack, last year’s point-shooting hero off the bench, came up more than once. We will cover those facets in separate reports.
Crawford, in his fourth year, was drafted as a shooting guard out of Xavier University, and the 27th pick in the 2010 NBA Draft. Prior to that, his claim-to-fame was that he dunked on LeBron James during LeBron’s summer camp.
He has now spent each of his four years on different teams: the Atlanta Hawks, the Washington Wizards, and, most recently, the Boston Celtics.
That begs the question of whether or not he was a problem in the locker room.
“I don’t pay attention to what anybody says about any other individual because I feel like, with all due respect, I’ve not been coaching him and he hasn’t been part of this organization,” Warriors head coach Mark Jackson said yesterday night before the game, “History is his story, not mine, so I clean the slate and we develop relationships.
“I’ve not had one problem with one player in my three years here.”
“You put a good person in a good environment. We brought in Nate Robinson and people said, ‘Oh he’s difficult,’ and he was fantastic for us in the locker room, on the court,” Myers said, “So sometimes you have to be careful how you read into whether a player’s been traded or how many teams he’s been on. Sometimes it’s hard to just find the right fit. We’re happy to have him.”
“I think he’s a talented player and you hope Danny (Ainge, Celtics general manager is) telling me the truth,” Myers added, “I said, ‘Look, is this a good guy?’
“He said, ‘Yeah, he gets after it. He’s a competitive player’. A lot of times in life, the competitive people are the ones that kind of irk you a little bit, but you want those people on your side. We feel like we need a little bit of that. We’re happy that (Crawford) brings it.”
Crawford has spent the majority of this season replacing the injured Rajon Rondo at Boston’s point guard position. According to Kevin Cronan of SqueezTheOrange.com, the evolution of “Steezus” (Crawford’s nickname — more on that, later), has been praiseworthy.
In his brilliant, comprehensive piece written on Christmas — complete with video breakdowns and certainly worth the entire read — Cronan writes:
The Celtics started the season 0-4, during which Crawford played a reserve role. For the Celtics’ fifth game, he was slotted in the starting lineup. Since then, the Celtics have gone 12-11, a record that may not seem that impressive, but is one that has propelled them from dead last in the Atlantic to first.
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Since he was given the keys to the offense, the Celtics have played like a new team. He’s having his best statistical year by far, averaging 14 pts, 5.5 ast, and 3.3 reb per game. His PER is the highest it’s ever been at 18.04, which puts him right between Roy Hibbert and Jeremy Lin. When Steeze plays well, the Celtics play well 8. What’s even more impressive has been his spike in efficiency. Crawford has shot 41% from the field and only 31% from three for his career. This season, he is shooting 45% from the field and 40% from three! Crawford is picking his spots, and picking them well. He had a brief stint in ever exclusive the 50-40-90 club 9 and even recorded a triple double a few weeks ago.
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Sometimes all it takes is someone to show a little trust in you, and your confidence can explode. That’s what (Celtics head coach Brad) Stevens did. By giving Crawford a chance to run the offense, he showed enormous trust in the young guard. I don’t know if any other coach in the NBA would have made that decision. Stevens is very familiar with coaching young players who need a little help developing, and understands how young guys may need a push better than most tenured coaches in the league. As long as Stevens continues to believe in Crawford, I think he’ll continue to play at this level.
“He can create his own shot, he’s a great free throw shooter — another category we’re pretty beat up in, like 24th or 25th in the league in free throw shooting — we like the fact he showed he can distribute the ball this year, in a more point guard primary role, not afraid of the moment, takes big shots makes big shots,” Myers said.
“He’s dangerous, is the word I like to use for a player like that. When you’re facing players, you’re so paranoid a lot of times as a GM, when you play against certain teams and certain players, because you know they can hurt you,” Myers added, “Going against a guy like him, he can score ten points in bunches and that’s a factor we were missing coming off the bench that we think we’ve been able to add in a player like Jordan.”
Jackson acknowledged the observations from Crawford’s transition to point guard in Boston this season, but the head coach also pointed to direct experience.
“You know last year, in Washington he pretty much handled the basketball and almost won the game for them against us, playing pick and rolls, isolating. He gets going, he can score like anybody from that position. I think he’s not a traditional point guard. We don’t have many of those in the league today,” Jackson said, “With the way that the rules are, he can get to his spot and make plays. We needed that in that second unit. I think it’s going to make life easier for other guys and he’s going to have the opportunity to play and play well.”
“How many true point guards are there in this league? It’s a different league. He’s a playmaker,” Jackson said, “I thought in the past his foot was always on the gas pedal scoring the basketball. This year he did a much better job of getting other guys involved at times and enjoying his best season thus far as far as the way he’s playing.”
[NOTE: Kevin Cronan contributed to this report. Kevin hails from Boston, the greatest city in Massachusetts. He is an avid pickup player and isn’t at all bitter about never playing college basketball, so don’t even both bringing it up. You can find more of his work at Squeeze the Orange and Celtics Talk.]Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
