One of the questions I was most asked during Game 2 was some variation of “why is Doc going with Jordan Crawford over Courtney Lee?” Here’s Doc’s reasoning:
Rivers was asked Wednesday about his preference of Crawford over Lee, and he said he simply thinks Crawford is playing better than Lee right now.
“Yeah, it’s not that deep,” Rivers said. “I just think right now (Crawford is) is (playing better) and I think offensively he gives you a better shot at it. Courtney, defensively, is better, so it really depends on — with us, because of the injuries we have at the guard spots, it really depends on the matchups for us, whether Jordan, in certain spots, or Courtney, will play. And that’s just the way it’s going to be.”
OK, it’s not the most ringing endorsement of Crawford over Lee, but that doesn’t change the fact that right now, Crawford is behind Lee on the depth chart. I had a Twitter discussion yesterday with a couple of pretty knowledgeable guys and it seems like while there is some reasoning behind Doc’s decision, there are some holes there too.
So the question is… is Doc justified in going with Jordan Crawford over Courtney Lee?
Let’s go to the numbers… starting big and working our way down (Stats via Basketball-Reference):
First of all, the biggest of pictures:
Courtney Lee (career)
- 44.4% FG
- 38.4% 3pt
- 83.6% FT
- 53.8 TS%
- 50.6 EFG%
- 106 ORtg
- 12.1 PER
- 9.5 PPG
Jordan Crawford (career)
- 40.2% FG
- 30.1 3pt
- 81.4% FT
- 48.9% TS%
- 44.8 EFG%
- 97 ORtg
- 13.6 PER
- 12.7 PPG
Lee, over the course of his career, has been a better shooter. Crawford scores more points, but clearly it’s because he takes more shots (almost 4 more per game). Shocker, I know, because Crawford has never been known as the model of efficiency. But maybe there’s something more recent that we’re missing. Moving on, here are the numbers from this past season:
Courtney Lee
- 46.4% FG
- 37.2% 3PT
- 86.1% FT
- 54.5% TS%
- 51.9% EFG%
- 102 ORtg
- 11.7 PER
- 7.8 PPG
Jordan Crawford
- 41.5% FG
- 33.7% 3PT
- 81.1% FT
- 51.2% TS%
- 47.2% EFG%
- 98 ORtg
- 13.8 PER
- 11.6 PPG
Nothing really changes when you look at this season. Lee leads in nearly every category. Let’s go further, and look at the numbers since Crawford joined the Celtics (stats via NBAWowy.com):
Courtney Lee
- 46.4% FG
- 37.2% 3PT
- 86.1% FT
- 54.3% TS%
- 51.9% EFG%
- 1.07 PPP
Jordan Crawford
- 41.5% FG
- 32.0% 3PT
- 79.2% FT
- 50.4% TS%
- 47.0% EFG%
- 0.97 PPP
I’m still looking for a reason that Courtney Lee wouldn’t be considered a better offensive player other than the “mentality”… which means Lee just won’t shoot as much as Crawford does. But basketball isn’t an individual sport. There are five guys on the floor for each team. Maybe there’s something we’re missing there. Let’s take it to the 5-man rotations (Stats via NBA).
In 6 games, for 32 minutes, a 5-man lineup of Bass, Bradley, Green, Pierce, and Jordan was a +24.3. Of all the Jordan lineups with any significant minutes considering the small time frame with which we’re working, this is the best.
However, the exact same line up with Lee instead of Crawford is a +25.5 over 92 minutes spanning 11 games. Comparing those 2 line ups:
Lee lineup:
- 57.4% FG
- 45.5% 3PT
- 65.6% TS%
- 22.3 Assists
- 13 turnovers
- OffRtg: 123.5
Crawford lineup:
- 49% FG
- 42.9% 3PT
- 64.3% TS%
- 27.3 Assists
- 16.7 turnovers
- OffRtg: 120.1
You want a statistical oddity? Jordan Crawford’s line up actually does better defensively.
Since Crawford’s arrival, the best lineup that involved Kevin Garnett and one of these two guys is Bradley, Lee, KG, Pierce, Green but that only lasted 9 minutes over 6 games. It was a +25 over a short time, but keep in mind that Crawford showed up at the end of February and KG missed a bunch of time.
I’d say the numbers are pretty clear. For whatever reason, the perception of Lee has been strictly a defensive one. The fact is, aside from Jordan Crawford’s willingness to shoot any time, any place, Lee is no only a better individual offensive player, lineups that include him perform better than similar lineups that include Crawford instead.
But….
What if it’s that mentality that Doc’s looking for? What if it’s the mere threat to shoot and the possibility that he can heat up that makes Crawford valuable, in Doc’s mind on the floor?
There is zero question, after looking at the statistics, that Courtney Lee is a much more sound offensive player than Crawford. But Lee also has one more thing that Crawford doesn’t out there…. a conscience. And that lack of conscience is what makes Crawford so dangerous offensively. The problem, however, is that the lack of conscience can often make Crawford dangerous to both teams.
Still, that’s not enough, in my opinion, to warrant Lee riding the pine. Lee has not only been the better offensive player, but he’s been here with these guys since the beginning of the year. Some of the Celtics greatest success this season has come with Lee and Bradley in the back court. And no matter how much anyone wants Crawford to morph into Leandro Barbosa, he’s just not going to do that.
The Crawford experiment hasn’t worked very well in two games. It’s time to make the switch back to Courtney Lee.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
