Thursday, April 07, 2011

SBNation: Ziller: The Problem With Jordan Crawford And Wizards' New Big Three

Ziller:
Crawford has scored well since arriving in D.C. He's averaging 16.6 points per game as a Wizard, and has nine 20-point performances in 21 games. Productive? No doubt. But there's a cost for each shot Crawford takes, and the fact remains that he is wildly inefficient, even by rookie standards.

In the last five seasons, one other rookie has taken at least 10 field goal attempts a game and had a True Shooting percentage under .475: Adam Morrison, the No. 3 pick in 2006 and a player currently out of the league. Extend that back 10 seasons and you can add only Dajuan Wagner to that list. Wagner lasted 103 games in the NBA, though awful medical issues can be blamed for that.

Crawford could and should have a better career than either, but that's not a good record of success for prolific and impotent rookie shooters. Also consider that Crawford is 22; this isn't a 19-year-old still learning basketball. Leonsis is brilliant, and knows that Crawford has a lot of work to do to become a true member of any team's core.

This isn't an indictment of hope, just a word of caution to fans who see the gaudy point totals (125 over his last five games) but might miss the context (104 field goal attempts and 27 free throws to get those points, for a True Shooting percentage of .539, or below league average, during this "hot streak"). Crawford is producing, but he's not productive, and there's little in the record to indicate things will snap into place and he'll become an efficient scorer someday soon.
The Atlanta Hawks could have and should have played him more, had it been in blowouts, while Joe Johnson was out, or in the D-League. No one has any real indication why the Hawks drafted Jordan Crawford or if they had a plan to develop his skills. That the Hawks got themselves in a position where a 30-year-old Kirk Hinrich represented an upgrade at point guard, that the Hawks signed Mike Bibby to a contract so long and bad that they had to throw in Crawford and a future first-round pick to get Washington to trade away a player they didn't really want to keep...none of those things reflect at all well on the organization.

What Jordan Crawford's doing now, putting up gaudy, mostly bad (but better recently) numbers on a terrible Washington team doesn't reflect badly on the Atlanta Hawks. Not yet. Which isn't to say it won't.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

well said, but I would say that - he's shown enough to say that it's possible that with a governor that says - don't take 3s and in 10 minute spurts, you can be Jamal Crawford lite. Remove his 3pt shots and he's essentially as efficient and productive as his SG counterparts in Atlanta. And with an upside of rebounding and assists that we definitely don't see from Crawford.

Unknown said...

I dont know - I feel like there are a few things Jordan Crawford can change/work on over the next 9 years in the NBA that will enable him to be a better NBA player or at least value then Jamal.

Post All Star (Trade)

Jamal – 12.5pts, .6Stl, 2.7ast, 1.7reb, 41%
Jordan – 16.6, 1.5stl, 3.7ast, 3.3reb, 40%

Your Atlanta Hawks!

Unknown said...

GOOD LORD!
The article clearly states that Jordan is not going to light up the league like most skeptical Atlanta Fans would hope.( So that they can continue to blame management).Yet we continue to find ways to fault management for a clearly good trade. I am beginning to find the pessimistic nature of ATL fans as comical.

Unknown said...

Karibo,

I am not saying that Jordan is going to light it up and the article is wrong but I do feel like there is potential.

I would also be a little weary of these types of articles as every team is different and situation is different.

MGMT is awful and there is little to argue there. MGMT is the reason we are in a situation that is far from optimal or good. If the goal is to be in the playoffs (They have done a great job) but if we want to be contenders, we are in a bad spot.

Anonymous said...

The wizards have the smallest relative "Big 3" in the league. Anyone could say they have a big three if the trellis Wiz do.