Truth About It: 3-on-3: Back To Atlanta, What On Earth Will Jordan Crawford Do?

For the second day in a row, I'm riding the coattails of a more industrious TrueHoop Network blog. Over at Truth About It, Kyle Weide, Rashad Mobley, and I each posed a question for the 3-on-3 previewing tonight's game between the Wizards and Hawks:

Rashad Mobley: The Hawks lack a significant scoring threat off the bench, and Wizards are lacking a veteran presence in the back court to mentor/guide/spell John Wall. Jordan Crawford could be that bench threat for the Hawks, and Kirk Hinrich (when healthy) could play that role again for the Wizards. The draft pick part of the trade that brought Chris Singleton to D.C. notwithstanding, would Crawford and Hinrich be more effective on their old teams?

Bret LaGree: Hawks fans generally agreed that Jordan Crawford was talented but whether or not he could use his talents within the structure of a good basketball team proved divisive. Can he be a starter on a playoff team or is he destined for a life putting up shots on bad teams?

Kyle Weidie: It’s fiscally understandable that Atlanta had to let Jamal Crawford go. People might also agree that Tracy McGrady was a decent, low risk signing. But Willie Green, Jannero Pargo and Jerry Stackhouse….? Really? Why not kick Gilbert Arenas’ tires?

Click the link to read our answers. Leave your own in the comments.

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.

Reaction to the Atlanta Hawks Trade For Kirk Hinirch

My thoughts on the trade are here.

Larry Drew:

"As everybody knows we’ve been searching for a point guard for a while, somebody who can come in and run this club. Not saying that Mike didn’t go a good job, but there just comes a point where a change has to take place. We as an organization felt like it was that time.

Kirk brings such a wealth of toughness at that position. He’s a heady guy, he’s a smart guy. All the intangibles you are looking for he brings to the table."

Joe Johnson:

"We let three good guys go who I had become really good friends with. But at the same time we understand the business aspect and this is the profession we chose knowing that trades happen. You have to deal with it. Getting Kirk and Armstrong is definitely going to contribute to what we are trying to do. Kirk is very defensive-minded and a guy who can really knock down the open shot and penetrate and make plays for others as well. I think he is going to be beneficial for us."

Jamal Crawford:

"It’s tough to tell now [how the trade will work]. Mike was the leader at point guard for a while. Jordan has a bright future. Mo is just solid, gives you defense and 3-point shooting. But I played with Kirk Hinrich and I know what he’s about."

Michael Cunningham:

Moving Jordan and the first-round pick is the latest indication the Hawks, when push comes to shove, are more focused on making moves they think will help now vs. player and asset development in the future.

Which is true except when it isn't: like when the Hawks take Jeff Teague instead of DeJuan Blair or Darren Collison, or when they sell the 31st pick, then buyout Pape Sy's contract.

Mark Bradley deems the trade OK:

Best-case scenario: Hinrich does his hybrid-guard act — he used to be quite good at it, but his numbers haven’t been anything special the past four seasons — and puts the other Hawks in the right position and this team manages to win a first-round series.

Worst-case scenario: Hinrich fails to mesh with Joe Johnson — say what you want about Bibby, but he and Johnson made a nice tandem — and the Hawks, who have bombed out in Round 2 the past two seasons, bomb out in Round 1 this spring.

Either way, the addition of Hinrich and Armstrong is no cause for re-calibration of this team’s ceiling. The Hawks aren’t much different today than they’ve been for the past three years. They’re a pretty good team in an Eastern Conference that keeps getting more competitive at the top.

It comes as no surprise that this trade is met with scorn at HawkStr8Talk:

The trade sucks - Kirk Hinrich, age 30, is not an NBA difference maker at a position that is full of difference makers. The defense gets better, but only incrementally. The Hawks needed a difference maker at PG and so, they got another guy to join Collins and Thomas and Powell on the bench twiddling their thumbs. And so what did they give up - the guy you drafted and raved about who could replace a one dimensional Jamal Crawford (furthering my fears that we could actually RESIGN a guy who isn't going to help your team win a title) and a first round draft pick who could help you build depth on the cheap. Doesn't matter to me that Bibby and Evans needed to leave town, but a lateral at BEST move just sucks.

What else do we lose? Future flexibility come 2012 to actually sign someone who matters. Or in other words, fail, fail, fail!!! If the player you trade for doesn't change your seed and doesn't change your lot come playoff time (I mean does ANYONE think Hinrich is the difference in the Hawks winning and losing vs. the Orlando Magic). So, I say again - this organization is completely and utterly clueless. Period. I'm on record as saying this trade will blow up in the Hawks' face. At least we got a 4 time all star for giving up extra stuff that wasn't necessary in the Joe Johnson, but going overboard for Kirk Hinrich...REALLY!?!?!

I think it's the extra stuff the Hawks gave up to get Joe Johnson that's the root cause of the team's current second-round ceiling and the lodestar of the organization's limitations. The Joe Johnson sign-and-trade worked as well as could be expected but didn't bring the team significantly closer to winning a championship (at least not nearly as much as drafting Josh Smith and Al Horford did). That's why you don't see typically see teams build around the fourth-best player on a conference finalist.

The Hawks were right about Johnson having more potential than his production in Phoenix indicated. They were (and are) wrong about how good he could be (and is) in absolute terms.

Sekou Smith (who wanted the Hawks to draft Mike Conley, Jr. rather than Al Horford):

Jeff Teague, the Hawks’ second-year point guard, is clearly not ready for a starring role and might not be anytime soon. He was as given every opportunity to supplant Bibby and couldn’t do it. He’s the latest in a long line of supposed point guard solutions that ended up being a problem (Speedy Claxton, Acie Law) for the Hawks.

They’ve tried everything at the point from Royal Ivey to Anthony Johnson to Tyronn Lue to even playing Joe Johnson at point guard during his first season with the team. That’s nine different point guard options spanning two different regimes (former general manager Billy Knight is the man who drafted Marvin Williams, paid Claxton, drafted Law and also traded for Bibby while current general manager Rick Sund is the man who shipped Claxton and Law out of town for Jamal Crawford, drafted Teague and made the deal for Hinrich).

While Hinrich is clearly an upgrade over Bibby, particularly at the defensive end, he still doesn’t solve the Hawks’ seemingly eternal point guard problem.

Zach Lowe thinks the trade helps both the Hawks and the Wizards:

Nabbing Hinrich doesn’t make the Hawks a title contender, but it feels like the kind of move that could have a bigger impact on the court than many anticipate. Start with this: Hinrich can defend point guards. Very well. And that addresses the main problem with Atlanta’s defense, which ranks about average despite the Hawks’ having faced the easiest schedule in the league. It isn’t just that Bibby can’t defend point guards; it’s the degree to which the Hawks have had to compensate for the 32-year-old’s defensive issues. They’ve had to tire out Johnson by assigning him point guard duty. They’ve gone to zone defenses that haven’t really worked. They’ve switched too often, though less so this season under rookie coach Larry Drew.

They can toss out those gimmicks now and go to work with lineups like Hinrich, Johnson, Marvin Williams, Josh Smith and Al Horford. That works.

The Hawks will miss Bibby’s shooting, but it’s not as if they are losing a pick-and-roll stud who initiates most of their sets. Bibby handles the ball some, but he’s usually a spot-up shooter and screen-setter in Drew’s offense, which mixes in motion plays, post-ups and lots of off-the-dribble work for Johnson and Jamal Crawford. Hinrich, 30, can step into Bibby’s role immediately, and he happens to be shooting a solid 38 percent from three-point range (and a career-best 45 percent overall) this season.

One small bonus that Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel picked up on immediately: Hinrich is 6-3, tall and strong for a point guard, and he has defended a ton of shooting guards through a career of shifting between the two backcourt positions. That gives Atlanta a nice answer for when Miami goes to lineups that don’t include traditional point guards, and if the Heat earn the top seed in the Eastern Conference, there’s at least a small chance the two teams will meet in the second round.

John Hollinger gave the Hawks a B:

As far as need goes, it's tough to do better than this. Atlanta Hawks fans who have spent half a decade watching their point guards get torched night after night will now have to cope with the shocking sight of Hinrich competently defending opponents at either guard spot.

...

Hinrich isn't as good a spot-up shooter as the departed Mike Bibby but he's better at everything else, and his ability to play off the ball should make him a solid backcourt cohort with Jamal Crawford or even Jeff Teague. Look for Joe Johnson to also benefit, as he'll no longer be spending his nights chasing all the point guards that Bibby couldn't contain.

...

Oh, Hilton Armstrong is in the trade too. He'll make Jason Collins and Josh Powell feel better about themselves in practice.

Kevin Pelton summarizes what the trade might mean for the Hawks on the court the rest of this season and beyond:

How much is that upgrade worth? I’d say maybe a game or two over a full season. Ordinarily, that’s an enormous difference. But the gap between the Hawks and the East’s best teams is so large that I’m not sure this move makes much of a dent. Atlanta still looks to me like first-round fodder for the Magic. That’s when you have to start wondering about the Hawks’ future. This deal means giving up two years’ worth of young contributors on cost-effective rookie deals. Backup point guard Jeff Teague is the only growing player of note on the Atlanta roster, and this deal along with rumors involving Teague seem to indicate the Hawks don’t view him as a starter any time soon. So Atlanta isn’t good enough right now, and can’t count on adding young talent. That’s a pretty bad recipe for long-term relevance.

At Bullets Forever, Mike Prada is just lukewarm on the trade.

Atlanta Hawks Trade Mike Bibby, et al. For Kirk Hinrich

The trade: Mike Bibby, Mo Evans, Jordan Crawford, and Atlanta's 2011 first-round pick for Kirk Hinrich and Hilton Armstrong.

There is more to this deal for the Hawks than Kirk Hinrich not being Mike Bibby. Though not the player he was, say, four seasons ago, Hinrich is still younger and better than Bibby today and Hinrich's strengths will not be as redundant while playing alongside Jamal Crawford.

Hinrich has a well-deserved reputation as a good defender and, even accounting for the diminishing effect of age, he will likely be more effective defending in front Josh Smith and Al Horford than he was in front of Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee. It should be remembered though that, even at his defensive peak, was never a great defender of point guards. His greatest strength was defending bigger guards where his long arms and tenacious effort off-the-ball made up for his lack of quickness (at least a lack relative to the league's quickest point guards) in ways those skills couldn't when defending point guards. Hinrich will pick up much of the slack Bibby left his teammates to deal with on the defensive end but won't do much to solve the problems caused by Crawford's (arguably worse) play on that end of the court.

Offensively, Hinrich should be (at least once he picks up the offense) able to match Bibby's contributions. Over their careers, they're both 37.9% three-point shooters. Going back to his time at Kansas, Hinrich has always been a far better shooter when spotting up than when coming off screens so he should feel comfortable playing off Joe Johnson, Crawford, Josh Smith, and Al Horford.

As for when the ball's in Hinrich's hands, unlike Bibby, he hasn't seen his assist rate crater yet. Hinrich's two-and-a-half years younger than Bibby and it's fair to assume that he'll be more dynamic as a pick-and-roll ball-handler than Bibby. If so, running pick-and-roll with the first unit might actually turn into pick-and-roll occasionally rather than just pick-and-pop. The flip side of that is that Hinrich will probably turn the ball over more often than Bibby.

Trading Mo Evans likely means more Damien Wilkins but if it means less Mo Evans plus Damien Wilkins, then it might help the Hawks marginally. When Jordan Crawford saw his playing time decrease upon Joe Johnson's injury, it appeared he was on the typical young Hawk career path. Who knows what kind of player he'll become but it's hard to envision him becoming a useful player here. Same goes for whoever the Hawks would have picked late in this summer's draft. For his part, Hilton Armstrong figures to slot in alongside Josh Powell and Etan Thomas to form a triumvirate of useless big men on the end of the bench.

Financially, the addition of Hinrich adds a few hundred thousand dollars to Atlanta's 2010-11 (though the Hawks remain approximately $200,000 under the luxury tax line) and 2011-12 payroll but his expiring deal should be far easier to deal than Bibby's after this season or during the next should the Hawks wish to do so. The inclusion of Crawford the Younger and the 2011 first-round pick will save the Hawks some future guaranteed money as well.

Hinrich is no longer good enough to make a real difference over a 25-game stretch but his good qualities will help the Hawks defend on the perimeter and may well make a positive difference for the Hawks in the matchup calculus of a seven-game series.

AJC.com: Cunningham: Jordan Crawford Could Join Pape Sy in D-League

Michael Cunningham reports:

Pape Sy is off to play in the NBA Development League, and fellow Hawks rookie guard Jordan Crawford soon could join him.

“There has been some talk about it,” Hawks coach Larry Drew said. “We are certainly going to keep our options open with our young guys [and] putting them in situations where they can get some playing time instead of practicing every day and just being with the team. I would rather them be somewhere playing, where they are learning, where they can get some experience.”

Jordan Crawford played in 8 of Atlanta's first 16 games, for a total of just under 97 minutes, displaying promising shot creation if not always shot conversion skills plus perfectly acceptable assist, turnover, and defensive rebounding rates.

He's played in just 2 of the last 17 games, for just under 12 minutes, and has been inactive for 9 of the last 14 games as you never know when you might need to use Mo Evans and Damien Wilkins or Jason Collins and Etan Thomas at the same time.

Examining the Playing Time of the Draft Picks

Jeff Teague

When he's gotten to play, Jeff Teague has had an encouraging sophomore season. Especially considering the lack of development he received in his rookie campaign. Teague's scoring rate is down slightly this season but he's been much more efficient both by shooting better from the field and by increasing his free throw rate.

Jeff Teague	Pts/36	TS%	eFG%	2PTFG%	3PTFG%	FT Rate
2009-10	11.4	45.9	41.2	42.6	21.9	18.1
2010-11	11.0	52.3	45.4	45.5	30.0	28.9

Small improvements in Teague's rebound, assist, and turnover rates have helped also:

Jeff Teague	Ast%	TO%	OR%	DR%
2009-10	25.1	16.7	0.8	10.2
2010-11	25.3	16.3	1.2	12.5

Teague's defensive numbers are more of a mixed bag. He's second* on the team in steal rate and fourth on the team in blocked shot rate (behind only Josh Smith, Al Horford, and Zaza Pachulia) but the team is allowing 4.8 more points per 100 possessions with him on the court than with him on the bench. How much of that is due to the impact of garbage time or playing the bulk of his minutes when Josh Powell and/or Jamal Crawford are also on the court is an open question. The Hawks were slightly better defensively with Teague on the floor last season.

*Third if you include Damien Wilkins.

None of the above are great numbers, but it's hard to knock demonstrable improvement in irregular minutes. Teague's PER so far this season is 13.6. Below average, but better than Mike Bibby has managed so far this season. Or last season, for that matter.

All in all, I don't think Teague has been so untrustworthy in his play as to have a graph of his (game-by-game) minutes played this season look like this:

click to enlarge

Jordan Crawford

Jordan Crawford hasn't played a single minute since Joe Johnson had elbow surgery. Etan Thomas has dressed instead of Crawford the Younger four of the last five games. Crawford showed flashes of NBA talent in the 100 minutes he played over the first 18 games of the season, primarily through a decent scoring rate and high usage rate (though his scoring efficiency was poor). That's the sort of profile a young player could build on. And he needn't build on it in the NBA. If he's not a part of the team's immediate plans, Crawford seems an ideal candidate for a D-League stint. He won't struggle to get shots at any level of basketball.

Pape Sy

The Hawks went to the bother of buying out Pape Sy's contract this Summer but he still hasn't played a single minute of professional basketball in North America. Sy missed 18 games due to a back injury and hasn't dressed for the other eight games the Hawks have played. I seriously doubt Sy is an NBA player right now so with the warm, comforting veteran-ness of Damien Wilkins safely ensconced in the rotation, wouldn't it make sense to familiarize Sy with Provo, UT and get a better idea of what exactly the Hawks have gotten themselves into?

2010-11 Season Preview: Jordan Crawford

Previously: Etan Thomas and Jason Collins, Pape Sy

This is a positive one.

I have a sneaking suspicion that, if Larry Drew succeeds* as the head coach of the Atlanta Hawks, Jordan Crawford will play a significant role in that success. The Hawks haven't had an athletic guard like Crawford since Mike Woodson used Josh Childress to cover for the lack of a quality point guard. It's not a great comparison. Crawford has a far more traditional game (should it translate to the NBA) than Childress. For that matter, he has a more traditional game than Jamal Crawford, who uses his athletic gifts almost exclusively to create space for jump shots. Jordan Crawford's ability to shoot, to score, and to pass seems a perfect fit for a motion offense.

Unless the Hawks find Jamal Crawford's expiring contract more valuable than Jamal Crawford the basketball player, it will probably be a season until Jordan Crawford fits in the rotation. That's not necessarily a bad thing. In addition to his basketball gifts, Crawford displayed a relative physical frailty in Summer League. He'll be 22 by the time the season starts, but his transfer from Indiana to Xavier means he played just two seasons of college basketball. An early stretch in the D-League wouldn't hurt his development.

That Crawford (like Jeff Teague the year before) is a longer-term prospect gives some hope to those who worry about the organization's commitment to (or even acknowledgment of) the future. In the last two drafts, the Hawks had the opportunity to choose players who could contribute immediately (Darren Collison or DeJuan Blair in 2009, Damion James or Gani Lawal in 2010) but opted for promising players who need (and will have) the opportunity to ripen. Drafting Teague and Jordan Crawford represent the rare long-term decisions made by the organization since they re-signed Josh Smith. Which only further underscores the importance of the young guards to the team's future success.

*Not that Drew's been handed an easy task. The team created the impression, quite possibly true, that he was not the first choice for the job then signed him to a short, cheap contract, and expect him to improve on a 53-win team simply by deploying the same players differently.

ESPN.com (Insider): Thorpe: Rookie Watch

David Thorpe ranks Jordan Crawford's Summer League performance 18th among rookies:

Crawford is viewed as a pure scorer, and he showed that in Vegas. Although he didn't shoot well overall, he displayed his ability to shoot from 3 and exhibited solid court vision and feel. I also liked the fact that he looked to make plays on D. I liked him better than I expected to.

Crawford didn't shoot especially well (He missed all seven three-pointers he attempted over the last three games in Vegas.) but he was largely above the Vegas Summer League averages, which is probably what one should expect from a first round pick.

Name	2PTFG%	3PTFG%	FT%	eFG%	TS%
Crawford	48.6	30.4	85.7	47.5	56.0
League	46.6	31.6	70.2	46.8	52.1

Summing Up Summer League

Hawks v. D-League Select Boxscore

Hawks v. Timberwolves Boxscore

Player-by-player, here's what I've learned from Summer League...

Jeff Teague: No one could stay in front of him in Vegas. I think that'll be mostly true in real NBA games too though the execution of team defensive concepts will likely complicate matters for him. Given the uncertainty over what Larry Drew's motion offense will look like exactly, it's difficult to project Teague's sophomore season. It's fairly to easy to imagine him, if surrounded by shooters, being effective turning the corner on ball-screens and getting into the lane. Conversely, it's easy to imagine the shooters the Hawks employ having the ball in their hands rather than Teague. The slope of Teague's learning curve could further be influenced by how often the Hawks run which will probably have more to do with defensive rebounding than anything Teague can control. Patience is advised with regard to Teague just as much as it is with regard to Larry Drew.

Jordan Crawford: Crawford can play. Given the composition of the roster, his youth, and his degree of physical development he probably won't get the opportunity to produce much in 2010-11. So, in the short term, Crawford might be reduced to shining in garbage time therefore breaking up the occasional monotony of the 82-game schedule or diminishing concerns over a serious injury to Jamal Crawford or Joe Johnson. Looking farther ahead, if he can convince the team that he can, at the very least, be ready in 2011-12 to replace the production Mo Evans provides, grant the organization some modicum of flexibility to improve at the point or at small forward next Summer.

Sergiy Gladyr: He's clearly not ready to contribute at this point. It's difficult to gauge his skill level based on his performance in Vegas. Either he's not skilled or he was trying too hard to impress. I lean toward the latter as Summer League games tend to be ridiculously sped up and disorganized affairs. Either way, he's 20 (almost a full year younger than Jordan Crawford) and has time to develop. If, in three or four or five years, Gladyr can come over and knock down shots often enough to excuse the physical limitations that make him unlikely ever to be a plus defender or rebounder then he'll have been good use of a draft pick.

Pape Sy: It's easy to see how Sy impressed in a workout setting. He's long and fast. Outside of that (and granting that he was limited by injury) Sy showed little in Vegas. Using one's speed to drive into the lane at the far end of being under control, running into someone, and drawing a foul works fine in Summer League but has negligible value in the NBA unless one possesses the strength and body control of Dwyane Wade or Corey Maggette. Sy does not. He never looked likely to finish. His ball-handling would be acceptable for a wing defender but he's no sort of point guard despite spending most of his time playing that position in Vegas. Were he Gladyr's age there might be reason for optimism. But he's not. To put things in perspective, he's only two years younger than the forgotten Viktor Sanikidze and a year younger than Cenk Akyol.

Richard Hendrix: Hendrix is the only guy free agent on the Summer League roster who could add something to the regular rotation: post offense from the second unit. On the other hand, he would also be one more guy in the rotation whose value is primarily offensive. With no demonstrable organizational emphasis on finding complementary pieces, I doubt Hendrix will signed to be the fourth big guy in the rotation with a defensive caddy for him getting the fifth spot. Maccabi Tel Aviv seems more plausible.

Alade Aminu: There's no way to evaluate Aminu's defensive ability in this context. His offensive skills are rudimentary at best. He's definitely long and active and would be a fine fifth big guy with a non-zero chance to develop into a rotation player.

Jermareo Davidson: Davidson is not dissimilar to Aminu though he plays lower to the ground and, largely due to being three years older, has a lower center of gravity that could be more useful defending in the post in the short term. Given that Aminu has at least an offer to play in France and Davidson has some NBA experience, Jermareo might be the more likely member of the 2010-11 Hawks.

Trey Gilder: Gilder would be a fine backup for Marvin Williams. Because he can't shoot and because the Hawks appear to be unconcerned with Mo Evans' struggles to defend small forwards, it's not especially likely he'll get the gig. If Gilder could shoot, he'd be a borderline NBA starter.

James Augustine: He's another plausible fifth big man, one who would definitely provide support with defense and rebounding if little else. There's some potential entertainment value were Augustine and Zaza Pachulia to share the floor and give the team a two-headed hard-fouling monster.

Randolph Morris: I don't believe anyone learned anything new about Randolph Morris.

Landon Milbourne: Like Morris, Milbourne's presence on the team appeared to more to do with where he attended high school than his likelihood of making the team. I hope he caught the attention of a European scout in his limited minutes.

Luke Jackson: Jackson's presumably headed back to Europe. His time as a potential NBA player has passed though having a professional basketball career after undergoing multiple back surgeries says something for his skill level.

Summer League: Hangover Links

Five days and four nights* at Summer League, plus that West-to-East travel put me down for the better part of a day. Catching up...

• Here's that Jordan Crawford piece I wrote for the Daily Dime (#9) yesterday:

  In his first two summer league appearances, Jordan Crawford displayed good basketball instincts. That's not unusual to see in summer league, but rarely in this setting does that trait come with both the athleticism and skill to take advantage of good instincts. The results: 36 points on 27 shots, seven assists against just four turnovers and six steals in his first taste of professional basketball. In his third game, Crawford's youth betrayed him. Matched up against DeMarcus Nelson for much of the game, Crawford struggled to create space for himself against the similarly framed but markedly older and stronger defender. He still scored 12 points but he needed 12 field goal attempts and six free throw attempts to do so. Lesser numbers to be sure, but far from shameful for a 21-year-old facing an NBA-quality defender for the first time. The game wasn't a complete washout for Crawford. Those good instincts were still apparent. In transition, he looks to pass ahead as often as he looks to finish. When the Hawks' motion offense stretched the Bucks' defense in the half court (as it did often in the 83-60 victory) Crawford consistently made himself available, often with the next pass rather than a shot for himself in mind. He earned three more assists, committing just one turnover. It's unlikely that Crawford will get significant minutes for the Hawks this season. Joe Johnson, Jamal Crawford and Maurice Evans all figure to slot ahead of him in the rotation. As time passes, and if his body matures to match his game, it's easy to imagine him proving to have been a tremendous use of the 27th pick in the NBA draft.

• Colleagues former (Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk) and current (Matt Moore** of everywhere) joined me courtside for the Hawks/Bucks Summer League tilt. Kurt focused on Jeff Teague. Matt offered thoughts on both Teague and Richard Hendrix.
  
• Word's out that ownership is not willing to go over the luxury tax line. I certainly don't think they should do so to sign Shaquille O'Neal (or any other veteran center). Nor do I believe that this demonstrates an unwillingness to spend money. I can think of four contracts that quite clearly demonstrate the opposite. The problem with this organization is an inability to spend wisely. I have no reason to assume they don't want to win, they're just not very clever in their efforts to accomplish that goal.
• Hawks v. D-League Select, for those of you without Summer League Broadband, can first be seen at 7am (EDT) Sunday on NBA TV.
  

*The events of most of those nights technically took place in the morning hours.

**True story: the first thing Matt Moore said to me in person, "How does Alade look?" Furthermore, he meant it.

Notes on the Third Game of Summer

Boxscore

The Hawks raised both their energy and execution levels Thursday afternoon in Las Vegas, beating the Bucks 83-60. I hypothesize that the former had a little something to do with Randolph Morris being absent from the starting lineup. During his brief appearance later in the game, Morris contrived to get beaten down the court by John Bryant.

Richard Hendrix replaced Morris in the starting lineup and again displayed the ability to get good post position and an array of effective moves upon receipt of the ball. He could be a fine undersized four off the bench, though it should be noted that the bulk of his damage was done against Tiny Gallon and Sean Williams rather than the delightfully and ridiculously long-armed Larry Sanders.

Jeff Teague bounced back nicely from his disappointing second game. At this point, it's best to concede that Teague isn't going to shoot jumpers in Summer League. His ability to get past his defender or split the defenders on the pick-and-roll keeps him going to the basket on a consistent basis. That the majority of pump fakes (this works regardless of who is pump faking) succeed in this setting takes care of most other instances. Again, Teague attacked without forcing things (for the most part) and his assist-to-turnover ratio improved to 5:3.

Matched up against an NBA-quality defender (DeMarcus Nelson) for the first time, Jordan Crawford struggled to score as efficiently as he did in the first two games. The three-year age difference between Nelson and Crawford was visible on their similar frames. Nelson has filled out. Crawford hasn't yet. Despite struggling to score, Crawford again displayed good basketball instincts and is a very willing passer. His on-the-ball appears at least acceptable already though he tends to lose contact with his man when he doesn't have the ball.

Look for more from me on Crawford later at ESPN.com.

Trey Gilder would not be playing in Summer League if he could shoot. He's athletic, active, and aware but no defender need pay attention to him until he gets within 15 feet of the basket.

Alade Aminu came alive late with a couple of impressive blocks (though he only got credit for one) and strong work on the offensive glass.

James Augustine recovered quickly from his left ankle sprain and did James Augustine things: defending hard, rebounding hard, and fouling hard.

Luke Jackson alternated sharp shooting with ambitious, unsuccessful passing.

Sergiy Gladyr struggled again but his grasp of the motion offense the Hawks are trying to run looked stronger. That goes for the whole team, really.

Jermareo Davidson got his most extended run of Summer League so far. He was active, not dissimilar to Aminu. I doubt he's a candidate to make the roster but he'd be a better use of minutes here than Randolph Morris.

Landon Milbourne broke his Summer League duck late but still doesn't look comfortable at all out there.

Pape Sy was listed as a DNP-CD but he didn't even participate in warmups so I suspect it was again the sore achilles that kept him on the bench.

Notes on the Second Game of Summer

Boxscore

A fundamental question regarding the evaluation of Summer League play is what to do about the free throws. Get in the lane here and you'll likely get to the free throw line. I'm not sure that doing so has much relevance when projecting performance from Summer League to the regular season. Thus I suspect that Jordan Crawford scoring just 5 of his 20 points at the free throw line bodes better than Jeff Teague getting 11 of his 15 points at the line.

Yet, as for the game itself, the Hawks, following a dreadful first half, got back into the game by getting to the free throw line. The free throws did exhibit a will to win of sorts even if they didn't impress. So, I'll credit Teague and Trey Gilder for their 15 second half free throw attempts while also acknowledging that Teague's 9 turnovers (as well as Curtis Jerrells's stat line) and Gilder's 6 fouls are probably the more telling stats.

Crawford was encouraging again, scoring inside and out and showing impressive court vision. He got some time at the point with Pape Sy out due to a sore right achilles. Richard Hendrix and his nice collection of post moves impressed as well though Lester Conner found his inattention to detail on the full-court press offense troubling. Randolph Morris wasn't bad himself, scoring 11 points. It says something of the standard he's set for himself that a three foul, four turnover performance is noticeably above average.

Alade Aminu failed to replicate his fine performance against Memphis, scoring 4 points on 5 shots, grabbing just 2 rebounds, and generally failing to impact the game. Luke Jackson couldn't match the energy he added Monday night in a longer appearance. Sergiy Gladyr missed all 5 of his field goal attempts and got shoved around pretty good when he tried to hit the defensive glass. James Augustine left early with a left ankle sprain.

Notes on the First Game of Summer

Boxscore

Jeff Teague, matched up against OJ Mayo most of the night, looked good. He was aggressive while remaining under control and didn't really force anything until he committed the two late turnovers trying to create a bucket which would tie the game. The silver lining of those turnovers was his genuine disappointment in committing them. The disappointment did not primarily manifest itself as frustration. He appeared to know both that he made mistakes and he can do better. Teague's assist total reflects the shooters he found for open shots more than his passing acumen in this game.

Jordan Crawford also encouraged against a decent level (for summer league) of competition. I'm no great admirer of Sam Young but after watching games wherein Toney Douglas and Garrett Temple were clearly the best players on the court, Crawford's nice work against an NBA rotation player shouldn't be dismissed. He generally looked to spot up off of Teague's dribble penetration but also looked positive when he put the ball on the floor whether creating for himself or teammates.

Michael Cunningham got Jeff Teague to speak about playing with Jordan Crawford after the game.

Like many (if not most) of the guys in Summer League, Sergiy Gladyr played sped up and his high level of effort overwhelmed his ability to execute. His stroke looked good, though. I'd like to see him get some minutes alongside Teague at some point this week.

Pape Sy backed up Teague at the point. He struggled with ball pressure, thus the team struggled to get into their sets (such as they were, this is Summer League) with him on the floor. He showed good quickness whenever he got space but almost exclusively used that quickness to put his head down and drive into traffic. He appeared to turn his right ankle in the second half. After the game, it was iced and he was being careful not to put too much weight on it.

Among players not under contract, Alade Aminu easily did the most to aid his own cause by displaying the requisite athleticism take advantage of his size. It's difficult to judge his defensive and rebounding aptitude in this setting but based on this one performance, one wouldn't begrudge him a roster spot if the Hawks feel they can afford to carry a non-veteran big man.

Richard Hendrix and James Augustine both got off to slow starts (It wasn't until late in the third quarter that someone other than Teague, Crawford, Aminu, or Trey Gilder made a bucket.) but were on the court for and contributed to the fourth quarter rally. Unlikely as it is that the Hawks will learn anything new about Randolph Morris (0-4 FGA, 4 PF, 2 TO in 14:11) this week, I suspect the team would be better off seeing more of Hendrix (who gets great position on both ends from which to score or rebound from below the rim) and Augustine (who could be a useful fifth big man if he corrals his aggressiveness in the service of solid defense).

Gilder showed that if he could make an open jump shot he wouldn't be in summer league. He's still a plausible backup for Marvin Williams if the team wants to add size on the wing.

Luke Jackson is probably not a plausible backup to Marvin Williams, but his insertion into the game ignited the rally. Memphis hadn't had to worry about either Gilder or Landon Milbourne spotting up. Jackson's presence created some more space for Teague and Crawford to operate.

Draft Debriefing: Jordan Crawford, Pape Sy, and Money

It says something about the profound lack of confidence Hawks fans have about the organization that acquiring a legitimate prospect with the 27th pick fails to convince. Jordan Crawford does two things this organization has long valued (shoot and score) and could have an immediate role if Joe Johnson leaves via free agency. The resources wasted in acquiring Crawford reminds one, on a much smaller scale, of the deal that brought Johnson to Atlanta in a first place, a deal in which sound player evaluation was undermined, at least in terms of building a championship-quality team, by the cost of the acquisition.

Both deals also demonstrate the team's disinclination to build through the draft* or develop the talent** they do draft. As with the Larry Drew hiring, it will take time and perspective to adequately assess these as basketball decisions but it's immediately apparent that, as financial decisions, they're intended to limit short-term costs. By drafting Crawford at 27 instead of 24, Hawks ownership will save $306,400 over the next three years (should the team pick up Crawford's first option), and, rather than investing the gain of the 31st pick to immediately address either of the team's long-standing and glaring weaknesses (perimeter defense, defensive rebounding), they sold the pick for approximately $3 million before again, at the 53rd pick, declining to add a possible contributor for 2010-11 in favor of a 22-year-old wing (though the Hawks seem to think he's a power forward or center), Pape Sy, who played 14 minutes a game for the 13th-best (out of 16) team in the French League.

*13-win teams probably shouldn't be trading two first-round picks; teams with weak benches probably shouldn't treat the top of the second-round as an ATM.

**The Hawks had no idea that including Boris Diaw in the Joe Johnson deal meant including a league-average starter; drafting Crawford puts a serious damper on any hope of Sergiy Gladyr contributing in the near future.

The Hawks have concluded a head coaching search and the draft and the only certainty is that ownership turned a profit.

Some key Jordan Crawford collegiate stats...

Crawford	Pts/100	2PTFG%	3PTFG%	3PTA/FGA	TS%	FT Rate
FR	24.1	47.8	36.6	0.34	53.8	19.3
SO	37.9	50.1	39.1	0.36	56.9	21.1
Career	32.6	49.4	38.4	0.35	56.0	20.6

Crawford	A/100	TO/100	BS/100	S/100	OR%	DR%
FR	5.7	4.8	0.50	2.31	5.6	9.7
SO	5.3	4.5	0.37	2.48	3.4	12.0
Career	5.5	4.6	0.42	2.42	4.3	11.2