Bad Habit Genes: Crawford Reverts To Frustrating Style

http://www.csnwashington.com/basketball-washington-wizards/talk/bad-habit-genes-crawford-reverts-frustrating-style?p=ya5nbcs&ocid=yahoo


Bad habit genes: Crawford reverts to frustrating style
January 9, 2014, 3:30 am



Exactly one month ago, Jordan Crawford could do no wrong on the court. As we all know, lots can change in a month. What apparently hasn't changed despite tales suggesting otherwise, Jordan Crawford's volume shooting and dribbling ways. That reverse pivot has led to all sorts of Crawford clubbing.

Let's go back to December 9. The NBA named the ex-Wizard Eastern Conference Player of the Week after Crawford averaged 23.3 points, 6.7 assists, 3.0 rebounds while leading the Boston Celtics to three straight wins without his usual ball-dominant basketball style. In that stretch of the season came positive stories about how Crawford's new found maturity, borne from consistent playing time, had helped the Boston Celtics go from expected tankers to perhaps Atlantic Division contenders.

Now fast-forward to January 9. The Celtics lose on the road against the Los Angeles Clippers, Boston's sixth straight defeat and ninth in 10 games. Overall, the Celtics are 13-25 and trending straight into the NBA Draft lottery, which is where many assumed they would land during this rebuilding season.

The downturn has allowed the critics* to share their feelings about Crawford.

Setup: Between covering the Wizards and college basketball, between the holidays and trying to survive them, I really hadn't paid much attention to the Celtics or Crawford of late. What I noticed is that while Toronto zoomed up the Atlantic division standings, Boston went the other way.

Then on Tuesday I listened to the latest BS report podcast hosted by uber-famous Celtics fan and ESPN star Bill Simmons. The discussion largely centered on which teams are legitimate contenders for playoff berths in the East. The Celtics did not make the cut.

"Now it's inevitable and I'm just going to enjoy it," Simmons said of Boston's lottery future. "They're not good enough.

"As soon as Jordan Crawford turned back into Jordan Crawford, they can't beat anyone in the league."

ouch.

Not that anyone asked, but my 3 least favorite players to watch; Jordan Crawford, Rudy Gay, Nick Young.
— Haralabos Voulgaris (@haralabob) January 9, 2014

When Jordan Crawford goes full ballhog, you can actually see the life oozing out of every other Celtics teammate on the floor.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) January 9, 2014

Who better to steer this tank than Jordan Crawford? #AingeThoughts— Ben Rohrbach (@brohrbach) January 9, 2014


Then came Wednesday's loss to the Clippers. Then came more Crawford critique starting with the world's top NBA gambler, Haralabos "Bob" Voulgaris, who for added fun also knocks another former Wizard.


Note that Crawford scored 24 points in the latest loss. Also note that it's not always about stats, but how one goes about getting them. Apparently few folks are loving the way Crawford is generating his. The Wizards grew tired of his ball-dominant act and jettisoned him accordingly.

I could just end this post there, but all of this reminds me one of Aesop's Fables.



The Scorpion and the Frog



A scorpion and a frog meet on the bank of a stream and the

scorpion asks the frog to carry him across on its back. The

frog asks, "How do I know you won't sting me?" The scorpion

says, "Because if I do, I will die too."



The frog is satisfied, and they set out, but in midstream,

the scorpion stings the frog. The frog feels the onset of

paralysis and starts to sink, knowing they both will drown,

but has just enough time to gasp "Why?"

Replies the scorpion: "Its my nature..."



bob
MY NOTE: I could have done without the fable, that was too cute by half again. And yes, some of the critics are starting to chirp, I suppose I have to include myself in that crowd. The funny thing is I've now gotten past the aesthetics of his herky-jerky playing style and am now going crazy over his need to "steez" to the detriment of efficient basketball. What a HUGE opportunity for Jerryd Bayless, whom Danny has coveted for years, to become THE back up point guard on this team which would give Danny the freedom to trade Crawford at the apex of his value.


.

I guess Crawford-bashing is in vogue, harking back to last year and earlier this year when people were just aching to make him the fall guy. What could have been more delightful for those people to see him given another obstacle to overcome in the form of switching to a position where he had little-to-no experience?

No, he's not a natural point guard, and he's trying to be a decent stopgap substitute for one of the best. So now the team's really in the dumper, and what more convenient scapegoat than a miscast guy who's now trying to score more because his teammates are blowing bunnies and other shots by the scores?

Basketball is a team game. Any time a PG, an admittedly flawed one in particular, is being criticized, it's appropriate to wonder how well/poorly the rest of the team is doing to try to help him—for instance by moving more without the ball, swinging the ball crisply, spacing the floor, looking for the ball when it's in your hands, setting picks, and other non-statistical things (very largely involving degree of effort) that can make life easier for an experienced PG.

Otherwise, it's a blame-feasting society, and why not make a scapegoat of the guy who may arguably be the most active Celtic on the floor? Why not disregard the fact that he never claimed to be the world's greatest PG? Or the fact that (as far as I know) he never griped about being displaced position-wise? Or the fact that he surprised a lot of people in his adaptation to the job and even won a Player of the Week award at the job? Or the fact that, since his teammates are sucking at shooting the ball—even scores of bunnies—he's doing what comes most naturally and shooting more himself?

There's a lesson to be learned. One should never allow oneself, in this society, to become vulnerable to criticism because—as sure as tomorrow— you'll become the subject of the blame game.

My own note to Jordan: Thanks for having been willing to work hard at a job that was probably a doomed, thankless proposition from the outset. It could easily be that Bayless will get the backup PG job because he shoots so much better than you do (30% for Jerryd, 42% for you—oh wait!). At least then you could move back to your regular SG position—probably with another team—armed with a better shooting conscience than you displayed last season.

Sam

Totally agree Sam.

Crawford can't win out here.  He has stepped up as best he could and shown a lot of leadership (think KJ might still disagree).  Along with Bradley, he has been the most consistent player on the team and has really gone above and beyond what any of us (his defenders included) might have expected.

Instead of stepping up to eat a big plate of crow admitting the kid is a major surprise and many were flat wrong last summer, many out here sit in the wings and wait for him to throw a bad pass or string together a few bad shots in a row so they can reiterate their calls to ship him out of town.

I love you guys, but you are not being fair to Jordan.  Sorry.

Sam

Crawford has proved me wrong more than once.

First I thought he played like an AND 1 misfit and then he played like he could handle the PG duties and then he went back to being the AND 1 player

We could talk about other players on the team that are not playing well but Crawford has the ball in his hands so he is most responsible for how the offense runs.

But he gets paid big bucks to be cheered and booed during the same game so a few digs here and there came with the price of the ticket.

I am a certified crawford basher, at times and I am proud of it.  The wifey (kebe56) likes Crawford and I have yet to convince her that there is a lack of control issue at work.

Of course nothing about this can really be taken too seriously.  It's a basketball game.

I have tried repeatedly to contact Crawford's agent to see if we can set up an interview but everytime I call I have been told that Crawford is working on his decision making skills and has no time to discuss his progress.

dboss

Dboss,

It's nice to have a husband-wife team on the board. Especially when the wife realizes it's important to take both sides of a story into account.

Sam

mrkleen09 wrote:Totally agree Sam.

Crawford can't win out here.  He has stepped up as best he could and shown a lot of leadership (think KJ might still disagree).  Along with Bradley, he has been the most consistent player on the team and has really gone above and beyond what any of us (his defenders included) might have expected.

Instead of stepping up to eat a big plate of crow admitting the kid is a major surprise and many were flat wrong last summer, many out here sit in the wings and wait for him to throw a bad pass or string together a few bad shots in a row so they can reiterate their calls to ship him out of town.

I love you guys, but you are not being fair to Jordan.  Sorry.

I may disagree? Because of something I said a few months ago? I've been praising and critiquing Crawford's play thus far and I've said positive things about him and his growth as a player. In fact, many people here have done as I have done, watching his play in depth, cite his good play, and describe where he needs improvement. There is nothing unfair or biased in that. Every player is under the microscope for better or for worse.

If you choose to disregard the fact that I have, on numerous occasions, praised Crawford that's fine, but it invalidates your point when you state things about what I've said incorrectly. Yes, I have criticized him in the past, but I've also noted that at times he often is the main one taking initiative during games. He's the kind of guy where you have to be willing to take the good with the bad. Hell, I've even backed off quite a bit from my desire of him being traded. I now see him as having much more value than he ever did last year.

People here have been warming up to Crawford and even embracing his presence. It's not fair to pick and choose which quotes are negative and go "See? I told you" and ignore the others that are positive. I said a long time ago that I was impressed with much of what he was doing and that he was changing my mind about him, but I guess you missed that part (multiple times).





KJ

If calls for Crawford being shipped out of town every OTHER day vs everyday equals people warming up to the kid, then I agree with you.

My point with Jordan has not been that he is playing as well as he is capable or that he is a great NBA player at this junction.

My point all along has been that the Celtics are no where near ready for prime time and so even if Crawford isnt a long term solution - he is a decent stop gap for the time being. The devil you know is almost always better than the one you dont, and after passing nearly every test since last summer - many out here are still not willing to give the guy the credit he deserves.

Sorry if I missed the post where you complimented Crawford for making the best of a difficult situation and assuming the role as a leader - can't follow every post and thread.

Of course it's frustrating when Crawford dribbles too much, turns the ball over, or puts up one of his ill-advised shots, but I'm looking at the roster, and here's what I see:

• An injured Rondo who will back who knows when and will take who knows how long to really be back once he's back.

• Guys who are incapable from a skills, temperament, or whatever standpoint to carry the ballhandling load (Bradley, Green, Lee when he was here, Pressey, Bogans).

• MarShon Brooks, who, based on what I've seen so far, would be happy to have the ball all the time but takes Crawford's less desirable tendencies, doubles-down on them, and then doubles-down on them again.

• Bayless, who may be able to share some of the ballhandling responsibility once he gets acclimated.

We've been saying for, oh, years that the Celtics' biggest roster needs are a center and a back-up point guard. I like Ainge a lot as a GM, and I recognize how hard it is to get a good center, but my biggest complaint is that he hasn't gotten a decent backup point, because there are lots of those.

Reggie Jackson with OKC is proving to be an invaluable backup for Russell Westbrook, and they had Eric Maynor before that. The Lakers have lost four point guards -- Nash, Blake, Farmar, and fill-in point Kobe -- and managed to come up with Kendall Marshall, who has filled in admirably. Chicago picked up DJ Augustin, who is limited but is an acceptable fill-in. The Clippers have Chris Paul, arguably the best point guard in the league and a guy who averages 36 minutes per game, yet they've made it a priority to have a quality backup (Darren Collison this season, Eric Bledsoe before that).

Other teams managed to get a decent backup point guard. Why haven't the Celtics? (Andre Miller is in Brian Shaw's doghouse in Denver; it's worth a phone call.) Given that Rondo got hurt almost a year ago, you'd think that Ainge could've found somebody.

But given that Boston didn't have a serviceable backup point, and given that no one else on the roster can handle the job, Crawford deserves praise for filling in the way he has. Boston is in the midst of a bad run at the moment, but they have generally done better this season than most people expected, and Crawford's play is one of the reasons for that. What do you think the Celtics' record would be if Avery Bradley had been point guard?

Despite the number of cringe-worthy shots he takes, Crawford is averaging 42.3% from the field and 48.0% on his two-point attempts (the team averages are 44.5% and 48.4%). Despite his tendency for bad turnovers, he's averaging 5.7 assists and 2.3 turnovers, a quite good 2.48 assist-to-turnover ratio (Rondo for his career is 2.96). LeBron James, who is celebrated for his passing and is the primary ballhandler for Miami, is averaging 6.5 assists and 3.5 turnovers (1.86 A/TO ratio).

Is Crawford a great point guard? No. But he's doing a fine job, and those in the media taking potshots at him should consider where the Celtics would be without him. Hopefully, Bayless will take some of load off of him the rest of the season so that Crawford can be the recipient of passes rather than forcing them.

A fine post, Outside.

Sam

I meant to include one other stat -- Crawford shoots 86.3% on free throws, which is best on the team (not counting Bayless and Bogans, both of whom have only three attempts). And Crawford gets to the line more often than everyone except Jeff Green.

well said Outside.

Sam

Me and kj and kebe56 have been discussing who stays and who goes.

The candidates are Crawford, Bayless, Pressey and Brooks.

Looking at next year with the assumption that Rondo and Bradley are locks.

Dboss