Crank

I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago . To much hoopla was made about a couple f losses when the real battle for the conference doesnt even start until after Xmas. The fact that we can be a top 3 seed heading into next month is gravy because do well next month and you are knocking your competition for the top seed back actual games .

Not only that but

Celts starting with the xmas day game againt the Magic play 8 of 10 on the road heading into Jan.

Cavs starting next Sunday play 11 of 15 on the road into the middle of January

Orl starting Jan. 1 play 11 of 17 on the road

we play Bos 3 times , Cavs 2 times, and the Orl 2 times

We really will have a definite say so on the TOP SEED in the east . It will be there if we want it bad enough .

lol Im not gonna hate just gonna say its the fans choice. The coaches may end up fixing a ton of mistakes though .

Too early in the season for this amount of whining. I would rather the team take hits and learn from them now then to peak now and slide later . Right now several bench players are still trying to find there niche in the rotation and its the nba weve got to stop no way we should lose to team A because In the nba anyone can lose on any given night . The best team in the universe has 3 losses and we have 6 yet somehow the season is over and none of the other 62 games mean anything . Some of you sound as though you expected us to challenge the Bulls 72 win record when less than 45 days ago 50+ wins wouldve been sufficient well we are currently on pace for a 58-24 record. Weve got a good chance to string together some wins and go on another nice streak before we start out christmas road trip . We will know a whole lot more after the new year when we start the real battle for that top 3 spot

Id rather have early season upsets than late season shockers

This is a growing up process and would much rather them peak late in the year than early in the year . These losses believe it or not are making it much easier on Woody to push them and hammer home certain points . the only thing that really concerns me and I said this in preseason is the level of energy that Al and Smoove have to bring everynight . One of Zaza,Marvin, or Joe smith really needs to step it up and be that big baby or Brandon bass for us .

Only 2 times in history has a team sent 4 players to the all star game, 2006 with the pistons and 98 with the lakers. Both times, these teams not only had the best record in the league at the all star break, but their records was better by a good margin. The pistons were 2 and a half games ahead of the second best team, and the lakers 2 games.

And all-star selections are not about the numbers. At least not just about scoring.

Crawford might be a great scorer, but his defense is atrocious and he is fairly one dimensional. Even if a wild card spot is used on a guard, there is no way he will be selected among the top 5 guards in the east (keeping in mind that that includes both point guards and SGs). Wade, Jennings, Arenas, Mo Williams, Rondo, Rose, Joe Johnson, Vince Carter are all significantly more likely to get the nod than Crawford is.

Horford is a stronger possibility given how weak at center the east is. But for the hawks to get 3 all stars they would have to be a top 2 team in the conference. If boston, orlando and/or cleveland are ahead, that fact coupled with better name recognition would make it almost impossible for the hawks to get 3 spots. Howard is a certainty. Shaq is old and done, but he is putting similar numbers in significantly less minutes, was last year's co-mvp, and can't be beat in terms of name recognition. If the cavs are top 2 in the conference, he is certainly in. And then there is Bogut, especially if Jennings doesn't make it as a guard. That is, coaches are more likely to vote Bogut in as their only milwaukee player than they are to vote Horford as the third hawks player.

Wade and Rondo should be the starters

and after Joe the best player on a top 3 team who else on those other squads are playing better basketball than Crawford this season .

Arenas ?

no Jennings ? he had a good week and now is overhyped

Rose ? I could see it if the Bulls come on strong the next few weeks

VC ? I could see VC going as the second player from a top 3 team

Mo Williams ? after his whining last year and then flopping in the playoffs they would just send Shaq who I will get to a in a moment

I could see the the Big three making it again as Ray-Ray is having a quality season but when you start ranking our players based on their play THIS YEAR against the play of others at the same position in the conference for THIS YEAR we have 4 players who are legitimately playing top 5 at their positions this year SO FAR

As Horf the only thing holding him back right now is his double doubles imo

No way Shaq is even in the picture with his play so far . he would have to have a heckuva month and push the cavs to the league best record by February to be considered

Top two seed by February and we should have 3 easily barring some dramatic dropoff in their play .

I doubt we get 4 but we are certainly in position to have a chance at 3

I think the starting lineup for the East will be:

PG-Rose(he will get the votes)

SG-Wade

SF-LeBron

PF-Bosh(despite his bad game against Hawks..he's playing much better than KG or any PF in the east)

C-Howard

the bech should be:

PG-Rondo

SG-Joe Johnson

SF-Pierce

PF-KG

C-Brook Lopez

others:

Granger

Josh Smith/Shaq(he still might get in because he's Shaq)

no room for Crawford or Horford but i can see Horford getting in before Crawford especially if a big man gets hurt but there are just too many good guards in the East: Vince Carter, Ray Allen, Harris, Arenas, Jennings, and even Mo Williams who was an all star last yr

Trujerz I would agree with you but once you actually put the numbers up side by side Crawford is playing just as well as anyone of those guards if not better and hes coming off the bench . The key being the teams record.

VC- 19 ppg 2 apg and 5 rpg 40% fg #1 team in the east

Ray- 16 ppg 3 apg and 2 rpg 47% fg #2 team in the East 35 mpg

Harris- longest losing streak in league history unless they pull to within .500 by the all star game no way he gets one vote from a coach

Arenas 20 ppg 6 apg 3 rpg 4 tpg 39% fg #9 team in the east 36 mpg

Jennings 21 ppg 6 apg 3 rpg 42% fg #6 team in the east 35 mpg lost 5 of last 6

Mo williams 17 ppg 5 apg 3 rpg 45% fg Tied for #3 team in the east 36 mpg

Jamal Crawford 17 ppg 3 apg 2 rpg 46%fg tied for #3 team in the east 30 mpg

Ben Gordon 19 ppg 3 apg 2 rpg 44% fg tied for 12th in east 36mpg lost 8 of last 9

Crawford and Gordon are the only two coming who will be coming off the bench

Rondo

Wade

PIERCE

Lebron

Dwight

Bosh or Pierce could trade spots depending on fan voting

Smoove

JJ

Rose

KG

I put one of the last two spots as being up for grabs between one of the top 4 teams in the conference Bos,Atl,Cle,Orl based on how well both they and there teams play I think they all have a legit shot at getting the next 30 days will tell the tale imo

Mo williams

Crawford

VC

Horf

The last spot will be rewarded to someone from a losing team playing well or some 40%

Arenas

Gordon

Granger

Jennings

Iggy

or some nutz may try and push AI

gonna be a interesting 6 weeks but i feel very good about our chances to land 3 guys especially if we have the #2 record in the east or better

Horford's top competition will be Bogut, IMO. I agree that both JJ and Smoove should be All-Stars. Crawford seems like a stretch to me, though. Whether Horford and/or Crawford have a shot will depend as much on our record as their play, IMO.

Crawford actually has a good shot just looked at that the numbers this morning

Dwade

JJ

Gordon

Iggy

are the 4 scoring guards that average more points than Crawford and all of them have been starting except Gordon who just started coming back off the bench last night

Crawford is shooting a better percentage from the field than all of them

he is 19th in the conference in scoring overall

if you look at point guards

Rondo

Derrick rose

Mo williams

with Jennings and Arenas scoring 20 ppg but shooting 40% and both of their clubs are under .500

So it becomes a matter of us finishing at least second with Crawford maintaining his current pace .

then its up to the coaches

after the fan vote in the starters each coach is asked to pick 7 players from their particular conference . One for each spot and then two wildcard and these picks dont have to matchup with the ballot as far as positions go so they could put Horf in at forward if they wanted to as well.

Joe should be a lock for the coaches first sg spot and if Crawford continues his current pace and we are the second seed then Crawford should get one of the wildcard spots. For Horf to be considered he has to get his boards back to double digits .

Traditionally the top team in each conference can get 3 players if they have 3 that are playing well enough.

The fate of recent playoff teams after they lost and/or traded their best player:

Minnesota trades Garnett for younger talent . . . . they now suck

Golden St didn't want to pay Baron Davis and Keep paying Jason Richardson, and ends up losing them both . . . they now suck

LA Clippers played around with Brand, and they end up losing him . . they now suck

Memphis trades Pau Gasol instead of waiting for a guy like Rudy Gay to develop alomgside him. . . they now suck

Seattle ( under Sund ) didn't want to overpay for Rashard Lewis . . . Seattle sucked and end up losing their entire franchise to another city

Jersey gives up on the last of their Big 3 ( Jefferson first, then Carter ) . . ad they are now an historically bad team

Minnesota sucked with KG that team even with KG was on a serious decline .

The clipps suck with Baron who showed up ginormous after he signed that fat deal and the Bobcats sucked with Jrich who they then dealt to the Suns . The warriors have sucked for a quite a while one good season wouldnt have changed anything

The clippers had sucked with brand and the Sixers suck with him now

The grizzlies sucked with Gasol

The sonics were on the decline why would a team without a #1 pay someone they know is not one #1 money when they know he wont affect there win total

The Big three were declining and all were making a big money they made in the playoffs in 06 and then went .500 the next season their age was showing and there was no really coming .

Again its no so much losing those players that hurt but what those teams got in return and how they fit into the teams plans going forward .

Main reason why I avoided putting Utah on the list is because Boozer is also an expiring and Harpring may soon announce his retirement making him an expiring as well. I doubt sincerely Utah would be able to resign Joe (come on, from ATL to Salt Lake City for 5 years?) meaning that that trade would essentially be Marvin for a top 5 pick..........yeah not happening.

lol Ive heard the salt lake is great . But thats why they are dream scenarios in that situation you want to think big and be creative . For the rest of the season the Jazz would have

Okur

Milsap

Marvin

JJ

Dwill

and if they offered to give JJ his money why would he care as they are still a winning team ? I know its a culture thing but a full max deal is still a full max deal . Also if Boozer walks the jazz are still over the cap and have already paid for his replacement in Milsap.

Just tossing it out there because Im thinking this may be the Jazzs last chance to keep D.Will because if Boozer walks I just dont see him staying in Utah .

Chances of receiving anything worthwhile in a SnT deal in the offseason are slim to none unless Joe really wants to go to a capped out team and they share the same sentiment about him. Otherwise we are at a distinct disadvantage in regards to teams that can sign him outright and would be looking at only a TPE, bulls**t pick or lower rung prospect as our only compensation.

North has mentioned before that if a move is to be made by the deadline that the ASG would probably sell us on a player like Kevin Martin in exchange for Joe's expiring. At this moment that idea isn't too far from being plausible, Martin is signed longterm but the Maloofs are hemorrhaging money from that franchise with no new arena deal anywhere in sight. The emergence of Tyreke Evans as an absolute stud at the 2guard position in addition to cost cutting would make Martin expendable.

Other teams that currently are in losing seasons with high payroll or are looking to be major players in 2010.

76ers- They want to unload Dalembert but I would demand Young as well in that trade.

Knicks- "take Eddy Curry and Jared Jeffries off their hands and you can have anyone you want"

Hornets- No to Peja but we can take any combination of their wings (Peterson, Posey, Wright) and maybe Songalia in addition to Thornton

Nets- If they feel John Wall is a lock or they can buy anybody next summer with their space then maybe Harris+Yi can get it done.

Grizzlies- If we take back Marco Jaric we can secure Rudy Gay's bird rights.

Clippers- In order to possibly clear up more space they would be looking to move either Kaman or Baron and go young.

Pacers- They are really only a year away from financial salvation in a good free agent market so I'm sure they hold off but Dunleavy or Murphy.

Warriors- They managed to get rid of Jackson leaving Monta as the only cancer but a young talented one at that. Monta+Turiaf would be a dream.

Detroit- Either a deal centered around Rip or Tay.

Dallas- If Erick Dampier reaches his performance incentives (and by golly he's trying) his 2010 deal is guaranteed so a move is likely.

Bulls- Salmons, Hinrich and possibly Thomas so they can go after the home town boy and get a stud PF to follow.

Bobcats- They need a superstar, Joe's not that but I would take Crash even with Gana Diop to help them be able to buy one.

Take your pick at which would be your dream scenario for a midseason trade.

Utah - Boozer,Harrping +,knicks pick

for

ATL - Joe and Marvin

we get possible cap space but a surefire chance at John Wall

What has happened in the past is irrelevant . The fact remains that this team is the most talented team that Joe has played on in ATL . Do people really think so little of Joe that they feel he is not smart enough to even think for himself when in pertains to the best interests of the team ? Do people really think that Woody wants Joe to shoot regardless of if he is not making them this year when other guys are making shots ?

The entire point of the isolation offense is to break your man down and if you draw an extra defender you make the pass.Joe has not done that and he has no one to blame for that but himself . The real question becomes is does Joe want his stats to get what he thinks is more money as a result or does he want to advance further in the playoffs ? This type of situation to me speaks about whether or not Joe can take another step and become a franchise player who deserves every penny he seeks or is Joe just a good player who has taken the team as far as he can take them.

Is the team outgrowing Joe ?

tisk tisk. I'm pretty sure I warned people not to take it out on Jamal when he eventually gives you the bad with the good. Guys like crank we're trying to blame all his flaws on the teams he was on rather than recognize that he contributed to those teams being bad himself. I don't consider myself special because others knew this as well when we acquired him. It's the nature of the player, he mostly hits on peaks and valleys and nothing in between. The idea was or at least we thought the idea was that Woody would bench him in the midst of cold shooting nights rather than suffer his lack of contributions on both ends of the floor but either Woody or Sund has doomed this team as we are forced to play him at 30 minute clips regardless of how effective he is. Either way you may not like him today but you may like him when he goes for 30 this week but then hate him again when he averages 10 points next week.

your post is exhibit #1 for the nonsense that I was talking about . I never said Crawford id have a bad game ? I said some fans like to exaggerate things and lose sight of the facts and your post proves exactly that .

we have played 14 games and in 7 of those games Crawford has given us over 20 points off the bench

Crawford is 11th in scoring among sg including starters

His FG% is 11th among sg including starters

He is attempting 13 shots per game

Again he shot poorly against Orlando but so did everyone else how many shots did he take ? was it 20 or 25 no it was 13 shots

Those are the facts and when you take into account that he comes off the bench and when he came into the game in the 3rd quarter against Orlando the magic were already in the middle of 16-7 run but why let the facts get in the way . Crawford took 6 shots in the first half and 7 in the second half .

The entire team lost the game but your post seems as though it was pre-typed and you were just waiting to post it .

There are reasons nobody else wanted to keep him. He is a ghetto ball player.

What do you mean by ghetto ball player ? be more specific... on second thought no need I already know what you are about and no need to bring any more of that to the board

If teague wants minutes he has to play better PERIOD !! What coach is gonna take the ball out of the hands of two proven nba veteran scorers so we can run iso-teague ?

Why does teague need to dominate the ball when hes in the game ? hes never been a big assist guy even in college he is a scoring point playing behind 3 good veteran nba players who all can score as well.

Just being a 1st rd pick doesnt mean you play just being on the roster doesnt mean you play . I know its easy for peeps to want to blame Woody but I this case that Teague not playing more falls squarely on Teague .

Every player matures at their own pace . Just because we all decide teague is ready for minutes doesnt mean he actually is ready for minutes .I fully expect that by the time the season ends that Teague will be playing around 18-20 mpg and with the current setup of the roster and the roles available to him that all he should get barring serious injuries to the 3 guard ahead of him.Considering his role could change drastically if JJ leaves thats by far the best role for him right now .

I'm fine with Crawford attempting 4-6 3pt shots a game but it seems to me that he's far more accurate on them off the dribble than he is spotting up for them. That's my beef is that he's not a stand still wait on the ball shooter, he's a scorer who is deadly off the dribble.

yeah hes a good spotup shooter for the corner but hes a much better scorer than he is shooter but if you put him at the top of the key with the ball then that puts JJ in the corner and JJ doesnt like playing without the ball too much . So thats something that Woody has to fix as far as tossing in a few more offensive sets and I noticed he has Crawford handling the ball more in the 3 guard set which something he hadnt really done for about 3-4 games.

We also get a great shot just about everytime Crawford runs screen and roll I would rather us do more of that then ISO-jamal . Al really could open his game even further by improving his footwork on those rolls as well.

As for the Flip/Craw comparisons I just dong it . There really is no comparison as they are two very different level of players here .

Flip had 10 games all of last season out of 80 where he scored 20+ points .

Crawford has 6 games of 14 so far with 20+ points

Crawford is on a different level from Flip .

Historically the team with the best conference record has gotten 3 players in . If you look at the overall landscape of the East right now 4 hawks realistically have a chance .

Joe,Crawford,Wade,Vince ,Rondo at the guards with Gordon also right in the mix as well as the rook Jennings if he continues at his pace and the Bucks keep winning

Bosh,Lebron,Granger,Lewis ,Iggy, and Smoove with KG also gonna get strong consideration

Howard,Al with Bargnani with Bogut right in the mix .

If all 4 of our guys continue their level of play then they will probably get in not all as starters though

The points arent as important as the aggressiveness imo . The second unit needs a starter to stay on the floor with them so he has to remain focused and active even when his shot isnt falling. What we are gonna need from him by the time the playoffs come is for him to be a steady contributor on the glass .He will get his scoring opportunities he is too good of a player surrounded by too many other weapon to not eventually end up with solid numbers

It's difficult to post negative stuff about Craw - because he is exactly what we needed (another scorer)...still...Craw needs to see the floor better and make passes. Obviously Craw is a scorer and isn't a defensive stopper...but he has been hanging in there defensively lately. Not great but I'd give him a B- on Defense....which is by far the best grade he has ever got in his career.

Maybe it's about being the 6th man. But Craw should understand that he isn't going to get "Mario Minutes"...he is going to get 30+ every night. So calm down a bit Craw - you don't have to shoot every time (especially when the shot clock is long).

His job is to be in attack mode every second that hes on the floor .

What I like is that in his last 5 games

13,10,10,14,15 those are shots per game the last 5 games that is quite excellent because in the two games where he was off he only took 10 shots in each of those games . Considering the cries of how he was gonna be going 4-17 and such I will take an occasional 3-10 those especially considering he was basically sitting in the corner shooting threes in those games. I like what Im seeing through the first 15 from everyone I dont think anyone couldve asked for more .

The one thing I really like from Crawford right now is the last 4 games 9 steals and 2 blocks Ill take that from someone who apparently "doesnt play any defense at all." Just need to continue to build on it .

Brooks and Hayward used to be lost out there. There was a point when the talk around the league was hayward was regressing and isn't going to become a reliable big. Well after coaching changes and growing pains, look at those guys now. One can not earn minutes if he doesn't even play a steady sample diet of them. Teague looks to be pressing just like Acie was. In order to get comfortable with a player, you have to give him a chance to develop in to your offense, especially a rookie. Those veterans woody is referring to won't be who they are if they didn't go through their slumps. Woody kills me with that garbage. Imagine if Bibby had been drafted by the Hawks. Does anyone think he would be playing under Woody? ........................................That's what I thought.

minutes are earned by not only your play in practice but your play on the court . There is no reason whatsoever to give Teague token minutes in fact this is the perfect time to make him scratch and claw for any minutes he does get as it will only make him better when he does finally earn the minutes . I said it before the season even started that without a summer league Teague wont be getting consistent minutes until after the the new year . There is just too much for him to adjust to right now concerning how the game is called ,The flow of the game and his role when he comes in the game .

Bibby was a pretty polished college point guard coming out of college . Brooks was NEVER lost he was contributing as a rookie in spot minutes because he was able to come in and run the club behind Alston. Again he was a pretty solid point guard coming out of college . Haywood has had 8 years to get his head on straight and hes 29 years old lol

The so called depth hasn't really been there. Without Josh Smith in the first 10 games the Hawks struggle a lot more.

thats not accurate. Depth is not the bench stepping in every night and playing perfect because that would make for one of the greatest teams in the history of sports .

Good depth is not judged by the unit as a whole but on the ability of each of the players on the bench to contribute consistently when called upon . If you look at all the great benches in the history of the league you had the one or two mainstay off the bench and then 2-3 other guys who can come up big at various times. I remember when the Celts had Big Baby,Powe,Cassell,Posey,House and they didnt get great play from those guys as a unit everynight . They all stepped up at various times off the bench though and thats what made them great . Someone would step up and make a play .

I don't hate Marvin. But, I do think he's playing terribly right now. I believe in giving credit when it's due. Marvin Williams doesn't deserve much credit for that win in my opinion. However, that's no knock on Williams, because Crawford doesn't deserve any credit for that victory either. It's just giving credit where it's due.

You win as a team and you lose as a team .

You know, his stats are not exceptional to his career averages except in efficiency. He's flourishing in his role because his role is so simple - score, score, score.

He's a great fit for Woody Ball.

yeah but that pretty much says it all . There were some claims that the only reason he scored so many points was because he was ballhog but as weve seen he is a 20 ppg game scorer in the nba because thats what his actual talent level is . Hes getting 18 ppg on 12 shots and is getting to the line over 5 times a game in 29 minutes .He is showing that he is a severely underrated player in the nba.

I'm sorry, but it's pretty clear that you either have not watched the Hawks much, don't remember how often Lue and Flip (and now Crawford) went one-on-one and ignored open teammates (and somehow managed to also miss JJ's time in Phoenix under D'Antoni, where he showed no problem playing in a ball movement-heavy system), and/or selectively ignore things that don't fit into your view of JJ and the Hawks offense.

Oh, and Crawford led the Knicks in scoring twice - in '05-'06 and '07-'08. To quote a friend of mine over on Sekou's blog - done with you, fool.

First off Lue and Flip are journeyman nba players who are fringe nba rotation players but they were all we had and you make do with what you have to try and compare them to Crawford is a joke... it really is . To ignore the difference in talent level and experience between the teams is also pretty silly as well. What games out of these first ten have Crawford been ignoring open teammates ? JJ left Phoneix because he didnt want to be the 3rd guy he wanted to be the man? talk about blatantly ignoring well established facts .

Crawford did not lead the knicks in 05-06 Stephon Marbury did 2005-2006 knick stats =0 and he only started 27 of the 79 games he played in as well so he was coming off the bench....well so much for being the main offensive weapon when you are coming off the bench ...

Maybe you should stop quoting people from Sekou's blog and spend a little bit more time getting your facts straight.

If JJ were to leave I stand by my statement that we wouldnt see iso joe anymore .Does that mean we would drop all isolation plays ? heck no but I think with Al and Smooves growth that we would post them, up more and run more pick and roll game with Crawford /Al+Smoove .

Jamal led Chicago in scoring his last year there. He led the Knicks in scoring twice, and beat out Marbury 3 of 4 times. He scored more - both per game and total - than Monta did last year. Jackson did outscore Crawford, and I admit that I was wrong about him there. But Marbury and Ellis? Doesn't help your argument to cite guys who spent most of their time injured. Like it or not, the Knicks' offense ran through Crawford for 3 years. Ask Knicks fans. And why should we care what they think? BECAUSE THEY WATCHED THE MAN PLAY. Something I'm wondering whether you've done, considering that you seem to be under the impression that Marbury was the Knicks' frontman in anything but the payroll for the last 4 years.

And you're living in a dreamworld if you think that the one-on-one ISO plays started or end with Joe. They are what Woody's "system" entails. Lue, JJ, Flip, Crawford...they all go/went one on one to create offense.

You're also living in a dreamworld if you think Jamal is either less selfish or a better passer than JJ. Again, ask people who actually watched him play before this year. Or hell, watch games this year. Or just check the box score and see that JJ is averaging both more assists per game and more per 36 minutes.

And lastly, you say this:

Jamal led the Bulls in scoring because they traded away Jalen Rose after the season started who was the Bulls leading scorer .He started the year at pg according o the Bulls site

He led the knicks in scoring ONE time but that knicks team was never built around him .He led the team in scoring because Marbury imploded and quit on the team after 10 games or so .

Monta Ellis was coming back from injury and didnt return until midseason but Jackson and Maggette were taking all the shots .It was never Crawfords team and he was never the offensive focal point.

Marbury wasnt injured he got into an argument on a plane with the coach and quit on the team . He returned several days later but then took a leave and then eventually decided to have surgery .

the Knicks leading returning scorer that year was Eddy Curry who saw Zach Randolph and basically ate his way out of the league .

Not one time was Crawford ever the PLANNED focal point of the offense going into the season until last year just before he was traded , In every other year before his last one there was someone else who the offense was supposed to run through . I dont need a knick fan to tell me that when they traded two # picks for Eddy Curry that he was the focal point or that Marbury and his 18 mil + was considered the franchise. Thats pretty much common knowledge .

You assume that if Joe leaves that Woody will return.I assume that if Joe leaves that it wont be the only shakeup that occurs . If Joe is traded at the deadline then of course I would expect Woody to continue with his current offense until the end of the season but if Joe is allowed to walk and we have an entire offseason to plan it would be crazy to assume that Woody would be back and that if he did come back he would ignore the improvements of Josh and Al and still run isolation through Crawford who would be in his final year '

Where did I say Crawford is less selfish or that JJ even was selfish . Im not living in a dreamworld you are making up things to fit your argument. Crawford is routinely;y making the easy play in the same offense while JJ is routinely making bad decisions and thus thats why hes look ed so bad at times this year .Even though the team has played well and several different players have stepped up JJ has not been content to take what the defense is giving him if that means he doesnt get his numbers . I know that may hurt your feelings but thats just a fact because with this team he could average almost a triple double if he got his head right.

So I guess "that's what the coach wants him to do" is a good alibi for Crawford but not for JJ. Ok, thanks. That tells us all we need to know about you.

Who is we ?

and you think Woody is telling JJ to turn it over and force it 1 on 3 even at the start of games ? or dribble for 20 seconds . Its obvious to anyone that JJ is forcing it and I dont mean by simply being aggressive offensively . I mean he is not making the easy play instead choosing to force the issue even at the start of games and even when someone else is having a good night offensively .

The entire point of isolation basketball is to force the double team and then move the ball but the more Joe hold onto the ball the less guys will move without the ball and the more turnovers and tough shots he will have .

Unless all five average the same amount of points, the opponent is going to key on the leading scorer and try to make sure he doesn't beat them, regardless of what offense is run.

That doesnt mean they will double team . Very few teams in the league double team the leading scorer of every opposing team . The only reasons they usually do is because they are hot or because the defense knows they are reluctant to pass .