Jamal Crawford

[Swatguy]

I have been reading that some opin trading Jamal for divers reasons is an answer. Ha, Jamal is at the top of our success. Instead of move him we should reward him and extend his contract. I believe first things should always be first and Jamal is the next first contract to satisfy. Al is an off-season next year issue. While Al is a good piece, Jamal is as important. What Jamal may retrieve in trade so can Al. In the pecking, Josh is the most talented and Jamal is behind. With Joe and Josh on long time contracts we should get Jamal's services under contract. I doubt it would take 10/per but more like 4yr/35 mil.

Do Jamal and see what Al can bring before we lose Jamal for nothing or trade him for less.

[Blunt91]

I have been reading that some opin trading Jamal for divers reasons is an answer. Ha, Jamal is at the top of our success. Instead of move him we should reward him and extend his contract. I believe first things should always be first and Jamal is the next first contract to satisfy. Al is an off-season next year issue. While Al is a good piece, Jamal is as important. What Jamal may retrieve in trade so can Al. In the pecking, Josh is the most talented and Jamal is behind. With Joe and Josh on long time contracts we should get Jamal's services under contract. I doubt it would take 10/per but more like 4yr/35 mil.

Do Jamal and see what Al can bring before we lose Jamal for nothing or trade him for less.

.

Yeah but what do we do with Jordan Crawford? I know Jordan will not come out his 1st year in the league and be a great 6th man but a year or 2 from now he could be ready to slide into that role. Personally unless a great trade offer is available come february I say we "ride out" the rest of the season with Jamal. In the Offseason we look to see if we can get Jamal & his agent to agree to a sign & trade just like we did with Al Harrington years ago.. If we cannot then that is 10million off the books we can use elsewhere. I like Jamal but we have more stressing holds to fill at PG and Center than a backup 2guard. Jordan may never give us 18pts ppg off the bench but he could definitely score 12 to 13pts ppg 3 years down the road. Sometimes you have to take a step or two back in order to get on the right track.

[Swatguy]

Yeah but what do we do with Jordan Crawford? I know Jordan will not come out his 1st year in the league and be a great 6th man but a year or 2 from now he could be ready to slide into that role. Personally unless a great trade offer is available come february I say we "ride out" the rest of the season with Jamal. In the Offseason we look to see if we can get Jamal & his agent to agree to a sign & trade just like we did with Al Harrington years ago.. If we cannot then that is 10million off the books we can use elsewhere. I like Jamal but we have more stressing holds to fill at PG and Center than a backup 2guard. Jordan may never give us 18pts ppg off the bench but he could definitely score 12 to 13pts ppg 3 years down the road. Sometimes you have to take a step or two back in order to get on the right track.

You can never ever get a championship looking down the road with the eye of what a guy Might be. Jamal is a difference maker now. You call him a " backup 2guard" and that is in error. Jamal is a finisher. He is a guy on the court when the game is in the balance. He is not a " backup 2guard", he is the difference of winning many games. It is laughable you concern yourself with a guy that has not played his first game and (hold on Jamal, we got Jordan) project what he might do "3 years down the road".

Chhiiiiiittttt.

That PG and Center needed is better achieved by moving Marvin (half the difference of Jamal), Bibs and draft picks. You just do not allow a guy with his talent and heart walk unless you replace him with the same. We did that with Chillz (I can't believe we did and not Marvin) and it hurt us.

Jamal is a keeper.

[coachx]

I have been reading that some opin trading Jamal for divers reasons is an answer. Ha, Jamal is at the top of our success. Instead of move him we should reward him and extend his contract. I believe first things should always be first and Jamal is the next first contract to satisfy. Al is an off-season next year issue. While Al is a good piece, Jamal is as important. What Jamal may retrieve in trade so can Al. In the pecking, Josh is the most talented and Jamal is behind. With Joe and Josh on long time contracts we should get Jamal's services under contract. I doubt it would take 10/per but more like 4yr/35 mil.

Do Jamal and see what Al can bring before we lose Jamal for nothing or trade him for less.

I have no idea what your opening line means.

Next year in free agency Jamal will be 32. What about father time ? I am not crazy about resigning him for years 32, 33, 34, & 35. We will already have an aging JJ. We do not need Crawford aging with him. Look at the history of the NBA and you will see SG decline drastically in those years.

I am sorry but a 31 year old Crawford is not as important as a 24 year old allstar center for very obvious reasons.

Edited August 20, 2010 by coachx

[ATLSmith]

I realy like Jamal and I hope he stays with the Hawks but I don't see him getting an extention unil the end of the season. His expiring contract makes him desirable to some teams and could help the Hawks pick up players they need.

[Swatguy]

I realy like Jamal and I hope he stays with the Hawks but I don't see him getting an extention unil the end of the season. His expiring contract makes him desirable to some teams and could help the Hawks pick up players they need.

Centers are very rare. What centers will be available? Quality centers that is.

[Swatguy]

I have no idea what your opening line means.

Next year in free agency Jamal will be 32. What about father time ? I am not crazy about resigning him for years 32, 33, 34, & 35. We will already have an aging JJ. We do not need Crawford aging with him. Look at the history of the NBA and you will see SG decline drastically in those years.

I am sorry but a 31 year old Crawford is not as important as a 24 year old allstar center for very obvious reasons.

How about winning This year and the next. You call Al (and he was) an all-star but Jamal (6th man player of the year) played like an all-star as well as Josh. In fact the evidence is Jamal is not in the decline but in his Prime. He is an elite talent and 31, 32, 33, 34 years old does not mean decline. It means maybe. He is stellar now and expects to be for the next few years. Timing is everything.

As far as your statement,"I have no idea what your opening line means.". I suggest you get a dictionary and read the words slowly, out loud if it helps.

Edited August 20, 2010 by Swatguy

[MaceCase]

This team lacks roster flexibility and more importantly for this ownership group, cap flexibility. The next upcoming years will be determined and driven around the core, unfortunately, Jamal is not amongst that core. We already know who our big earners are and we have another due an extension at this moment, we also know what the cap situation is and the aversion from the lux tax. Unless both Al and Jamal take major paycuts, hitting that lux tax level will be an unavoidable reality.

Whats even sadder is that this team is more likely to just let Jamal expire in order to accommodate Al's new contract than trade him for any longer salaries. Any extension on Jamal's current contract, trading for longer term contracts, and letting Al hit restricted free agency will mean open season on his services. There are a ton of teams that will have a max slot available to acquire Al and if Jamal is looking to make something comparable to what John Salmons signed for then it won't take much from any opposing team to make the ASG blink twice at matching an offer sheet for Al.

If and when it comes down to that I'm firmly in Al's camp, his talent and age far outweigh anything Jamal can offer now and in the future.

[PaceRam]

I also think Crawford was a vital part of the Hawks team last season and I really hope that the Hawks can retain him and extend his contract a couple of years but only if the price is right. I am guessing that Hawks management will consider Al Horford a top priority next offseason but hopefully they will also be able to work out an agreeable extension for Crawford.

[Brokentree]

I have been reading that some opin trading Jamal for divers reasons is an answer

.

Can be read as "I have been reading that is some people's opinions we should trade Jamal for a variety of different reasons." The word opin is either short for opinion or opine. Divers is the basically the same as diverse. I had a hard time reading it as well but with minimal effort I think I understood it fine.

As for Jamal. I like the guy on the court and the guy always seems to impress in his interviews. I thought the same thing about Bibby before last year. There just isn't enough money to go around to be able to pay a 6th man that much money. If we could get him to sign on for 3 years 20 million then I'd be ok with it. Anything more in years or money I think is too much. He doesn't have good defense to fall back on as he ages so when he does start to fade offensively its going to hurt his worth that much more. That being said. I rank Horford's contract to be way more of a concern then Jamal's. I believe Horford can only get better where as we can only hope that Jamal doesn't degrade.

[macdaddy]

We can't get a quality player for nothing (although other teams seem to do it). We've been waiting for a couple years to have something to trade at the deadline when teams are looking for an expiring deal. We finally have that. I like Jamal but all the SG money has gone to Joe. I don't want all our money tied up in two aging chuckers (that's a joke/sort of!)

Marvin/Bibby isn't getting us anything. Who would trade something for them until they have expiring deals?

[coachx]

.

Can be read as "I have been reading that is some people's opinions we should trade Jamal for a variety of different reasons." The word opin is either short for opinion or opine. Divers is the basically the same as diverse. I had a hard time reading it as well but with minimal effort I think I understood it fine.

I thought divers were those who jumped off diving boards. The word diverse really did not fit so I thought I needed an urban dictionary or something.......then the way he ended the sentence with "is an answer" made little sense. Is an answer to what ? I thought it may be some street slang or an Iverson reference.

I have been reading that some opin trading Jamal for divers reasons is an answer.

Above is what he typed word for word. Then he tells me to go get a dictionary. Even had he spelled the words correctly its not even close to a sentence. Post like that are not even worth a response.

Edited August 20, 2010 by coachx

[tremor]

Jamal Crawford The Difference? I like him but c'mon. This team won 47 games season before and had second round exit despite numerous injuries throughout, and won 6 games more and had unforgettable performance in play offs with Craw on the board. He's not the answer to Hawks issues (I believe also a little overrated by some fans) so if trading him can bring valuable assets I wouldn't hesitate. And Al's top priority, no discussion here.

[DJlaysitup]

You can never ever get a championship looking down the road with the eye of what a guy Might be. Jamal is a difference maker now. You call him a " backup 2guard" and that is in error. Jamal is a finisher. He is a guy on the court when the game is in the balance. He is not a " backup 2guard", he is the difference of winning many games...

Good point Swat. I'm not sure if I totally agree with the rest of your post (keeper), but I do agree with that. I remember reading the Bulls' posts on RealGM one night last year when they were saying stuff like "How do you beat the &%#* Hawks when they have Michael Jordan coming off the BENCH!"

Of course that was one of his better "finishing" appearances....people around the league saw it (and others) and that makes him a very desireable asset.

Edited August 21, 2010 by DJlaysitup

[DJlaysitup]

We can't get a quality player for nothing (although other teams seem to do it). We've been waiting for a couple years to have something to trade at the deadline when teams are looking for an expiring deal. We finally have that. I like Jamal but all the SG money has gone to Joe. I don't want all our money tied up in two aging chuckers (that's a joke/sort of!)

Marvin/Bibby isn't getting us anything. Who would trade something for them until they have expiring deals?

Exactly MacD...Craw(sr) would be great to keep - but he will be coming up for his next (probably last) big contract and would be a fool to take less to stay with us. There are a few contenders with multiple bigs.

I would much prefer to have Craw one more full year and then a trade before the deadline option the following year (to have a year to see Craw(jr) - but the timing is what it is. Gotta strike when the iron is hot.

[Diesel]

.

Can be read as "I have been reading that is some people's opinions we should trade Jamal for a variety of different reasons." The word opin is either short for opinion or opine. Divers is the basically the same as diverse. I had a hard time reading it as well but with minimal effort I think I understood it fine.

As for Jamal. I like the guy on the court and the guy always seems to impress in his interviews. I thought the same thing about Bibby before last year. There just isn't enough money to go around to be able to pay a 6th man that much money. If we could get him to sign on for 3 years 20 million then I'd be ok with it. Anything more in years or money I think is too much. He doesn't have good defense to fall back on as he ages so when he does start to fade offensively its going to hurt his worth that much more. That being said. I rank Horford's contract to be way more of a concern then Jamal's. I believe Horford can only get better where as we can only hope that Jamal doesn't degrade.

I think it's too early to start talking about money. The new CBA has not been drafted. We don't know what it will include so there's no need to try and make decisions based on money.

2nd. We don't know if ASG will find a new partner with big pockets. They are looking.

3rd. To call Jamal a 6th man is really disrespectful. On any other team but Woody's, he's a starter. On Woody's team, we has to justify Marvin being paid starter money.

Right now, Jamal is not that far away from being as good as Joe. It's disrespectful to hear people say " he's just a 6th man" or "what will we do about J Craw 2" etc. JCraw is probably our second best player. I want to see how LD utilizes him.

[Brokentree]

I think it's too early to start talking about money. The new CBA has not been drafted. We don't know what it will include so there's no need to try and make decisions based on money.

2nd. We don't know if ASG will find a new partner with big pockets. They are looking.

3rd. To call Jamal a 6th man is really disrespectful. On any other team but Woody's, he's a starter. On Woody's team, we has to justify Marvin being paid starter money.

Right now, Jamal is not that far away from being as good as Joe. It's disrespectful to hear people say " he's just a 6th man" or "what will we do about J Craw 2" etc. JCraw is probably our second best player. I want to see how LD utilizes him.

Don't use your values to decide whether other people are disrespecting something. Absolutely no disrespect is given on Jamal being the 6th man. I personally don't think its anything he should feel disrespected about. I feel its a good role for him and am proud that he was voted the best at it this last season. You can even say that I respect him more for fulfilling that role without some massive athletes ego thinking its disrespectful to him. I'll respect him even more if he signs a new contract with a 30% paycut just so that he can remain with the Hawks. He plays as many minutes or more then the "starters" so its really a mute point anyways.

The team always comes first. I like Jamal, but I like the Hawks more. The idea that we can't afford to pay our 6th man ,aka Jamal, more then 20m over 3 years is based on the fact that we have 50m in payroll next year not including Horford and not including Jamal (and not including 5 other yet to be named players). We just can not afford to pay any more for a player that is not also a defensive threat.

This board is slow during this time of year for obvious reasons. Are we going to compound that by not posting anything with a number in it until the new CBA is done? Shouldn't it be ok to value a persons worth to a team based on what we currently know? I think people are smart enough to know that a new CBA can potentially change everything we are currently talking about.

While I am interested in seeing how Drew uses Jamal this season I'm more interested in how he uses the whole team. I'm especially curious to see Marvin. This year is his last chance in my eyes. Woodson is gone. He has now officially run out of excuses. If he really wants to "help the team" he should start by playing some offense. I also want to see how Teague responds to the offense. I think Teague and Marvin are our biggest x factors. We can kind of imagine what we'll get out of our other players regardless of the offensive system but these two are a huge question mark and I think will have a big influence on the teams season.

[Diesel]

Don't use your values to decide whether other people are disrespecting something. Absolutely no disrespect is given on Jamal being the 6th man. I personally don't think its anything he should feel disrespected about. I feel its a good role for him and am proud that he was voted the best at it this last season. You can even say that I respect him more for fulfilling that role without some massive athletes ego thinking its disrespectful to him. I'll respect him even more if he signs a new contract with a 30% paycut just so that he can remain with the Hawks. He plays as many minutes or more then the "starters" so its really a mute point anyways.

Alright... with all you just said, put yourself in his shoes....

You're Jamal Crawford.

All your life, you have been the best basketball player on the court.

You come to Atlanta and are asked to come off the bench because we are starting Marvin Williams. (BTW, Marvin Idolizes you too).

You do it. No complaining. You have a one of your better years off the bench. As production goes, per 36, this is your best year.

As a matter of fact, as production goes, per 36, you are the best player on the Hawks team.

You win the 6th man of the year by a landslide.

You show up in the playoffs when Joe Johnson disappears.

You just watched Joe Johnson get paid a max contract.

Yet, there's people saying that you take a 30% pay cut for the sake of the team?

and

That you're more valuable as trade bait?

and

That you're just a bench player and that you should be proud to be a bench player, it's not disrespectful.

This is the deal, it's not about team until every player is satisfied with his lot. If Craw is asking for an extension, i would say that that is team first. He wants to make this the last team he plays for. He has nothing but love for this team and has said it on many occassions. What you are saying is like saying that D Wade ought to come off the bench so that Lebron can play the 2 and Mike Miller can start. While I'm sure that Dwade would be the 6th man of the year easily, that doesn't make him a 6th man. Craw being our 6th man was nothing but a sacrifice on his part and now people are trying to make that a permanent thing.. as if he's not one of the better players in the league.

[HawksFan87]

Lol . Jamal almost as good as Joe??? Jamal our 2nd best player??? LMFAO. Those comments are both hilarious. Never in a million years wil they ever come true. Jamal is a one dimensional chucker, whose defense is almost as bad as Mike Bibby's. I like Jamal at times but he is just not worth the money.

[Brokentree]

You seem rather stuck on the idea that Jamal as the 6th man is somehow proof that he is considered to be less important than the 5 starters. Jamal plays the 4th most minutes off all the Hawks players. His main qualities are that he is clutch, can generate his own scoring chances, and is an interchangeable part that can sub in at both the sg and pg positions. Three qualities that are all best utilized by a 6th man. He would be worth big money if he could defend better and he keeps his shot selection improved like this last year.

The fact is we can not afford to pay him what you seem to think he is worth (though you probably won't tell anyone what you think he should be paid until the new CBA is done, get back to us in a year and a half).

Lets continue with the "put yourself in his shoes" game

I have been playing on bad teams ever since I joined the NBA and finally land on a winner. Not only did the team play well but I played well in a new role that I've never tried before and got praised.. alot... for my character. Heck, I even won an award. I should thank someone for the opportunity.

I had my first playoff experience in the NBA ever. It was fun and I'd like to do it more often. I think the Hawks will be able to play in the playoffs alot and I'd like to resign. If I ask for too much we might lost some of our other players though which could make us worse.

I'm going into the last year of my contract and I'm making 10m. I'm going to be 31 when next season ends and this will probably be my last chance for a contract in the 3-4 year range. A new CBA is coming and there is a good chance of a lockout next year. I want an extension now but it will never happen unless I'm willing to sacrifice some cash for security.