Peachtree Hoops: Jordan Crawford offers 39 more reasons to doubt the Hawks front office

[Hawksquawk]

Hey, I love the notion of being prescient, but not even I could have fathomed, when posting this yesterday regarding former Hawks #1 pick Jordan Crawford that he would provide such damning evidence again last night that the Hawks really gave up way too much of exactly what they'll need (or need now) when making the trade for Kirk Hinrich.

Yup, Crawford, with John Wall tossed and playing a team high (46) minutes, scored (39) points on 12-24 shooting, scoring a perfect 10-10 from the free throw line against the Miami Heat.

In his 10th career start.

Now, as I stated yesterday, don't get it twisted. I am not advocating that Jordan Crawford was going to suddenly make the Philips Arena crew start reserving space on their All-Star Wall for Crawford. He is still raw, largely inefficient in his time on the floor, and can be reckless. But he's a rookie who might be able to polish his game with more time on the floor, something most young players need, and something the Hawks are reticent to embrace. That Jordan can pop 39 in a game against a good defensive Miami team should sell his value on any NBA watcher.

Instead, Rick Sund threw him into a deal with another future #1 and Mike Bibby (who had the same year remaining on his contract as Kirk Hinrich, but cheaper by 1.5M) to make a deal when the Hawks are going to be looking for exactly such a player when the 2011 offseason begins.

I will now give you time to slide the SBNation confidence meter down to the Zero. Go ahead. I can't blame you.

There will be more time this offseason to completely blow my stack about reviewing the moves made (and not made) over the past 12 months, but this is not good. Cheap, young production is what can help a team when they are top loaded with long term, high salary contracts like the Hawks have.

The draft is the best place to capture that young talent, the D-League another. The Hawks have long since proven their lack of excellence, either by choice or by lack of ability, on both fronts, choosing instead to score sunsetting veterans who cost more, produce less, and have no future. The Hawks have now dealt this year's #1, this year's #2, and next year's #1 away. Oops.

Meanwhile, in the nation's capital, a player who the Hawks had under control for at least (3) seasons, is able to do, at the very least, what their 10M dollar, 31 year old veteran can do today does, but Jordan could have done it at a tenth of the cost. 

That's how you build franchises, not just maintain them.

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