Jamal Crawford and his struggles

[Guest]

They called Jamal Crawford "The Difference" because his scoring punch off the bench helped jolt the Hawks to 53 victories last season.

Now things are just different for Atlanta's shooting guard.

There are fewer big scoring games that made him a fan favorite and Sixth Man Award Winner last season. There are more nights where he hardly shoots at all, can't find his rhythm when he does or generally appears passive on the court.

Crawford said there's been tension this season between his instincts and his altered role in coach Larry Drew’s offense. He's a natural scorer off the dribble who sometimes has to be a playmaker when he has the ball and seek scoring chances without it.

"He's had a very hard time," Hawks center Al Horford said. "I think Jamal is the kind of player who goes out and creates plays and makes the game easy for everyone. He can score the ball but it's been an adjustment for him.

"He's such a good guy that he's tried to fit into what we are doing but I think he is most effective going out and playing his game."

When the Hawks traded for Crawford before last season, then-Hawks coach Mike Woodson carved out a narrow role for Crawford: Come off the bench and, above all else, score.

The Hawks ran pick-and-rolls and isolation plays for Crawford to that end. Crawford's defense was unsteady as ever but he was so good in his specialist role that he was a net plus for the Hawks.

"I was an attacker, period," Crawford said. "You are putting teams on their heels the minute you come in the game."

Crawford averaged 18 points in just 31 minutes per game in 2009-10. He scored 20 points or more in 32 of his 79 games, and the Hawks won 23 of them. In the playoffs, Crawford's first, he scored 24 points in Game 6 and 22 points in Game 7 as Atlanta rallied to beat Milwaukee in the first round.

"When he is aggressive and knocking down shots like that, he is tough to defend and it makes us a better team," Hawks guard Joe Johnson said. "He just has to stay on the attack."

The challenge for Crawford this season has been finding a way for his style to work in Drew's egalitarian system. It stresses passing and motion over players making moves on their own.

There have been fewer scoring bursts for Crawford this season. He's scored 20 or more points just 17 times, though the correlation with winning has been similar: the Hawks are 13-4 in those games.

Crawford said there are times when he thinks too much instead of playing on instincts.

"Some games I am a facilitator and sometimes I am an attacker," Crawford said. "It's a different role."

There still are the occasional flashes of the scoring runs that earned Crawford his nickname. He scored 12 consecutive points to keep the Hawks afloat and finished with 20 during Atlanta's 88-83 victory over Boston on Saturday night.

The uneven season could mean financial penalty for Crawford, who is in the final year of a contract that pays him $10.1 million this season. He asked the Hawks for a contract extension last summer but was rebuffed and also had his trade request denied.

Crawford said he's not worried that his declining production will affect his value if he becomes a free agent this summer.

"I think I should be commended for not trying to [force things]," he said. "A lot of people on their contract year take a whole bunch of shots. I've actually gone the other way."

We all keep saying Jamal is not a PG but LD insists on him trying to be, seems even his teammates know how effective he is when he is allowed to play his game.

[HawksFan87]

Jamal is delusional if he thinks he doesn't go out and force shots lol

[Crank]

Jamal is delusional if he thinks he doesn't go out and force shots lol

actually his shots are down way down actually . We arent gonna get far with him coming out against team like the Bulls or the Heat and taking 4 shots .

13-4 when he scores over 20 points this year

23-9 last year when he scored 20 points or more

when you factor in a contract year and the fact that last year he averaged 14 shots per game

This year hes taking 11 shots per game

last month he averaged 9 shots per game

I dont know how anyone can say that he is forcing shots trying to get his nimbers up for a new contract .

[benhillboy]

I don't see any excuse for his ineffectiveness relative to last year. The basis of his game is trying to break down defenders near the top of the key, and he has ample opportunity to do so most times. It's this point guard foolishness that Drew tries with him. I was a fan of the guy last year, and to some extent, his season last year was just luck. He did some outlandish s$&t last year: game-winning threes 2 feet behind the line, 9 4-pointers (did he ever miss the free throw?) It was like opposing teams couldn't prepare for him, as evidenced by our much better faring against top tier teams, against whom he served as a sparkplug. No one is a scientist on how he has fell off so far, all I know is that is by far the most dissapointing change from last season for me personally. I felt he played at an A+ level in his role and at least hid his defensive deficiencies. This year, I'd give him a C, defensive shortcomings spotlighted. With that said, I still expect him to be our best scorer in the postseason again as far as backcourters.

Edited April 5, 2011 by benhillboy

[AHF]

How far has he fallen off?

2007-08 .473 ts%

2008-09 .479 ts%

2009-10 .523 ts%

2010-11.483 ts%

Looks like he has returned to normal as far as his efficiency. He has dropped his attempts a bit, although last season was also a near career-high in his per minute shooting rate.

[Wurider05]

The problem is that tries to draw the foul on every shot. This causes him to take a more difficult shot.

[AnthonyI11]

hes been on point the last 2 games

[Diesel]

I think his struggles speak to the fact that he's not comfortable in Drew's system. It's not ISo Jamal. That's OK, I think though that with the second team, Crawford has to be the guy that comes in on the attack. So that when he's on the floor with Joe, he's a compliment.

[benhillboy]

The problem is that tries to draw the foul on every shot. This causes him to take a more difficult shot.

True.

[Admin]

I think that LD took the AJC article to heart last night, at least in the first half, as we were setting picks for Jamal and he was much more aggressive in trying to get his own shot ala last year. If we can get the Jamal that we've seen the past 2 games on a regular basis in the playoffs I like our odds to win more often than not.

[Peoriabird]

If we can get the Jamal that we've seen the past 2 games on a regular basis in the playoffs I like our odds to win more often than not.

I'm not sure that Kind of basketball wins you games in 4th quarters particularly in the playoffs

[terrell]

They called Jamal Crawford "The Difference" because his scoring punch off the bench helped jolt the Hawks to 53 victories last season.

Now things are just different for Atlanta's shooting guard.

There are fewer big scoring games that made him a fan favorite and Sixth Man Award Winner last season. There are more nights where he hardly shoots at all, can't find his rhythm when he does or generally appears passive on the court.

Crawford said there's been tension this season between his instincts and his altered role in coach Larry Drew’s offense. He's a natural scorer off the dribble who sometimes has to be a playmaker when he has the ball and seek scoring chances without it.

"He's had a very hard time," Hawks center Al Horford said. "I think Jamal is the kind of player who goes out and creates plays and makes the game easy for everyone. He can score the ball but it's been an adjustment for him.

"He's such a good guy that he's tried to fit into what we are doing but I think he is most effective going out and playing his game."

When the Hawks traded for Crawford before last season, then-Hawks coach Mike Woodson carved out a narrow role for Crawford: Come off the bench and, above all else, score.

The Hawks ran pick-and-rolls and isolation plays for Crawford to that end. Crawford's defense was unsteady as ever but he was so good in his specialist role that he was a net plus for the Hawks.

"I was an attacker, period," Crawford said. "You are putting teams on their heels the minute you come in the game."

Crawford averaged 18 points in just 31 minutes per game in 2009-10. He scored 20 points or more in 32 of his 79 games, and the Hawks won 23 of them. In the playoffs, Crawford's first, he scored 24 points in Game 6 and 22 points in Game 7 as Atlanta rallied to beat Milwaukee in the first round.

"When he is aggressive and knocking down shots like that, he is tough to defend and it makes us a better team," Hawks guard Joe Johnson said. "He just has to stay on the attack."

The challenge for Crawford this season has been finding a way for his style to work in Drew's egalitarian system. It stresses passing and motion over players making moves on their own.

There have been fewer scoring bursts for Crawford this season. He's scored 20 or more points just 17 times, though the correlation with winning has been similar: the Hawks are 13-4 in those games.

Crawford said there are times when he thinks too much instead of playing on instincts.

"Some games I am a facilitator and sometimes I am an attacker," Crawford said. "It's a different role."

There still are the occasional flashes of the scoring runs that earned Crawford his nickname. He scored 12 consecutive points to keep the Hawks afloat and finished with 20 during Atlanta's 88-83 victory over Boston on Saturday night.

The uneven season could mean financial penalty for Crawford, who is in the final year of a contract that pays him $10.1 million this season. He asked the Hawks for a contract extension last summer but was rebuffed and also had his trade request denied.

Crawford said he's not worried that his declining production will affect his value if he becomes a free agent this summer.

"I think I should be commended for not trying to [force things]," he said. "A lot of people on their contract year take a whole bunch of shots. I've actually gone the other way."

We all keep saying Jamal is not a PG but LD insists on him trying to be, seems even his teammates know how effective he is when he is allowed to play his game.

He is "the difference". "The difference" in us having a decent perimeter defense, or an atrocious one. lol! And btw, JAMAL IS NOT A PG. Perhaps that's "the difference" in him being a good player, or just your avg Joe. lol Edited April 6, 2011 by terrell

[Admin]

I'm not sure that Kind of basketball wins you games in 4th quarters particularly in the playoffs

Certainly not in the 4th quarter unless it's a game winning play or something when you want a dominant iso type of player. But if he can come in against the other teams 2nd unit at SG and put up big numbers then it's a huge advantage for us.

[MaceCase]

I think that LD took the AJC article to heart last night, at least in the first half, as we were setting picks for Jamal and he was much more aggressive in trying to get his own shot ala last year. If we can get the Jamal that we've seen the past 2 games on a regular basis in the playoffs I like our odds to win more often than not.

I noticed that when Joe went to the bench that we started running all of his specific sets for Jamal. Most of Jamals plays throughout the year have been either quick Isos at the top of the arc and pick and rolls with Zaza/Al. He looked really comfortable and efficient running Joe's action which leads me to my question about him and LD, why is it that we have not done enough to get a player who's specialty is scoring to score? I understand the move to a motion based offense but Jamal and the team have been hurt all year by asking him to do everything he's poor at. I just think that more compromise should of existed within the scheme to allow our bench specialist to give the opposing defense a different look from our base offense.

[Peoriabird]

Certainly not in the 4th quarter unless it's a game winning play or something when you want a dominant iso type of player. But if he can come in against the other teams 2nd unit at SG and put up big numbers then it's a huge advantage for us.

Then why do you think that he plays so much in the forth quarter when the Hawks have a lead of 10 points or fewer?

[Admin]

Then why do you think that he plays so much in the forth quarter when the Hawks have a lead of 10 points or fewer?

Poor coaching decision IMO as I'd favor having the superior defender in during that time rather than the scorer, especially when there are other scorers out there as well.

I noticed that when Joe went to the bench that we started running all of his specific sets for Jamal. Most of Jamals plays throughout the year have been either quick Isos at the top of the arc and pick and rolls with Zaza/Al. He looked really comfortable and efficient running Joe's action which leads me to my question about him and LD, why is it that we have not done enough to get a player who's specialty is scoring to score? I understand the move to a motion based offense but Jamal and the team have been hurt all year by asking him to do everything he's poor at. I just think that more compromise should of existed within the scheme to allow our bench specialist to give the opposing defense a different look from our base offense.

I agree with this and hope that LD is learning to compromise with the system to adjust for individual player strengths and weaknesses. It's still not too late for us to fix many of the issues that we have since some of them weren't issues prior to this season so the guys should be able to adjust quickly.

[Kaye]

Jamal will be aiiight