Chris Crawford is the man!

[cyman3]

I got a few things i wanna discuss

1)who woulda thought?

Crawford was our leading scorer, scoring 21 points and shooting 50% (10-20).

if i said crawford was going to be our highest scorer for one game before the season began, u guys woulda called me CRAZY.

many guys here complain that crawford's contract is killing us... but in reality, hes only at $3 million. For a veteran player of his skill, i think its fair... We are also got Stephen Jackson at a bargain.

2)N'diaye is a bit of a surprise... i think we should lock him up for a 2 year at the minimum salary. He runs the floor well and blocks a good bit.

3)If przybilla didnt have size, he wouldnt be in the NBA. He lacks talent

4)Henderson maybe a good trade bait next year (his final year in the contract). Rebuilding teams might want him and we may even keep him (to make a strong push 2005-2006 season)

[Diesel]

My thought is that we will see a lot from Crawford/Mamadou/Sura.

The starting lineup Should be:

JT/Sura/Jax/Craw/Mamadou.

That might now win much, but they will run and gun. I think before this season is over, there will be some people who begin liking that lineup because they leave it all on the floor. In reality, (with the exception of JT) these guys are all playing for their next contract. It's similar to Orlando 2000.

About Mamadou... Yeah, I don't know why he never worked out in Toronto. I thought he had everything you could want. Big, Mobile, Shot blocker, runs the floor. A poor man's Theo. A 2 year 2 million dollar deal shouldn't be a hinderance. We will need some backup at C. I would sign Ekezie to something similar and use him as PF/C once he returns (if he's 100%). Some people think of these guys as Scrubbs are whatever, but Ben Wallace was in this same position before.

[Diesel]

I would keep Hendu unless we can get some good talent for him. There will be all kinds of people trying to get out of bad deals next year. I can imagine that we might get an offer for Hendu/filler for Eddie Jones. Do you take it? I don't. As good as Jones looked tonight, his contract is still that bad. Depending on what kind of team we put together, we may have a shot at Tmac in 2005. I don't want to waste that Shot.

I have talked about the possibility of Kobe/Tmac.

More possible is this squad:

JT/Tmac/Qrich/Howard/Foyle by 2005.

And we'd still have money to spend.

[chillzatl]

the guy is a waste. I've been saying it for years now. As you said, nothing but a big body.

Crawford had a monster game. Good to see him get that out of him. Crawford has talent. There is no mistaking that. His problem is that his body cannot withstand the way he plays. He thinks he can play like Spreewell but hid body just can't handle it. IF he could stay healthy, he would be a smart addition. But then again, if he had stayed healthy, we would have traded him a long time ago.

[Diesel]

CC is a prime candidate to be taken in the Expansion Draft. 1 year 3 million and he will give you decent production. My thought since the Reef trade has been that we keep CC/Hendu unless a great deal come along because they can be our ticket to a Star in the FAcy of 2005...

What do you think:

Leave him unprotected...

Keep him and plan for more of a cash fall in 2005?

[KB21]

.....the guy simply goes all out when he's on the court on both sides of the court. He's very aggressive offensively and will torment the hell out of players defensively. Offensively, he isn't afraid to take the 18 foot jumper, and he is more than willing to take it to the hole strong. Over his career, whenever he has received a good amount of playing time, he has produced.

[chillzatl]

As KB pointed out, when he's on the floor, he gives you everything. He's got a well rounded skill set and does a bit of everything. If healhty and receiving 12-15+mpg he can produce solid numbers and help a team.

The other side of the sword is his injury history. He's rivaled only by Hendu in his lack of actual playing time in the last few years. Does his ability outweigh the risk of another injury?

I don't think I can answer that one. I love what he brings when he's healthy. But it's asking a lot to protect him from the ED when he could go down for another season+ at any moment, because of the way he plays.

[BlackHawkDown]

I dont get it he had one good game 5 years ago and suddenly he is talented the only trhing he has done in his 8 year stint is sit his lazy behind on the bench get injuried and collect $2-3 mill for his time. CC is garbage I honestly dont know why you all love him so much. I was going to post a joke about how bad the squad is when CC is the starting PF. but the way all of you ride his nuts you would probably cry that I was being unfair to poor little farm boy CC.

F#ck Cris Crawford

[Blunt91]

You said Chris Crawford has done nothing but sit his Lazy behind on the bench and collect a paycheck but the same can be said of Henderson. At least when Chris Crawford is out and can't play it is something serious like a torn ACL not a sore back like Hendu. I don't have anything against Hendu but it is clear that he doesn't want to be here any more and I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't play again till the final month of the season.

[cyman3]

i never said he was GOD or even ALLSTAR WORTHY.

i just believe that hes one of the more talented players on our CURRENT team... and that isint saying much! I was also backing up his production....

do u not think CRAWFORD is worth $3 million as a bench player? I mean, the BIGNASTY gets like $6 Million or so sitting in the bench for most of his career....

[KB21]

He's a 6-9 forward that can play both the small forward and power forward positions, though he is better suited to be a power forward. He's an extremely hard worker who gives it his all when he is on the floor, and he has a good skill level with his ability to shoot the jump shot.

If Shareef Abdur-Rahim played with half the fire that Chris Crawford plays with, he would be all world.

Chris has always produced when he plays. Last year, he lead the team in points per minute played by a wide margin.

[Inside_Man]

Playing Time should be apportioned in whatever way we can maximize everybodies trade value. Look, if CC playes 33 mins from here on out and averages over 15 ppg he might have trade value that he doesn't have now. With enough games left, he might just light up some night for 40.

The problem with the Babcock era was that players were worth less on their way out the door than on their way in. It's time to increase a player's value while they're here, even if they don't fit in to the big plan down the road.

And another thing. The picks we have a WORTH SO MUCH MORE than our picks used to be simply because PeteB won't be doing the picking.

[KB21]

The problem with the Babcock era was that in situation like this, he would actually give a player a contract for what they did over the last 29 games of a season.

Look at the contract he gave Nazr after Nazr averaged 12ppg and 9 rpg over a 30 game span back in 2000. We signed him to a 5 year, $25 million deal that Billy Knight wisely got us out from under.

[Shorti5514]

Your an idiot! You've never given this guy a chance, and when he gets one from somebody else he makes the most of it. Is this because you never got that chance, or couldn't make the most of it.

CC isn't a farm boy in actuallity, but farm boys do work hard and that is what cc is all about.

BTW how is the hawks any worse with cc at pf? I doubt the hawks were any beter with sar. Sar was lucky somebody like theo could make up for his lack of defense. I also doubt whether of not he gave his all every night like CC.

[Weez]

first half decent post...and then you go out and lose all credibility...

[Shorti5514]

Really whats the difference, we lost with sar and we've lost one game with cc starting besides how can you say he tried on D, oh, i gues it just that pethetic

[MoonKnight]

I mentioned his name years ago as a player to watch after I watched him at the rookie camp at Life years ago. When we got him I think only KB and I thought this guy has skills. He is still raw but is a good shot blocker and good rebounder. I would submit that he is a better rebounder than Theo. He gives us real size in the middle. He is more agile than you might think. He has never worked with a good big man coach since he has been in the pros but still has alot of room for growth. I will be watching him very closely over the remaining games because my hunch is we should try to resign him (ala Dion).

[KB21]

I like both Joel Przybilla and Mamadou N'Diaye. They are two functional 7 footers who have great instincts when it comes to blocking shots. Przybilla obviously has a lot to learn about positioning his body defensively as to not draw so many fouls, but he has potential.

He is not an unskilled player. Offensively, Joel doesn't have a clue right now.

[chillzatl]

and that's about all he does, rebound. oh and foul. he fouls A LOT. he's a horrible defender, very little offensive game. He's a big torso, that's about it.

If you put a corpse on wheels and somehow make it grab a few balls when they come off the rim, you'd get about the same production. haha.

but seriously. You get this guy 25mpg, he's going to give you maybe 6 points and 5-7 rebounds, with no defense and a LOT of fouls. you think we need to resign that? Oh yeah, 2 turnover. How does a guy who doesn't take shots cough up two TO's? I say 25mpg becuase he's not a starter. ANd if he's getting that much time of the bench I hate to see what our starter is doing.

[pathway23]

Pryz has got to be extremely rusty, give it time. He played what one game all season before he came here?

I think we should see what Larry Smith does with him after 20 more games before we make a judgement on him. Stinger suggested that Larry Smith could work wonders with Pryz just like he did Nazr. A good big man coach is nice to have, like a good pitching coach is in baseball.