Jamal Crawford: The next Dwyane Wade?First impressions of the Knicks’ visit to the Palace last night to take on the Pistons in Larry Brown’s much ballyhooed return to the Motor City: the coach has his work cut out for him, even though his team gave the Pistons a game for a half. Second impressions: Jamal Crawford is a PLAYER.
When the Knicks were giving the Pistons all they could handle in the first half, edging out to leads of as much as nine points, and when they made a rather furious comeback in the fourth quarter from a 19-point deficit, it was Crawford who seemed to hurt the Pistons the most.
The kid from U-M can shoot, he can penetrate, and he can throw some moves on you that will remove you from your socks and your athletic supporter.
Die-hard NBA fans are probably chortling now, thinking, "Eno is just NOW discovering Jamal Crawford?" Well, that may be true, but I do know a little bit about pro basketball, and I can tell you that when Crawford entered the league as a Chicago Bull, he was still developing and the Bulls themselves were in the embryonic stage. In his second season with the Knicks, Crawford looks ready for prime time, ready to edge himself into the upper echelon of small men in the Eastern Conference.
Of course, he’s not all THAT small -- 6’5" -- but in today’s NBA he is about the same size -- relatively speaking -- as the man who now employs him, Isiah Thomas. It was fitting that the Pistons should honor Thomas the same night Crawford put on a show. For in 1981, when the Pistons made Isiah the second overall pick in the draft, behind Mark Aguirre, now a Knicks assistant coach, critics said you couldn’t build a team around a point guard. The NBA was just coming out of the 1970’s, when big men ruled and if you didn’t have a good one, your chances of hoisting the trophy at the end of the year were virtually nil. Obviously, Pistons GM Jack McCloskey proved that talk to be all wet, and he absolutely built his championship squads around "little big man" Thomas.
The Knicks, I believe, can build their team around Crawford, though he isn’t the point guard. The kid can shoot, defend, and draw fouls. He is sort of like a Dwyane Wade that way.
Last night against the Pistons, Crawford had 22 points and six assists in 33 minutes. He hit two of four from the three point line, where he is a respectable 34% shooter in his career.
If Larry Brown hangs around Manhattan long enough, he might be able to help this kid blossom into one of the top ten players in the NBA.
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