Seattle Times profile of Jamal Crawford
Thought this profile of Jamal Crawford was pretty cool. Makes me wish he would've been able to play longer at UofM. He was (and is) an incredible talent, and it would've been interesting to see what he could've done for the program.
November 6th, 2013 at 10:12 AM ^
He's a great talent, but is a big ball hog and doesn't play defense. He was my most frustrating player for me to watch because I see him take uncontested jumpers when there's guys wide open for an easy basket.
November 6th, 2013 at 10:21 AM ^
It talks about how he hates the "ball hog" label. Plus, at least during his time at Michigan, I think I may have preferred a contested Crawford jumpshot to most alternatives.
I remember that Georgia Tech game early in the season where Crawford, Blanchard, and Groninger all played great. My hopes were so high. Then Crawford got suspended, teams figured out that Groninger couldn't dribble, and you could just double-team Blanchard to effectively shut down the M offense.
November 6th, 2013 at 10:25 AM ^
but I wasn't a big fan of Crawford. The fact that ball hog label is very much deserved. In some of the losses, he shot his way out of the win.
November 6th, 2013 at 10:42 AM ^
I see where you're coming from. Being a "scorer" doesn't mean you have an excuse to take bad shots. He's fun to watch, though.
November 6th, 2013 at 1:12 PM ^
is an outdated narrative. In the last 5 or so seasons he's settled nicely into his role as a primary scorer on the second unit. If you watch him with the Clippers now he plays within the confines of the offense.
November 6th, 2013 at 1:49 PM ^
I'm talking about him as a player when he played for Michigan which he is a ball hog
November 6th, 2013 at 10:44 AM ^
November 6th, 2013 at 11:07 AM ^
Always one of my favorite players. So much to overcome but still grounded after all these years. Watching him on the court was pretty amazing. At times he'd be launching shots just passed midcourt knowing they were going in. It wasn't just someone jacking up shots and hoping they'd go in, it was a player that knew he could make the shot whenever he wanted to.
As for the whole selfish-thing, I guess I can understand people saying that. But watching him in college you realized that Jamal would make these incredible passes that the majority of his teammates at Michigan either couldn't handle or weren't ready for. So after a while you could kinda' sense Jamal maybe thinking, "why pass when I can score".
Glad to see he has become such a great person and "giver" to both his community and those less fortunate.
November 6th, 2013 at 11:08 AM ^
November 6th, 2013 at 12:43 PM ^
I thought the Duke game in 1999 was a sign of things to come. Reminded me just a bit of the Fab Five's first game against Duke. If that team could've played the whole season together, an NCAA tournament berth would've been within reach.
November 6th, 2013 at 3:32 PM ^
November 6th, 2013 at 4:16 PM ^
I think this game was tight until the last couple of minutes. It was our first L of the season. I looked at the boxscore (http://statsheet.com/mcb/games/1999/12/11/duke-104-michigan-97). Depth was not something we had, so we would've needed everyone healthy to make a run at the tournament.
November 6th, 2013 at 6:03 PM ^
Agree - the half-season that he played here was genuinely exciting. We may have been headed for a downfall anyway because we didn't play much D, but we could light up the scoreboard. I remember when the whole team wore headbands against MSU to honor him during his suspension. But then everything went to hell.
November 6th, 2013 at 12:08 PM ^
This guy only played at Michigan for like two weeks.
November 6th, 2013 at 12:15 PM ^
"And the four-point play should be renamed The Jamal; 37 times he has made a three-pointer while being fouled and sank the ensuing free throw, by far the most four-point plays in league history."
I had to chuckle at that, but yeah, he did have this down to a science.
Great article, and it is nice to see that level of community involvement and wanting to give back from someone, and it seems like Jamal is giving time to Seattle even when he is nowhere near home. I also thought this was a great statement:
“At any point, you can change a life by sparing just one moment of your time,” Crawford says. “That’s the best part about being in the NBA.”
Thanks for sharing this, OP.
November 6th, 2013 at 1:15 PM ^
That HS photo of him playing a team in Michiganesque uniforms made me do a double-take. We need to bring back the Fab Five uniforms.
November 6th, 2013 at 5:58 PM ^
CARIS CRAWFORD