Getty Jamal Crawford
Jamal Crawford is still an NBA free agent.
Drafted eighth in the 2000 NBA Draft out of Michigan, Crawford has career averages of 14.6 points and 3.4 assists per contest. He also has the distinction of being one of the league’s top isolation scorers since his debut in the early 2000s.
.@JCrossover: is a ‘fit everywhere,’ @TheJetOnTNT tells me: t.co/IkvSrcdIte
“I think Jamal has a special talent that teams who are saying: ‘We’re trying to win it all’ will eventually look at him and say: ‘we’re missing him.’”
A three-time NBA Sixth Man of the Year, Crawford still has game. If you recall, in his last game of the season as a member of the Phoenix Suns, Crawford scored 50 points against the Dallas Mavericks.
Where will he go? The Lakers?
“Instant scorer,” Lakers forward, Anthony Davis told me of Crawford.
“If we’re looking for a scorer, he’s definitely on that list. He can score at will. He knows the game, very crafty with the ball, so if we’re looking for a scorer, then he’s definitely a guy I can see us going after.”
TNT’s Kenny Smith tells me that Crawford will get signed by someone. “He’s a fit everywhere,” Smith said.
“But in the second unit, he can come in and do exactly; well not exactly, but he can do a lot of things like Lou Williams. I think Lou is younger at this stage and is better at it at this stage, but Jamal is close.”
On the Scoop B Radio Podcast, I asked Washington Post writer, Ben Golliver whether he thought Crawford would be a fit with the Lakers. “Man, that’s a very interesting question,” he told me.
“I see the campaigns for him too. He’s another guy that in his situation the last couple of years, he’ll still go out there and get those late clock rainbow threes and get people excited, but the tricky part has been defensively if he had to play would he could get picked on too regularly to keep a spot. I think for the Lakers, I’m not sure if they need him at this point, I think they got to solve this Rondo question first, right? They have to see exactly what they have with Rondo, how many minutes can he play now that he’s going to be back on the court and how does the balance work between him and Caruso. One of the craziest stories about the Lakers is Caruso’s impact this year has just been strong. Really strong and he supplements their defense and is really formidable. Much better than I thought it would be. So I think for a player like Jamal there actually could be better fits around the NBA besides the Lakers were. There might be more minutes available, or there might be a cleaner philosophical fit, I think it would be hard for him to get minutes I think in the Lakers backcourt and to really play the game that he wants to play.”
The Lakers have been looking to fill a roster spot for weeks. Names like Jae Crowder and Andre Iguodala have been mentioned for weeks. Crawford is sitting patiently. “I’ll be ready,” Crawford told NBA TV’s Sekou Smith.
“Im always ready and in shape; it’s just the matter finding the situation that will have me, and it will benefit both parties.”