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Former New York Knicks guard Jamal Crawford is widely viewed as one of the more underrated guards in NBA history. He has won the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award three times and has career averages of 14.6 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game.
Crawford has had a lengthy NBA career and enjoyed success with many franchises. But most would say that his golden era was with the Knicks as he averaged his career-highs of points and rebounds per game with the franchise. In his latest interview with Landon Buford, Crawford was asked about the Knicks’ newest nemesis Trae Young. He believes that the Atlanta Hawks’ star is a player who has ‘no ceiling.’
“His mentality, his elusiveness, his shiftiness, and his fearlessness. I see those attributes for sure. He has no ceiling,” Crawford said per LandonBuford.com.
“What I think happened over this last year, he really figured it out. Like really figured it out. Not saying that he wasn’t averaging 29 points the year before, but he figured out how to do it even easier. He figured out how to do it where he was two games away from the Finals. He figured it out, so for him, to figure it out this early in your career.”
Jamal Crawford Sounds off on Trae Young’s Progression
Nobody could have seen the leap that Trae Young was going to make in 2021 coming. The Hawks fired head coach Lloyd Pierce after starting the season 14-20 and went on a run to finish the season 41-31 and earn themselves the 5th spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Behind the play of Young, the Hawks would advance all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals where they ultimately fell to the Milwaukee Bucks. Despite a disappointing exit, Young and the Hawks had announced their arrival. He finished the playoffs averaging 28.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 9.5 assists and in the eyes of many, cemented his status as a superstar.
“That normally doesn’t happen until years eight, nine, or ten when you really figure it out. Sometimes you figure it out when you cannot impact the game physically the way you were able to. He is not even close to his peak so to figure out this quick, the rest of it is going to be ice cream,” Crawford said of Young’s progression.
“So, now when he doesn’t win, he will know what exactly needs to happen for it to happen. To give ourselves the best chance, so I’m loving watching him play.”
Jamal Crawford Talks About His Time With the Brooklyn Nets
Jamal Crawford has not played in the NBA since 2019, during an extremely brief stint with the Brooklyn Nets. Crawford agreed to join the Nets during the NBA bubble making them the ninth NBA franchise he has played for.
Crawford’s time with Brooklyn was short-lived as he injured himself just five minutes into his first game. As a basketball aficionado Crawford says coming back to play was still worth it. Because it gave him a chance to prove to everyone that he is still ‘J Crossover.’
“In a weird way, it was almost like those five minutes did for me what the 50-point game couldn’t do,” Crawford said per Nets Daily. “It was like, [after] those five minutes, people was like, ‘Oh he’s still got it. We gonna holler at him next year.’”
Crawford is 41 years old now but during his time with the Phoenix Suns in the 2019 season scored 50 points against the Dallas Mavericks proving he can still at least provide a spark off the bench. It will be interesting to see if he gets picked up this season.
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