As we enter mid-August, out of the remaining un-signed free agents that are worth noting, Jamal Crawford‘s name sticks out. Is he worth the Brooklyn Nets freeing up a roster spot for him?
Jamal Crawford, the 39 year old with an unbelievable 19 seasons under his belt remains un-signed and largely not spoken about. The Brooklyn Nets roster appears to be set going into the 2019-2020 season, but that doesn’t mean something can’t change. As it has been said before, a veteran presence on any roster can be a huge difference and depending on their role, can make or break a season. What would Jamal provide for the Brooklyn Nets?
Not only is he a three time NBA Sixth Man of the Year, (2010, 2014 and 2016.) he’s also had continued success as the king of the crossover, notoriously making your favorite player touch Earth every time he takes the ball down the floor. Along with that, he’s had a reputation as being one of the deadliest scorers of the last decade. For the first time since his rookie season back in 2000-2001, Jamal averaged less than 20 minutes per game last season, as the wear and tear of his career appears to have caught up to him.
But that doesn’t mean he isn’t deserving of a roster spot. Jamal would add perimeter shooting to a team and to a second unit that’s already full of marksmen, and it almost seems as if he uses his age to his advantage at times, as people often assume he can’t score “the way he used to.” The biggest example of this claim would be when in April of this last spring, Jamal scored an astonishing 51 points against the Dallas Mavericks. No one thought there was anything left in the tank, but there was, and he became the oldest player in NBA history to score 50 points.
Speaking slightly more towards that, in his 64 games played last season he scored at least 10-19 points a total of 24 times. He would be adding a semi-reliable spark off of the bench for a Brooklyn Nets second unit that’s already being severely underrated.
Jamal Crawford is the quintessential embodiment of the “pick your poison” type of player. He can attack you on the dribble and score inside, he can size you up and hit jumpers from the mid-range, and he can still knock down threes.
Though the Brooklyn Nets would notably need to waive a player in order to sign Jamal, he just may be worth taking a chance on.