I think he is fresher and with the second unit he is the go to guy. I think he likes that. Scoring is overrated, Josh Smith is what makes the Hawks tick. It is funny to see Woody getting on Jamal about his defense.

Yeah he sure is mediocre.

Exactly. This season, anyway. In previous seasons, he’s generally been closer to poor.

18

tells you nothing without context. 18 points on 12 field goal attempts a game is great; 18 on 18 fga is poor. This season, for the first time in his career, Jamal has actually scored those 18 efficiently. Not as efficiently as Morrow or Azubuike, but very efficiently. But again, there was nothing in Jamal’s previous nine NBA seasons to suggest he was primed for a 50 point leap in FG%.

3 [assists] and 2 [boards] … in 30 minutes

is horrible. The rebound # in particular, for a guy with his length, is just inexcusable. Kelenna, who’s an inch shorter than him, pulls boards at better than twice his rate. Like his low-low steal total, that low a number bespeaks a kind of laziness that eventually starts to grate on fans (and eventually eats away at your team’s win total).

a team that has won two-thirds of its games

Show me a team built around a rock-solid foundation of Horford, JSmooth and Joe Johnson, with Bibby and Marvin Williams as your 4th and 5th men, and I’ll show you a very good team. Give Atlanta Curry, Monta, Morrow, Cap’n Jack, Kelenna or even CJ instead of Jamal and they’re likely just as good, possibly better.

A little fun with arithmetic… let’s assume Jackson were still on this team (since when we traded Jamal we had no inkling Jack would beg off). Let’s also assume that Kelenna is healthy. Now, take the 142 minutes we have at PG/SG/SF and divide them up among Curry, Monta, Jackson, Morrow, Kelenna, Maggette and CJ. Now: see how many minutes you have left over to give to a glorified chucker like Jamal Crawford.

He also get’s the second unit burn against less skilled players. His defense dosen’t look so bad when you compare him to Bibby. Bottom line – he is a good fit for the Hawks.

Well, career numbers aren’t that close.

When you’re comparing guys that can get on an NBA floor for 30+ minutes (without injuries) and those that can’t, those numbers are pretty much uselss.

THOSE numbers are crappy to you?

I’d need to see minutes played and free throw attempts to complete the picture, but on the face of it, yeah … I consider those numbers pretty crappy. Or at least crappier than those of any of these guys with whom he’d be competing for PT.

Some of us look at a player as more than just a walking stats sheet.

I’m one of those guys (but thanks for the l’il personal dig, as always!) Stats aside, I look at Crawford and a see a dime-a-dozen flashy chucker with little interest in the dirty work that wins games — a guy can who kill an opponent when he’s hot and kill his team when he’s not.

Would I play him over Watson…. in a heartbeat….

Good for you. And I’d rather play Watson and have $9M left to spend on a player who provides something Watson, Jackson, Curry, Monta, Morrow and Azubuike do not.

trying to explain the use Crawford could have had to us this year is pointless when the person you are discussing the point with, is so set in his views.

Haha. Word. And it’s especially pointless when the person with whom you’re conversing is not only set in his views but also biased by personal affection for a player’s “niceness.”