Posted by SupremeCommander:

Where's everyone that said Jamal was going to be an All-Star in this offense?

I was the main one, probably the only one saying all-star.

I still think he can but he's got to find his spots like he said in the article. The offense is not focused on getting anyone off.....the ball is finding guys open to score and it just so happens zach, wilson and lee and getting the benefits.

As teams start to lock into what they do, the scouting reports.....aka the real season, we'll see what happens.

Craw has been invisible in pre-season though that's a fact.......but I think yo guys are witch hunting. Why so much hate? Nothing to hate on so you guys wanna flame craw?

Posted by EnySpree:

Posted by SupremeCommander:

Where's everyone that said Jamal was going to be an All-Star in this offense?

I was the main one, probably the only one saying all-star.

I still think he can but he's got to find his spots like he said in the article. The offense is not focused on getting anyone off.....the ball is finding guys open to score and it just so happens zach, wilson and lee and getting the benefits.

As teams start to lock into what they do, the scouting reports.....aka the real season, we'll see what happens.

Craw has been invisible in pre-season though that's a fact.......but I think yo guys are witch hunting. Why so much hate? Nothing to hate on so you guys wanna flame craw?

Nah, not witch hunting... just tired of every year Craw comes in as the same flawed player and every year there is some reason to give him more slack than he's earned. I *used* to be one of the bigger Craw supporters around, but he is what he is at this point, which is substantially less than what he could've been.

The only way this guy will thrive in this offense is if the team actually plays defense and Crawford takes off in transition. And when he can't beat the defense, and they go into a half court set, Craw better get in distributor mode because his crossover-fade-away act is tired and a detriment to this offense. As D'Antoni said, Craw is a volume shooter and I'm sick of the Knicks featuring a 40 percent shooter.

Jake (New Haven, CT): Do you think Crawford will thrive in D'antoni's system? What kind of numbers do you expect him to put up? If not Crawford, who do you think will fare best in the new system (Nate Rob...)?

John Hollinger: I'm not sure why everyone is pointing to Crawford as a guy who'll blow up under D'Antoni. Isiah played him 40-plus minutes and let him do whatever he wanted; that's the ceiling folks, it's not getting any better than that for him. Playing fast doesn't mean guys with terrible shot selection automatically blossom. Actually, the guy I think will do best compared to last year is Randolph.

Kind of sums up my feelings on Craw...

[Edited by - supremecommander on 10-16-2008 1:28 PM]

Sounds like a witch hunt to me.

My thing with this is if you think Craw is a scrub then come up with a thread saying what you think the Knicks should do about it.......who should the Knicks trade for?

Posted by nixluva:

Posted by EnySpree:

Sounds like a witch hunt to me.

My thing with this is if you think Craw is a scrub then come up with a thread saying what you think the Knicks should do about it.......who should the Knicks trade for?

Well he's not a scrub! That's just silly. I'm telling you that Jamal can catch and shoot and when he does he's actually a much better shooter. How anyone could've missed how well he shoots when he gets his feet set is beyond me. What leads to his poor shooting % is his tendency to take bad shots and off balance shots off the dribble. When he's been used coming off screens and curls his jumper is much cleaner.

MDA IMO hasn't really put any focus into the game plans so far. I fully expect that he'll actually run more stuff during the season. He'll work on making sure the guys know how to get the shooters like Jamal, Steph, Duhon etc more open looks. Jamal will have to do a better job of finding the open space and presenting himself for his teammates to find him. I haven't seen him making enough use of his bigs to rub off his defender and get open. Someone mentioned his not wanting to make contact or get physical on defense and that is also part of the problem on offense. He's got to know how to get more separation from his defender. That little push off that guys use to create space is a trick of the trade that he doesn't use enough. I just wouldn't be too hasty in judging him just yet.

That's all I'm saying Nixluva.

Also who is available? Nobody. Soooooooo......that means regardless Knicks are stuck with Craw like it or not. Nobody is giving up a star for Jamal and Malik or Jamal and Curry.....also you don't trade Craw for an expiring. That's dumb.....unless you are talking bout Cuttino, but why would the Clips do that? Their team is set.

i think all the pasta sauce has effected d'antoni's brain...

Jamal Crawford had an incredulous tone to his voice yesterday when told he's expected to average between 18 and 22 points for the Knicks this season.

That projection came from coach Mike D'Antoni, who doesn't seem fazed by Crawford's sluggish start to the preseason.

"[D'Antoni] actually said 18-22 about me?" Crawford said, clearly surprised by the lofty projection. "I don't worry about that. The points and that stuff will take care of themselves."

"He's not a terrific shooter," D'Antoni said. "He's not an Allan Houston type. He's a volume kind of guy, but I haven't given him that kind of space yet. If he doesn't average between 18 and 22, I need to go back to the drawing board. He's that good. He makes great decisions with the ball.

Posted by Bippity10:

I don't think Jamal is a scrub. Anyone that puts up 20 a game can play and there is a spot for him in every rotation in the league despite his weaknesses. That being said, he was the one with the blog talking about his weaknesses. And yet here he is the same player. Unless he is scoring he is not contributing. Just remember if you are going to blog and yap you have to back it up. So far he hasn't

He is a scrub until he proves he is a winner he is a scrub. 40% shooting is not very good not in the NBA it also reflects his lack of awareness for his teammates if he is forcing up shots that he has no business taking. He has to show more to his game. In the D'Antoni system guards tend to have pretty decent shooting percentages lets see if Jamal can up his shooting percentage to maybe 44% for the season. If he can't then I don't think the Knicks should waste time with Jamal.

There were better options out ther than Jamal I would like to have made a run for J.R. Smith he would have been an upgrade over Crawford.

Posted by EnySpree:

Posted by djsunyc:

i think all the pasta sauce has effected d'antoni's brain...

Jamal Crawford had an incredulous tone to his voice yesterday when told he's expected to average between 18 and 22 points for the Knicks this season.

That projection came from coach Mike D'Antoni, who doesn't seem fazed by Crawford's sluggish start to the preseason.

"[D'Antoni] actually said 18-22 about me?" Crawford said, clearly surprised by the lofty projection. "I don't worry about that. The points and that stuff will take care of themselves."

"He's not a terrific shooter," D'Antoni said. "He's not an Allan Houston type. He's a volume kind of guy, but I haven't given him that kind of space yet. If he doesn't average between 18 and 22, I need to go back to the drawing board. He's that good. He makes great decisions with the ball.

I agree with D'antoni.....

As far as dribbling and passing, Craw makes awesome decisions. Its the shot selection that's the only problem.......again brilliant fact is D'antoni called it himself....drawing board. Its D'antoni's job to give Craw space for the sake of the offense. Craw is deadly and its all about focusing it to the scheme of the team.....not just telling Craw to shoot when he wants to.

Hello!?!?!? I think D'antoni got it.

eny, would you rather he design the offense and give all the opportunities to help jamal or nate?

Posted by djsunyc:

Posted by EnySpree:

Posted by djsunyc:

i think all the pasta sauce has effected d'antoni's brain...

Jamal Crawford had an incredulous tone to his voice yesterday when told he's expected to average between 18 and 22 points for the Knicks this season.

That projection came from coach Mike D'Antoni, who doesn't seem fazed by Crawford's sluggish start to the preseason.

"[D'Antoni] actually said 18-22 about me?" Crawford said, clearly surprised by the lofty projection. "I don't worry about that. The points and that stuff will take care of themselves."

"He's not a terrific shooter," D'Antoni said. "He's not an Allan Houston type. He's a volume kind of guy, but I haven't given him that kind of space yet. If he doesn't average between 18 and 22, I need to go back to the drawing board. He's that good. He makes great decisions with the ball.

I agree with D'antoni.....

As far as dribbling and passing, Craw makes awesome decisions. Its the shot selection that's the only problem.......again brilliant fact is D'antoni called it himself....drawing board. Its D'antoni's job to give Craw space for the sake of the offense. Craw is deadly and its all about focusing it to the scheme of the team.....not just telling Craw to shoot when he wants to.

Hello!?!?!? I think D'antoni got it.

eny, would you rather he design the offense and give all the opportunities to help jamal or nate?

Nate is gonna get his. And when Nate comes off the bench, I'm sure D'antoni is gonna have him playing to his strengths.

This is not a clear out offense. You know that. That ball is gonna be moving. The players will be moving. Best way to use craw is to give him options. D'antoni is all about options. He's not Phil Jackson where he's gonna tel Kobe to take over and just sit on the bench telling guys they can make shots if they channel their inner child.

Lol.

"He's not a terrific shooter," D'Antoni said. "He's not an Allan Houston type. He's a volume kind of guy...

He makes great decisions with the ball.

[/quote]

I find these two statements difficult to reconcile.

The first one suggests Crawford is what he is - a low percentage, streaky shooter who needs to be greenlighted to launch to be effective. And when Jamal is launching and in the groove you can expect ankle-breaking fade away threes, and dipsey doos off the backboard.

Or you can have him being conservative, cognizant of shot selection, and looking for his teammates.

He IS capable of both, but rarely simultaneously. It's what Isiah always used to say about him, they have to make him more aware situationally, which means to raise his BBall IQ so he knows intuitively which of the two sides are desirable depending on the flow of the game.

But you know, these combo guards rarely ever really "get it". Ironically, the best of the true PGs were high percentage shooters. Here I'm talking about guys like Frazier, Stockton, Nash. Even Isiah and CP3. These guys could score 20+ and takeover a game at any time, but they didn't need to be told when to score and when to pass. And the true pure shooting guards are never asked to be great playmakers. Remember, we didn't fault Allan Houston for not deferring to Patrick enough, we faulted him for not shooting enough. There are chuckers, like Vince Carter, who you'd like to take better selected shots, but when you have a real PG you don't task the shooter to be a playmaker. Going back to Stockton's Jazz, Jeff Hornacek was not asked to make great decisions, he was asked to shoot every time he was open.

That's a bit of a ramble, but the point is when you have a guy who's "not a terrific shooter," nor is he a good enough decision maker to play PG, it's always an uphill battle to figure out how to integrate him. Asking JC to shoot volumes and make good decisions isn't really flattering, it's a way of saying "how the heck am I going to make clockwork of such streakiness?"