Joe Crawford, who was selected by the Lakers in the 2008 NBA Draft with a second round pick, will be called-up to the New York Knicks, according to multiple sources. He will apparently take the place of another D-League call-up, Demetris Nichols.

Crawford, a 6'5", 210 pound shooting guard, has been very solid, though rarely spectacular, for the Los Angeles D-Fenders' this season, averaging 20.8 points, 4.6 boards and 2.7 assists in 43 games (42 starts).

Posted by franco12:

I'm starting to sour on this regime. I would have liked it better if they gave these guys (Nichols) some actual time to show what they can do.

We know that D'Antoni and Walsh have a great eye when it comes to judging players in practice (see Anthony Roberson).

Posted by martin:

Posted by franco12:

I'm starting to sour on this regime. I would have liked it better if they gave these guys (Nichols) some actual time to show what they can do.

We know that D'Antoni and Walsh have a great eye when it comes to judging players in practice (see Anthony Roberson).

? D-Leaguers gotta show it in practice first.

You don't think it's a good sign that we have our 4th D-Leaguer come through in the last months.

Posted by franco12:

Posted by martin:

Posted by franco12:

I'm starting to sour on this regime. I would have liked it better if they gave these guys (Nichols) some actual time to show what they can do.

We know that D'Antoni and Walsh have a great eye when it comes to judging players in practice (see Anthony Roberson).

? D-Leaguers gotta show it in practice first.

You don't think it's a good sign that we have our 4th D-Leaguer come through in the last months.

You mean D-Leaguers have to show it in practice like Roberson showed it?

As for having the 4th guy come through- no, actually, I don't think its a good sign- none of them got time, I'd rather see a bit more patience. I mean, look at what Golden State & Houston have managed to find in terms of undrafted rookies? Yea, maybe those guys won't have a long career, but both teams gave those guys a chance to prove they belonged.


Not every guy is going to look awesome in practice. Given our status with injured players (hughes/Lee), it would have been nice to see Nichols get more than 2 minutes.

Roberson had a stretch in practice where he couldn't miss- then he got game time and sucked. Just give a guy a chance here!

Posted by franco12:

Posted by martin:

Posted by franco12:

Posted by martin:

Posted by franco12:

I'm starting to sour on this regime. I would have liked it better if they gave these guys (Nichols) some actual time to show what they can do.

We know that D'Antoni and Walsh have a great eye when it comes to judging players in practice (see Anthony Roberson).

? D-Leaguers gotta show it in practice first.

You don't think it's a good sign that we have our 4th D-Leaguer come through in the last months.

You mean D-Leaguers have to show it in practice like Roberson showed it?

As for having the 4th guy come through- no, actually, I don't think its a good sign- none of them got time, I'd rather see a bit more patience. I mean, look at what Golden State & Houston have managed to find in terms of undrafted rookies? Yea, maybe those guys won't have a long career, but both teams gave those guys a chance to prove they belonged.


Not every guy is going to look awesome in practice. Given our status with injured players (hughes/Lee), it would have been nice to see Nichols get more than 2 minutes.

Roberson had a stretch in practice where he couldn't miss- then he got game time and sucked. Just give a guy a chance here!

you can keep a player on for 2 10-day contracts and then you have to sign them for the year. That's why the short term windows for those guys.

And I don't quite follow the logic of keeping a player if he hasn't shown it in practice on the off-chance he MAY show it on the court.

Why did nichols get 1 ten day? And Roberson showed it in practice- but he had nothing on the court.

We've had guys like Matt Carroll and Matt Barnes, but gave up- only to watch them develop into something we could have really used.

Sign Nichols for the rest of the season. Why not? Let him play 10 minutes a game and see if he can stick. Every other good organization, in addition to not screwing up draft picks, manages to find really good role players off the scrap heap.

Instead, we treat role players like stars (Nate, Lee).

Posted by franco12:

Instead, we treat role players like stars (Nate, Lee).

Posted by franco12:

Posted by martin:

Posted by franco12:

Instead, we treat role players like stars (Nate, Lee).

Why do you say this?

Where is TMS when you need him?

You mean you want to know who the 'We' is?


I guess I'm just upset that Walsh & D'Antoni- and I love MDA as a coach, and his style of play- have really lagged in terms of finding some possible supporting cast type guys during the season. They went for Roberson, when they should have waited. We've had roster spots open, and they've taken a long time to act.

And then we're out of the play offs- realistically have been since about the beginning of the year- and somehow, we can't give a guy like Nichols some legit playing time.

And we can't find some unknown scrub PG in the NBDL to give a shot to?

i guess you can't have it both ways. You want to lock Nichols in but you also want us to find an unknown scrub. I think Donnie IS trying to do that with the rotation of DLeaguers coming in and out.

Roberson was obviously a mistake.... and as someone else already suggested, you are willing to make that same mistake with Nichols by signing him for the rest of the season? Just because YOU have not seen him doesn't mean the coaching staff hasn't seen enough during practice.

Still don't know why Nate/Lee reference was made.