Thursday, February 05, 2004

The 2 C's

That's right, its only 2. I can do without Jamal Crawford, and now I'm almost hoping he's moved before the trade deadline Feb. 19th. This is not even as much disappointment in his play, because his numbers are solid. He's proven he can score in this league, albeit not consistently. This basically stems from simply a desire to finally move on:

  • Kirk Hinrich is the point guard of the future, and that seriously diminishes Crawford's value to the Bulls. A 6'6" point guard is more valuable than a 6'6" off guard. And other teams see Crawford as a point, which helps.
  • That said, Crawford isn't a prototypical 2-guard. He can't take the punishment that a bigger guard can handle, which includes defending and attacking the basket. I want a bigger guard like Quentin Richardson.
  • He's a restricted free agent after this season. That means that its extremely possible that he's gone in the summer with nothing in return. After hearing comments by both Crawford and GM John Paxson, it seems less and less likely that Crawford is going to get the contract extension he likes. As stated earlier, as a pg he'll be highly sought-after, and at a price the Bulls may not be willing to pay.

So I'm not hating on Crawford, but if the right deal comes along I am willing to stand behind Paxson. I'm sure that comforts him. Now the 2 big fellas are a different matter. Their value is low right now, and not worth trading. And maybe I'm being swayed by a recent string of good games, including last night's blowout win at Utah (the best of the year), but Eddy Curry really seems to play better when Tyson Chandler is around. And as much as people think a 'change of scenery' will help them, isn't it just as likely a summer under Scott Skiles will help them just as much? I'm willing to take that chance for yet another year of the twin towers.

In other news:

  • The Tribune is reporting that the Bulls are interested in trading for and subsequently signing Brent Barry. His contract(that I believe Jerry Krause signed?) runs out after this year. He's a nice role player to have, but I don't think he'd be the right scoring 2-guard for the team to play alongside Hinrich. Better off getting a Marco Jaric type for less and get a real scoring threat on the wing somehow.
  • Eddie Robinson is really playing well lately. Getting minutes after Kendall Gill went on the IR probably helped:
  G MPG FG% PPG PSA
Last 14 Games 14 23.6 0.512 9.9 1.059

            Not $6 million dollar good, but not bad.