Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Catching up with an old friend

Had to mention Knickerblogger's usual spot-on analysis, this time of Jamal Crawford in his "way too early season review":

He has been good offensively, but his defense is porous. Crawford's thin frame is ill-suited to fight through picks, and too fragile to slow down a drive once the other team gets a step on him. Jamal has an excellent handle, but there is nothing more frustrating than having Crawford settling for a jumper (which comprise 82% of his shots), after he's faked his defender with a series of fancy dribbles. Crawford should force the issue towards the basket with his great passing and dribbling skills. In addition, he'd do well getting fouled driving to the hoop, since the guy makes a free throw shot look like a layup (86% FT).

Watching Jamal a bit this year, he is still uses his favorite move. You remember, the one where he dribbles through his legs twice to get the defender off balance, and then pulls up and slings a jumper. Sometimes it goes in (albeit at 40% this year), and he looks good. But now Knicks fans are getting a taste of what I had grown tired of:  the annoyance that is Jamal Crawford's untapped potential.