| Grading The Deal: Knicks Trade Crawford To Make 2010 A Closer Reality Authored by Louis Roxin - November 21, 2008 - 2:28 pm
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A Melo Behind The SuperstarsCarmelo Anthony has never been one of the league's most efficient offensive players.
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That said, if Crawford had been the major and (this is the key part) consistent force in the D’Antoni offense that some envisioned, would he have been expendable? The continued wild swings in Crawford’s scoring and confidence, and periodic poor decision-making that leads to unforced turnovers, may have given the Knicks the justification they needed to trade their leading scorer for a decent piece but, more importantly, salary cap relief in the near future.
Case in point: In what has turned out to be his last game as a Knick, Crawford played very tentatively and very poorly and finished with only 3 points. He rode the pine for most of the second half as the team mounted a comeback.
Mike D’Antoni and his coaching staff may have started getting an up-close view of the deeply troubling and well-established patterns about Crawford’s game that Knick fans have come to know and bemoan: A player who when hot is one of the best and most elusive one-on-one scorers in the game; a guy who can dazzle and shoot you to victory on any given night; but also a player who can lose his edge quickly, doesn’t like to take physical contact, and who constantly loses his man on defense. Mike D’Antoni is not known as a defensive coach but his on-court anger at Crawford’s constant missed defensive assignments was evident on a few occasions already in this young season.
All of the flaws might be acceptable if Crawford was guaranteed to carry a big chunk of your scoring load every night. But even when hot, his dribbling tendency diminishes ball movement and even if he’s put together a few hot games in a row, you can be sure that the massive disappearing act is just around the corner. Toughness and IQ are the issue with Crawford and even in an open, free-wheeling and offensive-oriented system, a player needs these intangible qualities in order to thrive.
The Knicks needed Crawford to score to have a good shot to win. Now they won’t have Crawford at all. Pending other moves, the Knicks no longer have a big shot-maker who can create a shot and moving the ball will now become even more essential. Al Harrington is a good three-point shooter who can take on some of the scoring load, but he’s not going to be the guy to run your offense through. Harrington is a soft defender for a big body and does not block shots. Sound familiar? Adding him now gives the Knicks a set of big men who are probably the worst defensive bigs ever to grace an NBA roster. Harrington, Lee, Curry and Randolph. If you think of Chandler as a big, he’s probably their best defensive inside presence. If you don’t, then Randolph is probably your most competent big defender. That’s a little bit frightening when you really think about it.
You have to grade this deal on two criteria for it to make any sense. A B trade on talent. An A trade on taking the first major step toward landing LeBron James. |
