38-year-old guard Jamal Crawford was spotted in the halls of the Arena in Phoenix. If he has interest in the Phoenix Suns, the Suns should have interest in him.
The Phoenix Suns are in a transitional period as they try to convert from a rebuilding team to a competitive one. As their core is still so young and unproven, the roster could use all the veteran experience it can get, an obvious focus of former general manager Ryan McDonough.
Now that McDonough is out of the office, interim GM James Jones is looking to put his stamp on the roster, and guard Jamal Crawford is potentially be a player that Jones has interest in.
Although some might disagree, this is a move that the Phoenix Suns should pursue in an effort to improve the talent on the roster and make that push to transition from rebuilder to competitor.
If you follow Valley of the Suns on Twitter, you will have seen a number of tweets in regards to how absolutely poorly Josh Jackson, T.J. Warren, and Dragan Bender shot from 3-point-range during the preseason – outside shooting being a point of emphasis for first year head coach Igor Kokoskov who wants the Suns to average 30 attempts a game.
If his offense is predicated on such prolific shooting, and his players can not make 3’s, then they are not only not going to be competitive, but the his offense will fail at being as successful as we are all hoping for this season.
Jamal Crawford is a 34.9% 3-point shooter for his career and shot 33.1% from beyond the arc last season. That percentage, although not out-of-this-world, is certainly much better than the 19% combined of the previously three-named players shot in the preseason.
While Crawford has played point guard in the past, it has been a few years and should not be counted on as a starting point guard should he sign with the Suns.
Although it wouldn’t preclude him from being a starter in general.
Jones stated this week that he would be okay with Devin Booker playing point guard 35 minutes a game and that Book would “relish” the opportunity to play the position (see the VotS Twitter).
By starting Crawford at the shooting guard spot, he would help Booker initially with his shooting, allowing both Josh Jackson and T.J. Warren to come off the bench where their scoring wouldn’t have to focus on outside shooting, rather on their characteristic and still highly successful slash-to-score.
Crawford hasn’t been a regular starter for the vast majority of his career, however he wouldn’t have to be counted on for starter’s minutes, but only about 20 minutes a game. Have Crawford open the game to help kick off the scoring, letting Kokoskov’s offense run through Booker, then let T.J. and J.J. come in and take advantage of playing mainly against the opponent’s second units.
The signing of Jamal Crawford is not only about depth, but about his 3-point shooting capabilities which right now far exceed that of Jackson and Warren.
By acquiring the long-term veteran, he gives the two younger players one more year to develop their outside shots (especially Jackson who could eventually become a shooting guard should the Suns not find a star point guard keeping Booker in the spot for the foreseeable future).