Los Angeles Lakers: 4 Reasons why Jamal Crawford should be signed!
By Ronald Agers
Lou Williams is Jamal Crawford’s replacement as the closer off the Clippers bench.
Remember the beginning of the dark times for the Los Angeles Lakers? The time Magic Johnson traded the last player that was contributing in a winning way to start tanking?
The lights hadn’t even gotten warm in the press conference before he took over to trade Lou Williams to Houston for Corey Brewer and a first-round pick from the Rockets. The move turned into the drafting of Lonzo Ball. Corey Brewer finished the season with the Lakers and was released.
Lou Williams was having the best season of his career at the time, with highs in points (18.6 per game) and 3-point field goal percentage (.385). Also, he was leading the league in scoring off the bench at that point with 1,605 points.
Then Jerry West signs Lou Williams to a three-year contract. Now, Lou Williams is dropping nearly 20 a night coming off one of the more lethal NBA benches around. He is one of the main reasons that the experts believe the Clippers’ second unit is the difference over the Lakers.
The bottom line, Lou Williams can score in his sleep. Just like Jamal Crawford.
Jamal Crawford can get on the team bus and score a basket. His handles are one of the craftier in the league outside of “Uncle Drew” Kyrie Irving. Tony Allen was on the Chris Vernon show talking about his wizardry with the ball. As one of the great defenders in the NBA, that means a lot.
In this video alone, Lake Show Life counted nine buzzer-beaters overall and seven game-winners. (Yes, we counted!). Jamal Crawford is the mirror image of Lou Williams. He could be the chess piece that matches the Clippers’ top bench scorer.
By the way. Crawford is a former three-time NBA Sixth Man of the Year, which is an NBA record.
To the ones that will line up criticisms about Crawford taking heavily contested shots. Let’s kill that narrative quickly.
The non-playoff teams Crawford played for stunk, especially in Chicago (Jordan and the dynasty were gone!) and New York (Self-explanatory!). Here are some points to ponder here.
- Think of what Crawford can do with his handle with the defense loaded up on LeBron James and Anthony Davis?
- How about running the pick and roll with that huge front line of the Lakers?
- A talented roster with a quick ball moving offense that allows Crawford not to work so hard to get his shot off so deep in the shot clock.
On the defensive end. Is he a lockdown defender? No. But if the Los Angeles Lakers can deal with Rajon Rondo‘s defense and adjust, they can with Crawford. Plus, the defense has to pay attention to his offense. Something they don’t do with Rondo’s jumper these days.
Here’s the main reason here to sign Jamal Crawford to finish the discussion.