‘Jordan Crawford’
courtesy of ‘Keith Allison’

I’ll admit that I didn’t stay up for all of the Wizard’s 119-127 double overtime loss to the Clippers last night. Those West Coast games are killer on a work night.

However I didn’t need to see the entire game to see the unfolding story of Jordan Crawford. By the time I turned off the TV he was already racked up 20 points and 10 assists, pacing John Wall in assists as he was ended the night with a 25 pt, 10 ast line. Crawford has started to show some production with the increased playing time he’s received as the Wizards are recovering from injuries to Nick Young, Andray Blatche, Rashard Lewis, and Josh Howard. Crawford has taken advantage of the opportunity, racking up 20+ points in four of his last five games.

If I was a real basketball analyst I’d fire up Syngery and probably do a film study on him to see what he’s doing well.

Unfortunately I don’t have the thousands of dollars it probably costs to afford such sophisticated technology. So I went to the only film room I had access to: YouTube.

Sure clips on YouTube will be a cherry picked, highlight-laden, collection of clips. But at least I’ll be able to see what’s “public tape” on him.

So I ran a search and here’s what I found.

He Can Facilitate The Big Play

So one of the first clips I found reveals him to be the worst passer in the NBA, however in this clips against the Bulls he makes a great pass through all sorts of bodies to hit JaVale McGee for the dunk:

Notice how in both clips he has that weird one-armed motion when he passes, almost like he’s hurling the ball- definitely not as smooth as Steve Nash. Last night he made another alley-oop to McGee in the 3rd quarter.

He Knows How To Commit A Robbery

In this clip prior to his trade to the Wizards, we see Crawford intercept a pass and take it coast-to-coast, setting up an alley-oop for himself:

With four steals in last night game he’s definitely flashing some quick hands and speed. His steals have gone from .2 SPG in ATL to 1.6 SPG with WAS, which would rank pretty well in the league if he maintained that rate all season.

He Knows How To Put The Speed On

In this first clip Crawford manages to cross-up Detroit’s  Richard Hamilton to set-up the dunk for McGee. The clip after that he completes a three-point play against the Bucks:

Against the Clippers he showed that he wasn’t afraid to take it to the rim. However he still needs work when it comes to finishing at the basket. According to Hoopdata, he’s primarily a perimeter shooter but makes a fair amount of baskets at the rim. He also has the speed to do it. Sure he’s know John Wall but he’s no Yi when it comes to his athleticism.

What was most intriguing about last night was his Wall-tying 10 assists. He played a lot of point last night and it will be interesting to see what kind of role Crawford could grow into as a lite version of John Wall.

I mean he did dunk on LeBron that one time.