Credit: Bob Youngentob CSN Washington
January has been a crazy month for the Washington Wizards’ Bradley Beal and Jordan Crawford. In the first month of this year, both have hit game winners for the Wizards — Beal on January 7th vs. the Thunder and most recently Crawford on January 21st vs. the Blazers.
So while these two have both contributed to Washington’s January success, the question is can they co-exist on the same team playing similar roles? Or are they both counteracting each others development and impact they can have on the court?
This is just a small 8 game sample size, but Bradley Beal seemed to really pick up his game up and put it all together when Jordan Crawford sat out a 4 game stretch recently due to an ankle injury:
As you can see above, the large increase in Beal’s stats corresponds with the increase in court time he saw in Crawford’s absence. Clearly Crawford doesn’t impact Beal’s shooting stroke when he is on the court, but in the four game Jordan sat out, Bradley played an average of 38.4 minutes per game. In the 4 game since Crawford has returned, that playing time has dropped to 28.7 minutes per game.
Beal averaged 20.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game while Crawford sat out. During that stretch, he shot 50.1% from the floor (29/57) on 14.3 shots per game. Those numbers drop pretty dramatically when Crawford returned, as Brad averaged 12.5 points, 2.8 rebounds, and .8 assists per game. His shooting percentage dropped to 45.2% (19/42) and shots per game drop almost 4 to 10.5 per game.
Clearly I am in the pro-Beal category as most Wizards fans are, but where does this leave Crawford? What are the options for the Wizards?
I have come up with 4 options for this situation: do nothing, assign more concrete roles, try and play them together, or make a trade.
Nothing:
This results in more of the same, and unfortunately is the most likely to occur. Randy Wittman continues to ride the hot hand and Beal and Crawford’s playing time continues to fluctuate game in and game out. We will keep seeing sparks of good games from both players followed by let downs due to the sporadic court time. Both players long term development will be hampered as well.
Concrete Roles:
Again, being in the pro-Beal camp, my scenario he would be to his benefit. Bradley Beal would get the starters minutes and would play 35+ a night. Jordan Crawford would be relegated to regular bench minutes, say 20-25 a night, where is would be used primarily as a scorer off the bench. This would also lend to the two sharing some court time, which leads to the next option (which would also take some rotation adjustments by Wittman).
Play Them Together:
There are many situations where going small would be to the Wizards advantage, case in point during last night’s loss to the Jazz when they should have had a lineup consisting of Wall, Crawford, Beal, Ariza, and Nene/Okafor instead of putting two centers on the floor when scoring was needed. I am not saying Beal and Crawford together on the court at the same time would be automatically successful, but I think it is something this team could try to look at a little more, particularly in situations where small ball would be to their benefit.
Trade:
Trading Beal is out of the question. That only leaves moving Crawford. Crawford has some decent trade value as a bench scorer that is still on his rookie deal. I am not saying the Wizards should move him just to move him, but if the right scenario came up that would bring Washington a player for their long-term future or a future asset, it should at least be considered. This would open up more playing time for Beal, as well as possibly help the team moving forward.
I don’t particularly want to see Crawford moved, but he is not the type of player that Bradley Beal is going to be. I think we know what kind of player Jordan is, and that is a valuable scorer off the bench and I believe he would be a very good asset on a better team than the Wizards. No matter what happens moving forward, I hope it is something. I believe the “doing nothing” option is the worst one for the team. I want to see growth out of Beal, and I don’t want that growth being stunted by playing 35 minutes one night and 20 the next like it seems we have done with all of our young players the past 5 years.
5 Comments
Great article Trevor…this same topic has been on my mind since Steezy returned. I’m a fan of concrete roles or a trade. Now that Crawford is back, and he has shown that he is capable of playing PG, i would like to see him in his 6th man role playing back-up to Beal and Crawford. If Wall and Beal both play 35 minutes a night, that leaves 26 minutes a game for Crawford to do his think at PG and SG. If only Wittman could realize what an NBA rotation should like we would be in much better shape. Wall, Beal, and Crawford are obvioulsy better players than AJ Price. AJ should be our 3rd string PG.
I agree with Trevor and mostly with what Cory just wrote. I disagree with Cory because I wouldn’t trade Crawford unless he’s in a package to get DeMarcus Cousins or Rudy Gay. currently,I dont think we’ll be able to make a trade to get either player. So i would NOT trade Crawford.
There is a concrete role for Crawford on this team. That role is just as you and cory have described immediate scoring off the bench and the ability to be Wall’s back up. As cory said both beal and Crawford are better players than AJ Price and Whitman is an idiot for not seeing this. Beal and Wall should be getting 35 minutes a game and Crawford backs them both up and plays (on average) 26 points a game. Crawford could play more or less depending on the flow of the game and how well we are playing but his average should be in the mid 20s, Wall and Beal should be getting 35 minutes or so.
I’ve been telling my buddies on footballs future in the wizards basketball forum for years that Jordan Crawford reminds me of Vinny “the Microwave” Johnson from the old pistons teams, Jammal Crawford and Lou Williams. Crawford is the guy you bring off the bench for instant offense who can play either position and run the team as well.
Trevor, this is dilemma that I love having!
Let’s just hope that we can get a sensible coach in the near future that can see what the entire Wizards universe sees.
It is not a terrible problem to have, as long as it is managed and coached properly. There in lies the problem.
Yea it doesn’t seem like much of a dilemma. Beal hurt his wrist in the Denver or LA game, which is kind of important. He’s 19 years old,, 30 minutes is respectable burn for a 19 year old. It’s a lost season which suggests playing Beal more, but lets remember this: a season and a half with Wittman is the longest Crawford has played under one coach since maybe his sophomore year of high school, he transferred high schools and transferred from Indiana to Xavier in the wake of recruiting scandals. It really shouldn’t be a surprise if he is a late bloomer. He is way more efficient this year, is there anything to say that wont continue through the end of the season?
According to Basketball Reference, only 60 rookie guards have averaged 30+ minutes their rookie season since 1980. Beal is currently averaging 31.4, or the 49th most. That’s going to go down, but30 seems just right. Brandon Jennings, Ricky Rubio and Jason Williams are the only guys ahead of him with lower FG% as rooks, but a lot of guys with good careers are in the 40-42% range as rookies.
Which brings me to my next point: Beal’s stretch was wildly unsustainable. People rarely shoot 60% on 3s for a month, but shooting 45% for the season makes you upper eschelon as a 3pt shooter. If a guy is drilling 3s like that, of course he is going to be balling elsewhere! Huuuuge confidence boost for the kid.
He’s hurt. Crawford is good and we’re likely showcasing him for a trade. Nothing to worry about here. We have plenty of room for good players here still.