Atlanta Hawks: Jamal Crawford’s ‘instant offense’ on slow drip
Jamal is finding it tougher to attack this season. (AP Photo)
First, Jamal wanted me to pass along a message to my blog people: He reads all of your comments and he still loves you all. Killin’ em with kindness, I guess.
With that out of the way, it’s been clear that the instant offensive jolt Jamal regularly provided under Woody has gone missing at times as L.D. moves to a more structured approach. Jamal is an instinctive scorer, adept at having the ball in his hands and attacking off the dribble, and now he’s being asked to play off the ball and set the table more often.
The Hawks have found more offensive balance than they’ve had in the past with L.D.’s approach. But for Jamal it’s meant a move away from the comfort zone he enjoyed last season.
“I think it’s some adjusting for him,” L.D. said. “Because he is such a good one-on-one players, I am trying to put him in more situations where he is running a lot more pick-and-rolls. I sat him down and told him he is playing very unselfishly, and he is making plays and getting the ball to his teammates. And he is showing to be a willing passer.
“When he and Joe play like that, I think that makes us a better ball club. Now teams can’t key in on individual guys to play one-on-one and they’ve got their defense set.”
After a spike in Jamal’s shooting percentage last season, it’s slipped back down to his career mark (though he was quick to note that with such a small sample size, a few good shooting games would pull it back up). His true shooting percentage hasn’t dipped as much because he’s taking and making more free throws. Jamal is taking about four less shots per game so far (though his attempts per minutes played are actually up from 2.2 to 2.9), his assist percentage is up slightly and his turnovers rate is up significantly.
I’d argue that, based on observation, Jamal also has shown more willingness to defend; he said L.D. told him the same thing. It’s not reflected by the on-court/off-court numbers (or by his lackluster effort against Dallas Saturday, though he was hardly alone among the guards) and I’m not saying he’s suddenly locking anyone down. But I’ve seen him more often aggressively fight through screens, keep his energy up throughout possessions and make up ground to challenge shooters.
What I haven’t seen much is the 2009-10, instant offense version of Jamal, and that’s something the Hawks could use as their bench continues to sag against better competition.
“I have got to put him in more opportunities where he gets more shots because he is a shotmaker,” L.D. said. “I’ve already sat him down and told him that. But he’s adjusting well. As I told him, he’s a guy coming off the bench that I need the instant offense, but I also need good decision-making. He has shown that he is committed to that.”
MC
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376 comments Add your comment
Samuel
November 22nd, 2010
9:09 pm
Sautee,
I would say Shaq is one of the Best of All Time. Still better than anything we got down low. I think he proved that. I predict Teague will follow in the footsteps of “The Sniper” and ACIII. Either a career long bench warmer (which aint bad) or out of the league. I could be wrong but I just don’t see it in him.
MARIO
November 22nd, 2010
9:09 pm
ZAZA MUST HAVE CEMENT IN HIS SHOES BECAUSE HE JUMPS LIKE EWING DID AT THE END OF HIS CAREER WHEN HE HAD THOSE PILLOWS TAPED TO HIS KNEES
Bailey
November 22nd, 2010
9:10 pm
terrell,
I’m bewildered as well. I like what L.D. has attempted to instill in terms of the motion offense, but other than that, I’ve been pretty disappointed with a lot of what he’s done. I don’t like a lot of the in-game adjustments he’s made, I don’t like how he’s managed foul trouble, and his “accountablity” principle seems to be all talk at this point. I’m seeing a jumpshooting team that does not take advantage of mismatches. A lot of this is on the players, as well, but you can only blame them so much when the coach puts them in an opportunity to lose. L.D. hasn’t been utilizing the strengths of Al and Josh much at all, nor has he adjusted the lineups defensively during our struggles. He’s looking to the bench for things that just aren’t there, and I don’t see the motivation or intensity out of him. He seems very passive on the bench. Something has got to happen. I see a few players who are playing with a lot of intensity, regardless of what is going on, but usually it’s the guys who aren’t having any plays being run for them, and they can do little to correct the flaws of their teammates, when they are the only ones trying. I am truly starting to believe that hiring L.D. was a bad decision. His principles sound good on paper, but he still hasn’t realized that he needs to make adjustments to utilize the strengths of his team, rather than sticking to things that may never work with the personnel he has.
doc
November 22nd, 2010
9:11 pm
can we say there is only one other team in the east as disappointing or more so being miami?
guys all we need now is a good run of about eight straight wins. that will solve everything. maybe it is only maybe 20 more games of ld’s system until they catch on.
terrell
November 22nd, 2010
9:13 pm
Zaza’s just blessed to be 7ft.
Samuel
November 22nd, 2010
9:13 pm
Terrell,
Just think. JJ made about $200,000.00 tonight.
Sautee
November 22nd, 2010
9:14 pm
LOL Samuel, I asked if you would call Shaq “turnover prone”.
I agree that he’s one of the best centers ever and a great passing big man, but you are calling Teague “turnover prone” when he has a ratio of 2.5 assists to every turnover for his career.
Shaq’s ratio?
errrr that would be 1 assist to 1.1 turnovers. (2.6 ast, 2.8 to per game)
terrell
November 22nd, 2010
9:14 pm
Takes me 5 years to do that. Shame on you JJ.
Melvin
November 22nd, 2010
9:15 pm
Maybe a nice long road trip will do wonders for the Hawks. Give those guys time to bond with each other. This early season home stand has been a disater..
Melvin
November 22nd, 2010
9:16 pm
doc,
at least the Heat can say they been bother by injuries. Wade, Miller and now Haslem…
Sautee
November 22nd, 2010
9:18 pm
Well, wasn’t THAT refreshing?
terrell
November 22nd, 2010
9:19 pm
Core players = Josh Smith. That’s it. EVERYBODY else is expendable.
Bout to jump off the Horford bandwagon if he dont pick it up.
cp
November 22nd, 2010
9:20 pm
Jordan Crawford plays hard. I would go ahead and put him at the sg and let Joe play the 3. We aren’t getting anything out of The Invisible man anyway… Why isn’t Teague in the game? Has LD soured on him?
I said a few blogs ago that I’m not seeing this accountability LD was talking about before the season. It looks like the same ol same ol to me..
The thing that makes the Marvin pick so bad is that even though they passed on 2 great pg’s they selected a below average sf. If Marvin was just a good sf it wouldn’t be so bad but dude aint even that.
terrell
November 22nd, 2010
9:22 pm
Granger went 17 CP.lol! We passed on Rudy Gay for Shellhead the next year too. lol!
kwooden1
November 22nd, 2010
9:23 pm
I’m glad I missed this game!!!
J from the A
November 22nd, 2010
9:23 pm
“Fans in Boston and New York and Philly continue to show up to games when their teams suck, only to boo them at every turn. Fans in Atlanta simply don’t show up when their teams suck. I don’t really see what the big distinction is — if anything, showing up when your team sucks provides less incentive for the ownership to improve.”
Fans at Phillips cheered for the Celtics and booed the Hawks. So, it looks like Atlanta fans don’t show up AND the few that do boo the home team AND cheer for the other team … you were saying?
On a related point, cities with “good” fans are not just “good” fans when their teams are winning championships. Good fans are good fans even when things aren’t going as well.
terrell
November 22nd, 2010
9:25 pm
Does Sund even have the authority to break this thing up?I seriously doubt it.
Sautee
November 22nd, 2010
9:27 pm
Dang, JJ played 23 minutes and had a plus/minus of -34!
Now that’s hard to do.
Sautee
November 22nd, 2010
9:28 pm
terrell,
only if Gearon says so.
Wabe
November 22nd, 2010
9:32 pm
Najeh Davenpoop
November 22nd, 2010
8:52 pm
MC, does Michael Gearon have an email address?
Pretty sure he does…
Would love to send him a few thoughts about ASG’s operation.
Samuel
November 22nd, 2010
9:34 pm
LD interview comming up in a few. This should be interesting.
Samuel
November 22nd, 2010
9:37 pm
LD is hiding. LOL!!
Wabe
November 22nd, 2010
9:37 pm
The point about Atlanta fans not being good fans is bogus…
Atlanta fans have gotten up and stood behind the Hawks at numerous points, only to watch them lay duds at their feet.
Just think, if you payed premium money to go watch the Hawks tonight, how would you be feeling right now? I’d be pretty damn pi$$ed.
Why should Hawks fans be “all-in” with this organization when the organization itself isn’t? The organization has demonstrated time and time again that they’d rather pass on peices/moves that could better the product on the floor, all to save a few bucks.
Not sure what people are expecting out of Hawks fans…
bigdave
November 22nd, 2010
9:42 pm
“not playing like that want it bad enough”
Drew
lewis
November 22nd, 2010
9:42 pm
my friend, “why do you watch it if you get so pissed off”
i really don’t know
bigdave
November 22nd, 2010
9:43 pm
*they
Trent
November 22nd, 2010
9:43 pm
terrell,
Horford had one off-night and you want to “jump off the bandwagon”? LOL. This is a perfect example of what the fans in atlanta are like. Horford just had a 20 point, 20 rebound night where he pretty much was the main reason the Hawks were in the game on saturday. Now, he has an off-night and suddenly all of that is forgotten and he needs to “pick it up”. That’s the definition of a fair weather fan right there. Also. just for the record, if Horford would have played his regular minutes, he might have had a double-double tonight anyway, but it wouldn’t have mattered with how the team, as a whole, was playing.
Also, if the Hawks didn’t have Horford, they probably wouldn’t have even made the playoffs these last few years.
doc
November 22nd, 2010
9:47 pm
this is an ugly review of the team. i think LD might be even harder on these guys than we are. heh heh
truth!!!
Freshfromatl
November 22nd, 2010
9:48 pm
Mannnn…All I know is something has been wrong with the Hawks for a longggg time and it ain’t got nothing to do with talent. Something just ain’t right. There’s a rotten apple (or apples) somewhere in this bunch.
Clyde
November 22nd, 2010
9:52 pm
Going to the Hawks game or going to Magic City?
I’ll hit Magic City
lewis
November 22nd, 2010
9:52 pm
1/6th thru the season and no wins against a winning team yet
Freshfromatl
November 22nd, 2010
9:52 pm
Also, I’m done buying Hawks tickets. $175 for 2 tickets for the Utah game (blown) and $175 for 2 tickets on tinights game (blown). I’m done.
bigdave
November 22nd, 2010
9:54 pm
naaah.. that isnt a coach thats “hiding”… nor is it a coach that says the same ole’ tired thing in every interview..
thats what im talking about LD.. get to the bottom of it.. i can appreciate the candidness..
Atlanta Fawkers
November 22nd, 2010
9:54 pm
CONGRATS COACH DREW!!
He just did something Woody never did by calling out his players. Word for coach – these Hawks like to party. I have some female friends that work in local ATL clubs and they all say the Hawks players are in there all the time. These scabs are more concerned about getting their Tiger Woods on than winning. I want to punch Bibby in the face seeing him on the bench laughing like Hawks were up by 30 points. Trade Josh Smith and Bibby. get some players in here that want to play NBA basketball and not just be a local celebrity in Atlanta. Been there done that with Vick during his Falcon days. I respect coach Drew after his press conference. Hope he gets it worked out.
Astro Joe
November 22nd, 2010
9:55 pm
I don’t get folk who claim that the playoffs are the only thing that matters. The regular season lasts 4 months, playoffs about 1 month. I want to see my team excel for at least the 16 weeks. This isn’t nearly as fun as last year.
jeremiah
November 22nd, 2010
9:56 pm
trade marvian for prince
jeremiah
November 22nd, 2010
9:57 pm
tarde some more other then
northcyde
November 22nd, 2010
10:06 pm
And just think . . . they didn’t have Rondo nor Jermaine O’Neal tonight.
No worries though. The “sisters of the poor” are coming up. Let’s go on that 4 game win streak, get to 12 – 6, and have our GM and other fans act like we’re “elite” again.
Losing all of these home games is bad for business. That’s loss #5. Next month, I’ll be able to buy good seats off the street. It’ll be like 5 years ago, when dudes were selling 100 level club seats for $30 – 40, if you walked up right before gametime.
I do have a lot to say about this debacle, but I’ll wait until the next blog come up in an hour or two.
Byron
November 22nd, 2010
10:06 pm
Just out of curiosity, where were you guys watching this L.D. interview? I don’t have sportssouth, so I’m unable to watch it if it was on there, but I’d love to hear what L.D. had to say.
O'Brien
November 22nd, 2010
10:06 pm
Samuel,
The team quit last year, and Woody wasn’t getting the job done either. I agree with letting Woody go, but that doesnt mean ASG should have kept all the same players, and promoted Woody’s longtime assistant.
I was on the Shaq bandwagon this offseason, and I would have offered him the entire MLE. But the ASG didnt want to spend the money.
There was a SNT rumor that Shaq could be had for Marvin, but some didnt want to give Marvin up. I wonder how many of them would gladly give Marvin up right now?
Once again, LD brought up “what are players doing the night before a game”. It brings back the memories of the Bucks series. What are players doing when they are away from the court?
And leadership is still an issue with 3 captains? Come on LD.
I think he should start 5 bench players the next game. Thats what I would do to send a message to my starters.
But some fans
O'Brien
November 22nd, 2010
10:12 pm
Byron,
LD said he was embarrased. and that there was no urgency, no effort, no energy, and no accountability.
And that he has to get to the bottom of it, because he doesnt know why players have no energy. He wants to know why they have no energy for games, and its like they are doing something the night before games…
Najeh Davenpoop
November 22nd, 2010
10:13 pm
“Fans at Phillips cheered for the Celtics and booed the Hawks. So, it looks like Atlanta fans don’t show up AND the few that do boo the home team AND cheer for the other team … you were saying?
On a related point, cities with “good” fans are not just “good” fans when their teams are winning championships. Good fans are good fans even when things aren’t going as well.”
Uh… the Celtics fans were the ones cheering the Celtics. You know, the same Celtics fans who moved down here from Boston and show up to every Braves-Red Sox game and every Hawks-Celtics game? The ones who were talking sh-t before those 2008 playoff games and shut the f-ck up and went home after those games? Those Celtics fans.
Meanwhile SELLOUT crowds of Hawks fans, starved for a decent basketball team, yelled “Let’s Go Hawks” until their throats gave out during those ‘08 playoff games. I was there, like I have been for every Hawks home playoff game this millennium.
At that time, the Hawks were steadily improving and there was no telling how far they might go, so the fan base got behind them after years of waiting. Now we know exactly how far they can go, and their ceiling is nowhere near title contention.
Again, if being a “good” fan means forking over your money to the billionaire owners regardless of how poor their product is and how dishonest they are in assessing the quality of their product, then I hope Atlanta fans are as “bad” as possible. In a capitalist society, the most effective way to effect change is with your wallet.
Seriously, do you work for the DASG?
lewis
November 22nd, 2010
10:15 pm
Notes: Former Hawks owner Ted Turner attended the game, sitting at courtside. … All 12 Boston players who dressed out got on the scoresheet. … In fact, the only player who failed to score was Atlanta backup center Zaza Pachulia, who missed all four of his attempts.
Melvin
November 22nd, 2010
10:18 pm
Well, if you want to know why Jamal play has been off this year it’s b/c he’s uncertain…LOL
http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/11/22/jamal-crawford-admits-his-uncertain-future-has-affected-his-play/
Trent
November 22nd, 2010
10:21 pm
L.D. is being hard on his players, and perhaps that’s a good thing to a certain extent, but someone should be hard on him too for the poor decisions he made during the game. Why in the world was Bibby guarding Nate Robinson? Seriously, L.D., what were you thinking when you made that decision. Also, it was pretty clear that Josh had a tough time defending KG. Al seemed to do a much better job on KG when he was on him for a few possessions, but L.D. never decided to try putting Collins on Shaq and Al on KG instead of what he was doing with Josh. Also, once again, Joe and Jamal were struggling, yet L.D. stuck with Jamal once again and let those guys take jumper, after jumper, after jumper. If it’s not working, try something else, for goodness sake.
Al seemed a bit off tonight, in terms of shooting, but that doesn’t mean L.D. couldn’t have at least tried some pick-and-pop or pick-and-roll with him to help get him into a rhythm, when nothing else was working. It’s a known fact that Shaq has trouble defending the pick and roll. Also, too much dominating the ball by the guards tonight. Most of the shots Al took were at the end of the clock when someone threw him the ball after the play had been broken and he had to try and make something happen at the end of the clock. Also, I don’t think even a single play was run for Josh, which resulted in his field goal attempts being mostly ill-advised jumpers.
I’m not sure if the players just didn’t run what L.D. was hoping for, or if it was really L.D.’s intent to spend almost the entire game taking long jumpshots and hoping they went in. The players need to be held accountable for sure, but so does the coach when things go this wrong.
Even in the perfect world, where the players execute the plays the coach draws up perfectly, that doesn’t mean that those plays are going to result in points, or that those are good plays, and based upon what the Hawks ran tonight, I can definitely say that those were not good plays. I just hope that L.D. was not actually calling the horrid plays that we saw tonight.
JeJe
November 22nd, 2010
10:22 pm
IF SHAQ IS DOMINATING HORFORD, WHY NOT START OR PUT COLLINS IN?
WE MIGHT AS WELL FORFEIT EVERY HOME GAME WE PLAY AGAINST A TEAM COMING OFF A LOSS ON THE 2ND OF THE B2B. PATHETIC.
NATE ROBINSON > OUR WHOLE BENCH
Najeh Davenpoop
November 22nd, 2010
10:22 pm
From Sekou’s Twitter:
“”RT @christomasson: Shaq on why didn’t sign with Atlanta: “(Hawks GM) Rick Sund was bull (bleeping). Want me to spell it out for you?’’”"
But it’s the fans’ fault apparently. If only we were idiots like fans from the Northeast and continued supporting this dysfunctional joke of an organization with our hard-earned money.
Astro Joe
November 22nd, 2010
10:27 pm
I don’t get how LD is shocked and surprised by his team showing a lack of energy. True, we haven’t seen them roll over against the Celtics before, but we’ve seen this general pattern of behavior. For all of the bluster about playing detective, how did he not notice this stuff in th past few years? Are we to assume that Lester Connor didn;t ntoice what happened tonight? Maybe only the head coach has the vision to see his team come out and suck wind. Only the head coach and a few dozen diehard fans.
Give me a break.
JeJe
November 22nd, 2010
10:31 pm
TASKS FOR THIS TEAM TO IMPROVE AND SALVAGE THE SEASON:
1) REVOKE THIS “CAPTAIN” PRIVILEGE FROM SMOOVE AND JOE. LET HORFORD BE CAPTAIN BY HIMSELF SINCE HE IS THE ONLY GUY WHO WANTS TO WIN ON THIS TEAM BESIDES MAYBE JAMAL OR MO. HORFORD CAN THEN CALL OUT PLAYERS AND BE THE SOLE CAPTAIN
2) TRADE MARVIN AND BIBBY FOR THE BEST PLAYER AVAILABLE, REGARDLESS OF POSITION
3) START COLLINS AND TEAGUE
Blake
November 22nd, 2010
10:33 pm
They say that a team often takes on the personality of their coach. Well, the Hawks have definitely taken on the personality of L.D. I’ve watched him on the bench and he has little fire or emotion for the game. Also, what does he expect his team to do when he puts them in situations that create disadvantages? How does he expect players to react when there is no equal accountability? Certain guys can play horrid night in and night out and take as many shots as they want with no consequences, while those who actually help the team and show heart and effort on both ends of the floor have no guarantee of ever getting the minutes that they deserve. I think maybe a new voice, someone who was unfamiliar with the players would have been the best remedy for the Hawks this offseason, because that would maybe eliminate the favoritism and annoying ongoing trends that have been persisting for years.