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Big trade today for the Golden State Warriors, who finally added some much needed depth at the guard spot. According to Yahoo! Sports writer Adrian Wojnarowski, the deal involved the Boston Celtics, Warriors and Miami Heat. The Warriors send Toney Douglas to Miami who in turn send Joel Anthony, a future first round and future second round pick to the Celtics. The Warriors then get Jordan Crawford and Marshon Brooks from the Celtics.
My instant impressions were positive surrounding this trade for the Warriors. They have been in desperate need of a back-up point guard who could give them a scoring spark off the bench. Toney Douglas had been averaging 3.7 points a game in his limited role. Crawford, who is a much more dynamic scorer, should help to make the Warriors’ second unit more potent. He has been averaging a career high in assists at 5.7 in his new found point guard role, but is much more of a ball dominant shooting guard than a true point guard. I am not sure Marshon Brooks will provide much for the Warriors. He has spent much of his season in the D-league before being brought up by the Celtics for a 10-game stint prior to being traded. This deal really feels like an upgrade from Toney to Crawford while taking on Marshon’s salary.
I see Crawford as our 6 ½ man off the bench coming in around the same time as Draymond Green. Harrison Barnes has been a bit of a disappointment as a 6th man, but based on his playing style this is not surprising. Harrison is a catch and shoot or make one move and score type small forward. He isn’t the best passer and by no means would be called a playmaker. This is where Jordan Crawford really provides value. He allows Harrison to play within himself and take some of the scoring burden off of his shoulders. Crawford will also provide Steph Curry and Klay Thompson more rest. According to hoopstats.com the Warriors bench has been the second worst in the NBA. More often than not the starters (who are second only to the Thunder in win percentage) get a lead which is then given up by the bench. I am not saying Crawford will make this a top 5 bench or even a top 10, but I think he will help to bring it to the middle of the pack which is all this Warriors team really needs.
Somehow this acquisition has made the Warriors even more fun to watch. Jordan Crawford is an irrational confidence shooter like a JR Smith or Jamal Crawford; at times it can be bad, but when he is hot it is fun to watch. One of my favorite NCAA games of all time included him taking one of the deepest shots I have seen in the tourney. Check out the video below. The entire video is great but check out 1:27 where Crawford hits a ridiculous deep three to send it to double OT. Side note- I love Gus Johnson.
What I am most interested to see is how Mark Jackson rotates Crawford with Steph and Klay Thompson. I imagine we will see a bit of Crawford at the point and Steph at the 2, but that means Klay or Andre Iguodala has to spend time on the bench. My ultimate hope was that this trade was a commitment to play more small ball. It would be interesting to see a Crawford, Curry, Klay, Harrison/Iggy, Bogut line-up for stretches of the game. The bottom line, it will be fun to watch Crawford become comfortable with this Warrior style, which I think is perfect for his game.
