Jamal Crawford Is at Peace, Even if His Contract....

[HMFFL]

Jamal Crawford Is at Peace, Even if His Contract Situation Isn't

And while Crawford is still a bit off his production levels of last season, he has recovered from a slow start quite nicely while making it sound as if he wouldn't accept an extension offer if one wound up coming his way before the June 30 deadline.

"It's weird, because honestly at first I just wanted a place I knew I could call home, but unfortunately (an extension) didn't work out," Crawford explained after scoring a season-high 31 points on 10 of 17 shooting and dishing out seven assists on Tuesday night. "But now, I'm excited about my future and whatever the summer will bring. ... Now I get a chance to pick where I want to go."

The root of Crawford's fear was the looming labor situation, as the idea of being unemployed just in time for a lockout that so many expect this summer made him uneasy. But Crawford said he has since had his mind put at ease on that front.

"(The labor situation) doesn't really scare me anymore honestly, because there's nothing I can really do about it," he said. "I just have to be patient and see however it shakes out and make my decision."

"No doubt I want him back. I know what his value is to this ball club, and I'm going to do everything in my power to get him back."
-- Hawks coach Larry Drew

[evildallas]

Sounds like he still misinterprets the lack of an extension with not being wanted which might hurt any attempt to resign him once the new cba is in place. I still contend that he wouldn't have got an extension from any team given the labor situation and he shouldn't have allowed it to fester into a distraction at the start of the year. Jamal has been huge lately and if he continues to play that way he'll have plenty of suitors in the summer.

[general]

Im Trying to Think of the Top Scoring free agents that still have years left out There This summr and All that comes to Mind is Carmelo,Crawford and J-Rich and There are some teams out there who Have Money to SPEND. Not every team Is in Atlanta's Situation.Dont be surprised If Carmelo and Crawford end up On the same Team Creating There own Miami Heat.

[Skyhawk1]

I hope we trade him because there's no way we can beat other teams in the offers he will receive.

[HMFFL]

My ideal situation would be to move Joe Johnson and keep Jamal Crawford at a price that's fair market. I know we're basically stuck with Joe Johnson, so this won't happen, and I expect Jamal to receive some large offers during free agency because the talent pool is thin.

[evildallas]

My ideal situation would be to move Joe Johnson and keep Jamal Crawford at a price that's fair market. I know we're basically stuck with Joe Johnson, so this won't happen, and I expect Jamal to receive some large offers during free agency because the talent pool is thin.

That was my ideal as well but seems unlikely. I'm not sure about Jamal receiving large offers, but I'm not sure the team has the finances to even offer a fair market deal (3yr/27M).

[HMFFL]

My ideal situation would be to move Joe Johnson and keep Jamal Crawford at a price that's fair market. I know we're basically stuck with Joe Johnson, so this won't happen, and I expect Jamal to receive some large offers during free agency because the talent pool is thin.

That was my ideal as well but seems unlikely. I'm not sure about Jamal receiving large offers, but I'm not sure the team has the finances to even offer a fair market deal (3yr/27M).

Rick Sund should look at ways to free some money up. The one starting position we have is small forward and Marvin Williams is technically just a role player for us. Sund should move Marvin Williams if he can free up enough money to go towards Jamal Crawford. I can deal with a bi-annual exception type of small forward that is going to be a role player like Marvin.

[evildallas]

^^^ I agree with your thought, but I'm not sure the Hawks would do such a deal. For it to matter in time to resign Jamal it would require a move of Marvin this season for an expiring contract. When you do that it looks bad to the fans even if it is for a noble purpose. Also dumping a salary of such a young player can come back to bite a GM if the player suddenly gets it.

Scouring the league for expiring contracts I see these options:
Marvin to Houston for Shane Battier (my favorite)
Marvin and Mo Evans to Indiana for Mike Dunleavy (resign Damien Wilkins to fill out roster)
Marvin to Golden St. for Vladimir Radmanovic
Marvin to Denver for JR Smith
Marvin to Cleveland for Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon
or
Marvin to Portland for Joel Pryzbilla

With the exception of Pryzbilla, each move above returns an expiring contract for someone who shoots better from deep than Marvin (37% or greater vs Marvin's 30%), so they should be able to fill a role coming off the bench for us. I didn't run each through a trade checker but they all should be close. I'm not sure Marvin has enough upside to interest all those teams but he could play either the 3 or the 4 which should help. Anyway you only need 1 to make a deal to free up enough cash to keep the more important piece (Jamal).

[evildallas]

Add the Dalembert expiring contract to the puzzle. He makes a lot more so it was suggested in another thread of Marvin + Zaza for Dalembert and Omri Casspi.