Crawford Supporters

After Houston, who is the greatest Knick SG of the contemporary Knick era?

  • John Starks

    Votes: 11 44.0%
  • Mardy Collins (for Tuner)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Jamal Crawford

    Votes: 2 8.0%
  • Latrell Sprewell

    Votes: 12 48.0%

  • Total voters
    25

OGKnickfan

Enlightened
After all the hate directed at Crawford, on this site, gone unchallenged, I think it's time that people who think, like me, that it's BS, create a Crawford support thread.

Most of the haters use Crawford's FG percentage, which has hovered around 40%, average for a guard, to make their point. However, Iverson, for example, has multiple years at around, or slightly below, 40 percent from the field. Haters use the percentage he shoots as their principle argument, when the fact is that players who attempt as many shots as Crawford, in such clutch, difficult, and well-defended, situations would likely shoot far less than 40. Crawford's got heart, he takes shots that a guy like Mike Miller, who shoots over 50 percent from the field, would never take, and I don't think any Knick fan would take Miller over Crawford, regardless of FG%, for that very fact. Haters also talk about Crawford's failure to make the playoffs, something that can't be blamed on him, simply because he's played on unstable teams, with poor leadership and weak inside players: Curry, mainly, who has followed him for his entire career.

They're also delusional, when arguing against Crawford's exceptional skills, which is evident when reading their crazy comments about Quentin Richardson being a better player than Crawford. Crawford is the best 2 guard, after Houston, that we've had in contemporary Knick times, better than Starks and Sprewell, who both benefited from playing on teams with the greatest knick ever, Patrick Ewing. Imagine Patrick Ewing with a guy like Crawford on his side, in, let's say, the 93-94 playoff run.

Let's look at what attributes make him, in my opinion, the best Knick on the current team. First of all, he can score in bunches, much more efficiently, and explosively, than any other current Knick, something which is key in breaking teams' will power. Secondly, he's clutch and can regularly score impact points, at key points in games, something many Knicks are not consistently capable of. Guys like Starks and Sprewell, for example, could not regularly do that, which is why I believe he's better than they were.

Crawford's biggest weakness is probably his defense, though I haven't seen him get exploited like he did last year. If D'Antoni starts running some real plays: screens, high post cuts, etc., for Crawford, look for our SG to really take us to the next level: I'm talking playoffs.

I don't know what these haters are seeing, when Crawford's in the game: he's a good player, one of the few bright spots we've had, over the years. As a former player and high school assistant basketball coach, for the PSAL, I know how much the lack of a good big man can hurt a team, and this is what I feel has held the knicks back, not Marbury or Crawford.

Anyway, maybe some of you can put up some statistics, and cover anything I missed, to back Crawford up, against the guaranteed coming backlash against this thread.
 
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metrocard

Legend
This is the most epic failure I ever seen anyone display as a Knick fan.

Crawford the greatest SG of all time? The man who has kept this team from ever seeing the playoffs with his wreckless play and his losing odor that defects the team from ever being successful?

What a joke.
 

KBlack25

Starter
Ugh..when metro and I agree on something, you KNOW you've got a problem...

Craw doesn't even deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Spree or Starks and it comes down to one word: PLAYOFFS. Spree and Starks went, and you can argue that Spree was the catalyst toward the 1999 Finals. Craw hasn't. End of discussion.
 

feetoe

Benchwarmer
well at least you can't fault Crawford for the Knicks losing the last games of NBA Finals like with Starks 2-18 game 7 and Sprewell missing the final shot in game 5.
 

metrocard

Legend
Ugh..when metro and I agree on something, you KNOW you've got a problem...

Craw doesn't even deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Spree or Starks and it comes down to one word: PLAYOFFS. Spree and Starks went, and you can argue that Spree was the catalyst toward the 1999 Finals. Craw hasn't. End of discussion.

If you agree with me, then I have to be wrong.
 

KBlack25

Starter
Doesn't matter. Those guys both got there. I'm still bitter about 1994 and the awful performance, but I put that on Riley too, who chose to keep drawing up plays for Starks after it was clear he couldn't throw a ball in the ocean that night.
 

Akamu

The King
This is OG's desperate cry for credible status on this site.

I encourage people to post and speak freely but this is a wasteful attempt with a WEAK following.
 

TunerAddict

Starter
I think you guys have missed the point of this thread. It supposed to be a joke that Crawford is mentioned. Its a gag thread...

I voted for Spree...Guy can choke his coaches and hit the three...What more can you ask for?
 

OGKnickfan

Enlightened
First of all, banner boy, hop off, I don't swing that way.

I'm already well respected, by a number of members: in only a few months, ABCD gave me a rep., along with Pat, Donchris and Originalknickgrandson. All were given to me because of posts I made. You, on the other hand, get rep points for giving people banners.

Now, about what I claim in the thread, folks, it's legit, if you actually know how to study players, and their impact, well. Sprewell, contrary to what someone mentioned, was not a good three point shooter, and he certainly could not take over from three, or any other place on the court, with any sort of consistency. He jacked up a lot of shots, over 40 minutes, and, by the end, he'd end up with 16 or 17 points.

As for the 99 playoffs, the reason we got there was not because of any one player, it was because of different players coming up with big plays. It was also because of Ewing's play in the first round. If you remember, he hit three consecutive buckets, against Zo, before Houston hit the legendary game-winning runner, to eliminate the heat. After that Ewing dominated the Hawks and, in the next round, was killing the Pacers, until he was yanked by the leg, causing his wrist injury. Still, he gave us that first game and LJ pulled off a miracle to get us to San Antonio. In San Antonio, we lost because Ewing was not able to play, and, instead, we had to rely on bum ass Camby.

John Starks was a good player, but he could not score in bunches, and with as much clutch, as Crawford does. He could hit big shots, but not back to back, like Crawford regularly does. I'm a huge Starks fan, don't really like Spre, though, but he's not as talented of a shooter or scorer as Crawford, neither is Spre.

If Spre and Starks hadn't played with Ewing, you wouldn't be talking about them today, because there would be no finals appearance, no playoffs, no great moments to assign to their careers. Evidence of that is seen in the knicks' performance, after the Trade of Ewing to the Sonics.

Crawford hasn't had a great big man to play with, or even a competent one, who can block shots and rebound. Had we traded Curry for Gasol, it would be different, but that didn't happen. It's all right, though, blame this one guy that people on here like to hate. The bottom line is that the truth is there, even if you don't, or can't, see it. Some of you are clearly blind, even after the last loss, against Dallas, someone on here blamed Crawford: ridiculous.
 
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KBlack25

Starter
OG- I never said Spree was the catalyst, but it could be argued that he was, it isn't a ridiculous argument to make. I wouldn't make it but I'd listen to the argument for sure.

Starks is an NYK legend, even though I don't personally have an affinity for him. People on this board have argued for his # to be retired. If Crawford retired today, there's no shot in hell he gets his # retired.
 

DaTPRiNCE

The Knicks are Back
2 guys on that list Crawford will never draw comparison to Starks,and Sprewell you could make arguments that they both should have their numbers retired although it likely wont happen...Crawford is one of the centerpieces of a horrile era in knicks history 8 staright losing records(although he wasnt here for all of them)...he has never been in the playoffs ever in his life,unlike Starks who played on elite knick teams that made the finals,and Sprewell who also went to the finals and played well in the playoffs over and over...
 

OGKnickfan

Enlightened
I'd be the first to say how much I love John Starks, a guy with heart, who was pitbull on D, got on a Miami announcer's table and flipped off the Heat fans, before spitting into the crowd; a guy who headbutted Reggie Miller and kissed the garden floor, regularly.

However, his heart doesn't make him more talented than an Allan Houston or Crawford, it just makes him easier to love. Starks is on the same skill level as Sprewell, more of a scorer than a shooter, a slasher. Out of all the contemporary Knick players, other than Ewing, maybe Houston should have his jersey retired. No one else has been as masterful as he and Ewing, during this latest Knick era.

But, again, Crawford has not had the opportunity to play alongside a good big man. It's also painfully obvious that the team fails to set plays for him, to come off screens, play in the high post area, etc., in my opinion because they have no bigs that expend the energy to try to do that for him. Because of that, he often just creates a shot, which he tends to be good at.

As a coach myself, I'd like to see him use the bodies of people around him to create easy, open runners, and other easy shots, for himself. Sometimes, though, he just stays in spots where he can't get the easiest possible shot.

Bottom line is that Crawford certainly is not good as Houston, but his shot is cleaner and more consistent than either Spre's or Starks, two guys that always frustrated me, when watching them. I remember not wanting them to take shots, because I felt they would likely miss. With Crawford, I usually feel like he's going to knock down his shots.

It's like with Marbury, give the guy a good team to play on, like the Cavs, Toronto, the Lakers, Phoenix, and you'll see how good he is.
 

Pricey

Rotation player
i thought this was a joke thread but im shocked this is seriously considering Jamal Crawford to be the best Knicks SG behind Houston in the modern era.

A guy that has talent but continues to make the dumbest and most basic mistakes a player can make should not be considered for such a thing.
You say his defence is his biggest weakness, i think its his decision making and choosing the wrong play in critical moments of matches.
 

jpz17

Starter
Starks really wasn't the best... He was inconsistent and couldn't win a playoff game. Starks and Crawful are very very similar... (altough Starks is better) People will hate me for this... but Starks IS the reason we didn't win in 94. Sprewell (as much of sg he played) doesn't belong in this discussion.. Sprewell was way too good to be in this list. Starks was good, but not the sg Ewing needed. LMAO at someone voting Crawford
 
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