New Orleans Pelicans: Jordan Crawford Can Be Spark Pelicans Need

Jordan Crawford scored 19 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter, in his debut against the Utah Jazz on Monday night. Can he be the scoring option the New Orleans Pelicans have been looking for coming off the bench?

The New Orleans Pelicans signed guard Jordan Crawford to a 10-day contract in response to the loss of combo guard Jarrett Jack.

Signed on Feb. 24, Jack was in the midst of his own 10-day deal with the Pelicans. He appeared in two games for 33 minutes. In his two games, Jack scored six points with five assists before being forced out of action for four to six weeks due to a torn meniscus in his right knee.

It’s a terrible setback for Jack, as he was working his way back from a torn ACL and meniscus in the same right knee, sustained last season while with the Brooklyn Nets.

Now with the loss of Jack, the Pelicans may have inadvertently found something in Crawford.

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In his debut against the Utah Jazz on Monday night, Crawford came out firing in his first game with the New Orleans Pelicans–his first game in the NBA since the 2013-14 season.

Crawford entered the game at the top of the second quarter and immediately drilled an 18-footer 12 seconds into the continuation of his NBA career. I would say he was making up for lost time — if not for his career average of 11.2 shot attempts in 24.7 minutes of play.

After falling behind the Jazz by as much as 34-16 in the second quarter, the energy of Crawford, along with backup point guard Tim Frazier, helped pull the Pelicans back into the game as they quickly made it a 34-23 score.

New Orleans Pelicans

That energy transferred over to the starters, who finally woke up after playing a lethargic and mostly disinterested first quarter.

When Crawford again entered the game at the top of the fourth quarter — he immediately went back to work.

He buried a three a couple minutes into the last quarter and went on to score eight of the next 12 points, with the last two coming off a nice feed from Anthony Davis.

Crawford doubled down on the early chemistry he seemed to have already established with Davis and returned the favor, finding Davis for a lob on the very next possession to get the Pels to within four at 75-71.

Crawford remained in the game the whole fourth period and went on to score 14 in the quarter for a total of 19 on the night in just a little more than 20 minutes of play.

Along with good team ball movement and effort on the defensive end, Crawford’s play not only gave the Pelicans a much needed energy boost, but he also provided the scoring when no one else seemed that interested to taking on those duties.

Unfortunately once the ball movement stopped late and two successive isolations plays from DeMarcus Cousins against Utah’s defensive specialist Rudy Gobert failed, the tide took a turn for the worse and the Jazz were able to pull away late.

In any case, a guy who can seamlessly come into the game and score with the second unit is, among other things, what’s currently missing from the roster.

With the limited options available in the open market at this juncture in the season and for a Pelicans team that lacks enough quality shooters or guys who can come off the bench and give consistent offense, Crawford may be exactly what the Pelicans currently need.

Now of course, I’m only speaking in terms of a short-term option.

There’s a reason why Crawford has been out of the NBA since the 2013-14 season. He’s an inefficient volume shooter who rarely does anything else other than put the ball in the basket.

For his career, Crawford has a scoring average of 12.2 points per game and as I mentioned earlier, takes 11.2 shots to get there. On top of that, his career FG percentages are 40.6 overall and 30.7 from three. That’s not good.

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On the positive side, he shoots 82.8 percent from the line for his career. However, he only gets to the charity strike about two times per game.

Even in his explosive debut with New Orleans on Monday, Crawford held true to form. He went 2-for-6 from the floor in the second quarter before getting hot in the fourth. His 19 points came off of 15 shots, while he was unable to get to the line once.

E’Twaun Moore and Dante Cunningham hold the best three-point percentage marks for the Pelicans at 40.6 and 38.5, respectively, but only take three attempts a game.

And while Crawford is more of a scorer than a shooter, having him in the lineup gives the Pelicans a chance to see how mixing in a primary scorer off the bench compliments the luxury of having an All-Star center on the floor at all times.

Now while I don’t believe in the slightest that Crawford is any type of long-term answer for the Pelicans, I think he can provide some clarity on what type a player can benefit from the added space to operate on the floor given the attention Davis and Cousins will continue to receive.

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And if all goes well, perhaps even help the Pelicans in their push for the eighth seed this season.