New Orleans Pelicans: Jordan Crawford Revitalizing NBA Career
The New Orleans Pelicans have begun to find their form in recent weeks. The key to the team’s success has been the arrival of a surprising individual: Jordan Crawford.
The New Orleans Pelicans will go as far as DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, and Jrue Holiday take them. That’s true in theory, but in trading for Cousins, general manager Dell Demps gutted the Pelicans of just about every ounce of its perimeter depth.
As New Orleans desperately searched for ways to properly complement Cousins, Davis, and Holiday, the glue was found in the most unlikely of places.
New Orleans made a move that wreaked of desperation when they signed Jordan Crawford to a two-year deal. Crawford excelled on a 10-day contract, but the multi-year dealed seemed ambitious, at best.
Instead, the 28-year-old has been one of the most valuable players during New Orleans’ recent push for the postseason.
The Pelicans may not make the playoffs, but if this is a sign of things to come, then Crawford could be a valuable piece of the puzzle. He’s been scoring at a high level since making his return to the NBA and appears hungry to stick around.
Having traveled the long road to a multi-year contract, Crawford is putting in the work to maintain his place on an NBA roster.
The Long Journey
Jordan Crawford was selected at No. 27 overall in the 2010 NBA Draft by the New Jersey Nets. He was traded to the Atlanta Hawks on draft night, only to be dealt to the Washington Wizards at the 2011 NBA Trade Deadline.
Crawford would spend the next two years in Washington before he was traded to the Boston Celtics at the 2013 NBA Trade Deadline.
Less than a year later, Crawford was on the move once again. The man who dunked on LeBron James as a sophomore in college would go on to play 42 games with the Golden State Warriors before his NBA career came to a temporary end.
Since then, Crawford has played for the Xinjiang Flying Tigers and Tianjin Ronggang of the Chinese Basketball Associations, as well as two teams in the NBA D-League.
It’s been a long journey for Crawford, but he appears to have finally discovered stability. He averaged 43.1 points per game during the 2015-16 season in China, thus winning the scoring title, and played well in the D-League.
Now with the New Orleans Pelicans, Crawford is tapping into the potential that he’s been believed to possess for quite some time.
Scoring At A High Level
Jordan Crawford is 13 games into his return to the NBA with the New Orleans Pelicans. Though the expectations were somewhat low when he arrived in New Orleans, Crawford has been scoring at a high level since day one.
It’s no coincidence that Crawford’s arrival has directly coincided with the Pelicans beginning to look the part of a postseason-caliber team.
Crawford debuted with the Pelicans on Monday, Mar. 6, and scored 19 points in 20 minutes against the Utah Jazz. He’s scored at least 10 points in 12 of his 13 games with New Orleans, including the 22 points he scored in 21 minutes against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Crawford also posted 19 points and six assists against the Charlotte Hornets, and tallied 13 points, six assists, and five rebounds against the Denver Nuggets.
During those 13 appearances, Crawford has pieced together averages of 13.5 points, 2.8 assists, 2.2 rebounds, and 2.4 3-point field goals made per game. He’s done so on an efficient slash line of .475/.449/.733.
Those averages are solid as they are, but they’re even more impressive when translated to 21.2 points, 4.5 assists, 3.4 rebounds, and 3.7 3-point field goals made per 36 minutes.
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Coupled with the fact that the New Orleans Pelicans have a net rating of +5.6 with Jordan Crawford on the court, it appears as though his career is getting back on the right track.