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Minnesota Timberwolves: 2017-18 player grades for Jamal Crawford

By Luke Askew

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - FEBRUARY 13: Jamal Crawford #11 of the Minnesota Timberwolves reacts during the game against the Houston Rockets on February 13, 2018 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - FEBRUARY 13: Jamal Crawford #11 of the Minnesota Timberwolves reacts during the game against the Houston Rockets on February 13, 2018 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
(Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /

Weaknesses

As previously stated, Jamal Crawford gave the Wolves a nice scoring punch off the bench this season, but his biggest weaknesses remain on the defensive end, where there are significant holes in his game.

To put it simply, Crawford is a defensive liability.

You can chalk it up to his age if you want, but the truth is, Crawford’s always been about buckets. That’s completely fine, except it made it difficult to play him for extended minutes at a time. It’s a tough task for a team to hide someone like Crawford on defense.

Although I do think age has something to do with his offensive declines, it definitely has something to do with his defensive weaknesses. I mean, the guy is 38 years old. We all marvel at the stuff LeBron James is doing at age 33 and Crawford is five years older than him. He’s also not an alien (which we still don’t know about LeBron).

The truth is, playing that many years in the NBA, typically wears on a guy. That’s partially why Crawford is making plays like these:

Instead of plays like these:

https://twitter.com/Bballerzzz/status/911774652095254528

Okay, fine, that was a joke. Age probably had nothing to do with him tripping over his own feet, but I think it’s a funny video so it had to make its way into his player grade somehow.

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