Jamal Crawford: Pros and cons of a potential re-signing

Pros

With Crawford, experience and 3-point shooting are everything.

Year-in and year-out he has been one of the most effective 3-point shooters and bench players in the league. In this year’s playoffs his experience showed in the Wolves five games.

Crawford averaged 11.8 points per game on 44.7 percent shooting from the floor and 41.2 percent from three. Throughout the season Crawford was effective shooting the three from the corner. He cashed in on 40.6 percent of those shots, however, he only took that shot one in every five threes attempted.

And it’s moves like this that make Crawford such an effective shooter.

He may not be as explosive as he once was but Crawford still has some pop in his step to go along with his handles.

On the season Crawford had a -0.05 offensive plus-minus. That ranked him 38 of 109 shooting guards. Surprisingly, that mark was an increase from his 2016-17 campaign with a rating of -0.06.

Another interesting stat from Crawford’s season is that his 48.5 percent effective field goal percentage was his highest since 2013-14. Also, his 1.2 turnovers per game was the lowest mark in his 18-year career. However, keep in mind he logged low minutes this past season. If that is concerning just know his 2.1 turnovers per 36 minutes is below is career average of 2.3 per 36 minutes.

Does the good outweigh the bad with Crawford? That’s something for the Wolves front office to figure out and act on. Retaining him will provide the Wolves with an experienced leader and consistent three-point threat off the bench.

Next: Timberwolves Player Review; Jimmy Butler

However, he is a liability on defense. There should be one question the front office asks themselves this offseason when determining this; can the team win with Crawford? If yes, pursue him. If not, move on.