Jamal Crawford opts out

[thedoper]

Great news! Pop the cork, let's celebrate!

Every dollar counts. Good way to start the offseason.

[Lipoli390]

Good news for us as fans. Bad news/outlook for the wolves organization and Thibs.

You're right. Jamaal isn't going to make more money anywhere else. He's not going to get more playing time. Yet, at age 39 he's opting out of a guaranteed $4.5 million with a playoff team. That suggests a player who doesn't playing for his head coach. Free agents like Sefalosha and George Hill apparently didn't want to come here last summer because they didn't want to play for Thibodeau. Belinelli and Ilyasova didn't come here, instead signing for the minimum to play for the Sixers even though, at the time, the Wolves were in 3rd or 4th place in the West. It took $14 million per year for two years to get the 32-year old Taj Gibson to come here and play for his old head coach and $19 million a year guaranteed for three years to get Teague to come here. And Teague has publicly criticized Thibodeau a number of times for playing his starters too much and specifically not giving Tyus enough playing time.

I know there are those who will say I'm reading too much into this. That's fine. But I see a troublesome pattern. I'm convinced that a lot of players around the League don't want to play for Thibodeau. That shouldn't be surprising. It makes sense that players generally wouldh't want to play for a head coach who is constantly, I mean constantly, barking at them and telling them what to do on nearly every single possession as he micro-manages from the bench. Recall that article a month ago from the reliable John K, talking about how Thibodeau just doesn't connect with people in the organization -- I'm sure that includes players. Just something as basic as the fact that I have never seen him pat a player on the back while other head coaches do it often.

All of these things are on top of his outdated approach to game, which put the Wolves last in the League in 3 pointers made and among the worst defensive teams in the League as the data show the the Wolves defense focused on defending the mid-range.

So I'm not upset that Crawford is leaving. I'd prefer someone who can defend as our main wing off the bench. I'm just troubled by his decision as another sign of trouble ahead for this organization so long as Thibodeau runs the show.

[Lipoli390]

I just read the article and noticed that Jimmy Butler really wants the Wolves to retain Crawford. It will be interesting to see if Thibodeau bends to the will of his obviously favorite player, Butler. I can't imagine any teams playing Crawford more than $4.5 million a year or siging him for more than 2 years. So maybe the Wolves will re-sign Jamaal for 2 more seasons at the same salary. I'd be OK with that, provided we also sign a true two-way wing so that Crawford isn't our primary (actually our only) NBA-caliber wing off the bench.

As bad as Crawford's defense was this past season, we'll miss his scoring punch off the bench. I can't think of a free agent wing who would sign here even for the full $5.4 million MLE money we can spend. Any thoughts on who we might sign?

[thedoper]

As long as we're spectulating maybe Thibs told Crawford he was going to lose minutes to Tyus next year? All year we heard last year was that Crawford had expected even more minutes coming to this team which would have been even more of a disaster. I'm sure we can find someone else who likes to shoot for the second unit. Re-sigining Jamal for anything more than the vet min would be a huge mistake.

[Lipoli390]

As long as we're spectulating maybe Thibs told Crawford he was going to lose minutes to Tyus next year? All year we heard last year was that Crawford had expected even more minutes coming to this team which would have been even more of a disaster. I'm sure we can find someone else who likes to shoot for the second unit. Re-sigining Jamal for anything more than the vet min would be a huge mistake.

I doubt Thibs told Crawford that, but who knows. I agree we shouldn't pay more than the minimum to re-sign him.

[Lipoli390]

Will letting Crawford go allow the Wolves to spend their full MLE?

[Monster]

As long as we're spectulating maybe Thibs told Crawford he was going to lose minutes to Tyus next year? All year we heard last year was that Crawford had expected even more minutes coming to this team which would have been even more of a disaster. I'm sure we can find someone else who likes to shoot for the second unit. Re-sigining Jamal for anything more than the vet min would be a huge mistake.

I doubt Thibs told Crawford that, but who knows. I agree we shouldn't pay more than the minimum to re-sign him.

I think Doper might have a point here. Whether it's Tyus or Rose or free agent wing or draft pick or a combination of all those but it would absolutely not be shocking if Thins said Crawford may have to sacrifice minutes for the team...and he only played 20mpg this year which is the fewest per game he has played since his rookie season. That ESPN article said he was a top reserve this season and Bobby Marks said in a recent article he actually thinks Crawford can get at least what he would be giving up if he opts out. Marks isn't always right but he isn't an idiot. I'm surprised he opted out but I think Doper makes a good point Crawford may have been told by Thibs or see the writing on the way and wants a role where he still can play quite a bit. I can't blame him if that's the case. The good news is Wolfson will have him on his podcast and we will here Jamal tell us something about it. Wolfson will badger him for info. Lol

[Wolvesfan21]

You would think Butler would want someone who plays defense over Crawford who as much as he does score, gives it up on the other end anyways. I don't have a list of FA wings we could target but honestly I'd rather get a defensive wing vs a scoring one. We can always keep at least two of the big 3 in the game at all times if you rotate the minutes right.

[AbeVigodaLive]

You would think Butler would want someone who plays defense over Crawford who as much as he does score, gives it up on the other end anyways. I don't have a list of FA wings we could target but honestly I'd rather get a defensive wing vs a scoring one. We can always keep at least two of the big 3 in the game at all times if you rotate the minutes right.

Mentioned it previously, but many players are on record about how great of a teammate they think Jamal Crawford is. He must be a wonderful person behind the scenes... because I'm not seeing how that's possible based on the on-court stuff.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Fine, let's give him a couple years at a smaller salary, but tell him he needs to start the transition to coaching because he's not going to see as much playing time. I can appreciate the locker room stuff - we don't see it, so may be he really is a glue guy when it comes to team chemistry. But he is a disaster defensively and his 3-point shooting isn't good enough to make up for it.