Minnesota Sports Forum

Read in to this all you like, but pretty telling about how Jamal felt about playing for Thibs

Quoted from Hoopshype:

Jamal Crawford on playing the second-fewest minutes per game of his career this season in Minnesota: "It was tough. It was a big challenge. I honestly think this year was the most challenging [season] I've had since I've been in the NBA, for many different reasons. [my limited playing time] was definitely one of the reasons. I won't get into the other ones, but that was definitely one of them. It was tough, it really was. I knew I could help more, in terms of us winning. I feel like I could've helped a lot more and I'm glad we got to the playoffs, but I feel like it could've been a lot better for all of us. It's something that's really driving me [entering] next year. I'm more motivated for this upcoming year than I've ever been. For a number of different reasons, I'm excited about the future." 9 hours ago - via audioBoom

Jamal Crawford on being motivated after this year: "I truly haven't been this motivated since I left Portland to go the L.A. Clippers. At that time, people were saying, 'Oh, you're 32 years old and you had a slow year in Atlanta and now you just had a slow year in Portland during the lockout year!' And I was like, 'No, it was the situation. The situations I was in were different from the situations I had been in during past years! But it's okay because in this next situation, they're going to use me like I've been used in the past and you guys will see that nothing has changed.' I feel like _that._ I'm so motivated for this next year, just getting back to having fun and playing how I play. I'm always driven and motivated, but this is a different type of motivation. I really can't wait for next season to start. I'm so excited." 9 hours ago - via audioBoom

Behind the scenes, was there ever a sense that Tom Thibodeau was playing the starters too much and essentially running them into the ground? Media and fans criticized him for this quite a bit throughout the season. Jamal Crawford: "That's a tough one to answer, Alex. That's a really tough one to answer. I'll just say that we - as in the guys on the bench - absolutely felt like we could've brought something to the table and help in some ways. As you see with teams in the playoffs, it takes more than five guys [to win]. And Thibs is a smart guy, he understands that as well. But, you know, he likes what he likes and we just had to do the best we could to support [the starters] and try to stay as ready as possible." 9 hours ago - via audioBoom

Breaking news Jamal. More playing time for you would have resulted in more losses. He killed us this year when he was on the court and didn't have seemingly nearly as many games where he went off. Just a guy not ready to hang them up when he should.

I just listened to the podcast.

Let's start with the obvious which the host said. Jamal played the 2nd fewest minutes in his career. Jamal is clearly confident in his abilities you can see that on the floor and listening to him. We know he said he wanted to play more earlier last season because he said so.

Now let's start with the obvious speculation. Jamal was not going to play more minutes on the Wolves going forward. He was likely going to have an even smaller role. Jamal said in this podcast Thibs is smart and knows you need depth. This team is going to bring in more depth and will play some other guys minutes Jamal would want. Rose will probably be one of those guys.

So Jamal saying he is super motivated etc to me doesn't reflect badly on Thibs etc. That's espcially true when you consider how many smart folks here actually wanted to see Jamal play LESS not more and some of the posters here including myself like Jamal and feel he does have value as a player.

The other reasons he said it was challenging season for him I'm interested in but he didn't elaborate. It's kinda amusing he said he didn't have a firm decision on whether he was opting out but there was absolutely nothing in the podcast that makes me think he is coming back. He talked glowingly about Jimmy and he didn't say anything about paying with him again etc.

Jamal is a basketball junkie but also seems to be a guy that just kinda can do things in a fan way. Thibs is pretty regimented. I can see this not going well. I do t think anything Jamal said was outright bad because he isn't that type of guy. You can certainly read into it some but I will say Jamal didn't outright badmouth Thibs either.

Crawford bothered me this year...sure, he won a couple games for us when he got hot, but he lost more for us. So to some extent I agree with khans that he didn't really deserve more minutes. But I suspect there is more here than what Jamal is willing to say. Everyone knows he is a classy guy who (to my knowledge) has never been one to bad mouth a team after leaving. I'm reading between the lines here, but I sense Jamal agrees with me...that more playing time for the bench would have been beneficial for two reasons: allowing the starters to play a more reasonable amount of minutes to be fresher at end of game, and to allow the bench to realize their potential by getting a regular and sufficient rotation. I am fairly confident that Gorgui, Tyus, Belly and even Aldrich would have had much better seasons if they had played for a more reasonable coach. But all three of these guys are, like Jamal, "good guys", and aren't going to air their dissatisfaction with Thibs openly.

Although I rolled my eyes a little when I read about Jamal wanting more minutes, I see this as more evidence that Thibs is not the right guy for this team.

khans2k5 wrote:Breaking news Jamal. More playing time for you would have resulted in more losses. He killed us this year when he was on the court and didn't have seemingly nearly as many games where he went off. Just a guy not ready to hang them up when he should.

I was going to comment the same thing, but you beat me to it.

This says more about Thibs the GM than Thibs the Coach!

As for Crawford, good luck finding a team that will play you more than 20 minutes per game next year.

At least he admitted Thibs was smart. The smartest thing Thibs did last season was playing Jamal his fewest minutes of his career. Glad he's moving on. Great guy, will be a great analyst.

I think we all agree that more minutes for Crawford would not have have led to more Wolves wins. But Crawford's comments on Thibodeau's use of the bench can't be viewed in isolation. They need to be viewed in the broader context of Thibodeau's reputation for underplaying his bench and the fact that free agents showed little interest signing here as bench players. Also, I agree with LST that there's more to Crawford's comments regarding Thibodeau than just playing time. We've heard from both Doogie and Jon K about the organization's toxic environment emanating from Thibodeau along with the report that KAT is unhappy. There are too many troubling signs to ignore. I'm not in a panic and I'm not despondent over Crawford's departure. But I don't think this organization is in good hands and I continue to hope for Thibodeau's departure, which likely won't occur before this time next year. If only Thibodeau had a wife like Bryan Colangelo.

Just another aging player trying to sell himself to another team for his last pay check. It's a non story to me and I wouldn't expect him to explain away this season any other way.
Bad for business

He's delusional, goodness gracious he's damn lucky he played as much as he did. He's totally clueless about his value to a winning operation.