New Orleans Pelicans: What to Expect From Jordan Crawford

Jordan Crawford joined the New Orleans Pelicans late last season. He also happened to be a pleasant surprise in that time. What should the Pelicans expect from the guard this year though?

Jordan Crawford hadn’t appeared in a regular season NBA game since April 16, 2014. In case anyone needs their memories refreshed, he was on the Golden State Warriors and dropped 41 points on the final day of that 2013-14 campaign.

Despite proving throughout his career that he can provide points off the bench, Crawford didn’t find an NBA home in the next two seasons.

Late last year the Pelicans needed help though, particularly from the outside. With Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins down low, they needed players who could draw some attention away from the duo.

The Pelicans decided to take a chance on Crawford and in his first game with the team (March 6), he scored 19 points on 8-of-15 shooting. Crawford didn’t slow down from there.

The 28-year-old appeared in 19 games for New Orleans. He scored in double figures in 17 of them. The Pelicans also went 9-10 in games Crawford played. While that’s not a great record, it’s a much higher winning percentage (47.4%) than the 25-38 (39.7%) record they put together without him.

His ability to immediately bring punch off the bench led to Cousins dubbing Crawford “Instant Grits”. If you don’t think that’s one of the better nicknames in basketball, stop reading right now.

Side note, if you don’t love grits we also have nothing to talk about.

When you put it all together, Crawford actually had his best season in the NBA. Sure, he didn’t average a career-high in points, or rebounds, or assists. He did however, shoot his highest field goal percentage (48.2%) and three point percentage (38.9%).

Crawford’s previous season-highs in those two categories were 41.5% and 33.7%, respectively. He also posted the best player efficiency rating (17.6) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.28) of his career.

Crawford’s in an even better position to succeed this season.

The guard has now had time to gel with his teammates; extra time to get comfortable with the three stars (Cousins and Davis as well as Jrue Holiday) definitely can’t hurt.

The addition of Rajon Rondo will also help him immensely. Rondo’s a distributor, Crawford’s a shooter – perfect match.

The Pelicans currently don’t have much help in the guard category. Behind Rondo and Holiday there’s Crawford, as well as E’Twaun Moore and rookie Frank Jackson. Quinn Cook could find some time as well.

Cook had a great Summer League, but don’t expect him to steal too many minutes early on in the season. He’ll still need to work his way into the rotation. Jackson will be working hard to get minutes as well.

That leaves just Crawford and Moore. Crawford has the scoring upside, and Moore is better defensively. Of course, Moore is capable of scoring himself – but he’s not going to be an immediate threat.

That leaves Crawford as the scoring option off the bench. He’ll also most likely be coupled with Rondo or Holiday at most times. When that’s the case, he’ll get some good scoring options off the ball. If he’s paired with another guard though, Crawford is very good at creating opportunities for himself.

The Pelicans got a great short season from Jordan Crawford last season. This year they can expect more of the same.