Post by Andrew on May 27, 2020 16:36:10 GMT -8
I’m thinking about starting an article series, where I go in depth on individual players, particularly ones that are talked up a lot by their GM’s (looking at you Skillz and Kobe). It’s no surprise then that the first player I want to look at is none other than Jamal Crawford. We all know Jamal Crawford is a prolific scorer. His 28.5 PPG is good for 8th most in the league and he is doing so in under 33 MPG. Pretty impressive! However, his one glaring deficiency is that nasty C- defense rating. Is he worth trotting out onto the court every night knowing he has a great chance of getting lit up? The short and long of that answer is of course, yes. Let’s take a closer look at some of his previous games. For those of you new to FBB it's worth noting that there are lots of assumptions that are going into this analysis. Examples include ignoring DC settings and unknown variables such as who was guarding who during the game, just to name a few. This is meant to be a fun exercise more than anything else. Let’s get on with it:
Day 97: Knicks vs Hornets
Jamal Crawford: 10 of 26 for 24 points in 34 minutes
Sam Cassell: 9 of 13 for 19 points in 26 minutes
Terrell Brandon: 4 of 13 for 10 points in 26 minutes
Goddamn it this is already more work than I wanted it to be. Time to check the Hornets DC. Well that wasn’t entirely useful. Unless I misread it looks like Cassell is starting PG and Brandon is backup PG and they aren’t listed elsewhere on the DC. In any case, this doesn’t look great for Crawford. Cassell has a great and efficient night and Brandon comes off the bench and thinks he can replicate things and starts chuckin bricks. I am going to assume that nearly all of Cassell’s shots came off of Crawford in this game, while less than half of Brandon’s came against the Knicks backup PG, who is none other than Tony Delk! Combined with a less than spectacular night from the field for Crawford I give the edge to NOT CRAWFORD
Day 96: Knicks vs Heat
Jamal Crawford: 15 of 26 for 36 in 33 minutes
Jason Kidd: 8 of 20 for 21 points in 39 minutes
Naturally the second most recent game the Knicks have played is against Kobe’s Heat. Jamal Crawford ran Kidd and his A defense rated ass straight into the ground. Talk about efficient! For this game, I choose to assume that all shots came against one another because Kidd plays 39 minutes. Kidd doesn’t have an ungodly night particularly because he goes 4 of 6 from 3 point land, which is a saving grace for him in this matchp and is something worth noting to look at for PG’s against Crawford going forward. Watch out for outside oriented offenses? Always. I thought we knew this. Jamal shows his offensive prowess in a big way, while limiting Kidd giving this game a definite advantage to CRAWFORD
Day 94: Knicks vs Raptors
Jamal Crawford: 10 of 24 for 23 points in 25 minutes
Tony Parker: 8 of 16 for 22 points in 44 minutes
A frustrating game to analyze because Crawford only played 25 minutes vs Parker’s 44. However, Crawford gets his shots in by attempting nearly one shot per minute! This guy has no passing and as we’ve been told in both sim and the real world, passing is not good. Parker turns the ball over 6 times this game, but I chalk that up to DC scheme and other players as Crawford only steals the ball twice. 50% field goal percentage is not great to allow against a B-/B- scorer. Clearly this wasn’t all Crawford’s fault, and Mr. Delk, also of low defensive rating notoriety needs to limit the damage! If Crawford plays more in this game I think the advantage would go to him even though Parker has a great game in his own right. Absent a comparable minutes played for this game I declare this A TIE
Knicks vs Pistons Day 92
Jamal Crawford: 19 of 30 for 44 points in 35 minutes
Nick Van Exel 11 of 20 for 30 points in 38 minutes
Not much defense was played here. Crawford explodes for 44 on Van Exel in a matchup of players with C or below defense. Nick the quick nearly returns the favor by shooting 55% en route to putting up 30 against Crawford. Worse yet, Van Exel wasn’t even an option! It would appear that FBB makes players shoot more than their share against players with poor defensive ratings, which is something that we saw in the Hornets game where Terrel Brandon hoisted up 13 shots himself. All things considered you can’t deny Jamal’s greatness in this game. Skillz wishes he would shoot 50 times a game, I’m sure. This round goes to CRAWFORD
Knicks vs T-Wolves Day 91
Jamal Crawford: 15 of 25 for 32 points in 30 minutes
Jeff McInnis 6 of 12 for 15 points in 22 minutes
Mark Jackson 3 of 7 for 10 points in 26 minutes
Jamal demolishes the platoon of McInnis and Mark Jackson in short order, but does allow them a relatively efficient shooting game. That falls fall short of mattering as Crawford shoots 60% from the field and scores more points than minutes played (usually a positive!) I’m sure 19 shots from this combo is more than they usually take and they make nearly half of them but they are thoroughly outplayed by CRAWFORD
Knicks vs 76ers
Jamal Crawford: 8 of 17 for 20 points in 31 minutes
Stephon Marbury: 11 of 27 for 27 points in 36 minutes
This is a particularly interesting matchup. Crawford doesn’t have a bad game in any respect shooting 47% from the field but his volume is noticeably down compared to his average game. Marbury and his C+(!!) Defense limit Crawford to just 20 points, but doesn’t have an amazing shooting night himself as he makes on 41% of his shots. I would have expected a better night from a B/B+ scorer against a C- defender. This will be an interesting matchup to watch going forward as Crawford did not get into any foul trouble. Based on limiting Crawford to only 17 shots I want to give the slight edge to Marbury, but ultimately I will give it a TIE
World class conclusions
Just like Transformers, there’s more than meets the eye with FBB ratings. In my limited sample size of 6 the final tally is: Crawford 3, Tie 2, and Not Crawford 1. The moral of the story is know your players strengths and weaknesses, especially if you are building your team around them. It’s ok to play your C- players because they will make up for it in another way. Perhaps Crawford’s biggest weakness and this is a little nit picky is that his GM Skillz would surely like his minutes to be around 38 MPG as opposed to his current 32.6. This of course, is most likely due to his low defensive rating. Not much to be done about that. Take the good with the bad!
Day 97: Knicks vs Hornets
Jamal Crawford: 10 of 26 for 24 points in 34 minutes
Sam Cassell: 9 of 13 for 19 points in 26 minutes
Terrell Brandon: 4 of 13 for 10 points in 26 minutes
Goddamn it this is already more work than I wanted it to be. Time to check the Hornets DC. Well that wasn’t entirely useful. Unless I misread it looks like Cassell is starting PG and Brandon is backup PG and they aren’t listed elsewhere on the DC. In any case, this doesn’t look great for Crawford. Cassell has a great and efficient night and Brandon comes off the bench and thinks he can replicate things and starts chuckin bricks. I am going to assume that nearly all of Cassell’s shots came off of Crawford in this game, while less than half of Brandon’s came against the Knicks backup PG, who is none other than Tony Delk! Combined with a less than spectacular night from the field for Crawford I give the edge to NOT CRAWFORD
Day 96: Knicks vs Heat
Jamal Crawford: 15 of 26 for 36 in 33 minutes
Jason Kidd: 8 of 20 for 21 points in 39 minutes
Naturally the second most recent game the Knicks have played is against Kobe’s Heat. Jamal Crawford ran Kidd and his A defense rated ass straight into the ground. Talk about efficient! For this game, I choose to assume that all shots came against one another because Kidd plays 39 minutes. Kidd doesn’t have an ungodly night particularly because he goes 4 of 6 from 3 point land, which is a saving grace for him in this matchp and is something worth noting to look at for PG’s against Crawford going forward. Watch out for outside oriented offenses? Always. I thought we knew this. Jamal shows his offensive prowess in a big way, while limiting Kidd giving this game a definite advantage to CRAWFORD
Day 94: Knicks vs Raptors
Jamal Crawford: 10 of 24 for 23 points in 25 minutes
Tony Parker: 8 of 16 for 22 points in 44 minutes
A frustrating game to analyze because Crawford only played 25 minutes vs Parker’s 44. However, Crawford gets his shots in by attempting nearly one shot per minute! This guy has no passing and as we’ve been told in both sim and the real world, passing is not good. Parker turns the ball over 6 times this game, but I chalk that up to DC scheme and other players as Crawford only steals the ball twice. 50% field goal percentage is not great to allow against a B-/B- scorer. Clearly this wasn’t all Crawford’s fault, and Mr. Delk, also of low defensive rating notoriety needs to limit the damage! If Crawford plays more in this game I think the advantage would go to him even though Parker has a great game in his own right. Absent a comparable minutes played for this game I declare this A TIE
Knicks vs Pistons Day 92
Jamal Crawford: 19 of 30 for 44 points in 35 minutes
Nick Van Exel 11 of 20 for 30 points in 38 minutes
Not much defense was played here. Crawford explodes for 44 on Van Exel in a matchup of players with C or below defense. Nick the quick nearly returns the favor by shooting 55% en route to putting up 30 against Crawford. Worse yet, Van Exel wasn’t even an option! It would appear that FBB makes players shoot more than their share against players with poor defensive ratings, which is something that we saw in the Hornets game where Terrel Brandon hoisted up 13 shots himself. All things considered you can’t deny Jamal’s greatness in this game. Skillz wishes he would shoot 50 times a game, I’m sure. This round goes to CRAWFORD
Knicks vs T-Wolves Day 91
Jamal Crawford: 15 of 25 for 32 points in 30 minutes
Jeff McInnis 6 of 12 for 15 points in 22 minutes
Mark Jackson 3 of 7 for 10 points in 26 minutes
Jamal demolishes the platoon of McInnis and Mark Jackson in short order, but does allow them a relatively efficient shooting game. That falls fall short of mattering as Crawford shoots 60% from the field and scores more points than minutes played (usually a positive!) I’m sure 19 shots from this combo is more than they usually take and they make nearly half of them but they are thoroughly outplayed by CRAWFORD
Knicks vs 76ers
Jamal Crawford: 8 of 17 for 20 points in 31 minutes
Stephon Marbury: 11 of 27 for 27 points in 36 minutes
This is a particularly interesting matchup. Crawford doesn’t have a bad game in any respect shooting 47% from the field but his volume is noticeably down compared to his average game. Marbury and his C+(!!) Defense limit Crawford to just 20 points, but doesn’t have an amazing shooting night himself as he makes on 41% of his shots. I would have expected a better night from a B/B+ scorer against a C- defender. This will be an interesting matchup to watch going forward as Crawford did not get into any foul trouble. Based on limiting Crawford to only 17 shots I want to give the slight edge to Marbury, but ultimately I will give it a TIE
World class conclusions
Just like Transformers, there’s more than meets the eye with FBB ratings. In my limited sample size of 6 the final tally is: Crawford 3, Tie 2, and Not Crawford 1. The moral of the story is know your players strengths and weaknesses, especially if you are building your team around them. It’s ok to play your C- players because they will make up for it in another way. Perhaps Crawford’s biggest weakness and this is a little nit picky is that his GM Skillz would surely like his minutes to be around 38 MPG as opposed to his current 32.6. This of course, is most likely due to his low defensive rating. Not much to be done about that. Take the good with the bad!
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