Jamal Crawford on Twitter: I wish I was a free agent

By Darryn Albert

Extreme Makeover: Lob City Edition is in full swing, and one Clipper that’s clearly irked by the operation is former Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford.

The 35-year-old Crawford, whose name has been included in trade rumors all offseason, took to Twitter Friday to air out his grievances.

Responding to a fan who asked him if he was going to be remaining in Los Angeles next season, Crawford openly daydreamed about what it would be like to be a free agent and have control over his own future. 

The Michigan product’s unrest is understandable. Crawford has always been the consummate professional but he’s gotta protect his own interests at the same time. We’ve seen many an NBA talent alienated to the point of no return by their long-time team after being forced to sweat out trade deadline after offseason after trade deadline (Pau Gasol with the Lakers, Ray Allen with Boston, etc.). There will be no shortage of mouths to feed on the Clippers second unit next season either as Crawford will be forced to compete for touches with the likes of Austin Rivers, Lance Stephenson, Wesley Johnson, and the newly-signed Josh Smith.

Fact of the matter is that both sides will probably be better off going their separate ways.

At 35, Crawford’s best days are behind him. He kills ball movement and floor spacing, and inefficient chuckers than can shoot teams right out of games are quickly becoming anachronisms in today’s analytics-driven NBA. The Clippers will have more than enough poor shot selection next season with the Rivers/Stephenson/Smith trio and Crawford projects to be a bigger defensive minus than any of them. Crawford took a comical 746 jumpers last season (shooting just 37.5 percent on those shots) including nearly seven pull-up jumpers per game (connecting on a mere 35.7 percent of those). At 32.7 percent from downtown last season as well, he’s now a below-average three-point shooter in a league where lethal marksmen on the wing are on the rise and more in demand than ever.

While Crawford’s ability to manufacture instant offense will still have value for some team, his style of play is simply no longer conducive to winning basketball in 2015. The Clippers needed him to keep their repugnant second unit afloat last year. But now that they have enviable depth off the bench, Crawford is more of a non-essential luxury at this point. His playground vibe will always be fun but as he ages, he will lose as many games for his team now as he wins.

Crawford is scheduled to make $5.67 million in guaranteed money in 2015-16, the last year of his contract, after which he will finally get his wish of being a free agent. Though with these recent developments, he could find himself on his way out of Los Angeles much sooner than that.

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