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What does Jordan Crawford bring to the Chicago Bulls?

By Paul Steeno

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According to Yahoo! Sports writer Shams Charania, the Chicago Bulls signed shooting guard Jordan Crawford to a non-guaranteed training-camp contract early Thursday morning.

In a draft-night trade in 2000, the Chicago Bulls acquired Jamal Crawford. Fast forward fifteen years, and the Bulls acquired another J. Crawford with a similar skill set as the original, albeit far less talented. During the four seasons he spent in Chicago, Jamal had a decent career. Is there any chance the Bulls will experience a similar level of success with their new addition Jordan Crawford?

In the early morning hours on Thursday, the Chicago Bulls signed the four-year NBA veteran to a non-guaranteed training camp contract. In these four years, Jordan Crawford played for four different NBA teams and averaged 12.2 points, 2.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game.

Crawford spent last season splitting time between Chinese professional basketball leagues and the NBA Development League. Last summer, he played six games with the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Summer League.

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Unfortunately, Jordan Crawford’s inefficient catch-and-pop style of play will offer little value to a team that doesn’t need back end of the rotation guys taking shots away from their best players during the upcoming season.

During his four-year NBA career, Crawford was known as a bulk shooter. The numbers back up this reputation.

In 24.7 minutes per game, Crawford attempted 11.2 overall shots, including 3.6 three-point field goal attempts. To put this number in perspective, let’s compare Crawford’s attempts per game number to other players on this Chicago Bulls roster. Center Pau Gasol averaged 14.8 field goal attempts per game last season, although those three extra attempts came in over ten minutes more playing time. Last season, Most Improved Player Award winner Jimmy Butler averaged less field goal attempts per game (14.0) in 38.7 minutes of playing time.

For an overview of how Crawford’s field goal attempts per game compared to other players on the Chicago Bulls, I used a simple mathematical formula to figure field goal attempts per minute to compare attempts across an even playing field. I divided field goal attempts per game by minutes played per game to determine field goal attempts per minute among the Bulls most trigger-happy shooters.

PlayerShot Attempts/Minute
Jordan Crawford.45
Pau Gasol.43
Jimmy Butler.36
Derrick Rose.54
Aaron Brooks.43

Basically, the larger the decimal, the higher rate that player shoots in a game. It is alarming that Crawford trails only Derrick Rose in terms of shot attempts per minute. Additional red flags exist because Crawford has a terribly inefficient shooting percentage during his career.

Crawford’s overall shooting percentage in his previous four seasons in the NBA was 40.5 percent. According to basketball reference, in the last five seasons, the NBA league average shooting percentage hasn’t been below 44.8 percent meaning that Crawford is a below average shooter in the NBA. Furthermore, Crawford’s career three-point shooting percentage was 30.6 percent, an ugly five percentage points below league average during the 2014-2015 season. Yet, he insisted on chucking up almost four three-point field goal attempts per game.

May 1, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Jordan Crawford (55) dribbles the basketball during the second quarter in game six of the first round of the 2014 NBA Playoffs against the Los Angeles Clippers at Oracle Arena. The Warriors defeated the Clippers 100-99. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Part of the reason his career shooting percentages were so low was his shot selection. According to basketball reference data, 54 percent of his shot attempts came from at least sixteen feet away from the basket, while only 17 percent of shot attempts came at the rim (0-3 feet from the basket).

NBA writer Nate Duncan recently tweeted a perfect explanation of why the Chicago Bulls don’t need Jordan Crawford.

The Chicago Bulls can’t afford to let an inefficient Crawford take shots away from the likes of Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler and Pau Gasol. Even coming off the bench, the Bulls would rather have guys like Tony Snell, Nikola Mirotic and Doug McDermott take most of the shots and not Crawford simply because these players shoot the ball at a more efficient clip while also boasting a better shot selection. 

Even point guard Aaron Brooks, oftentimes criticized for some of the same reasons as Crawford, has a better overall shooting percentage, three-point field goal percentage and effective shooting percentage than Crawford.

The Bulls roster is fine as currently constructed. While Crawford is an intriguing option because of his ability to score in bunches, don’t expect him to crack the Chicago Bull’s rotation this season. The Bulls have other, more efficient scoring options on their team. Crawford will serve as an extra training camp body, but nothing more.

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