Ex-NBA pro Jordan Crawford has a story to tell — and a whole lot more

Seeing Cam Thomas fade into the background makes JordanCrawford’s blood boil.

The two never suited up together, but they did both play for theLong Island Nets — Brooklyn’s G League affiliate — as recently aslast season, so Crawford got to see what Thomas could do behind thescenes.

“All these players now, they think they're a bucket. Everybodycalls themselves a bucket and all this. You can tell the way hescores is a different level than average the way somebody scores,'cause he can really put the ball in the hole,” Crawford toldBasketball News in a phone interview from China, where his thirdstint in the Chinese Basketball Association recently gotunderway.

A short month ago, amidst Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant beingtraded out of town, Thomas exploded with three consecutive40-plus-point performances over the longest stretch of minutes he’shad in his NBA career. He was going to the cup, getting to the lineand pulling up from the parking lot with great success.

Compare that to last week, and he’s vanished from the rotation.Excluding Thursday's 21-point performance in 26 minutes, he playeda combined 14 minutes in the three previous games, even receiving aDNP-CD to boot. Watching from afar, Crawford feels Thomas looksanxious on the court — something that he can so closely relateto.

“I never really got to showcase my game in the United Stateshonestly or in the NBA as far as like, 'I know I got this role fora whole a season, the same exact role for a whole season.' ‘Causewhen you do have that comfort, it allows you to play your true game(and be) who you are,” Crawford said. “My game, I feel like in theNBA, I always had to rush it because one day I was playing, nextday I may not play. One day I might play and one day I'm not. So Inever really got to be comfortable and just know, 'The next day Icome into this facility, I'm gonna have the same role whether Ihave a bad game or not.' And for my career average to be what itwas [11.1 points per game], I think that's impressive because mytime was so inconsistent.

“That's why I was (feeling) so strong about the Cam Thomas thing'cause it's like, you see someone get 40 three straight times andthen you stop playing 'em. And then, as months go by, of courseeverybody forgets it and you just automatically think, 'Oh, he mustnot have been playing well. That's why they didn't play him.' It'slike, no! It's just the business of (basketball) stopped him. Andthen now, his career's up in the air, again."

Crawford argues that if you were to give Thomas a concrete25-to-30 minutes per night, his game would flourish. Instead ofrushing his shots due to the unknown of substitution patterns andan inconsistent situation, he’d be more willing to pass the balland understand that it’ll come back to him. There’d be a calmernature to his game, which in turn would benefit both the individualand the team.

As for others he’d like to see get more opportunities, formerNBA point guard Tremont Waters and Nets two-way player David DukeJr. come to mind. G League talents, he believes, have more hungerthan many in the NBA: “I really want the NBA to start doingpreseason where they play some G League teams, but I know they'renot gonna do that.”

CAM THOMASFEB 4th-7th44 PTS, 5 AST (70% FG)47 PTS, 7 3PT (52% FG)43 PTS, 3 AST (48% FG)MAR 3rd-7th0 PTS in 7 MINS4 PTS in 7 MINSDNP pic.twitter.com/2XcgWa357s

Ultimately, he doesn’t want Thomas to fall victim to what hewent through during his time in the NBA, a period of Crawford’slife he did not mince words about or hide names when asked todescribe it.

“I mean, I had bad experiences everywhere I went. I'm not afraidto say it,” Crawford shared. “When I was with Mark Jackson inGolden State, I would've loved to play with Klay [Thompson] andSteph [Curry], you know what I'm saying? Shaun Livingston, JordanPoole, all these people have gotten to do it. But like, it was suchan inconsistent role. When I was in New Orleans, we had AnthonyDavis, DeMarcus Cousins, Rajon Rondo, Jrue Holiday, E'Twaun Moore.We had a great team, a team that could compete with Golden State,and Alvin Gentry was the coach. We had an advantage against thembecause we had strong, physical guys, big and small guards likeJrue Holiday, who could check a Kevin Durant or a Steph Curry. Somy thing was like... I wish the NBA would keep it basketballsometimes.

“You get these people in positions like an Alvin Gentry, whocares more about his position than actually the competition ofbasketball, trying to win this series that we in. So, it wasobviously a series that we could've won, but with him not using hiswhole roster and him just caring about, 'We don't have to win, aslong as I get another extension on my contract, I don't really careabout winning,' it's really doing a disservice to the whole stateof Louisiana and the city of New Orleans. It's like, how about wetry to win? And that would make the game better, honestly andthat'd make the business better. I was with New Orleans and hedidn't play me. I felt like it hurt the team because we needed guysthat could compete on the scoring level of certain guys on theother team. So I just feel like it be too much of people's egosgetting in the way.”

Crawford relays that it felt the same with the Boston Celtics,Atlanta Hawks and Washington Wizards too. In his eyes, hisunshakable confidence and competitive nature rattled theseorganizations to the point where they wouldn’t give him any run.Day-to-day, things would change in spite of his gift as a naturalvolume scorer. It’s why he’s so critical of what he sees as apolitical game in the NBA, then and now.

An example: Not too long ago, Crawford watched “All The Smoke”with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson interviewing Dwight Howard. Inthe interview, the veteran big man recalled a conversation beforethe 2019-20 campaign where Los Angeles Lakers senior advisor KurtRambis said, “You’re not Dwight Howard no more. Don’t expect to beDwight Howard when you come to the team.” Crawford couldn’t believewhat he heard, and it serves as another case study of what he’sreferring to with big-headed personnel.

“My thing is, there's nothing wrong with that 'cause he's notthe same Dwight Howard, but Kurt Rambis needs to understand KurtRambis was never a Dwight Howard,” Crawford said. “So ifyou talk to him with that humility of, 'Listen, I'm just KurtRambis, but I'm in this position of creating a team,' that is theway I feel you're supposed to speak to a Dwight Howard, who's damnnear a Hall-of-Famer. But when you come with this ego that's like,'You're not Dwight Howard,' how you gon' tell me I'm not DwightHoward? So that's my thing with just coaching talent. It's aboutjust showing respect from both sides, and you're gonna get the mostout of a player when you did.”