Post by KruPaxson on May 15, 2007 2:44:55 GMT -5
In 1999 the BBS league would have their first amateur draft which featured a few high profile names atop of the list. The first three picks were locks as Elton Brand, Shawn Marion, and Andrei Kirilenko were obvious choices. Many thought Steve Francis would be drafted 4th but Miami chose Richard Hamilton over Stevie Franchise and Francis fell to the Hawks at 5. This left choices of Jason Terry, Andre Miller, and the high school prospect Jamal Crawford. The Utah Jazz felt the safest choice was Jason Terry out of Arizona as he possessed the handles of Miller but had more upside in scoring. This left a debatable choice for the Chicago Bulls who were slated with the 7th selection. The easy choice was to select Andre Miller who everyone knew was going to be a solid point guard in BBS or take a chance on the youngster that could pay off big later. The Bulls decided to take the youngster and 5 years later it's tough to say that they made the right or wrong choice.
Crawford has had a slow start to his BBS career being buried on the bench of a very talented Chicago Bulls team. Coach Krupimpski refused to play Crawford in a starting role if he refused to play defense but would take advantage of his offensive prowless off the bench.
Miller would prove to be the solid passing PG that scouts raved about in draft camps as he would win over the starting job midseason in his rookie year and showed he could handle a starting role. Despite getting his teammates involved in the game and leading the league in assists in his third season, Miller has been on four teams in his first five seasons in the league as teams were never satisfied with his play.
Miller was 22 years of age on draft day while Crawford was barely legal at the age of 18. Crawford grew 2 inches in his first two seasons making him 6'7 a very interesting prospect that could play the 1,2, or 3 positions while at 6'2 Miller was your prototypical point guard. Crawford had a lot of growing up to do while Miller was expected to be a prime time player day 1. In 2002 Crawford was the same age as Miller was on draft day back in 1999. If you look at the numbers by age it's an interesting comparison. Crawford finally cracked the Bulls depth chart slightly last season as he averaged 23mpg at the age of 23. He shot 50% from the floor while making 86% of his free throws and drained 49% of his 3 point attempts. He averaged .9topg while scoring 6.7ppg. If you prorate these numbers over 40mpg he averaged 11.39ppg, 3.4apg, 4rpg, 1.53spg, and 1.53topg. If you look into Miller's numbers at the age of 23 you see many comparisons. Miller played 30mpg and we'll also prorate his numbers to 40mpg as well for argument's sake. 12.9ppg, 9.4apg, 5rpg, 2spg, 3.25topg. Miller shot 48% from the floor which was a career high, 79% from the free throw line, while making it rain from 3 only 9%(4 of 41) of the time. Despite Miller having better steal numbers Crawford took the ball away the same amount of times he gave it away where Miller gave the ball up more which is expected from a point guard since he has the ball in his hands more. Crawford is a much better shooter than Miller but Miller did give his team 9 more baskets a game with his passing abilities. The thing with Miller is that was his 2nd season in the league while that was Crawford's 5th. Although Miller's career has been much of a roller coaster since seeing some ups and now downs he hasn't improved much over the whole course of his career while Crawford has slowly improved each season. It's tough to say whether Crawford will see much more improvement either but this is the year where we should see which was the right pick as time is running out on Crawford's excuse of youth as he is expected to become a contributer in Chicago. No more Mashburns or Pennys in front of him in the DC it's his time now if not he will be entering his contract year next season which could be his last in a Bulls uniform.
I guess it's safe to say to always take the sure bet when it comes to draft day because the young prospects are wet behind the ears and it's tough to gauge if they will ever reach their full potential and how long that will take. The Bulls have been fortunate enough to be very patient with Crawford but if he was elsewhere he might not have been so lucky. Everyone would take Andre Miller right now but a little later we might say Jamal Crawford or maybe yet we might say later to Jamal as well.
Crawford has had a slow start to his BBS career being buried on the bench of a very talented Chicago Bulls team. Coach Krupimpski refused to play Crawford in a starting role if he refused to play defense but would take advantage of his offensive prowless off the bench.
Miller would prove to be the solid passing PG that scouts raved about in draft camps as he would win over the starting job midseason in his rookie year and showed he could handle a starting role. Despite getting his teammates involved in the game and leading the league in assists in his third season, Miller has been on four teams in his first five seasons in the league as teams were never satisfied with his play.
Miller was 22 years of age on draft day while Crawford was barely legal at the age of 18. Crawford grew 2 inches in his first two seasons making him 6'7 a very interesting prospect that could play the 1,2, or 3 positions while at 6'2 Miller was your prototypical point guard. Crawford had a lot of growing up to do while Miller was expected to be a prime time player day 1. In 2002 Crawford was the same age as Miller was on draft day back in 1999. If you look at the numbers by age it's an interesting comparison. Crawford finally cracked the Bulls depth chart slightly last season as he averaged 23mpg at the age of 23. He shot 50% from the floor while making 86% of his free throws and drained 49% of his 3 point attempts. He averaged .9topg while scoring 6.7ppg. If you prorate these numbers over 40mpg he averaged 11.39ppg, 3.4apg, 4rpg, 1.53spg, and 1.53topg. If you look into Miller's numbers at the age of 23 you see many comparisons. Miller played 30mpg and we'll also prorate his numbers to 40mpg as well for argument's sake. 12.9ppg, 9.4apg, 5rpg, 2spg, 3.25topg. Miller shot 48% from the floor which was a career high, 79% from the free throw line, while making it rain from 3 only 9%(4 of 41) of the time. Despite Miller having better steal numbers Crawford took the ball away the same amount of times he gave it away where Miller gave the ball up more which is expected from a point guard since he has the ball in his hands more. Crawford is a much better shooter than Miller but Miller did give his team 9 more baskets a game with his passing abilities. The thing with Miller is that was his 2nd season in the league while that was Crawford's 5th. Although Miller's career has been much of a roller coaster since seeing some ups and now downs he hasn't improved much over the whole course of his career while Crawford has slowly improved each season. It's tough to say whether Crawford will see much more improvement either but this is the year where we should see which was the right pick as time is running out on Crawford's excuse of youth as he is expected to become a contributer in Chicago. No more Mashburns or Pennys in front of him in the DC it's his time now if not he will be entering his contract year next season which could be his last in a Bulls uniform.
I guess it's safe to say to always take the sure bet when it comes to draft day because the young prospects are wet behind the ears and it's tough to gauge if they will ever reach their full potential and how long that will take. The Bulls have been fortunate enough to be very patient with Crawford but if he was elsewhere he might not have been so lucky. Everyone would take Andre Miller right now but a little later we might say Jamal Crawford or maybe yet we might say later to Jamal as well.