Jordan Crawford out to prove he's more than a scorer

Of all of the unexpected developments in a season gone awry for the Washington Wizards – from John Wall’s continued absence because of a stress injury to his left knee, to Nene’s continued role as a reserve a month after returning from plantar fasciitis – none is perhaps more astonishing than the team basing its offense on the scoring and playmaking ability of shooting guard turned point guard Jordan Crawford.

The injury-induced experiment, prompted when Wall’s intended backup, A.J. Price, broke his hand, has been both an arduous and exciting adventure and recently placed Crawford in exclusive company. During the Wizards’ 100-95 overtime loss to Atlanta on Tuesday, Crawford had his second career triple-double and became the first player in franchise history to record at least 27 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists and one turnover in the same game.

Since turnovers became an official stat in 1978-79, only five other players have reached those benchmarks in the same game: Jason Kidd, Gary Payton, Baron Davis, Latrell Sprewell and Antoine Walker. Crawford nodded his head approvingly this week when he heard about the rarity of his performance.

“And nobody was surprised. Nobody really gave me any credit for it, either,” said Crawford, who has been known to walk with slouched shoulders because of an extra large chip. “It’s normal when I do it.”

As he returns to his hometown of Detroit to take on the Pistons at the Palace of Auburn Hills, Mich., on Friday, Crawford has no plans to let up. “I want to do more. I'm not satisfied with it,” Crawford said.

Entering this season as Bradley Beal’s backup at shooting guard, with the primary objective of generating offense as a sixth man, Crawford filled that role respectably and has emerged as the leading scorer on the league’s lowest scoring offensive team. He is also the only player on the roster who has scored at least 20 points more than twice.

“Jordan is a scorer,” said Hawks Coach Larry Drew, who had Crawford for the first few months of his rookie season in Atlanta. “When he has the ball in his hands you’d better make sure there is a defender near because he will let it go.”

Crawford is averaging career highs in scoring (15 points), assists (4.6) and rebounds (4.1) and is one of 10 players in the NBA averaging at least 15 points, four assists and four rebounds In his six games as starting point guard, Crawford is averaging 17.5 points, 6.3 assists and 6 rebounds, but the Wizards have had some gruesome offensive performances, scoring 80 points or fewer in three games.

Crawford has also averaged 4.2 turnovers, committing a season-high seven in a 90-83 loss on Wednesday to Orlando.

“It’s a work in progress. It’s different when you're playing the two spot than it is when you’re playing the point,” Coach Randy Wittman said. “When you're at that spot you have to be able to run the offense and especially the start of the second half the start of the game. Ball movement, play, touches for everybody. It can’t be where he just comes down relaxed and gets shots.”