According to Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated, the Denver Nuggets, among four other teams, are expected to show interest in perennial Sixth Man of the Year candidate Jamal Crawford once free agency kicks off on July 1st.
Here is the excerpt on who will be interested in Crawford’s play from Spear’s article.
“The New Orleans Pelicans, Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers, Cleveland Cavaliers and Denver Nuggets are expected to show interest in Crawford, a source told The Undefeated.”
Crawford has his eyes on a very particular sort of role. He understands how to come off of the bench and immediately produce for his team, but how symbiotic the balance is between himself and the team is important to him. In the same piece from Spears, Crawford was quoted speaking about how important his fit on his next team is to him.
“For me, fit and situation may be even more important, because coming off the bench, you have to be able to make something happen for your team in a smaller amount of time. So I truly have to have the right fit, and that was part of the reason I opted out.”
The Nuggets bench unit, with neither of Will Barton or Torrey Craig on the roster, is some mixture of Monte Morris, Malik Beasley, Juancho Hernangomez, Trey Lyles, and Mason Plumlee. That group desperately needs a leader, someone who can get their shot whenever they want to, and someone who can space the floor. Crawford can do all three of those things.
If Denver cannot find a way to bring Barton back into the fold, Crawford makes some sense as a replacement. Crawford lacks the ability to make plays for others and is a less efficient shooter than Barton, but in terms of bringing a volume scorer off of the bench who can handle the ball and get his own shot, it makes sense for Denver to show interest in Crawford in free agency.