Both Teams Played Hard: A Walk Around the Block -- Jamal Crawford

Noam Schiller's most recent survey of the trading block focuses on Jamal Crawford. Noam's conclusion:

Atlanta seems to have good reason both to keep Jamal and to move him. Conversely, despite his fine play last season, any team acquiring Jamal will be taking a major risk while doing so.

Usually, situations like these mean that the player is staying put. But Jamal is, as always, a special case.

With Atlanta probably knowing that he is the piece they can best utilize to acquire new, key components, and with Crawford coming off such a strong season, there may be one or two teams that can talk themselves into bringing him off the bench for 30 minutes and 14 shots a night. Then again, the Hawks could also talk themselves into paying Jamal more than he is worth to stay on their squad.

Either way, I doubt Jamal doesn’t get paid.

Despite the progress made in evaluating players, scoring is still the stat that is overrated the most, and a strong scorer like Jamal will always find a suitor. Whether he can live up to that billing for another year is yet to be seen.

There are no easy answers in Atlanta, a reality Noam drives home in attempting to identify a trading partner that's a good fit.