He was the starting Shooting Guard last year (or the Starting SF, if Butler was the SG)… and at that position, and as a Starter; McGuire needs that jump shot more than JaVaris.

Crittenton can still contribute Offensively off the bench without a steady jump shot. Mainly because I don’t envision the backup PG slot getting much time on the court this year. With Arenas back, and taking the lion’s share of the PG minutes ; and with McGuire, DeShawn Stevenson and Nick Young all vying for SG minutes – I just don’t see a lot of time for Crittenton.

On the other hand, McGuire brings some special qualities to the Starting SG position. Mainly SIZE and athleticism; not to mention rebounding, blocked shots and defense. But he cannot be an Offensive liability – With a steady, if not spectacular jump shot, McGuire makes the Wizards a better team.

So, ideally, both would work extremely hard this Summer, and come into Training Camp with improved jump shots…. but if I have to pick only one, I say that an improved McGuire jumper is more important to the team.

Both guys have such great qualities that keep them on the court even in the absence of a solid jumper. The other aspects of their games makes it hard not to give them minutes, but with improved jump shots, they would be major contributors to the team’s success. With better jump shots, it would not only make their individual games better, but would make the overall team’s game better. It would be even harder to keep them off the court because of their other skills combined with another guy to hit an open shot.

The great thing is, Critt and Dom are both around the same young age in the league. They both have the same raw jumper, so it’s obvious what they need to work on this summer. They both have shown a strong work ethic, so they should have no problem working together and motivating each other to get better. They also have another young teammate who can help them with their shots in Nick Young, who doesn’t appear to have the greatest mechanics on his jumper, but is no doubt a natural shooter and can help them gain comfort with shooting.

I believe they both will have long careers in the NBA, but like you said of Deshawn, they would earn more minutes and plenty more money simply by getting better at shooting. I voted for Crittenton because a PG usually has a harder time without a jumper and with an improved shot it would make his already deadly slashing abilities that much more effective. McGuire is one of my favorite players and it was hard not to automatically give him the nod, and it would be sick to see him hit down that shot consistently. But I remembered how hurt I was to see Mike James in the game this year, so I have to go with Critt here.

Crittenton’s was 48.8, McGuire’s 48.3, though Crittenton’s free throw percentage was much, much worse, 59.3 vs. 72.5 (I got all of these from Knickerblogger’s stat page).

Crittenton’s shot stats are somewhat reminiscent of Rajon Rondo, who’s managed to do pretty well without a solid jumpshot, though that’s partly because Boston’s offense has been designed around that fact.

I’m tempted to say that Crittenton can follow Rondo’s path and focus on driving to the basket and scoring, getting fouled or kicking out to shooters, though his free throw shooting is bad enough that he’s really need to improve that for such a strategy to work. McGuire will likely need to work on his jump shot more, as he’s not even a reliable scorer from close in (a .418 eFG on close shots), so he can’t fall back on that as much as Crittenton perhaps could.

At the moment, we are at a dead tie. That’s impressive.

I just can’t get excited about this poll. If you put “both” as an option it would get 100% of the votes.