Jordan Crawford's recent benching has led many of us to speculate whether he'd be the main Washington Wizards chip as the 2013 NBA trade deadline approaches next week. There might apparently be some teeth to that speculation. CSN Bay Area sideline reporter and former ESPN news hound Ric Bucher is reporting that Crawford is "eminently available" at this point.
No teams are listed as being suitors for Crawford, but Bucher does pour some cold water on his trade value:
Crawford can fill up a boxscore -- he averaged 19 points, six assists and five rebounds a game in December when he was playing 35 minutes -- but I can't tell you how many scouts and other basketball heads grind their teeth watching him play, in large degree because of a perceived selfish streak.
These, of course, are several of the reasons why Randy Wittman hasn't played Crawford recently.
As far as trading Crawford, I'm of two minds here. On the one hand, I don't think it'd be any big loss to lose him. The team has been much more team-oriented since he ceded his spot in the rotation, and he doesn't defend or play point guard well enough to justify being a true third-guard type of player. On the other hand, he's cheap and has improved his efficiency and shot-jacking tendencies marginally this year. Also, if you trade him now, you don't ever get a chance to see if the benching humbled him and caused him to change his game.
This rumor coming out seems like the Wizards trying to gauge his trade value. If so, that's fine by me. Might as well at this point.