October 17, 2018 – NBA Blog – NBA Basketball Blog

Pelicans add Tim Frazier, waive Troy Williams

The New Orleans Pelicans have claimed guard Tim Frazier off waivers. And in a subsequent move, the team has waived forward Troy Williams.

Frazier, 6-1, 170, appeared in four preseason games for Milwaukee, averaging 4.8 points, 1.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists before subsequently being waived on October 15.

This will be Frazier’s second stint in New Orleans, after originally joining the club on March 16, 2016. In 81 career games with New Orleans, Frazier has averaged 8.3 points, 5.6 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 1.0 steals. Undrafted out of Penn State in 2014, Frazier has appeared in 186 career regular season games with Philadelphia, Portland, New Orleans and Washington, holding averages of 5.2 points, 4.0 assists and 2.3 rebounds.

Williams, 6-7, 218, appeared in four preseason contests for New Orleans, averaging 8.5 points and 1.0 rebounds.

New Orleans’s roster now stands at 16 players.

Suns sign Jamal Crawford, waive Davon Reed

The Phoenix Suns today signed guard Jamal Crawford. The team has also waived guard Davon Reed.

The Suns are young, rebuilding team that is focused on the future. In a limited role off the bench, Crawford can help the team’s second unit. He’s also a positive influence, has a good head on his shoulders, and other signed as a player definitely should be able to help coach young teammates progress in the right direction. He just needs to be more cautious about his shot selection, now more than ever.

Crawford, an 18-year NBA veteran, is the only three-time winner of the Sixth Man of the Year Award (2009-10, 2013-14, 2015-16) and also won the NBA’s Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award in 2017-18. Crawford ranks fifth in NBA history with 2,153 career three-pointers, 30th with 1,262 games played and 57th with 18,906 career points; his 10,766 career points in a reserve role are second-most in the NBA over the past 35 years behind only Dell Curry. Crawford is the NBA’s all-time leader with 53 career four-point plays.

For his career, the 38-year-old has averaged 15.0 points, 3.4 assists and 2.3 rebounds while shooting 34.9 percent from three-point range in 18 seasons with seven teams: Chicago (2000-2004), New York (2004-2008), Golden State (2008-09), Atlanta (2009-2011), Portland (2011-12), the LA Clippers (2012-2017) and Minnesota (2017-18). A career 86.2 percent shooter from the free throw line (37th-best in NBA history), Crawford led the league by shooting 92.7 percent from the stripe with the Trail Blazers in 2011-12. He owns three career games scoring 50-plus points, including a career-high 52 points with the Knicks against Miami on Jan. 26, 2007, and is one of four players in NBA history to score at least 50 points with three different teams along with Hall of Famers Wilt Chamberlain, Bernard King and Moses Malone.

The 6-5, 185-pound guard joins the Suns after playing last season with Minnesota where he helped the Timberwolves reach the NBA Playoffs for the first time in 14 years. Crawford was Minnesota’s leading scorer off the bench, averaging 10.3 points in 80 appearances during the regular season and 11.8 points in five postseason games.

Crawford has appeared in the postseason eight times for his career, including each of the last six seasons, averaging 14.3 points, 2.2 assists and 1.9 rebounds in 74 playoff games. He has been a member of four teams that have reached the Conference Semifinals.

Originally selected with the No. 8 overall pick of the 2000 NBA Draft by Cleveland, Crawford joined the NBA following one season at the University of Michigan. Born in Seattle, he attended Rainier Beach High School and remains active in giving back to the community in his hometown and beyond.

Reed was selected by the Suns with the 32nd overall pick of the 2017 NBA Draft and averaged 3.0 points and 1.9 rebounds in 21 games as a rookie last season.

The team’s roster currently stands at 16 players.

All eyes on Kawhi Leonard as season begins

Eyes around the league will be on the Raptors as the new season begins, partially because they’re a good team but primarily to see how Kawhi Leonard looks wearing his new uniform. And how he plays in that uniform. Mostly how he plays. Here’s the Toronto Star discussing the talk of the town up North:

If one was to lock a group of mad basketball scientists in a room and tell them to design the kind of player they’d want for the current NBA era, it’s not hard to figure what they would eventually come up with.

They’d want someone “long” to use one of the euphemisms of the day, lanky with arms that hang down around the knees, a 6-foot-7 frame that’s at the same time muscular and lithe.

They’d want someone capable of defending multiple positions and playing them on offence, a wing who could check some bigs, a big who could score against slower players and physically dominate smaller ones. Someone who can shoot three-pointers and attack the basket because multi-faceted is the way the game is going.

They’d want someone who can be considered low maintenance, someone “coachable” who can be plugged into a system and thrive.

It wouldn’t take long for those great minds to come up with what they want and they’d emerge unscathed and with a player in mind.

A player like Kawhi Leonard.

Full article