A New Beginning

The Warriors welcome Jamal Crawford

Screw the catchy introduction -- let's get down to brass tacks. Al Harrington's long-numbered days as a Warrior are over and Jamal Crawford of the Knicks will be taking over the roster spot.

And I am a happy man.

After a dismal start to the season and a nagging back "injury", Al Harrington was just starting to become a serious problem for this team. His salary easily eclipses his production as a player for the Warriors (note the use of "production", not "potential"). I, for one, was very worried Al had seen his last days in a Dubs uniform and that the team would have serious issues getting decent value in return if they opted to honor his trade request.

Instead, the Warriors have managed to finagle a star-potential caliber player who I personally thought was untouchable as a Knick. And nobody should be happier about this than Nellie.

Don Nelson is often times a hard man to read. Many times he sends mixed signals - intentionally or otherwise - making it impossible to decipher what's really going on in the mad scientist's head.

But when Nelson describes himself as "stoked" to have Crawford on board, you'd better believe he means it.

Crawford is just about as close as we'll come to replacing Baron on this team. While Crawford is fairly dissimilar to BD as a player, they're almost exactly the same as a concept -- something that Nelson finds very compelling.

In his years with the Knicks, Crawford has acquired ample experience running the point. And at 6-5 he can create mismatches against most traditional point guards in the league. Which is exactly what Don Nelson has always wanted for this team -- a combo point/shooting guard to run the team alongside Monta Ellis, also a combo 2.

While Crawford is abysmal defensively (yes, even worse than Al), he's a legit shooter than can make it rain with the best of them. Here's what Nellie's lineup looks to be when Crawford starts playing with the team on Tuesday:

Jamal Crawford - CJ Watson
Anthony Morrow - Kelenna Azubuike
Stephen Jackson - Anthony Randolph
Corey Maggette - Brandan Wright
Andris Biedrins - Ronny Turiaf

Though that lineup looks to be downright bad on the defensive end, there isn't a single player on the floor a team can forget about. Absolutely every player in the Warriors' starting lineup has the potential to torch any team foolish enough to relax defensively.

Which will open up the lane for Crawford, Jackson, and Maggette. Which will open up shooters (aka everyone) on the wings for open threes. Which should make the rest of this season pretty darn fun to watch.