Jamal Crawford’s career spans across 3 decades if you were to count his one game played for the Nets during the 2019-20 season. It would almost be unfair for him to not impart knowledge on future generations with just how much experience he has. Luckily for young ball players, he’s more than willing to share his wisdom.
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One of the most formative experiences for Jamal was training with Michael Jordan. Drafted by the Bulls in 2000, MJ and Crawford shared a solid bond with one another from the get-go.
“That jump happened because of Michael Jordan,” said Jamal to Austin Rivers when speaking on his increased productivity. “I go meet him at Hoops. He’s preparing at this time for the Wizards comeback. I didn’t know it. Six in the morning, he’s working out.”
“I’m like, ‘I can’t believe it’s Michael Jordan.’ He’s like, ‘Man, I’ve always liked your game.’ Like, d**n, my dad was right! The first thing I thought, my dad was right. ‘We could work out this summer,’“
Crawford’s scoring doubled his sophomore year to 9.3 after a disappointing rookie outing. From 2002-18, he never once dipped below double-digit scoring averages, which can be attributed to MJ.
Now, Crawford speaks on the wisdom he has and his responsibility to the youth when it comes to sharing that. “I’ve been in the gym with Wemby. I’ve been in the gym with Michael Jordan. So who can cover that kind of ground.”
The ability to compartmentalize what you’ve learned from arguably the GOAT and a player from the 90s and then mesh it together with knowledge learned from a player drafted in 2023 is a skill that should be lauded.
“Doug Christie and Gary Payton did it for me. And I knew what it did for me. Like that match, it made a fire. If they did that for me, I’m going to do that for every kid I can, whether I know him or not.”
Crawford has consistently held his Elite camps over the years. His Crawsover Run is also an event that hoopers across the nation look forward to.
In regards to training Wemby, he’s had the utmost confidence in himself. “It’s funny, I saw some people say, ‘What’s he doing with Crawford?’ And it was funny because one of the things we did most was footwork, and what I was showing him was that footwork works anywhere.”
Safe to say that future generations of hoopers are going to come out of Jamal’s training smarter than they entered it.
