Guard Jordan Crawford did not wait long to show his true value for his new team, New Orleans Pelicans. He made an impressive debut in the game against Utah Jazz immediately after signing his 10-day contract on Monday, March 6.
Posting 19 points and three assists, New Orleans Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry put him in the shooting guard position off the bench. Unfortunately, his impressive debut was not sufficient to win the game as the Pelicans played Utah Jazz, the team was defeated 83-88.
Crawford made his return to the NBA after three years, signing his 10-day contract with New Orleans on Monday, March 6, ESPN reported. He immediately made the team roster hours later to travel to Salt Lake City to play Utah Jazz.
According to NOLA.com, Pelicans expects to strengthen the team signing him and wing player Hollis Thompson. Moreover, the Pelicans has lost its veteran point guard Jarret Jack, who made a good depth in the team’s back court with Jrue Holiday.
After losing the game against Utah Jazz, Pelicans is now 25-39 and ranked 13th in the Western Conference. Prior to the game against Utah Jazz, the team was only 3.5 game behind Denver Nuggets that currently sits in the 8th position to take the final spot for the playoffs. However, on the same day New Orleans Pelicans lost the game, Nuggets won 108-96 against Sacramento Kings, making the gap higher.
Pelicans recently brought DeMarcus Cousins into the team on Feb. 20 with high hope that his presence will shore up the team front court to form up twin tower with Anthony Davis. However, the hope seems futile as Cousins has not made any impact to the Pelicans performance. Since his arrival to New Orleans, the Pelicans only wins two of their last seven games.
The team now focuses to build its back court by bringing in Crawford and Thompson. Watch Crawford top plays in the NBA D-League with Grand Rapids Dreive below: