Wizards ponder moves at NBA trade deadline

The Washington Wizards have been mentioned several times in various trade possibilities in recent weeks, though nothing concrete -- or even semi-permeable -- has come of it. For a while the Wizards were rumored to be pursuing Atlanta Hawks forward Josh Smith, but that's no longer considered a possibility, as the Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks appear to be at the top of the trade list for Smith. I never thought the Wizards had a shot at Smith, since they apparently told Atlanta they were willing to deal anyone on the team apart from John Wall, Bradley Beal and Nene -- the only three Wizards players any other team would want. 

In other words, the Wizards consider those three their building blocks for the future and won't deal them unless some miracle deal comes falling out of the sky -- which won't happen. So, basically, the Wizards, if they make any moves at all before the trade deadline, will be tinkering on the margins. That may be frustrating to many fans, but it is also understandable, since the team has so little to offer other clubs. Let's face it, when you're 15-37, you probably don't have a lot of talent to move and whatever talent you do have, you probably want to keep. That is not the sort of team that makes a lot of news before the NBA trade deadline. 

The one player the Wizards appear to be aggressively trying to move is Jordan Crawford, the shot-jacking, ball-pounding 2-guard who can score in bunches because he shoots in bunches -- and often misses in bunches. Crawford has decent size, good ball-handling abilities and can really fill it up when he's hot. However, he's played no defense in Washington and his inability or refusal to accomodate himself to Washington's up-tempo ball movement offense -- he gets the ball and immediately slows everything down by dribbling incessantly -- has led to Crawford falling out of Coach Randy Wittman's rotation and into his doghouse. 

Crawford seems disinterested as he sits, game after game, on the bench, and after Washinton's last game -- a bad home loss to the Toronto Raptors -- Crawford chucked his jersey into the stands as he left the bench. He does not want to be in Washington and the Wizards don't want him anymore. Washington has gone 5-3 in the 8 games Crawford has been a DNP-CD and the emergence of Bradley Beal has made Crawford, some believe, unnecessary.

But Crawford has something to offer teams. He is Washington's third-leading scorer, he can hit pressure shots, as he did against the Portland Trail Blazers twice this season, and he's versatile enough to have become one of only five NBA players to have a statline featuring 27 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists and only 1 turnover in a single game. In December he averaged 19 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds per game. Talent is there. Prodution is there... sometimes. 

If any Wizards player is going to be moved before today's 3 PM trade deadline, Crawford would appear to be that player.