Which Atlanta Hawks player made B/R’s most overrated in the last 10 years

The Atlanta Hawks have had some really good players over the last ten years. There was the team that had four All-Stars in it, that led the NBA with 60 wins in the 2014-15 NBA season. They have had players of the ilk of Vince Carter, Al Horford, Trae Young, and John Collins who have played for the team in the past ten years.

So, who is the most overrated according to Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report who has played for the Atlanta Hawks? The answer to that is the three-time Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford who played for the Hawks for two seasons in the first half of his career.

Fortunately for the Hawks, this was the portion of his career where Crawford was still at his most effective per B/R. He won his first sixth man of the year award for the Hawks in 2010 backing up Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby. However, B/R is talking about the section of his career spanning from 2012 to 2022, which is where he was not a Hawks player.

Was Jamal Crawford overrated after playing for the Atlanta Hawks?

It is possible that Bleacher Report has got this wrong as they are only looking at the numbers of what he produced. In the time that they are talking about, Crawford won two more sixth man of the year award. Yes, his efficiency may have been down but the shooting guard was a marked man every time that he hit the floor.

For half the period being discussed, Crawford played for the LA Clippers, averaging 15.3 points, 2.6 assists, and 1.8 rebounds in 27.9 minutes per game.  His efficiency was pretty good as well, going at 41.4 percent from the floor, 35.4 percent from behind the arc, and 88.0 percent from the line.

This is a sustained period of excellence for 370 NBA games, 336 of these coming off the bench. Crawford’s career finished in 2020 when he only played one game for the Brooklyn Nets. As players head into their late 30s they tend to slow down a bit. Crawford finished his 20-year NBA career at the age of 39.

So, was Jamal Crawford overrated in the second half of his career? No, he was just getting older and losing a step. That is the natural regression for a player whose career extends as long as he did.