Jamal Crawford ranks fourth all-time in fourth-quarter points, the only bench player alongside LeBron, Kobe, and Dirk. He explains how he gave the sixth-man role swagger and changed how younger players saw coming off the bench, while weighing his place in the sixth-man GOAT conversation against Lou Williams, Manu Ginóbili, and Jason Terry.
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Sixth man. So I feel like you're in a very interesting space right now where You're becoming more known for TV than you are for, like we talk Lou Will, Lou Will's great, what Lou Will did, love it. But that started with you and you're now becoming, you're not far removed from playing.
No.
But you're becoming more known for TV. Before we get into the TV thing, talk to me about, your place in the 6-man GOAT conversation. How you like, you were kind of one of the first guys that really embraced that and make that a thing. Talk to me about that and like—
So I've won since I was a kid. I won as a kid, I won in high school. I went to Michigan, only played 17 games, but we won 13 of 'em.
I wish y'all lost 13 of 'em.
Nah, nah, nah. The first one I missed was Michigan State. Moe Pete, Mateen Cleaves, Charlie Bill, that whole crew. And I remember, speaking of which, Dick Vitale's coming to, he came to Christ for the first time in years. 'Cause we wasn't doing much before that. That's the first game the NCAA, here you go. The first game NCAA tells me I can't play. And so it's an ESPN game, national crowd. And I'll never forget Michigan State won the game, but Mateen Cleaves came to me like, "Little bro, it's all good. Keep your head up." And that meant a lot to me 'cause here he is, he's a rockstar. He's already a rockstar, you know what I'm saying? But he came and showed love and I felt supported even though I didn't really know him like that at the time. But I've always won. And in the NBA at this time, Draymond is like, first off, there's positions. You playing a point, you playing a 2, you playing a 3.
Yes.
And also this thing like, "Oh, he's a good player, he's on bad teams." And I was tired of being known as that. And as fate would have it, I got traded as, this I'm gonna start, my last year's in Golden State. I leave and Steph comes the next year. 'Cause I played with Monta, I played with Jack, right?
Wow.
It was between the, it was a transition between the We Believe team with BD and I mean Monta at the Moped and then Steph coming. So it was that little gap right there. And so I get traded to Atlanta and they already got their starting five. They got Josh Smith, Joe Johnson, Bibby, Al Horford, Marvin Williams. Yep. And coach, and Woody, I love Woody. Woody was like, "You ain't gonna start here." I'm like, "I ain't got no ego, I'm cool." Or whatever. I come off the bench, I'm the second leading scorer, average 18. I should have made All-Star that year. Let me speak to that real quick.
Yes, sir.
I hate that people ask people to sacrifice. They come off the bench. If I was starting doing the same thing, I would've made an All-Star team. I averaged 18. My team is, I think, second in the Eastern Conference when they selected at the time.
Yeah.
I should absolutely be an All-Star. But nah, he comes off the bench. So it's frowned upon to select me, but you give me all this praise for sacrifice. That don't add up. Something's not right with that. And then Lou Will, fast forward, he goes through it. He averages 20 with the Clippers. They won. He should have been an All-Star that year.
Yep.
One of the top fourth quarter scorers. But anyways, I go there, I do my thing. And what I didn't know at the time I went to sixth man was that it was changing the perspective of how the sixth man was looked at. Manu Ginobili was sixth man, Jason Terry was sixth man, they was appreciated. But I almost gave it swag and gave it a face.
Yes, sir.
Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, okay, he's sixth man, he got game, if he can do it, oh, it ain't so bad. 'Cause you know, in our community, coming off the bench is frowned upon.
Absolutely.
Period. Absolutely.
From childhood.
"Are you gonna start? Oh, you weak." That's just how it goes. Yeah. But coming off the bench, doing what I did, doing it with swag and still winning games and doing that, it gave it a face. And now every gym, like you said, I'm in the AAU world. So every gym I'm in, it's like, "Six man, I wanna be a six man too." And that wasn't the case.
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So it's dope to see that. And one of the things that's most impressive, and I saw this stat, and I'm not flexing, I promise. I'm 4th all time in 4th quarter scoring.
4th.
I'm the only person that's off the bench in that conversation. And it's crazy. I think the other 3 since they've been tracking is LeBron, Kobe, Dirk, myself.
Wow.
Off the bench. So I wear that with pride because it's like you got shit done and moved mountains even though you were coming off the bench.
That's interesting because Manu obviously was a sixth man for the majority of his career.
His career, right.
But it was looked at way differently to your point.
It was like, oh, he's a starter coming off the bench. He's sacrificing.
Absolutely. Like, oh, he just don't wanna start so he comfortable coming off the bench. So it was never viewed as like him being a sixth man.
No.
It was actually viewed as you like being the sixth man.
Because it was like Manu could do all these things and I was more like a specialty, special teams type dude. So it was more myself, Lou, we're looked at as that. But to answer your question about the GOAT conversation, I would never say I'm the GOAT of that. I think I'm in the conversation. 'Cause I think everybody, Lou has an argument, Manu has an argument, he's a champion. Jason Terry, Harden came off the bench before. Lamar Odom, like there's some dope sixth man. Ben Gordon was cold to win Rookie of the Year and Sixth Man the same year. So I give all them dudes their flowers. Kevin McHale, obviously, that left shrimp. But I think I'm in that conversation and however they see it, they see it. But I think you let others sing your praises. So I let other people say it, but to get that respect and get that love, you would never know I was a sixth man with all the love I get from people.
