I know players cause pain. I have experienced that pain. It is not fun. It makes you get in fights for no reason with people in your life and then you have to explain that you are just over compensating because you can't actually fight Josh Smith.
I get it. I have heard the horror stories, and I believe most of them. Jamal does not play defense. He will boggle your mind with the shots he takes. He is a perennial loser. Everyone says it so much that it either has to be all true or it is one heck of an intense pigeon hole job. So I expect pain. Maybe not as much as some ex-Jamal Crawford fans would like me to believe, but I know it is there. I am aware that future agony lurks. I warned my wife.
But I also know something else about Mr. Crawford. Something people have somehow inconceivably turned into a negative. But something I am down right giddy to see. And that is Jamal Crawford going buck nutty. When anyone finds an undeniable zone on the basketball court, it is a thing of beauty to watch. If you cannot enjoy (on some level) a perfect meeting of skill and efficiency by any player, you aren't much of a fan. Even if the guy plays for the other team, you will get angry and then sad but you will end with amazement and awe. A respect for what Kobe or LeBron or whoever just did what he did.
And well, if the guy happens to be on your team, well then you can skip right over respect and awe and move right to buck nutty yourself. Watching a guy that cannot be stopped is an excitement that builds on itself until the the frenzy is so intense you almost become a part of the action yourself. The shots become your shots. You relive them and talk about them. And the celebration actually becomes more than you. It is a whole arena of crazy. And to think that Crawford has it in him to give us that experience every time he walks out on the court is almost beyond exciting. But since that is the name of this list, we will go with exciting, like the 8th most exciting thing.