Celtics Trade Rumors: Boston Must Stay Away from Jamal Crawford

Jamal Crawford turns every team he joins to garbage.

Crawford himself is an exciting individual player with a deadly crossover move and a dead-eye jumper, but nearly every single team he has played for has finished near the bottom of the league.

Yet somehow, teams still want him. The Boston Celtics are exploring trade options in hopes of acquiring the veteran shooting guard from the Portland Trail Blazers, according to CSNNW.com. An excerpt from the report reads: 

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"The Portland Trail Blazers are fielding trade offers for guard Jamal Crawford and the Philadelphia 76ers, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Boston Celtics are among the teams actively pursuing the scoring specialist intensely, a league source tells CSNNW.com."

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Crawford is a guy that the Celtics need to stay away from at all costs. Over the course of his NBA career, Crawford's teams have compiled a record of 355-595, good for a deplorable .374 winning percentage.

Yes, the Celtics are getting old and are going to need a player to shoulder some of the scoring load, but Crawford is the antithesis of what they want.

Doc Rivers has worked hard to bring in guys who will play for the team and not for themselves. I'm not saying Crawford is selfish, but he's still in the process of learning what the word "pass" means.

Crawford has averaged a respectable 15.3 points per game since he broke into the league, but he has taken 13.1 shots to get to that number.

A deal for Crawford would presumably involve Boston sending one of both of their draft picks at No. 21 or No. 22. Trading draft picks for a 32-year-old shooting guard with a lifetime field goal percentage of 40.8 doesn't make much sense.

There are plenty of better options on the free-agent market that would better fill the Celtics' needs like O.J. Mayo, Randy Foye or Lou Williams. 

The last thing Rivers and his "Ubuntu" philosophy needs on the Celtics is a disgruntled Crawford on the bench because he's not getting enough touches during the game.

Crawford doesn't have a history of problems with his teammates, nor does he have a bad reputation among coaches in the league, but he's not a good fit for the Celtics. In order to be effective, Crawford needs to take plenty of shots.

There are other guys out there that Danny Ainge and the Celtics should wait on before they make a desperate bid for Crawford.