The book on �� Jamal Crawford - Brief Article

Michigan G, 6-6/190, freshman

Jamal Crawford is a two-slaps-to-the-forehead kind of player. He will take a shot that seems so ill-advised, you want to slap yourself ... then it goes in, and you slap yourself again in disbelief. Maybe that's why his fans wear headbands--for protection.

In a 104-97 loss to Duke, Crawford scored 27 points, raising his team-best average to 18.9 points. "It seemed like any shot for Crawford is a good shot, because they go in," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski says. "He really kind of creates shots. He's difficult to defend."

He's also a gifted and willing passer and solid shot blocker on a young, talent-laden team. But Crawford, who shares point duties with freshman Kevin Gaines, has found hoops easier than other parts of life.

Before his freshman season in high school, Crawford left Seattle and moved to Los Angeles to live with his father, Clyde. He enrolled at Dorsey High in south-central L.A. Then he made a horrible mistake.

He wore blue.

At Dorsey, the Bloods gang rules. Bloods wear red. Crips wear blue. And Crawford, 14, was labeled the enemy.

"In Seattle we don't have to worry about colors or anything," he says. He doesn't like to talk about what happened next. He says he tries to keep the harassment, the insults and the shooting of a friend "a distant memory."

When he returned to Seattle, it took some time to straighten out his grades and his life. Eventually, he was given a fifth year at Rainier Beach High through Washington's special-hardship rule.

His time in Los Angeles also made him more reserved, which made the move to Ann Arbor tough. He considered transferring, but he wouldn't let himself. In time, Crawford created a new family, including David Terrell, UM's star receiver.

"He can't do anything but trust me," Terrell says. "1 play well, I'm a big football player. There is nothing he can give me but friendship.... I grew up the same way he did. I try to talk to him and say I went through the same thing, and I'm doing good. You can make something out of your life. He's realized that now."

COPYRIGHT 1999 Sporting News Publishing Co.
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