While Crawford wins, teams left behind still struggling

Most likely, nobody will pop a cork in his honor, or carry him off the court on their shoulders, or throw a party. You'd think Jamal Crawford deserves at least a group hug if nothing else when his misery finally comes to an end.

In the next day or two, he should officially qualify for the playoffs for the first time in his 10-year career, after 660-plus games, easily the longest active streak in the NBA. And he'll have a one-word reaction.

"Relief," he said.

Indeed. If there was ever a one-man version of the Clippers, it's Crawford, who didn't have the pleasure of playing for the Clips but knows the feeling anyway. Before joining the Hawks this season, he toiled for three teams that went nowhere. He played for nine head coaches. He never played on a winning team. The most wins he ever experienced in a single season was 33. The most losses? Sixty-seven.

Each stop was a dead-end, another rebuilding process, an exercise in frustration, and no postseason payoff for the trouble. He endured hostile home arenas, a smirking media, front-office turmoil, public apathy and poor locker room morale. Strangely enough, Crawford was never the cause for any of it. He was mainly an innocent bystander, someone who did his job, wore the uniform proudly, never complained and was generally well-regarded by fans, his coaches and teammates.

Put it this way: The Bulls, Knicks and Warriors don't have bitter memories of Crawford. Not at all. If anything, given how he's put himself in position for the Sixth Man of the Year Award this season with the Hawks, those teams are jealous. Sadly, while Crawford has clearly moved on to bigger and better things, the teams he left behind are still feeling left out. One of his former teams currently sits on a ledge and can go in either direction. Another is banking on free agents this summer, and his last team before joining the Hawks is up for sale. An assessment:

Bulls. Easily, Crawford arrived in Chicago at the lowest point in franchise history. How's that for timing? The Bulls grabbed him in a Draft-day trade with the Cavs and figured he'd help advance the franchise beyond the championship era. Jerry Krause promised a solid rebuilding process without the help of Michael Jordan, but the Baby Bulls didn't exactly follow the blueprint. They'd won only 30 games combined the previous two seasons under Tim Floyd, the replacement for Phil Jackson, and gave Elton Brand the boot in order to bank on Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler.

It became a big mess. Crawford won only 15 games as a rookie and Floyd was gone the following winter. Curry and Chandler were raw, both straight out of high school, and not very compatible. As for Crawford, he developed bad habits with shot selection, although he eventually became a dependable scorer and fun to watch.

After Crawford: The Bulls enjoyed a sliver of sunshine under Scott Skiles, and took the Celtics to the seven-game playoff limit last spring under Vinny Del Negro. But after losing Ben Gordon to free agency, they're still looking for a co-star for Derrick Rose and never found a groove this season.

Knicks. Crawford was enlisted to give Stephon Marbury help in the backcourt and while Crawford shot below 40 percent, he did average more than 17 points a game and hit some big buckets. But the Knicks were unraveling from the top of the organization down. They disintegrated the following season when Lenny Wilkens was fired, then again in Larry Brown's only season in New York. Crawford was about the only entertainment value the Knicks had, and two years ago delivered his best season ever, getting 20.6 points while the Knicks bottomed out at 23 wins.

After Crawford: The Knicks began trimming the fat, except for Curry, whose contract has made him almost impossible to move. The priority was clearing cap space for free agents in 2010, a plan that, while sensible, doesn't guarantee the Knicks a glamorous signature this summer.

Warriors. They dumped an unhappy Al Harrington for good-guy Crawford, who blended right in with Don Nelson's up-tempo style. Problem was, the Warriors couldn't recapture the magic they had the previous spring, when they enjoyed a first-round buzz in the playoffs. Crawford's time in the Bay Area was short, just a half-season. But it felt like a full-season, if you get the drift.

After Crawford: The Warriors drafted Stephen Curry and he seems like a budding star. And that's about the only good news for a franchise that's had one winning season since 1994. If the Knicks had the worst decade in basketball, the Warriors were No. 2. Or perhaps the order should be flipped. Crawford was on both teams; maybe he can declare the winner. Owner Chris Cohan put the team up for sale on Monday and software billionaire Larry Ellison, whose company name (Oracle) is on Golden State's arena, is willing to listen.