Barber: The free agent Warriors should consider

NBA free agency begins Sunday, when teams and players are allowed to enter into verbal agreements. (Presumably, they have been communicating nonverbally for weeks, through winks and hand signals.) That means Warriors general manager Bob Myers has about four days to memorize the appropriate phone numbers.

There are some digits I’d like Myers to consider. They belong to Jamal Crawford.

Crawford would give the Warriors one of the few things they have lacked for at least three years: a big-time scorer off the bench.

The team’s mantra for several seasons has been “Strength in Numbers,” which also can be phrased as, “Never mind our four All-Stars, we win because of Leandro Barbosa!” And to be fair, the Golden State bench has been a strength during this run of four consecutive trips to the NBA Finals. The Warriors’ reserves have provided leadership, stability, defense, ball handling and passing. But not a ton of scoring.

The last viable substitute scorer to play for the Warriors was Marreese Speights in 2014-15. He averaged 10.4 points off the bench that year; no one since has averaged more than 8. Speights’ touch fell off in 2015-16, and they have never refilled that niche.

A year ago, it looked like Nick Young would be the designated bench scorer. But he was way too inconsistent.

Now Jamal Crawford is available. He reportedly has opted out of the final year of his contract with the Timberwolves (as first reported by Yahoo! Sports), and will be a free agent next week. Crawford was just selected as the NBA’s Teammate of the Year. Wouldn’t it be fun to see him in blue and gold in November?

Granted, there are reasons to dump ice on this simmering idea. First among them is that Crawford is 38 years old. He’s five months older than David West, who is considered the Warriors’ resident graybeard and is currently pondering retirement.

A related point: Crawford averaged just 20.7 minutes (lowest since his rookie year) and 10.3 points (lowest since his second season) in 2017-18, numbers that don’t separate him from a lot of solid backups.

But does that say more about Crawford or about the disjointed Timberwolves? If you look more closely at Crawford’s numbers, the scoring punch is still there. He averaged 17.9 points per 36 minutes, right around his career average, and 24.9 points per 100 possessions, about one point shy of his career mark. Crawford has been filling baskets for as long as anyone can remember, and he isn’t done yet.

OK, here’s another reason to be lukewarm on Crawford: Quinn Cook. The guy got an opportunity last season while Stephen Curry battled injuries, and proved to be a more dynamic scorer than anyone had suspected. Cook, who is only 25 years old, played postseason minutes for the Warriors and deserves to return in 2018-19.

That said, he hasn’t proved than he can score off the bench. Cook had 30-, 28- and 25-point games for Golden State last year, but they all came as a starter, during Curry’s absence. His biggest output as a reserve was 13 points, and that came the night Curry returned from an ankle injury, played 22 minutes and promptly sprained his MCL.

Crawford, meanwhile, had six games of 20-plus points in the 2017-18 regular season. The last game he played for Minnesota was a series-clinching loss at Houston in the first round of the playoffs. Crawford scored 20 in that one, on 8-of-10 shooting. The old man still does what he does.

The biggest impediment to signing Crawford has nothing to do with his longevity or his skill level, though. It’s about money. The Warriors – specifically, co-owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber – have a lot of dough. But they have a lot of rising expenditures, too, and Myers has been busy shouting that he won’t have an unlimited checkbook this summer.

The NBA luxury tax is expected to kick in when a team’s payroll reaches $123 million this year, and the tax rate grows incrementally at each $5 million milepost after that. The Warriors are almost certain to pay some tax. The question is how deeply Lacob, the more active co-owner, wants to wade into that territory.

As The Athletic’s Anthony Slater reported Tuesday, Myers isn’t even sure the Warriors will fill their mid-level exception in 2018-19, an acquisition that would cost them $5.3 million in pre-tax dollars. Crawford was slated to make about $4.5 million in Minnesota this year, and he opted out. Seems like he wouldn’t take less than that to play for the Warriors, but who knows. They do have their powers of persuasion.

Despite Myers’ warnings, it would be no surprise to see Lacob rubber-stamp some substantial luxury-tax money. He’s as competitive as his players, and he’s a risk taker. If the Warriors can find a difference maker at mid-market rate, they’ll pursue him.

And it would make sense for that guy to be a scorer off the bench.

I was reminded of this during the recent Western Conference final series, as the Houston Rockets pushed the Warriors to the brink. On paper, Golden State was the better team. But the Rockets had one thing the Warriors didn’t: an instant-offense backup in Eric Gordon.

In Houston’s three wins in that series, Gordon averaged 22.7 points, all off the bench. In Game 3, he hit 8 of 15 shots (including 6 of 9 from 3-point range), scored 27 points and finished +29. He might have been the MVP of the game, a 127-105 drubbing by the Rockets. The Warriors had no one to keep pace.

As coach Steve Kerr has said before, and rightly so, it can be misleading to talk about bench points, because starters like Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant frequently play with the second team after the rotations get flowing. But there is something to be said for the non-starter who comes in and immediately primes the pump. It’s a different mindset, and not every player has it. Ask Pistons fans who used to watch Vinnie Johnson, or Bulls fans who used to watch Toni Kukoc or Spurs fans who are still watching Manu Ginobili.

Ask anyone who has ever watched Jamal Crawford. Or just listen to Draymond Green’s mom.

Replying to someone on Twitter last week, Mary Babers-Green said of Crawford: “The Warriors should add him. I know they are going younger but he would be a great bench guy!”

Myers turned Green into a de facto scout during this year’s draft process. He should do the same for Babers-Green during free agency. She knows a brilliant bench scorer when she sees one.

and is considering retirement.

A related point: Crawford averaged just 20.7 minutes (lowest since his rookie year) and 10.3 points (lowest since his second season) in 2017-18, numbers that don’t separate him from a lot of solid backups.

But does that say more about Crawford or about the disjointed Timberwolves? If you look more closely at Crawford’s numbers, the scoring punch is still there. He averaged 17.9 points per 36 minutes, right around his career average, and 24.9 points per 100 possessions, about one point shy of his career mark. Crawford has been filling baskets for as long as anyone can remember, and he isn’t done yet.

OK, here’s another reason to be lukewarm on Crawford: Quinn Cook. The guy got an opportunity last season while Stephen Curry battled injuries, and proved to be a more dynamic scorer than anyone had suspected. Cook, who is only 25 years old, played postseason minutes for the Warriors and deserves to return in 2018-19.

That said, he hasn’t proved than he can score off the bench. Cook had 30-, 28- and 25-point games for Golden State last year, but they all came as a starter, during Curry’s absence. His biggest output as a reserve was 13 points, and that came the night Curry returned from an ankle injury, played 22 minutes and promptly sprained his MCL.

Crawford, meanwhile, had six games of 20-plus points in the 2017-18 regular season. The last game he played for Minnesota was a series-clinching loss at Houston in the first round of the playoffs. Crawford scored 20 in that one, on 8-of-10 shooting. The old man still does what he does.

The biggest impediment to signing Crawford has nothing to do with his longevity or his skill level, though. It’s about money. The Warriors - specifically, co-owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber - have a lot of dough. But they have a lot of rising expenditures, too, and Myers has been busy shouting that he won’t have an unlimited checkbook this summer.

The NBA luxury tax is expected to kick in when a team’s payroll reaches $123 million this year, and the tax rate grows incrementally at each $5 million milepost after that. The Warriors are almost certain to pay some tax. The question is how deeply Lacob, the more active co-owner, wants to wade into that territory.

As The Athletic’s Anthony Slater reported Tuesday, Myers isn’t even sure the Warriors will fill their mid-level exception in 2018-19, an acquisition that would cost them $5.3 million in pre-tax dollars. Crawford was slated to make about $4.5 million in Minnesota this year, and he opted out. Seems like he wouldn’t take less than that to play for the Warriors, but who knows. They do have their powers of persuasion.

Despite Myers’ warnings, it would be no surprise to see Lacob rubber-stamp some substantial luxury-tax money. He’s as competitive as his players, and he’s a risk taker. If the Warriors can find a difference maker at mid-market rate, they’ll pursue him.

And it would make sense for that guy to be a scorer off the bench.

I was reminded of this during the recent Western Conference final series, as the Houston Rockets pushed the Warriors to the brink. On paper, Golden State was the better team. But the Rockets had one thing the Warriors didn’t: an instant-offense backup in Eric Gordon.

In Houston’s three wins in that series, Gordon averaged 22.7 points, all off the bench. In Game 3, he hit 8 of 15 shots (including 6 of 9 from 3-point range), scored 27 points and finished plus-29. He might have been the MVP of the game, a 127-105 drubbing by the Rockets. The Warriors had no one to keep pace.

As coach Steve Kerr has said before, and rightly so, it can be misleading to talk about bench points, because starters like Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant frequently play with the second team after the rotations get flowing. But there is something to be said for the non-starter who comes in and immediately primes the pump. It’s a different mindset, and not every player has it. Ask Pistons fans who used to watch Vinnie Johnson, or Bulls fans who used to watch Toni Kukoc or Spurs fans who are still watching Manu Ginobili.

Ask anyone who has ever watched Jamal Crawford. Or just listen to Draymond Green’s mom.

Replying to someone on Twitter last week, Mary Babers-Green said of Crawford: “The Warriors should add him. I know they are going younger but he would be a great bench guy!”

Myers turned Green into a de facto scout during this year’s draft process. He should do the same for Babers-Green during free agency. She knows a brilliant bench scorer when she sees one.