Jamal Crawford knows he has big — and stylish — shoes to fill, but the former Knicks guard is excited for his new role as a game analyst on MSG Network subbing for Clyde Frazier beginning with Wednesday’s contest in Phoenix.
Crawford, whose nine NBA teams included a five-year stint with the Knicks from 2004-08, is expected to call around 10 games in place of Frazier this season, beginning with the first three of the team’s five-game road trip against the Suns, Jazz and Nuggets.
“Obviously, the Knicks for me have always been family, so I’ve always stayed connected and in touch with the people there,” Crawford said Tuesday in a conference call with two area newspapers. “It was their idea … I think they may have seen it even before I saw it, that I could do a pretty job, so I’m excited about it.
“Obviously, nobody, nobody, nobody is Walt/Clyde. He is one of one, whether it’s ‘moving and grooving’ or any one of his sayings. He’s a treasure. So just happy to sub in for him and have some fun with it.”
The 79-year-old Frazier — a member of the Hall of Fame as both a player and broadcaster — intends to pare back his travel schedule this season.
“He was calling games way before I was playing, but I remember some of his sayings. And I would go back and watch [replays of] the games when I was playing just to hear what he said,” Crawford said. “You can’t duplicate him. You can’t try to create something like that, you just have to be yourself. Because he’s obviously somebody that we all look up to. He’s the GOAT when it comes to analysts working with [one] team. So I’m not gonna try to be him, because I can’t. But I’ll just go and have fun and be ready to work.”
Crawford, a three-time NBA Sixth Man of the Year who retired in 2020 following a 20-year NBA career, worked in recent seasons both as a game analyst and in the studio for TNT.
When asked if he hopes to expand his role with MSG if/when Frazier cuts back his schedule further or eventually retires, the 44-year-old Crawford added that he’s “not looking at it that far” and is “just happy to be in the mix.”
As for this year’s squad with new starters Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges, Crawford believes the Knicks have started to gain some cohesiveness with three straight wins following a slow 5-6 start.
“Stuff like that takes time. Obviously we’re in the first month of the season, and they’ll be a different team a month from now, I think in a good way, obviously as they get more familiar,” Crawford said. “It sounds good on paper, but you have to work through it and it takes time, but I have no doubt toward the end of their season they’ll hit their stride.
“I think the sky’s the limit for them. I don’t want to put any pressure on them, but I think when they’re right and they’re gelling and hitting on all cylinders, I think they can be as good as anybody in the East.”