Along the sidelines during Wednesday’s home opener, I couldn’t help notice a man in a dark suit on his feet in the huddle, constantly talking to the players during timeouts, getting in their ears, even gathering them around him as they waited by the scorer’s table for an extra-long TV timeout to end.
It wasn’t a coach. Or a long time teammate.
That animated talker was 18-year vet Jamal Crawford who’d just signed his one-year, league-minimum deal with the Suns earlier that day and wasn’t active in time for the opener.
“I want to be out there with the guys,” Crawford said.