Tourney Star Jordan Crawford Declares for Draft (Via His Mother)

After the news that Daniel Orton’s dad outed his son’s intent to enter the NBA draft, we’ve got another case of a parent making an announcement.

The image above is from Sylvia Crawford’s Facebook page, who is the mother of Xavier star Jordan Crawford. While Jordan Crawford hasn’t taken to Twitter to debunk it in the manner Orton did, we’ve still got no word as to whether he’s hiring an agent or keeping his options open. (UPDATE: Crawford has not hired an agent. He’ll make that decision after getting feedback from NBA personnel, according to the Enquirer.) Who knew that when all of these athletes jumped onto Twitter and Facebook that it would be the parents doing all the news breaking?

As for Crawford’s potential as a pro, I imagine some team will snag him in the first round. Watch his tape from the NCAA Tournament, and really the late part of the season, to find a guy worthy of a first-round pick. Teams need look no further than someone like Marcus Thornton for the kind of player Crawford could be at the next level. Crawford put up 20.5 points, 4.7 boards and 2.9 assists on 46.2 percent from the field and 39.1 percent from 3-point range. Compare that to Thornton -- who had 21.1, 5.5, 2.1, 47.2/38.8 in his final season at LSU -- and you see the recipe for success. Thornton was the No. 21 pick in last year’s draft and has paid off nicely for the Hornets, averaging 14 points and 2.9 boards. I’m sure a lot of teams in the back half of the first round could use that kind of production.

With the annual college hoops exodus beginning, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few more stars making their decisions known through parents before the deadline.

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