June 29, 2018

Jordan Clarkson
PG/SG - 6’5, 194lbs – 26 years old - 4 years of experience

In 53 games for the Lakers, Clarkson came in, dribbled it about a lot, looked to score, put up a lot of mid-range jumpers off of the dribble and three-pointers off of the catch, and certainly showed himself to be as offensively aggressive as ever.

In 28 regular season games plus playoffs for the Cavaliers, he did much the same, except even more inconsistently.

To begin with, Clarkson was making the threes and became a key bench scorer for the team. An effective shooter to play alongside LeBron and a decent-enough creator to try and pick up some of the slack when he was out, Clarkson’s activity was a virtue, and his ability to create most welcome.

In the playoffs, however, Clarkson became pretty much unplayable by the end. In never, ever, ever, ever passing, he became little surprise to a defence that knew what he going to do; in missing the majority of the resulting shots, the defence was more than willing to let him do it. Considering he played similarly energetically but not smartly on defence, Clarkson became a distinct net negative on the court, reliable only in his ineffectiveness.

He can turn it around, but that means passing up shots and actually harnessing this agility/handle to do the right things. No signs of that this year.

Player Plan: Two years and $25,937,500 remaining. There is no trade value there. Hopefully he is filler for something bigger.

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June 29, 2017

Jordan Clarkson
PG/SG, 6’5, 194lbs, 25 years old, 3 years of experience

Clarkson is not playing like the stand-out, surprise rookie that he once was. He can still get inside the line through his athleticism, a good handle that allows him to change direction quickly and with a variety of hesitation dribbles, yet he is more often choosing not to, instead putting up outside shots, at which he is not that good. More importantly, when he does get into the paint, he is not using the collapsed defences to pass as well or as often as he did as a rookie. The inconsistency in offensive results is flanked by a consistently low defensive IQ, and the player who looked as recently as two years ago to be a significant piece for the future now looks more like a tradeable sixth man.

Player Plan: Three years and $37.5 million remaining. Needs to bounce back as a player, then possibly be moved to facilitate cap space aspirations. Then again, he also might pair well with Ball and be worth keeping around.

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