You’ve seen players like Jordan Clarkson before. They are the forgotten ones on draft night. Overlooked and downgraded, their talent is marginalized as they enter the NBA through the back channels. With nothing to lose and everything to gain, they use their demotion the same way they use their athleticism. With ease they explode to the rim, absorbing contact as they finish. It reminds everyone: I was a second round pick who should have gone in the first round. Then they sink successive jumpers with an I-told-you-so expression. As if to prove a point about hunger and pride, they play basketball all summer long, blending in all over the world. First in Las Vegas with other rookies. Then in a tournament in Spain. Now in training camp.
Mar 13, 2014; Atlanta, GA, USA; Missouri Tigers guard Jordan Clarkson (5) brings the ball up the court against the Texas A&M Aggies in the second round of the SEC college basketball tournament at Georgia Dome. Mandatory Credit: Paul Abell-USA TODAY Sports
You’ve seen players like Jordan Clarkson fill other teams’ rosters and kill the Lakers by getting to the rim uninhibited. In response, the Lakers have had no answer for the dynamic combo guard, either on offense or defense, other than to be a repository for the pain meted out to them. In their defense, the Lakers have drafted explosiveness but it has always fallen through. Javaris Crittendon is now on trial for murder. Darius Morris is on his fourth team- the Portland Trailblazers.
In that sense Jordan Clarkson is familiar and at the same time he is a mystery. He is welcomed and he is making an impression. Kobe Bryant has never had a talented back up to take his place when he gets a rest which is not to say Jordan Clarkson will win that job. He’s competing with Wayne Ellington. But no one says he can’t get the job if he earns it.
Every time he’s interviewed Jordan Clarkson makes reference to a “chip” on his shoulder. That sort of edge bonds Kobe to men, the willfulness to establish your own identity. But that is not why Kobe Bryant is impressed by Jordan Clarkson. There is a pace to the game that Jordan plays with. He has a calmness as much as he has a commitment with the ball. He also has an aura of fearlessness and an intelligence. He knows how to play basketball which sounds simplistic but defines a small group of players.
A couple of days ago, during Lakers Media Day, Jordan Clarkson was asked how it felt to be one of the foundations of the Lakers future. It was an impossible question to answer for someone whose contract is not fully guaranteed, not yet. More importantly, he hasn’t proven anything. Being qualified to do a job doesn’t translate into actually doing it, especially in a men-will-shred-your-heart league like the NBA. So he answered with humility and cautiousness. He doesn’t think ahead, he said. He is focused on right now and earning minutes.
This is right now. Lakers training camp in El Segundo and guarding Kobe Bryant. There is no way Kobe’s intellect and skill, not to mention his obsessiveness and ego, would ever allow Jordan Clarkson to get the better of him, not an untested rookie. So as he continually scores on Jordan Clarkson he is also teaching Jordan Clarkson- not necessarily to be me or to beat me- but to study me.
Byron Scott notices. He has in mind a second unit that uses their athleticism to affect the game. A lineup of Jeremy Lin, Jordan Clarkson, Nick Young, Julius Randle and Ed Davis would do the trick, a tapestry of youth who can create and defend. But Byron Scott has also said that Jordan Clarkson is a rookie who still isn’t used to the speed of the game. Translation: slow down on expectations.
May 27, 2014; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) dunks against the San Antonio Spurs during the second quarter of game four of the Western Conference Finals of the 2014 NBA Playoffs at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports
Even so, it’s hard to imagine 45 rookies more talented than Jordan Clarkson. Last year at Missouri he scored 21 points against UCLA. He scored 28 points against a Kentucky team that went to the championship game. Against Kentucky he played 37 minutes and shot 64%. NBA teams are always in the hunt for scorers/slashers who can put defenses in compromising positions. Clarkson readily admits he studies how Russell Westbrook attacks the rim. He has adapted it to his own game. The same with the younger, not injured version of Deron Williams.
The tricky thing about the NBA is that young players develop in practice but they evolve in games. This is no caterpillar-butterfly thing where one dies so the other can be born. No. One feeds the other. Continuously. Practice is not enough on its own- you have to play. And playing isn’t enough to achieve, it has to be contextualized with practice.
So far, all Jordan Clarkson has done is practice defensive drills until his body is about to explode and guard Kobe Bryant. He has yet to play. That is the next step, Monday in San Diego. Then Jordan Clarkson has the first opportunity to show how wrong 45 NBA teams were when they passed him by.