Lakers Training Camp: Luke Walton Praises Jordan Clarkson’s Defense
By Eric Yee
Jordan Clarkson knows that he needs to improve defensively to make strides during his third season with the Los Angeles Lakers and he appears to be doing just that
Of the many interesting storylines that came out of the Lakers’ Media Day on Monday, the thing that immediately stood out was the team’s insistence that defense will be a top priority this season.
Of course, every player on every team says that to start the season every year, but without even being prompted, a decent amount of players brought up defense.
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There was D’Angelo Russell candidly telling reporters that he actually talked about defense while in the bathroom with Julius Randle but Jordan Clarkson’s comments about “sucking” on that end of the floor were the most interesting of the bunch.
"I sucked defensively last year. No lie. The proof is in the numbers. . . I worked on it a lot this summer, watched a lot of film. And a lot of the stuff comes down to angles, you know, close outs or not being in the right place on a drive or a tag in the pick and roll situation.A lot of all that stuff is timing and footwork and everything. So just being in the right places and keeping guys in front of you is one of the things I’m trying to grow at"
This isn’t the first time Clarkson has said something of this sort about his efforts on D, but now hearing him talk about it, and more importantly, what he’s doing to improve is much different from last year.
As they say, “admission is the first step to recovery.”
Admittedly making mistakes in the first day of training camp, Luke Walton went on the record to say that Clarkson has, “been very impressive so far,” on the defensive end of the ball.
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On top of his inconsistent jump shot, the main critique of Clarkson was his inefficiency on defense so to see him taking the criticism to heart speaks to his character, something that will assuredly pay dividends come regular season.