Lakers Rumors: If the team trades back in the draft, who will they pick?

Brandon Clarke is gifted physically but has the work ethic to be a great player

Brandon Clarke transferred from San Jose State with a plan to get where he is today. He knew at Gonzaga they were winners and coached their players to get to the next level. Gonzaga has built their program over the years through hard work and steady improvement.

Gonzaga has gone from a mid-major over the years to one of the elite programs in the country while Clarke has gone from a limited basketball player to a possible lottery pick.

In his lone season in Gonzaga, Brandon Clarke led the nation in shooting percentage at 69.4% while averaging 16.9 points and 8.6 rebounds. He also led the nation in blocked shots with 117. What’s amazing is that he also missed only 117 shots for the entire season. Find anyone in the nation for the last ten years that can make that claim.

He’s doing this by not giving up on plays.

https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/1111429795152224257

If the Lakers are on the fast break, one thing the fans and coaching staff don’t have to worry about is Clarke not running the floor and following up on possible misses. Like in the play above, he’s running the floor hard and not assuming his teammate would hit the layup. If the Lakers don’t draft Clarke, they may want to box out if he is on the floor.

Brandon Clarke closed his career at Gonzaga as a third-team All-American. Adding to his accomplishments, he was the West Coast Conference defensive player of the year and first team All-Conference player and newcomer of the year.

In short, the man can play this game. But in the analytics age, many scouts don’t rave over what players can do, they focus on what they can’t do. Here’s what keeping Brandon Clarke out of the top-5 in the draft.