Brandon Clarke is known as the old guy that can’t shoot
The funny thing about today’s NBA compared to decades past is teams believe the older a player is coming out college, the lower the ceiling of the player’s upside. Well, that is what Brandon Clarke will be dealing with for the next few weeks.
NBA teams drool over Barrett, Zion and Morant not only because of their talent, but they are still all teenagers. Clarke will be 23 years old by the time the season starts. Fair or not, it is considered a red flag. In past drafts, the Lakers have gone against the grain of using age as a factor by drafting Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart.
The age thing, in my opinion, is stupid, but Brandon Clarke’s jump shot cannot be ignored. His workouts show that his jumper is improving.
Brandon Clarke 100 percent from the corner pic.twitter.com/XtahE6BB9u
— Chris Kirschner (@ChrisKirschner) May 31, 2019
But watching video only shows the work that he’s put in. Overall, his jumper needs a ton of work. Something that Clarke realizes and will address.
"“I’ve been shooting it really well from the NBA 3 line,” he says. “And now I feel like I can make every midrange shot I take. I’m looking forward to having these shots become better weapons for me.”"
That’s for the NBA teams to decide. In college, Brandon Clarke really had to make adjustments with his form to become a better shooter. Even then, it’s not like he tried to shoot 3-point shots in college.
At San Jose State, he only shot nine times in two years. He hit two of them. At Gonzaga, he took 15 shots from deep and knocked down 26.7 percent. These numbers do not inspire confidence.
His free throw shooting has improved, but at 69 percent, Lakers fans are not ready to put up with more woeful shooting from the charity stripe.