Jordan Clarkson: The Dilemma

The Rise And Rebirth Of A Rebel

Last year’s 2nd round pick Jordan Clarkson defied the odds to earn a starting role on this Lakers team but he still has ways to go if he wants to become an All-Star one day.

Clarkson is a tremendous talent and competes at a high level on both ends of the court. He is putting up pretty solid numbers in only his second season with the Lakers.

Clarkson is averaging 15 point per game, four rebounds, two assists and a steal per game.

However, I do have my concerns about his play on the offensive end — predominantly, at times, he is very selfish when he has the ball in his hands.

For example, against the world champion Golden State Warriors, Clarkson went through two straight offensive possessions not passing the ball at all.

That’s unacceptable, due to him being the starting point guard right now.

To put that in perspective, in 36 minutes Clarkson threw up 17 shoots and recorded one assist.

That’s not winning basketball from your starting point guard and whomever think its winning basketball than they need to see a basketball doctor quick.

As a matter of fact, the last five games Clarkson has a total of 10 assists, 79 shots attempted and all of that in 181 total minutes.

Additionally, I wouldn’t mind those numbers if Clarkson was playing the shooting guard position and D’Angelo Russell was starting the point guard.

But that’s not the case.

Clarkson has been the starting point guard for over a month now and since the lineup change he is averaging an anemic 2.7 assist per game.

Lets compare that to the New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony, he is known for being a ball hog but he is averaging 3.8 assist per game and that’s one whole assist more than Clarkson.

Let that sink in.

Don’t get me wrong, Clarkson is a really good player and I love watching him play, but I would like to see him create more offense for other players instead of trying to score all the time.

Nevertheless, I don’t put most of the blame on Clarkson. I also blame coach Byron Scott for playing him at point guard when he really should be playing the shooting guard position.

Also, the style of offense is terrible for his style of play, its too many isolation plays and not enough ball movement.

I’ve always said I want Clarkson to be more Klay Thompson than Monta Ellis, and thus far I see more Monta Ellis in him than Thompson.

And its not a bad thing — Ellis is a border-line All-Star, but that style of play doesn’t work with a ball dominant point guard like D’Angelo Russell.

At the end of day, I hope Clarkson thrives with the Lakers and continues to play aggressive on both ends of the court. But also create easier shots for his teammates on the court as well.

With that being said, Clarkson needs more time playing shooting guard with Russell playing the point for things to improve going forward.