Cleveland Cavaliers: Jordan Clarkson Isn’t The Ideal Player For This Team
Image Source: Jason Miller/Getty Images North America
Jordan Clarkson isn’t the face of the Cleveland Cavaliers rebuild. While he’s one of the team’s best scorers, there’s not much the 5th year guard can offer the team for the future. Some may disagree, others know this to be true. Whatever your stance, the writing is on the wall for Clarkson.
Let’s set the record straight on Clarkson. He’s a solid NBA scorer. Yet, there seems to be no real motivation to get his teammates involved at all. He’s obviously a shoot-first guard. And with that means he’s going to think about the shot before he passes.
For all intents and purposes, Clarkson can pass the ball when he wants to. During the Cavaliers last 4 games, the 26-year-old has had 3 games of 4 assists. That’s not too impressive considering some of the other gaudy assist totals in the NBA, but for someone like Clarkson, that’s not bad.
Here’s where the play of Clarkson gets you. He’ll take more than his fair share of shots, not getting teammates involved as much as he can.
Over the Cleveland Cavaliers last 5 games, 4 of those saw Clarkson shoot over 15 shots. Again, not too bad considering the totals of players like James Harden, but the Cavs are a rebuilding roster. You don’t need Clarkson going out and shooting shots for his own personal gain.
One thing that’ll drive you nuts about Clarkson is his decision making on offense. There are just way too many times he’s gotten the ball with 20 seconds on the shot clock and shoots it from three. Another Clarkson specialty is to receive the ball and dribble or hold it until the last second. This will then lead to a poor shot.
Again, I’ll give credit where it’s due. A lot of those shots go in. Although, as sad as it is to say, the Cleveland Cavaliers aren’t trying to win. There needs to be more development of the young guys. Having him take poor shots doesn’t help the team improve, it just adds to his ( I’m going to say it again) personal gain.
In no way is Jordan Clarkson a bad player. Yet, his tendencies have rubbed off on Colin Sexton, the Cavaliers 2018 1st round pick. Sexton, who was a scoring guard in college, doesn’t seem to have a knack for finding the open teammate either. There’s a lot of him doing the same standing or dribbling Clarkson does.
The addition of Matthew Dellavedova has given a bit of consistency to the Cavs offense. There’s a lot more ball movement. Delly is the type of player Sexton needs to learn from, not Clarkson. There are too many bad habits the rookie will develop with Clarkson teaching him the way of the point guard position.
It’s highly unlikely the Cavs trade Clarkson this season. He’s still got a year left on his contract after this one. His status in Cleveland is unclear after that. There will probably be a major push to keep him by the Cavs front office. They see the point total’s and forget how much of a headache he is to the roster. However, once Kevin Love returns, we really don’t know what the role of Clarkson will be. (Although, we might see Love traded at in the off-season.)
For the time being, Jordan Clarkson is a Cleveland Cavalier. He’s the best scorer the team has. Unlike guard Rodney Hood, who’s not playing aggressive enough, Clarkson wants to score the ball. That’s fine, but make it more of an effort to do within the offense. He can’t go rogue and do his own thing. If Clarkson can be more of a team player you need to keep him around. Sadly, it’s hard to see that happening anytime soon.
Image Source: Jason Miller/Getty Images North America
Daniel is a guru of baseball and basketball prospects. He’s a very experienced Amusement Park traveler as well. Follow him and his hot takes on Insta @dgentleman9288
