Utah Jazz: Midseason grades for Jordan Clarkson

Defense

This was another area I was worried about when the Jazz acquired Clarkson. Playing for bad teams with bad defenses while being known as a scoring guard doesn’t bode well for defensive chops.

Jabari Parker is an example of an NBA player that nearly got washed out of the league for over-relying on his scoring and not playing defense. In an interview on the radio when he first got to Chicago, he said “they don’t pay players to play defense”.

On the other hand, Lou Williams and Kemba Walker are undersized guards that are known for their scoring. They’ve been able to hide their defensive deficiencies by playing on good teams and putting forth the effort.

Since joining the Jazz, Clarkson has fit the mold of the latter two players. He’s deceptively long and quick, standing at 6-foot-5 with a 6-foot-10 wingspan. In a lot of ways, he’s just as good as Exum was as far as physical tools go.

When Jordan sits, the Jazz defense is six points per 100 possessions better as opposed to when he plays, and the team gets more steals, blocks, and stops with him on the bench.

I would be a little worried about Clarkson playing extended minutes if he had to fill in for an injured Donovan Mitchell due to the defensive drop-off, but as a spark plug off the bench Clarkson gets a pass.

Grade: C+