Ranking every Utah Jazz player by how impactful they can be this year
By Chad Porto
3. Jordan Clarkson
Speaking of the second-best scorer, have we talked about Jordan Clarkson? Clarkson, as we’ve mentioned before, is Collin Sexton’s final evolution. As with Sexton, Clarkson really only does one thing very well; sore. But unlike Sexton who doesn’t shoot many threes or has spells where he’s inconsistent, Clarkson does in fact shoot threes and hardly ever has a long cold snap.
Clarkson shouldn’t shoot many threes, admittedly, he’s barely a career 34% shooter from behind the arc, but he at least has the confidence to take a bunch every game. It’s not what anyone wants (besides Clarkson) but he’s at least willing to do it. That’s more than we can say about Sexton most nights.
So yes, Clarkson isn’t elite from three, but he is from inside the arc. He’s a career 51% from inside the three-point line and it shows, namely in last year’s Sixth Man of the Year Award. He can be a genuine difference-maker on offense. If he’s able to play solid defense, which would be a year-to-year improvement for Clarkson, then the Jazz may even see Clarkson make the All-Star team in 2024.
Even if he doesn’t play great defense, at least he can still rebound at a high rate for you, as he can average nearly four rebounds per-game. And that’s something a lot of shorter guards can’t do in the league. So Clarkson has a lot more assets to bring to the table compared to someone like Sexton.
Wouldn’t have him leading the offense, however, as he turns over the ball to the rate of 1.3:1.