The Utah Jazz had more pressing matters than replacing Jordan Clarkson after waiving him last summer. However, everyone knows they intend to build their next playoff team startingnext year, which also means looking at who on their roster should be on the team long-term. So, as it turns out, they already have Clarkson's successor on the roster: Brice Sensabaugh.
Sensabaugh has become the talk of the town lately. After making Jazz history last week, he has gone on a tear, putting up over 20 points in each of the last three games. Though his production didn't lead to any wins for Utah, it's hard not to be optimistic about what he could be, as he has had stretches like these before.
Clarkson and Sensabaugh are not the same player, as Clarkson was more of a fluid athlete that relied on his first step. Sensabaugh is craftier and stocker. Both are able to use their physical advantages, which make them tough to stop when they've got it going on. Because that's not a given every night, that's why it's easy to see how they make similar impacts when they take the floor.
How Sensabaugh could become the new Clarkson
Clarkson had a reputation for being an empty calories player when he joined the Jazz, but under Quin Snyder's tutelage, he never quite found consistency - if Clarkson was consistent, he would have started and made a few All-Star games - but he managed to turn himself into a threat that the opposition did not want to see go off on any given night.
That kind of scoring threat made the Jazz's offense dynamic because even if Clarkson's scoring performances varied on a nightly basis, when he was on his game, his scoring was both potent and affected the game's outcome. He was simply not a guy opponents could afford to let get hot at any moment because that's all it took.
Sensabaugh has to find a similar groove. Like Clarkson, he scores in bunches, and much like Clarkson during the earlier parts of his career, whether he could put up these numbers for a winning team is up in the air at the moment. If he can just take it to the level in which opponents are scared of him going off like they once were (and still are) with Clarkson when he played for Utah, that should secure Sensabaugh't spot on the Jazz for years to come.
It's also possible that Sensabaugh could be even better than Clarkson, but given the uneven season he's had overall, let's keep the bar he has to clear at Clarkson.