Jordan Clarkson: 'I've Got a Chip on My Shoulder' Heading into Next Season Matt Slocum/Associated Press 33.4K Reads 43 Comments LOS ANGELES — In some respects, Jordan Clarkson has already arrived. The 23-year-old University of Missouri product earned first-team All-Rookie honors last season while bringing hope to forlorn fans of the Los Angeles Lakers. He's spent the summer touring around Asia, including a week-and-a-half in the Philippines (his mother is half Filipino) and working out with longtime trainer Drew Hanlen, whose growing list of clientele is littered with the NBA's elite. But in so many other ways, Clarkson is still climbing uphill. The Lakers, fresh off of their worst campaign in franchise history, spent the offseason loading up on competition for Clarkson's spot. There's D'Angelo Russell, the No. 2 pick in the 2015 draft and soon-to-be-christened savior of the team's future. There's Lou Williams, the reigning Sixth Man of the Year. There's Marcelo Huertas, the Brazilian maestro who left behind a lucrative career in Europe to take his shot at the NBA. And, of course, there's Kobe Bryant, who got the green light to play again after three straight season-ending injuries ahead of what could be his swan song. Not to mention Jabari Brown, Clarkson's college teammate who came on strong for the Lakers down the stretch in 2014-15. The Lakers are counting on Clarkson, the No. 46 pick in 2014, to be a prominent part of their post-Kobe success, but that won't come easily. He shared a backcourt with Russell at the Las Vegas Summer League to uneven effect; the team lost four of its five games, and neither Clarkson nor Russell performed at a consistently high level. Lakers Backcourt at Las Vegas Summer League Mins Pts Rebs Ast TO FG% 3P% Clarkson 32.4 16.8 3.6 2.0 1.8 0.413 0.238 Russell 30.0 11.8 5.2 3.2 5.2 0.377 0.118 NBA.com Since then, Clarkson has seen his prospects of playing for Gilas Pilipinas at the FIBA Asia Championship fall victim to paperwork problems. In addition, his former agency severed its relationship with him, with restricted free agency awaiting him next July. "I’ve got a chip on my shoulder in terms of everything that’s happened this summer and even me getting drafted," Clarkson told Bleacher Report after a recent workout in Los Angeles. Considering where the Lakers are coming from and where they hope to go, that's exactly what they'd want to hear from a potential cornerstone who's come so far in such a short span of time. Clarkson came to the game later than most who have set foot in the NBA. For much of his youth, he'd been a budding track star in San Antonio. Not until his freshman year at Wagner High School did Clarkson kick his basketball career into gear, behind the blinding speed that's become his greatest on-court asset. He took to hoops quickly enough to earn a scholarship to the University of Tulsa. While with the Golden Hurricane, he was named to the Conference USA All-Freshman team in 2011 and played his way onto the all-conference team as a sophomore the following season. Once Tulsa fired its coach, Doug Wojcik, Clarkson took his talents to Mizzou. It was there, during his redshirt year, that he met Hanlen, a St. Louis native and former sharpshooter at Belmont University who'd been putting other Tigers players through their paces. "He would go practice with Mizzou, and after practice, he would come in the gym and get extra work," Hanlen recalled. "He jumped in a workout and then we just clicked and started working together on almost a nightly basis." In time, Hanlen helped to mold a twitchy jitterbug into a bona fide collegiate stud. Clarkson averaged 17.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists during the 2013-14 season and, for his efforts, was named to the All-SEC second team. "When I got him, I was actually really surprised how much potential he had and how much game he had, a lot more game than a lot of people expected," Hanlen said. Jeff Roberson/Associated Press Clarkson's superb performance at Mizzou pushed him into the first round of many predraft projections and, in turn, out of Columbia prior to what would have been his senior season. Come draft day 2014, though, he had to wait until the second round to hear his name called. He had to wait even longer to find out theWashington Wizards, who'd snapped him up halfway through that round, had sold his rights to the Lakers. At that point, L.A. was in disarray. The team was without a head coach (in the wake of Mike D'Antoni's resignation) and absent a healthy superstar (after Bryant's recovery from a torn Achilles gave way to another knee injury). D'Antoni's mishandling of Pau Gasol during the 2013-14 season had all but sealed the slender Spaniard's eventual exit to Chicago. Despite that discord, the Lakers had yet to hit rock bottom. They followed up a dismal 27-55 campaign with the second-fewest wins (21) and the worst winning percentage (.256) in franchise history. Clarkson missed some of that misery while biding his time on the bench and shuttling between the big club and the Lakers' NBA D-League affiliate, the D-Fenders. In the 59 games he did play, Clarkson averaged 11.9 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists—solid production for a rookie, especially one taken with the 46th pick in 2014. But unlike fellow All-Rookie first-teamers Andrew Wiggins and Elfrid Payton, Clarkson had to wait for the opportunity to show off his true talents. "We knew the Lakers had a hidden gem on the bench," said Hanlen. "We knew the opportunity would come at some point, so we just kept working." Clarkson finally got that opportunity to start in late January, after Kobe suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in New Orleans. From that point on, the rookie's contributions and game-by-game improvement took off. For the rest, click on the title to go to the article.
Cool. Although, I thought he had a fairly decent summer league showing. He proved he clearly was the best player on our summer league squad this year...
Good read. OK I think it's pretty clear now that in his young track career Jordan was a sprinter. "Speed" was indicated this time with the mentioning of, " Not until his freshman year at Wagner High School did Clarkson kick his basketball career into gear, behind the blinding speed that's become his greatest on-court asset". Safe to assume he wasn't a pole vaulter or high jumper. Yeah speed required for those, and hurdling, etc. but I'm "guessing" Jordan was a "sprinter". With a chip on his shoulder going in 2 years in a row now ..... understanding that still nothing's being handed to him by the Lakers as they keep bringing guys in and developing them that can play his positions. At the same time ... Boom! .... oh yeah haven't talked about Jordan, our 1st team All Rookie player from last season in awhile. Pick your multiple fun and exciting Lakers players' performance / stories to follow this year.
