LA LAKERS

No, seriously. More so statistically than the actual eye test, but so far Clarkson has been taking advantage of his length and above average wingspan to be a very good on-ball defender and an adequate off-ball defender.

I mention this because this hasn't been talked about here for some strange reason. A lot of basketball fans (especially on Reddit) seem to draw conclusions by using the consensus from previous seasons, which sometimes indicates that they don't watch many games. That's why on places like /r/nba, Kawhi isn't as good if it weren't for the Spurs system, Bradley Beal is an inefficient overrated chucker even when he's been lights out recently, and Wiggins somehow has "elite defensive potential" when he's pretty bad on that end. Same goes with Clarkson here. He's apparently a bad defender who can't stay in front of his man and is one of the worst defensive players on the team. Which can't be more false. Although it's acknowledged that JC has improved, almost nobody has been giving enough credit so far this season. So let's take a look statically.

Defensive FG%

This stat is exactly what is sounds like, the FG% of a opponent when a player is defending the shot. To see where he stacks up against the rest of the team.

1. Jordan Clarkson (37.1 %)

1. Brandon Ingram (44%)

2. Tarik Black (44.4%) Note: This is remarkable for his position

Percentage Points Different (DIFF%)

The difference between the normal shooting percentage of a player throughout the season and when the player is defending him. Which means a good number will be negative. Once, again team ranking.

1. Jordan Clarkkson (-8.3%)

1. Tarik Black (-3.2%)

2. Julius Randle (-2.3%)

8.3%!!!! Clarkson lowering a guy's percentage by a whole 8 points. That's amazing.

Clarkson is also 12th in the entire league in steals, leading the team. 1.81 steals per game ahead of multiple superstars.

Now one flaw people may mention is that Clarkson comes off from the bench, which means he isn't guarding the best players which alters the percentages, but Clarkson leads the team in minutes this season, and he's finished a lot of the games which means he's guarded players like Curry, Harden, Butler and Lowry. Let's say that wasn't true and all he did was guard third string players. Those numbers would still be impressive. The fact that he almost plays 30 minutes and guards top tier guys every 3-5 games is very impressive.

1. Jordan Clarkson (28.2)

1. Julius Randle (27.2)

2. D'Angelo Russell (26.8)

In terms of the general eye test, with the master teachings of Luke he's put in a lot of effort this year in contrast to last year where he seemed to be hiding because he didn't know what the hell to do. JC is closing out shooters well and his arms are everywhere. His defensive instincts generally has improved dramatically.

Now there are still weaknesses that Clarkson needs to work on the defensive end, mainly going around screens and at times too much gambling. However, based on the substantial improvement we've seen so far this season who says he can't refine his game and work on those things? Going around screens has a lot to do with IQ. Even if his athletic prime is over in 2-3 years it will not matter.

So in conclusion, Clarkson statistically has been very good on the defensive end this season and he's given a lot of inspiring effort. I think at this rate Clarkson can eventually mold into a great two way player 6MOY.

Note: I got the stats here

and you can see that Randle has been solid this season as well. Get hyped!

Also team rankings are Top 3 but for some reason it says 1. , 1. and 2.