Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports
Jazz HC Spills Beans on Jordan Clarkson's Evolution in 2022-23
The Utah Jazz dropped their third straight game on Sunday night — a 129-119 loss at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder — but there were some silver linings to be found. Jordan Clarkson returned to the court after missing a couple of games with a thumb injury and turned in a career night.
It wasn't as a scorer but as a distributor of the ball. Clarkson finished with 18 points and a career-high 13 assists in Utah's 34th loss of the season.
Clarkson was a difference-maker, as he is wont to do, and while that impact may have stretched a lot farther if the Jazz weren't missing All-Star Lauri Markkanen and starting point guard Collin Sexton, it was nice to see the veteran's evolution continue in Will Hardy's scheme.
After the game, Coach Hardy dished on how Clarkson has bought into what the Jazz are asking him to do as a starter this year and how he's evolved as a player.
"I think Jordan has done a really great job of sort of trying to have a little humility on the offensive end at times of just like, ‘They’re going to run a couple guys at me, I have to try to generate some looks for my teammates,'" Hardy said. "I think that he’s improved the most as the season has gone on is finding players on the weak side of the floor. He’s had an instinct to sort of find Walker [Kessler] and the bigs in the middle of the floor, but I think making those decisions on who to find on the weak side, whether it’s the corner or the wing, I think is something he’s really grown at this year, but it’s hard. It’s hard to do what he did tonight because there’s plenty of possessions where we want him to shoot."
Clarkson did his fair share of shooting, going 6-of-15 from the floor (40.0%), but he also balanced that by distributing the ball in key moments and helping his teammates get those good looks at the basket. More often than not, Hardy wants Clarkson to prioritize scoring and help put points on the board. But it's a razor's edge that the veteran guard is learning to walk.
“I think Jordan has a hard job because he’s such a potent scorer and there’s a lot of nights that we need that scoring," Hardy said. "We need him to try to find those moments of flow where he can get two, three, four baskets in a row. But teams are giving him a lot of attention, especially on a night where Lauri isn’t playing. The other team is going to throw a lot of bodies at him. But I know from being on opposing coaching staffs for a long time that Jordan Clarkson is for sure on the scouting report and he’s for sure somebody that you’re game-planning for."
No doubt, when teams scrutinize the Jazz scouting report, the names that rise to the top are Markkanen and Clarkson. They're Utah's bread and butter, but with how young and inexperienced the team's bench is, when one of those staples is missing on a given night, it's going to hurt.
While Jazz Nation hopes that Markkanen's back injury won't persist long, if Utah is going to arrest its seeming free-fall, Clarkson will have to continue to push the envelope as a scorer, while keeping one eye open for his teammates.
"We want him to try to generate those opportunities to try to score, but to have 18 points and 13 assists—I didn’t know that was his career-high—but I think it just speaks to his, not just his growth, but his buy-in to how we’ve tried to play this season and how we’ve tried to ask him to play," Hardy said. "As a coach, I never want to be somebody that restricts our players and sort of puts them in a box or too tight of a lane, and Jordan is somebody that’s had the reputation his entire career of being a huge scorer. I think it’s more just about trying to help him understand other ways that he can help our team. It’s not just by scoring and I think he’s bought into that and done a great job this year.”
The Jazz now sit at 31-34 on the season, which is good for the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference. As the intensity of these games continues to ratchet up down the stretch, the Jazz cannot afford to have key players missing games, especially on a brutal road trip.
When it comes to the injury bug, the Sexton ship may have already sailed. Utah knew it was getting a rather injury-prone player when it acquired Sexton via trade from Cleveland.
But the recent emergence of Kris Dunn, coupled with the presence of the team's two alpha dogs — Markkanen and Clarkson — would give the Jazz a puncher's chance at remaining in the Western Conference playoff picture. If the Jazz could get — and keep — the trio of Sexton, Markkanen, and Clarkson on the court, all things would become possible again for this club.
Next up, the Jazz continue their travels to take on the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night. Tip-off is at 6:30 pm MDT.
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