Microwave scoring is an NBA skill inextricably associated with rhythm, which many players will tell you they need regular minutes to establish, and then sustain. Not Jordan Clarkson, though.
After basically falling out of the rotation, without a clear pathway back into it, the 33-year-old has racked up 10-plus minutes in two of the New York Knicks’ past three games. In their most recent win over the Utah Jazz, his former club, Clarkson went off for 27 points in just 26 minutes, while shooting 10-of-15 from the floor.Â
Not every higher-minute performance will follow this script. That is part of why he tumbled down head coach Mike Brown’s pecking order in the first place. But the Knicks are a hotbed of unpredictability, including, if not especially, on the offensive end. Even if he’s a break-in-case-of-emergency option, he’s doing someone nobody else on the roster can.
The Knicks do not have anyone else to fill Jordan Clarkson’s shoes
Clarkson’s brand of basketball is inherently high-variance. He has never been the most lights out three-point shooter. He is not a spectacular finisher around the basket, and also doesn’t get there nearly enough for it to matter. Making tough shots is his bread and butter, but when they’re not falling, he doesn’t offset the difference with lockdown defense, or pinpoint passing.
Relying on him as an integral part of your offense is a tough sell. Occasionally, though, you just need someone who can potentially get buckets, and won’t overthink the game when he doesn’t.Â
Clarkson is that player for the Knicks. After Jalen Brunson, he’s the only one.
Unabashed attacking isn’t in anyone else’s DNA. Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns float in and out of offensive volume. Jose Alvarado is pass-first. OG Anunoby’s own usage vacillates, and the highest-volume version of him doesn’t include much beyond spot-up threes and straight-line drives.Â
Deuce McBride occasionally fits the bill but remains out recovering from sports-hernia surgery. And even when he is available, on-ball escapades aren’t his strong suit.Â
Landry Shamet has more on-ball burst than he gets credit for. But that’s not his default, and his shot generation doesn’t include the same kind of escapism in which Clarkson is capable of trafficking.Â
New York is in its Clarkson era at the moment
Right now, the Knicks offense needs Clarkson, high-variance and all. Even after getting to play the Utah Turnstiles, New York is a ho-hum 13th in points scored per possession since the All-Star break. That isn’t anywhere close to good enough for a team built around JB and KAT.
Various issues are driving the relative ordinariness. The Knicks have been uncharacteristically turnover-prone during this stretch. Even more critically, they’re getting rocky long-range shooting from players like Hart (24.3 percent), Bridges (34.2 percent), Anunoby (35.8 percent), and above all, Alvarado (14.7 percent). This says nothing of the recent trough through which Brunson himself labored.Â
These cold streaks are tough to overcome when you bake in the dearth of consistent shot creation outside Brunson. Clarkson, in fact, is the only other player on the roster who clears the 70th percentile in both half-court shot creation and self-created shot-making efficiency, according to BBall.Â
There will come a time when he again fades into the backdrop. If these Knicks have taught us anything, though, it’s that they aren’t built for him to stay there. They will need him eventually. And there will be times he doesn’t deliver. Yet, that he can possibly deliver at all, oftentimes after long spells out of the rotation, is what makes him so valuable. It is his superpower.