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Cleveland Cavaliers: How Jordan Clarkson can improve on both ends

By Dan Gilinsky

CLEVELAND,OH - June 6: Jordan Clarkson #8 of the Cleveland Cavaliers arrives at the stadium before the game against the Golden State Warriors in Game Three of the 2018 NBA Finals on June 6, 2018 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images)
CLEVELAND,OH - June 6: Jordan Clarkson #8 of the Cleveland Cavaliers arrives at the stadium before the game against the Golden State Warriors in Game Three of the 2018 NBA Finals on June 6, 2018 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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CLEVELAND, OH – MARCH 19: Jordan Clarkson
CLEVELAND, OH – MARCH 19: Jordan Clarkson /

Playing better team defense

It’s not easy to play perimeter defense in today’s league.

While the previous Cleveland roster was not designed for outstanding perimeter defense, Clarkson was consistently targeted by opponents, anyhow. He’s very athletic, has good explosiveness and can change speed well, but his defensive positioning and situational awareness need to improve to have a more positive defensive impact.

It’s not as if I expect Clarkson to have to switch 1-4 any time soon; most players can’t. He has shown some quality play against pick-and-roll ball-handlers with his lateral quickness (93rd percentile last year in L.A., per Synergy) and that’s something to build on.

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    • A larger sample size would truly tell the real story this season, though, and off-ball has continued to be an issue for Clarkson, as he graded out in only the 17th and 36th percentile on L.A. the last two seasons against spot-ups and in off-screen defense, per Synergy.

    He just seems to have miscommunications and takes bad angles when playing off-ball defense on a number of occasions throughout games that force unnecessary help, leading to open shots after ball swings. He gambles too often to try to make the home-run steal, and many times, it backfires.

    Hopefully playing alongside Nance, Sexton and Osman will help him be able to stay home more often and that should improve his contests on spot-ups. Learning from sound off-ball defenders in Korver, J.R. Smith, and Hill should help him in that area, too.

    When helping the helper on rotations or when fronting cutting guards, Clarkson does seem to do quality work, resulting in some savvy steals (he has a respectable 0.9 steals per game in his career) and then he’s free to show off his ability above the rim. Cleveland will need that sort of energy in spurts this season.

    If Clarkson can get better in those areas, he should grade out better than 78th of 97 qualified point guards in ESPN’s Real Defensive Plus-Minus metric.

    Clarkson is talented enough to be a bench cornerstone for the Cavs but he has to get better in the mental aspect of the game if he wants to get another big contract in the league and play for championships.

    Next. Cleveland Cavaliers: Top 30 all-time greatest players. dark

    If he gets that, maybe he can grow more mature, and show he can be a secondary leader going forward.