Jordan Clarkson is approaching Cavs’ single-season bench points record

Jordan Clarkson continues to tear it up this season, and the bench scoring dynamo is approaching a Cleveland Cavaliers single-season record for reserves.

The Cleveland Cavaliers’ bench has been one of the better reserve units in the NBA this season, and yes, part of that is because of the uncertainty from it comes to the starting units. The constant lineup changes due to injuries for Cleveland this season has hurt the starting lineup production, but the vast majority of the time, the bench’s production has been there in games.

Jordan Clarkson is the key reason for that; on the season, Clarkson leads players on Cleveland not named Kevin Love (who’s only played in 18 games) in scoring with 16.9 points per game on 54.0 percent true shooting, per NBA.com.

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That’s while coming off the bench, too. As KJG contributors have hit on countless times, what Clarkson brings night-in and night-out from a bench scoring perspective is very impressive.

Even while opposing defenses know that he’s a key ball-handler and creator for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Clarkson is still able to produce on most nights.

His creativity finishing in the lane off-balance, near the rim with both hands, and an improved three-point stroke off the bounce (and off the catch) has allowed him to close in on the Cavs’ single-season bench points record, held by now-Fox Sports Ohio analyst Campy Russell, courtesy of Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor.

Clarkson (1,201 bench points) is just ten bench points away from passing Russell’s single-season Cavs’ bench scoring record of 1,210 points (again, h/t Fedor).

Clarkson’s been one of the most consistent players on Cleveland this year, and despite this being a really difficult season for the team given their set of circumstances and constant rotation changes, Clarkson’s led by example.

He’s only missed two games this year (per Basketball Reference), and his presence, alongside Matthew Dellavedova and Larry Nance Jr. for a significant portion of his minutes, has often gotten the Cavs’ offense good looks.

In addition, Clarkson has emerged as a quality primary option in the closing stretches of games, even alongside Collin Sexton (who’s on an amazing Cavs’ rookie scoring record streak right now, per the Cleveland Cavaliers) and Cedi Osman, who are two of Cleveland’s most important playmakers.

We’ve often discussed how Sexton has improved his passing and decision-making over the course of the season, and used his scoring prowess to open things up for his teammates.

Clarkson, though his assist numbers (3.1 assists per 36 minutes, per Basketball Reference), don’t necessarily show it, has done that as well.

This was one of the best plays Clarkson made in Cleveland’s win over the Milwaukee Bucks yesterday; the Bucks were missing MVP candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo and a ton of other important pieces, for the record, but this play stood out from JC.

Clarkson will still matchup-hunt and over-dribble some, but with the way he’s able to put bigs on skates in pick-and-roll mismatches, convert in the mid-range area from dribble handoffs and finish in transition in a variety of ways, it’s understandable why he’ll likely be the Cleveland Cavaliers’ single-season bench points record-holder.

Clarkson has had plenty of critics for his previously-mentioned 2018 postseason fiasco, but he’s had a heck of a season. Hats off to him for being on the cusp of a single-season Cavs’ record.