Cavs: Jordan Clarkson is showing positive signs as a passer

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Jordan Clarkson is showing positive signs as a passer this season, and it’s reasonable to believe head coach John Beilein has had a hand in that.

Fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers are well aware at this point that guard Jordan Clarkson is a bench bucket-getter.

In the 2018-19 season, Clarkson led regular rotation Cavaliers in scoring with a career-best 16.8 points per game, not including big Kevin Love, who was only active in 22 games (per NBA.com), mostly due to reported toe surgery.

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Now let’s not get it twisted, Clarkson is still putting the ball in the basket for Cleveland.

He had 20 points on six-of-12 shooting in Friday’s 102-95 loss to the Indiana Pacers, and has averaged 15.2 points per contest on 60.9% true shooting (per NBA.com) to begin 2019-20.

Clarkson is still going to be one of the Cavs’ big scorers, and that’s clear, but what’s been key for me from him thus far has been him showing positive signs as a passer.

Now, you’ll still see some Clarkson moments leading to questionable, to paint it in a good way, shots. That late-game double-pump three-pointer fell into that category, and head coach John Beilein seemed to be less than thrilled there.

Again, though, Clarkson’s passing has been a key positive to me this season, and I’d imagine that Beilein, who has preached moving the ball continuously, has a hand in that from Clarkson.

In the last three games for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Clarkson has had four assists twice versus the Milwaukee Bucks and Chicago Bulls, and at the Pacers, he led the team with five helpers (per ESPN).

He’s been making really nice dump-offs to bigs, along with kick-outs to a variety of teammates.

Larry Nance Jr. is a player he has terrific chemistry with dating back to when they both were on the Los Angeles Lakers before they were traded here near the 2018 deadline, and others, such as Tristan Thompson (inside) and Kevin Love, mostly on the perimeter, have gotten quality feeds from Clarkson, too.

This sort of dish from Clarkson to Nance has been a much more regular occurrence this year, and again, the Beilein extra pass influence I’d imagine has some to do with that.

https://twitter.com/FOXSportsCLE/status/1190430133821173761?s=20

Clarkson is crafty near the rim with both hands and is highly capable of hitting floaters, and he was capable of getting a shot off there, but he made the better play and got Nance an easy dunk.

That kind of play is something I love to see as a Cavs fan, and if JC does that more, he’ll be even tougher to account for for opposing defenses.

Clarkson, who is a very capable mid-range shooter, but has been prone to taking ill-advised looks there leading to some wasted possessions, has not done that as often this year.

At times before, I could feasibly see Clarkson shooting this mid-range look against the Bulls, but instead, he made a well-timed lob to Nance here. Of course, Love in the corner helped, but anyhow, Clarkson made the better basketball play.

Rookie wing Kevin Porter Jr., though his looks haven’t been falling, is another player that Clarkson has gotten open looks to as well. That’s also been the case when it comes to young scoring guard Collin Sexton, and Love, again, on the perimeter.

Though this hockey assist won’t really go in a prime highlight reel for Clarkson, it was winning basketball. JC ultimately got the ball to a willing and able passer in Love (who leads Cleveland in assists per game but does need to clean up turnovers) when pressure came by the Bulls, and Porter hit his first NBA triple.

Moreover, the preaching of the extra pass by Beilein, though turnovers need to be cleaned up by the Cleveland Cavaliers, has been applied by Clarkson.

We all know that JC can score, but the way he’s gotten others involved in 2019-20 is what has really stuck out to me this year, and in the last three games, even more so.

Furthermore, Clarkson (among others) learning from a few days of workouts under the tutelage of prior teammate and Lakers legend Kobe Bryant (per Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor) has seemed to pay off when it comes to hockey assists, too.

Kobe was not a pass-first player, and neither is Clarkson, but the former knew how to get his other guys going and often at least initiate productive ball movement leading to good shots.

Clarkson’s been doing that more this year, which is big and is helping set the right tone for younger pieces.

Overall, it’s been a pleasure to see Clarkson apply some of that hockey assist mindset from Kobe’s influence, along with Beilein’s.

Hopefully this sort of passing from JC continues for Beilein and the Cleveland Cavaliers.