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Jordan Clarkson article from an MU perspective
Posted on: May 19, 2021 at 08:31:56 CT
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https://www.kpvi.com/sports/former-mizzou-guard-jordan-clarkson-discovers-ideal-nba-role-as-quin-snyders-sixth-man-in/article_b8d63f2b-b524-5ba3-a311-998a0e9090e0.html
“Quin has given him the freedom to be who he is,” said former Mizzou assistant coach Tim Fuller, who remains close with Clarkson. “He’s not a point guard. He’s not a two-guard. He’s Jordan Clarkson. He’s a bucket. You got to let him be a bucket. When Jordan went to Cleveland with LeBron James, (his role) was ‘stand in the corner and make 3s.’ That’s not him. He’s a bucket. He has to dance with the ball. He has to wiggle.”
“Not that he doesn’t feel that he’s just as good as anyone else in the league,” Mike Clarkson, Jordan’s father, said in a phone interview, “but to be comfortable enough with himself as a person to say, ‘I can impact the game coming off the bench, just as I would if I was starting,’ … he’s really flourished.”
Clarkson spent two years at Mizzou but just one season on the floor for the Tigers in 2013-14. Back in the old days when transfers had to actually sit out a season before their eligibility restarted, Clarkson came to Columbia from the University of Tulsa as a skinny but gifted 6-foot-4 wing player who was relatively new to the sport. Clarkson didn’t begin playing basketball seriously until ninth grade and instead focused on track and field training under his father in Texas. For a while, Clarkson’s plan was to run track at Baylor, focusing on the 400 meters.
“The great thing about him was he wasn’t a five-star (recruit),” said Fuller, who’s working for the new Overtime Elite basketball league as director of scouting and recruiting. “Mike Clarkson put an unbelievable plan together for him. As a youngster, he had him out there in the San Antonio sun running track and told him, ‘You ain't playing basketball until I know you’re really dedicated.’”
That came in high school, and at Mizzou, Clarkson was part of a transfer wave that, in hindsight, was ahead of its time, a decade before the NCAA transfer portal created a frenzied rush of roster turnover across the nation. Before Clarkson officially joined the program, Mizzou’s staff sent him to Kevin Durant’s Nike Skills Academy where he’d play against some of the best small forwards in the country. It didn’t go well. The camp’s organizers came away convinced Clarkson’s future was as a ball-handler.
For the next year, Mizzou’s practice court would become his classroom. He spent every day guarding all-conference point guard Phil Pressey, who in three seasons at Mizzou set the all-time records for assists and steals. Those daily showdowns, away from the public eye, were critical in Clarkson’s development, Fuller said.
“He had to sit down and guard Phil and he had to bring the ball up the floor up against Phil,” Fuller said. “There was some days where he would literally back the ball up the court like Mark Jackson or Magic Johnson because Phil was ripping him and getting up underneath him.”
“Jordan, even today, plays off feel, but we made him think the position every day and work off the ball screen,” Fuller added. “Every day he’d study Kyrie (Irving), study Chris Paul. This was a part of his curriculum on a on a weekly basis. Because he was sitting out, we just had his unique opportunity to basically mold him into whatever we wanted.”
The following summer, Mizzou sent Clarkson to Chris Paul’s Nike camp for point guards to develop him into Pressey’s successor. Along the way, he built a relationship with NBA skills trainer and St. Louis native Drew Hanlen to refine his jump shot.
Once eligible, Clarkson was an instant hit. He scored 20 points or more in eight of the first dozen games — Southern Illinois coach Barry Hinson dubbed Clarkson “The Ninja Blender” after he shredded the Salukis for 31 points — and paired with Jabari Brown in Frank Haith’s backcourt, Clarkson led MU to a 12-1 start.
Fuller served as Mizzou’s interim head coach for Clarkson’s first five games while Haith served a self-imposed suspension for NCAA violations. Before the five-game stretch, he gave his new point guard simple instructions.
“I said, J, all I want you to do is be Jordan Clarkson,” Fuller recalled. “He goes, ‘What's that mean?’ I said, ‘You'll find out. The ball’s in your hand. Just bring it back to me in the end with a W.’”
Sure enough, after each of the season’s first five games, Clarkson handed Fuller the game ball, with a W scripted on the leather.
Gradually, though, Clarkson wore down. Turnovers piled up. He shot just 17% from 3-point range over the season’s final month. The Tigers won just seven of their last 15 games and lost in the second round of the NIT. At the time MU coaches attributed Clarkson’s late-season struggles to his father’s diagnosis. In January of 2014, Mike was diagnosed with Stage 4 carcinoma.
“He was just an emotional butterfly flailing in the wind,” Fuller said.
Mike has since undergone multiple surgeries at the Mayo Clinic. He also believes his illness impacted his son’s production.
"But I’m more than blessed," Mike said, "I’m just happy to be alive and see what's happening with Jordan today."
In Snyder, Mizzou’s coach from 1999-2006, Clarkson has a coach who allows him to play through miscues and streaky shooting. The 54-year-old Snyder might be the best thing that’s happened to Clarkson’s career. Mike Clarkson calls it “a match made in heaven.”
“With Coach Snyder … he’s really given Jordan the latitude and the freedom,” Mike said. “That's a strong word, the freedom to be able to express himself on the basketball court. Because I've seen Jordan do things this year that I've never seen him do. … Coach Snyder said, ‘Don't worry about me snatching you out of the game. Because we know what you bring to the table.”
“Jordan is mentally tough,” Snyder told reporters on Zoom recently. “When you have a guy that believes in himself like that and has the confidence he has, I think he’s able to really get to the next play when he misses a shot. He gives himself the chance to do that with his frame of mind. And he competes.
“I haven’t been around a lot of guys like him and I love that I get to be around him.”
“Quin has given him the freedom to be who he is,” said former Mizzou assistant coach Tim Fuller, who remains close with Clarkson. “He’s not a point guard. He’s not a two-guard. He’s Jordan Clarkson. He’s a bucket. You got to let him be a bucket. When Jordan went to Cleveland with LeBron James, (his role) was ‘stand in the corner and make 3s.’ That’s not him. He’s a bucket. He has to dance with the ball. He has to wiggle.”
“Not that he doesn’t feel that he’s just as good as anyone else in the league,” Mike Clarkson, Jordan’s father, said in a phone interview, “but to be comfortable enough with himself as a person to say, ‘I can impact the game coming off the bench, just as I would if I was starting,’ … he’s really flourished.”
Clarkson spent two years at Mizzou but just one season on the floor for the Tigers in 2013-14. Back in the old days when transfers had to actually sit out a season before their eligibility restarted, Clarkson came to Columbia from the University of Tulsa as a skinny but gifted 6-foot-4 wing player who was relatively new to the sport. Clarkson didn’t begin playing basketball seriously until ninth grade and instead focused on track and field training under his father in Texas. For a while, Clarkson’s plan was to run track at Baylor, focusing on the 400 meters.
“The great thing about him was he wasn’t a five-star (recruit),” said Fuller, who’s working for the new Overtime Elite basketball league as director of scouting and recruiting. “Mike Clarkson put an unbelievable plan together for him. As a youngster, he had him out there in the San Antonio sun running track and told him, ‘You ain't playing basketball until I know you’re really dedicated.’”
That came in high school, and at Mizzou, Clarkson was part of a transfer wave that, in hindsight, was ahead of its time, a decade before the NCAA transfer portal created a frenzied rush of roster turnover across the nation. Before Clarkson officially joined the program, Mizzou’s staff sent him to Kevin Durant’s Nike Skills Academy where he’d play against some of the best small forwards in the country. It didn’t go well. The camp’s organizers came away convinced Clarkson’s future was as a ball-handler.
For the next year, Mizzou’s practice court would become his classroom. He spent every day guarding all-conference point guard Phil Pressey, who in three seasons at Mizzou set the all-time records for assists and steals. Those daily showdowns, away from the public eye, were critical in Clarkson’s development, Fuller said.
“He had to sit down and guard Phil and he had to bring the ball up the floor up against Phil,” Fuller said. “There was some days where he would literally back the ball up the court like Mark Jackson or Magic Johnson because Phil was ripping him and getting up underneath him.”
“Jordan, even today, plays off feel, but we made him think the position every day and work off the ball screen,” Fuller added. “Every day he’d study Kyrie (Irving), study Chris Paul. This was a part of his curriculum on a on a weekly basis. Because he was sitting out, we just had his unique opportunity to basically mold him into whatever we wanted.”
The following summer, Mizzou sent Clarkson to Chris Paul’s Nike camp for point guards to develop him into Pressey’s successor. Along the way, he built a relationship with NBA skills trainer and St. Louis native Drew Hanlen to refine his jump shot.
Once eligible, Clarkson was an instant hit. He scored 20 points or more in eight of the first dozen games — Southern Illinois coach Barry Hinson dubbed Clarkson “The Ninja Blender” after he shredded the Salukis for 31 points — and paired with Jabari Brown in Frank Haith’s backcourt, Clarkson led MU to a 12-1 start.
Fuller served as Mizzou’s interim head coach for Clarkson’s first five games while Haith served a self-imposed suspension for NCAA violations. Before the five-game stretch, he gave his new point guard simple instructions.
“I said, J, all I want you to do is be Jordan Clarkson,” Fuller recalled. “He goes, ‘What's that mean?’ I said, ‘You'll find out. The ball’s in your hand. Just bring it back to me in the end with a W.’”
Sure enough, after each of the season’s first five games, Clarkson handed Fuller the game ball, with a W scripted on the leather.
Gradually, though, Clarkson wore down. Turnovers piled up. He shot just 17% from 3-point range over the season’s final month. The Tigers won just seven of their last 15 games and lost in the second round of the NIT. At the time MU coaches attributed Clarkson’s late-season struggles to his father’s diagnosis. In January of 2014, Mike was diagnosed with Stage 4 carcinoma.
“He was just an emotional butterfly flailing in the wind,” Fuller said.
Mike has since undergone multiple surgeries at the Mayo Clinic. He also believes his illness impacted his son’s production.
"But I’m more than blessed," Mike said, "I’m just happy to be alive and see what's happening with Jordan today."
In Snyder, Mizzou’s coach from 1999-2006, Clarkson has a coach who allows him to play through miscues and streaky shooting. The 54-year-old Snyder might be the best thing that’s happened to Clarkson’s career. Mike Clarkson calls it “a match made in heaven.”
“With Coach Snyder … he’s really given Jordan the latitude and the freedom,” Mike said. “That's a strong word, the freedom to be able to express himself on the basketball court. Because I've seen Jordan do things this year that I've never seen him do. … Coach Snyder said, ‘Don't worry about me snatching you out of the game. Because we know what you bring to the table.”
“Jordan is mentally tough,” Snyder told reporters on Zoom recently. “When you have a guy that believes in himself like that and has the confidence he has, I think he’s able to really get to the next play when he misses a shot. He gives himself the chance to do that with his frame of mind. And he competes.
“I haven’t been around a lot of guys like him and I love that I get to be around him.”
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Jordan Clarkson article from an MU perspective - FIJItiger MU - 5/19 08:31:56