I was just thinking about athletic scorers, who were somewhat efficient.
I thought of a shorter Rudy Gay initially, but he's way too inefficient to be someone's "ceiling". I felt like it was way too low of a standard to have for someone's POTENTIAL, not current abilities.
I just thought back about someone who was known for scoring back in the day that wasn't quite as great as Kobe/MJ, but not as inefficient as Rudy Gay.
TMac just popped in my head. He wasn't the best shooter % wise but he had the ability to score from inside and from out.
I think Clarkson can have those same abilities.
It's clear he's more explosive athletically, he just has to keep working on his overall game especially his play making.
TMac was an underrated passer, he just had to carry such a big load in Orlando he couldn't really showcase his passing as much. But trust me, in no shape or form do I think Clarkson compares to him as an overall player, AT ALL.
I was just thinking scoring potential. Why else would I use Monta as another example? He's just a shoot first guard who can be extremely streaky, some days good some days awful.
If I wanted to compare Clarkson to players and overall skill I would use more versatile players as examples.
It was purely about what kind of scoring abilities I think he could have in this league... MAYBE.
He's long ways away from any type of praise for being great. This is his first real season with any real talent around him, so we'll see if he's a fluke or a legit NBA player.
But evaluating his game, I just thought he had the potential to score mid range, post game, transition, and off-the ball the same way TMac did in his prime.
NOT TO HIS LEVEL OF SUCCESS STATISTICALLY. But just with his abilities to score put in different spots in many different ways, and his abilities to explosively finish around the rim even though he's inches shorter than Mac.
I know how good Mac was. I watched him battle Kobe. I watched him keep up, and even torch Kobe. I know how good he was, and I never meant Clarkson is already there or would be anywhere close to there soon, or ever
I just meant his ability to be a scoring machine some day could be as good as TMac's, in the sense that he could score in so many ways. But he might never be a big enough option for the team to ever do it as often as Mac did.
Mac was putting up 30 shots a night, and HAD to.
Clarkson,
Assuming everyone stays healthy, is playing with Russ and Randle who will be taking plenty of shots. So I don't think he'd ever be putting up Enough shots with consistency to be anywhere close to Mac overall statistically.
