Tag: Brandon Clarke

Memphis Grizzlies’ Brandon Clarke can’t be overlooked

Memphis Grizzlies’ Brandon Clarke started his college career at SJSU and is now one of the best rookies in the NBA.

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Since SJSU, Brandon Clarke has continued to develop

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The Memphis Grizzlies are not the top team in the NBA at the moment, but its young roster has sprung some surprises along the way. Ja Morant is the NBA Rookie of the Year favorite, but he is not the only first-year player making noise for the Grizzlies.

Brandon Clarke is contributing with an average of 12.1 points per game. More impressively, he is shooting at 62.0% from the field, fifth best in the league. That shooting percentage is also putting him on track to break the rookie record, currently held by Steve Johnson at 61.34% during the 1981-81 season.

Clarke almost didn’t finish the season on the court. He suffered a quadriceps injury late February but the NBA pause gave him enough time to heal.

Prior to becoming the No. 21 pick in 2019, the Vancouver native was a college basketball standout at Gonzaga University. But before that he actually started his career at a less high-profile school. After graduating from Desert Vista High School high school in Arizona in 2015, he spent his first two college years in California with the San Jose State Spartans.

His freshman year he averaged 8.8 points per game and was named Mountain West Sixth Man of the Year after putting up 10.1 points and 7.3 rebounds in conference play.

The following year he more than doubled his scoring average. He was registering 17.3 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.6 blocks, which got him into the All-MW First Team and Mountain West All-Defensive Team.

The Spartans, not usually at the top of the conference, held a 23-38 losing record through 2015-17 even with Clarke in the roster. Head coach Dave Wojcik resigned in July 2017 and Clarke entered the transfer portal not long after. He landed at Gonzaga that August and sat out for the first year.

As a redshirt junior during the 2018-19 season, Clarke made 37 appearances, 36 of those as a starter. He averaged 16.9 points and 8.6 rebounds while shooting at 68.7% from the field. He showed off his shooting abilities against North Dakota State on Nov. 26, 2017 going 9-for-9.

Clarke was first in the West Coast Conference in field goal percentage and made it into The All-WCC First Team. He earned both the WCC Defender and Newcomer of the year honors.

Clarke was part of a Bulldogs roster that went 33-4 overall and 16-0 in the conference and made it to the Elite Eight in the 2019 NCAA Tournament. He set the single game record in an NCAA Tournament game for Gonzaga with 36 points when the Bulldogs played Baylor in the second round of the Big Dance.

Now at the next level of his basketball career, Clarke continues to stand out. He was the 2019 NBA Las Vegas Summer League MVP, and also made the first team All-Summer League.

He has done enough during the regular season to get his name mentioned as a potential member of this season’s All-Rookie Team, one of these mentions coming from ESPN’s Zach Lowe’s ballot.

Clarke has also been talked about for Rookie of the Year and 6th Man of the Year award. When asked about the latter during his media availability on July 22, Clarke didn’t try to hide his confidence but also expressed gratitude.

“Just me as a player, I have a lot of trust in myself. I’m not shocked to have my name there but it is really cool to see that because obviously it’s my first year and there’s so many other great players that come off the bench,” he said. “Just to have my name even near them is something that’s really cool to me and I’m very grateful about it.”

Five Memphis players are scoring in double figures, and four of those are under 25 years old. Morant leads with an average of 17.8 points and 7.1 assists per game.

Jaren Jackson Jr. followed closely with 17.4 points per game while leading the team in blocks with 1.6 per game. The team won’t count with him anymore as he’s out due to a meniscus tear, but they have the third most consistent scorer in 24-year-old Dillon Brooks with 15.7 points per game.

Memphis is still in the running for a spot in the playoffs, but injuries and inexperience are making it more difficult as the Grizzlies have yet to get a win since the restart.

Even though Memphis has been getting itself into an uncomfortable situation, Clarke was still positive on Thursday afternoon.

“Our group is also very, very resilient and able to fight back,” he said in a post-practice press conference. “It’s something that we’ve done pretty much the whole season… We just gotta keep on doing our thing and tune up the things that we were doing wrong and then we’ll be fine.”

 

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ESPN’s Zach Lowe unveils his NBA All-Rookie Team ballots

Voting to determine the 2019-20 season awards will conclude Tuesday after sportswriters and broadcasters began casting ballots on July 21.

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On Tuesday, the media voting to determine the 2019-20 season awards will conclude after the NBA announced a panel of global sportswriters and broadcasters could begin casting ballots on July 21.

The voting was based only on games played from the start of the regular season through March 11 after the NBA announced that the eight “seeding games” set to tip-off July 30 will not count toward the season awards in order to create a fair voting process for players on all 30 teams in the league.

The awards will be announced on TNT during its coverage of the NBA Playoffs.

With the voting wrapping up, ESPN reporter Zach Lowe revealed on Tuesday his ballots for the season awards, including his picks for the NBA All-Rookie Teams. His choices for the First Team appear to be pretty safe picks.

First Team

Player Team
Zion Williamson New Orleans Pelicans
Ja Morant Memphis Grizzlies
Brandon Clarke Memphis Grizzlies
Kendrick Nunn Miami Heat
Eric Paschall Golden State Warriors

Lowe detailed that Paschall earned the nod on his First Team ballot over P.J. Washington and Terence Davis due to his role on the Warriors. Though the Warriors were bad, Lowe felt as though Paschall showed more of an ability to create for himself.

Second Team

Player Team
P.J. Washington Charlotte Hornets
Tyler Herro Miami Heat
Coby White Chicago Bulls
Terence Davis Toronto Raptors
Rui Hachimura Washington Wizards

The one glaring omission from each group was New York Knicks forward R.J. Barrett. He finished fourth among all rookies in scoring but as Lowe noted, Barrett struggled in most advanced statistical categories, most notably shooting: He converted on just 43% on 2-pointers and was 61% from the free-throw line.

Overall, the NBA All-Rookie Second Team appears to be the area in which most voters will differ in opinion. The final voting results should be interesting to see based on how each voter viewed this year’s crop of rookies.

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Ja Morant advocated for Brandon Clarke to make All-Rookie First Team

Grizzlies guard Ja Morant showed some love to fellow rookie teammate Brandon Clarke for the NBA All-Rookie First Team.

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On Tuesday, the NBA announced that the media voting to determine to 2019-20 season awards will take place July 21-28 and will be based only on games played from the start of the regular season through March 11.

The eight “seeding games” set to tip-off July 30 through Aug. 14 will not count toward the season awards in order to create a fair voting process for players on all 30 teams in the league.

With a panel of global sportswriters and broadcasters voting this week, Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant showed some love to fellow teammate Brandon Clarke for the NBA All-Rookie First Team, tweeting Thursday night that Clarke should be a selection.

Clarke averaged 12 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 50 games played prior to the season shut down. He emerged as perhaps one of the most efficient players in the NBA this season after converting on 62.3% of his field-goal attempts, which ranks fifth among all qualified players.

Back in April, ESPN reporter Zach Lowe, who is an awards voter, and FiveThirtyEight writer Chris Herring each made their picks for the NBA All-Rookie Teams. The two both included Clarke on the First Team after his strong play this season.

While Morant, who is a lock for the First Team and the Rookie of the Year award, may be a bit biased when it comes to putting Clarke on the First Team, two other writers believe the claim has merit and it could result in both Grizzlies players earning the honor.

The awards will be announced on TNT during its coverage of the NBA Playoffs.

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Grizzlies’ Brandon Clarke ‘grateful’ to play in NBA season restart

Grizzlies rookie Brandon Clarke expressed Tuesday his gratitude to be playing in the NBA season restart this month.

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Memphis Grizzlies rookie Brandon Clarke expressed Tuesday his gratitude to be playing in the NBA season restart this month at the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida.

Clarke and the Grizzlies will enter the restart in eighth place, 3.5 games ahead of the Portland Trail Blazers in ninth place. The Grizzlies will face a tough road to clinch a playoff berth but with all things considered, Clarke is excited to get back onto the hardwood again.

Obviously, it is a tough time with the coronavirus and stuff. Obviously, safety is a really big thing but with that being said, playing basketball is what I love doing so to be able to be back on the court and be playing is really what I was always trying to get back to. I’m really grateful I was able to even be here and my team is even able to be here and play.

Of course, the Grizzlies can clinch an outright playoff berth should they finish over four games ahead of the team in the ninth place. However, if the ninth-placed team is within four games, the two teams will participate in a play-in tournament for the eighth seed.

The Grizzlies have a difficult schedule in the eight seeding games and will have five other teams to compete with but it is a challenge the team is ready for as Ja Morant said recently he is heading into the restart looking to prove people wrong.

The Grizzlies kick off the season restart Aug. 1 vs. the Trail Blazers.

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Where do Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell rank among most prolific lob duos?

As the Utah Jazz now resume basketball activities, there are major issues they need to fix regarding stars Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell.

As the Utah Jazz now resume basketball activities, there are major issues they need to fix regarding stars Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell.

After so much time off due to the coronavirus pandemic, there will be a lot to iron out for all rosters. But the recent gap also exposed some harsh truths about the two best players on the Jazz.

In a recent story, Tim MacMahon reported that Gobert feels he should receive more lobs from Mitchell (via ESPN):

“Gobert rarely hesitates to let teammates know if they miss him when he is open around the rim. He’ll occasionally point up during play in animated fashion, sometimes as he is running back on defense, to note that a lob should have been thrown …  Gobert knows his lobbying for lobs wears on teammates to the point of being counterproductive, like the wide receiver who gripes at the quarterback after every play when a pass isn’t thrown his way, regardless of the pass rush.”

Gobert led all NBA players with 306 dunks recorded last season, according to Basketball-Reference. But even when including alley-oops layups, the big man paired with Mitchell for only 28 lob connections during their 2018-19 campaign.

Considering that Gobert attempted 125 alley-oops in 2018-19 (17.6 percent of his total attempts from the field), this is certainly a major offensive focal point for the two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year.

As such, McMahon continued, the two players have specifically worked on their “lob chemistry” in individualized practice sessions to further avoid the blunders like the one seen above during their game against Denver back in January:

“Utah coach Quin Snyder and his staff have attempted to help facilitate that trust, especially between Mitchell and Gobert. That duo have had dozens of two-man workouts under the watch of coaches, with a focus on ironing out intricacies of their pick-and-roll partnership and lob chemistry. They also occasionally join coaches – usually some combination of Snyder, Jensen and Johnnie Bryant, the assistant who works most with Mitchell – for small-group film sessions at the team’s facility.”

Gobert made 16 alley-oops following passes from Mitchell, per NBA.com. This accounted for 4.5 percent of his total field goal count, down from 5.9 percent last season. This would average out to approximately 0.36 connections per 36 minutes when looking at their total time spent (1607 minutes) on the court together, down from 0.48 last season.

For a better understanding of how that compares to other lob threats around the league, we looked at the top combinations on this play type. Brooklyn’s Spencer Dinwiddie assisted DeAndre Jordan on 46 alley-oop opportunities this season. This means they averaged 2.76 alley-oops per 36 minutes shared (599 minutes) on the floor.

(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

While these two players are no longer on the same roster, Houston’s James Harden and former teammate Clint Capela were also successful on 46 of their alley-oop possessions. Capela, now on the Atlanta Hawks, was able to catch 1.53 alley-oops per 36 minutes that he played alongside Harden (1,082) in 2019-20.

Other prolific pairings in the NBA this season include Dinwiddie-to-Jarrett Allen (40), Trae Young-to-John Collins (36), LeBron James-to-Anthony Davis (34), Chris Paul-to-Nerlens Noel (33) and Elfrid Payton-to-Mitchell Robinson (33).

The data makes it clear that there is certainly room for more lob connections between the two players. However, considering how rare these opportunities are even for the most prolific duo, perhaps there are other aspects of offense to worry about in Utah.

HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa contributed research to this report.

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NBA players demand change following the death of George Floyd

Players around the NBA, and citizens across the United States, have become outraged following the tragic death of George Floyd.

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Players around the NBA, and citizens across the United States, have become outraged following the tragic death of George Floyd, a black man who was killed by a Minneapolis police officer during an arrest.

Witness videos showed the officer, identified as Derek Chauvin, kneeling into the neck of Floyd for nearly eight minutes. Floyd can be heard pleading with the officer after he stated he could not breathe while handcuffed after matching the description of a suspect in a forgery case at a local grocery store.

The four police officers involved in the arrest of Floyd have been fired and the death is being investigated by the FBI and state authorities. The Mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, asked that the officer be criminally charged in the death of Floyd.

The killing of Floyd has sparked protests and gatherings as Americans demand change against social injustice and unjust treatment of minorities. Scores of athletes and celebrities have also called for the arrest of Chauvin and for change to be made.

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STILL!!!! 🤬😢😤

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Grizzlies’ Brandon Clarke once played volleyball in high school

Way back before Clarke started punishing basketball rims with the Grizzlies, the rookie tried his hand at volleyball in high school.

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Way back before Brandon Clarke started punishing basketball rims with the Memphis Grizzlies, the rookie tried his hand at playing volleyball as a freshman in high school.

As it turns out, he later acquired those volleyball skills in a different sport.

Clarke has established himself as a virtual pogo-stick player on the basketball court. From his innate ability to perfectly time his blocks to catching lobs from fellow rookie phenom Ja Morant, Clarke was impressive this season.

However, as he pointed out on Twitter, those skills were not present with him in high school as he was just 5-foot-11 with no bounce on the floor.

Clarke is often active around the rim and is a threat with tip-ins and offensive putbacks. His natural instinct in the painted area has been a marvel at times this season and that allowed him to emerge as perhaps one of the top rookies in his class.

It’s probably a good thing he chose to play basketball over volleyball …

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Jordan inspired Brandon Clarke with his athleticism, quickness

The Grizzlies rookie is among those to have tuned in each Sunday to catch ‘The Last Dance’ documentary.

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With basketball at a standstill due to the coronavirus pandemic, “The Last Dance” documentary has provided sports fans with a small window of never-before-seen footage from the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s.

The ratings have soared to all-time highs for any documentary on ESPN as fans of all ages have tuned in each Sunday night. Of course, at the center of the 10-part miniseries is Michael Jordan. The documentary has given fans a glimpse of just how dominant Jordan was during his era.

Memphis Grizzlies rookie Brandon Clarke is among those that have watched the documentary to this point. Clarke has thoroughly enjoyed the series and discussed what impressed him most about Jordan on Wednesday in a Q&A on Twitter.

With Michael Jordan, what probably impresses me the most is just how quick he was and just how fast he can get off of the ground. The NBA, players and fans hadn’t ever seen a player that can get off of the ground that quickly and still finish almost every time over the biggest guys and the biggest stars. To see that and to see that as a kid, it was always something to look up to. It has been really fun to watch all of the footage during ‘The Last Dance.’

Jordan has had a tremendous impact on the game today and the documentary has given the younger generation of players an opportunity to see him like never before.

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Brandon Clarke once cut his lip dunking in practice at Gonzaga

Clarke flashed his elite athleticism as soon as he stepped onto campus for practice at Gonzaga.

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Brandon Clarke was touted as a player with elite athleticism at his size and position when he left Gonzaga last year to enter the NBA Draft. As it turned out, that athletic prowess was on display very early on.

Clarke spent just one season with the Bulldogs after transferring from San Jose State. He earned First Team All-WCC honors after averaging 16.9 points, 8.6 rebounds, 3.2 blocks, 1.9 assists and 1.2 steals in 37 games played.

Clarke often put on dunk shows each time he stepped onto the court with Gonzaga and his athleticism even surprised his teammates when he first arrived on campus. The group was in the gym practicing and Clarke jumped so high that he cut his lip on the rim.

As told to Karthik Venkataraman of KREM-TV in Spokane, Washington, Gonzaga guard Joel Ayayi recalled that moment in practice when he saw Clarke cut his lip.

“I was like there is no way that just happened,” Ayayi said. “I did not believe it at first. I thought he was just kidding, but he actually hurt his lip and that’s just insane. Usually, people maybe hit their head, but he cut his lip.

“We were like, ‘Who is this guy? Are you kidding me?’ We knew he was good and athletic, but not like that. It was kind of our awakening moment before anyone else in the country that this guy was going to be good.”

Clarke confirmed the story and said he still has the scar to prove it.

Of course, Clarke went on to become the 21st overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. He was initially selected by the Oklahoma City Thunder but was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies. Clarke is considered to be among the top rookies this season and many believe he will eventually earn All-NBA Rookie First Team honors.

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NBA All-Rookie Teams: Zach Lowe, Chris Herring name their picks

The NBA All-Rookie First Team appears to be set among voters but the Second Team is still up in the air.

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With the NBA season in jeopardy due to the coronavirus pandemic, some members of the national media have unofficially started filling out their end of the season awards ballots.

By now, when it comes to rookie players, Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant has been most commonly mentioned as the 2019-20 Rookie of the Year winner given his total body of work over No. 1 overall pick Zion Williamson.

ESPN reporter Zach Lowe and FiveThirtyEight writer Chris Herring recently linked up on the “Lowe Post” podcast to discuss the All-Rookie Teams in which they named the 10 best rookies of the season. They each essentially agreed on the First Team but had some differences on the Second Team.

The noticeable omission is New York Knicks forward R.J. Barrett.

Lowe and Herring each acknowledged they would likely hear from Knicks fans over leaving him off. They added that while Barrett’s numbers look like he belongs in the discussion, if they are examined more closely, it would suggest Barrett struggled this season: He shot 43.2% on 2-pointers and 32% on 3-pointers for an effective field-goal percentage of 44.5, one of the worst among rookies.

The two writers each tended to award players that were on winning teams when making their final decisions. Toronto Raptors guard Terence Davis ultimately made the cut based on his defensive ability and scoring off of the bench this season. Davis was also one of two rookies that were a net positive on both sides of the ball, according to FiveThirtyEight stats.

Overall, the All-Rookie First Team appears to be locked among most voters while the Second Team will present some challenges when determining the final order of players. Nonetheless, the final voting should be interesting to see once that time comes.

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