Utah Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson (Jeffrey Swinger-USA TODAY Sports)
Utah Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson ESPN top 100 rating: 90
Quin Snyder’s sixth man extraordinaire Jordan Clarkson is the first Jazzman to appear on ESPN’s top 100. As the NBA’s most recent recipient of the Sixth Man of the Year award, it may seem unfathomable to some that 89 players across the NBA ranked higher than Clarkson. In part, that may speak to the wealth of talent that populates the league, but a comparison between Clarkson and the two players ranked immediately ahead of him should provide clarity on the accuracy of this ranking.
Portland Trail Blazers forward Robert Covington ranked 89th on ESPN’s list. Clarkson outpaced Covington in terms of both PER and VORP last season. He particularly trounced Portland’s 3-and-D specialist in PER, at 17.1 compared to an exceedingly low 11.2. The margin between the two in VORP was much lower, but Clarkson still held an advantage at 1.4 to 1.0.
Covington may embody the sort-of player that advanced metrics treat unfairly. His value is by far most pronounced on the defensive end. Regardless, his Defensive Box Plus/Minus of 112 from last season suggests that he may have even suffered a drop-off on that end.
Seth Curry of the Philadelphia 76ers came in at 88th on the list, and again, Clarkson’s performance with the Utah Jazz last season was significantly more impressive than his based on PER and VORP. Curry posted marks of 12.5 and 0.5 in each category respectively. The only justification one could imagine for Curry’s placement ahead of Clarkson would be his shooting efficiency, as his True Shooting % (TS%) of 60.7% was comfortably stronger than Clarkson’s 54.9% from 2020-21.
One commonality between Covington and Curry is that each player is effectively a specialist: Covington fits the NBA’s coveted 3-and-D mold, whereas Curry is an elite three-point specialist (hence the impressive TS% from last season). Undeniably, each player has value, but a player with the depth of offensive ability of Jordan Clarkson holds more value to an NBA team in the game’s current, offensively-focused form.
Indeed, it seems ESPN sold Utah Jazz super-sub Jordan Clarkson slightly short.
Verdict: Sell.
Jordan Clarkson</a> and Joe Ingles. Even the backend of this rotation is filled-out with solid NBA contributors like newcomers <a href=https://thejnotes.com/2021/09/23/utah-jazz-players-rankings-espn-top-100/2/"https://thejnotes.com/2021/08/03/utah-jazz-rudy-gay-agreed-deal-jazz/">Rudy Gay</a>, <a href=https://thejnotes.com/2021/09/23/utah-jazz-players-rankings-espn-top-100/2/"https://thejnotes.com/2021/08/05/utah-jazz-grading-eric-paschall-trade/">Eric Paschall</a> and <a href=https://thejnotes.com/2021/09/23/utah-jazz-players-rankings-espn-top-100/2/"https://thejnotes.com/2021/08/04/utah-jazz-free-agency-hassan-whiteside/">Hassan Whiteside</a>.</p>
<p>Recently, ESPN honored the Utah Jazz by placing three of their players in the 100-51 portion of their <a href=https://thejnotes.com/2021/09/23/utah-jazz-players-rankings-espn-top-100/2/"https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/32239384/nbarank-2021-ranking-best-players-2021-22-100-51" target="_blank" rel="noopener">annual ranking of their top 100 players in the NBA</a>. For any team in the NBA to boast more than three top-100 players is quite an accomplishment, but did ESPN do right by each respective Jazzman?</p>
<p>To answer that question, we’ll be comparing the statistical profiles of each member of the Utah Jazz to have cracked ESPN’s list to-date to the profiles of the two players listed directly ahead of them. We’ll be drawing comparisons between players primarily on the basis of Player Efficiency Rating (PER) and Value Over Replacement Player (VORP), but will also be taking more subjective variables into account like role and skillset.</p>
<p>For example, when comparing a 3-and-D wing on a championship team to a low-efficiency scorer on a lottery squad, it may be expected that the latter would outproduce the former in the advanced metrics department. That doesn’t mean they’re a better player: it simply means they are in a situation wherein they are more likely to generate numbers.</p>
<p>With those caveats established, we’ll buy or sell the placements of the 3 members of the Utah Jazz who have appeared on ESPN’s top 100 list to-date.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #00265D" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://thejnotes.com/2021/09/23/utah-jazz-players-rankings-espn-top-100/2/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> Jordan Clarkson </a>
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<span class="call_to_action">Next:</span> Two positional battles to keep an eye on during Jazz training camp </a> </div>
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<p>Wood is a player who received fringe All-Star consideration last season, while neither Allen or Ingles factored into that conversation. Still, it seems fair to say that ESPN may have slighted the Utah Jazz a little bit in this ranking as well, as Ingles should have earned a placement ahead of Jarrett Allen.</p>
<p><em><strong>Verdict: Sell.</strong></em></p><!—pageview_candidate—>">