Jordan Clarkson is set to face off against his former team tonight as the Knicks take on the Jazz, and despite his reduced role, he’s looking forward to the “happiness and joy” of returning to the team he won Sixth Man of the Year with, Stefan Bondy writes for the New York Post.
He says that he’s not bothered by his inconsistent playing time, because the Knicks were up front with him when he signed with them.
“I ain’t coming in expecting anything, honestly,” Clarkson said. “A lot of people made expectations on my arrival and what I can do and what I’ve done my whole career. But not knowing anything, I came here with an open canvas. I just knew one goal and what we wanted to do, and that’s to win.”
Clarkson says he has nothing but positive feelings about the Jazz.
“That’s a home for me. I loved the organization. I love the coaching staff. Yeah, I love the city. All I had was love there,” Clarkson said. “… I’m going to try to keep my cool in terms of not feeling [emotional], just all the gratitude and everything that the city is giving me.”
Clarkson also recently discussed his hopes to lead Team Philippines in this summer’s Asia Cup with Mark Medina of Essentially Sports.
“For us and for me, not making the Olympics and not fully accomplishing what we want to accomplish in the World Cup,” he said, of what was driving him. “Reaching the goal of having a chance to make the Olympics, I think, is a big thing for me and to represent the country.”
He went on to say he thinks the Filipino team has a good shot at the next Olympics, reiterating his hopes for his own role and the team as a whole.
“We just got to figure out how to mesh the guys together and play the right combinations and figure it out from there,” he said.
“We got a lot of talent on the team, from older dudes to younger dudes as well. Hopefully, they let me play as a naturalized player and give me some leeway on things so we can continue to get more talent and we stay loaded.”
With the influx of more players in the league with Filipino heritage, such as Jalen Green (Suns), Dylan Harper (Spurs), and Jared McCain (Thunder), Clarkson hopes that his time with the team can help inspire the next generation and build the program up moving forward.
Clarkson was signed to be the scoring off the bench. Not sure what happened that made Brown stop playing him. But I don’t like it. Pretty sure it has to do with his D. Yet we knew who he was when we signed him. If he is scoring you have to play him. He’s a career 16 a game scorer. Thats better than Bridges, Hart, and OG career…. So what’s up coach ??
Clarkson deserves more than garbage time playing. He’s deserves a better chance. Shamet is actually playing more and I guess that’s because he’s better on defense. I’m confused. I was excited about the signing last summer
Love Landry lol. Just I don’t get why coach did this. We need that scoring off the bench. Duece will be back for playoffs too. I’m getting nervous man. We have to be set for playoffs
Was he signed before Thibs was let go? Otherwise it makes no sense because like you say Clarkson is a known commodity in the league at this point, both his positives and warts