With Kobe Bryant back in harness, will Jordan Clarkson end up playing point guard?
Clarkson of course had a pretty good rookie year and heading into his sophomore year with the Los Angeles Lakers, a lot of eyes are on the 23-year-old guard from Tampa, Florida.
He was impressive at the NBA Summer League but the real deal starts now at training camp and then of course the regular season. Despite being selected 46th overall in the 2014 NBA Draft, Clarkson took the long climb up to the regular roster and even made the NBA All Rookie First Team which he attributes to hard work.
Of course last season was different, seeing the Lakers at the bottom of the heap and for the second year in a row. Clarkson is expected to be among the young guns the Lakers will be banking on this season though it remains to be seen what his role will really be.
There are varying beliefs. One is that he will start the season at point until rookie D’ Angelo Russell gets accustomed to the point guard position.
There are others who believe that Clarkson would be playing alongside Russell, playing the off guard role with Kobe moving up to small forward.
The last scenario sees Clarkson playing backup at off guard, meaning Kobe would be playing a lot of the position. Then again, he could slide down to the point guard spot and leaving Russell to spell him.
Those four scenarios are of course in the air though it seems Kobe has been pretty impressed at Russell at training camp, particularly his passing skills.
Other than that, Kobe says he sees the love of Russell for the game and that alone is pretty important.
“When you have a player that loves the game it’s really just my responsibility to make sure he never loses sight of that. Through difficult moments and even the great moments, always just focus on the love of the game. Once you have that you’ll problem solve everything. Right? Once you stay focused on that. It’s my job to really keep him locked in” says Kobe via ESPN.
As far as head coach Byron Scott is concerned, he sees the flexibility right before him with Clarkson and Russell playing together, possibly with Kobe Bryant as well.
“There’s going to be times when Jordan is going to initiate the offense. There’s going to be a bunch of times when D’Angelo is going to initiate the offense. I don’t think neither one of those guys are worried about that phase of it. They’re more worried about wins than anything.”
So among the four scenarios mentioned earlier, it seems to lean more on seeing Bryant, Russell and Clarkson regularly. Then add a couple of bangers or big men out there then the Lakers could pull off some surprises.