Coming into the season, Jordan Clarkson decided to sign with the New York Knicks so he had a realistic shot to win an NBA championship. With both the Pacers and the Celtics missing their best players, the Knicks have been considered one of the favorites to win the Eastern Conference.
Clarkson has been a key player off the bench for Mike Brown, who actually plays bench players. So far this season, Clarkson is averaging 9.1 points off the bench on 44.8 percent shooting. Yet, Clarkson seems to think that he deserves to play more minutes.
During a game against the Brooklyn Nets, Clarkson fouled out with six minutes left to go in the game. He had played 18 minutes in the contest, and the game was out of hand. His reaction to fouling out left his teammates laughing at him.
New York Knicks Guard Jordan Clarkson Gets Laughed at by Teammates
After heading to the bench, Clarkson took a stat sheet that Josh Hart was looking at and crumpled it up. Hart was not able to contain his laughter at Clarkson’s frustration.
Hart had been on the bench for a while, as he only played 21 minutes in the blowout victory. Clarkson was still able to score 11 points in the time he was on the court. Yet, he seems frustrated with the lack of playing time that he has been getting so far in New York.
Clarkson’s time on the court has significantly decreased from a year ago when he was with the Jazz. He’s averaging 16.3 minutes per game with the Knicks, down from 26 minutes per game. That lack of playing time has clearly made him frustrated, even though the Knicks are winning.
While speaking about it postgame, Clarkson seemed to laugh off the incident, saying Hart’s reaction helped get him back to normal.
“Yeah, he’s always on me. But nah, he made me laugh. I was kind of upset, but he got me right.”
The New York Knicks Are Relying on the Bench More
Even though Clarkson isn’t getting as much run on the court as he would prefer, that’s still more time than bench guys have gotten in years past for the Knicks. Brown has decided to play his bench guys more, making sure his team is more well-rested.
All of the starters’ minutes are down from a year ago when Tom Thibodeau was the head coach. Playing starters heavy minutes in the regular season was a common critique of Thibodeau during his tenure as the head coach of the team, and Brown doesn’t want to repeat those mistakes.
Under Brown, the Knicks are third in the Eastern Conference standings. He has kept this team near the top of the conference by employing this new style of coaching. Clarkson may not like the amount of minutes he’s playing right now, but it’s leading to winning.
Despite the bench playing more, the Knicks’ bench scores the fourth-fewest points per game of any bench unit in the NBA. Clarkson needs to help lead that effort of scoring more.
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