The Raptors Should Acquire Jordan Clarkson (Or Someone Like Him)
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The Raptors Should Acquire Jordan Clarkson (Or Someone Like Him)
The Raptors need more scoring off of the bench and this type of player can help them.
The Toronto Raptors need a player like Jordan Clarkson.
Why?
Because they need more scoring. They need a prolific scorer off of the bench that is adept at scoring in half-court settings.
Last season, they were one of the worst teams when it came to half-court offense. They also had no player in their second unit who averaged more than 10 points per game.
Clarkson can help them improve in those areas.
He is a skilled scorer who can create his own shots. He can knock down threes or attack the basket. He can also iso a defender and get buckets in the mid-range.
He’s a scoring utility belt, if you will.
In 2021-22, he averaged 16 points per game off of the Utah Jazz’s bench. And the year prior, he averaged 18 points per game in the same situation (he was also the Sixth Man of the Year this season).
And another good thing about him, and the main reason why the Raptors should get him, is that he’s available.
The Jazz are in full rebuild mode after they blew up their team by trading their away star players, Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, this offseason.
They’re looking to trade away all of the vets on the team for young players and/or draft picks.
Clarkson is one of those vets.
However, who could the Raptors trade for him? His contract for 2022-23 will be $13 million. And he has a $14 million player option for the following season.
Another question is: should the Raptors trade away a player (or two) and draft picks for an excellent scorer who can’t really defend?
Or should they try to develop their current players and try to produce the next Jordan Clarkson?
I personally think that if they're gunning for another title within the next two or three seasons, they should try to get Clarkson.
But if they’re not, I say they should develop from within and reshuffle their line-ups so that they have more offense coming off of the bench.
And who knows, maybe the reshuffling will fix their problems.
But what are your thoughts on this?
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