BROOKLYN — Brandon Clarke is very good at basketball. Even if you have never seen him play, you could probably conclude this based on the fact that an NBA team decided to use a first round draft pick to acquire his services on Thursday night, when the Memphis Grizzlies pulled off a trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder to acquire the 21st pick in the 2019 NBA Draft.
But even by the standard of “he is very good at basketball,” Clarke was historically good during his final season at Gonzaga. Think of every college basketball player in recent memory. By the metric Box Plus/Minus, exactly one guy has put forth a better year than Clarke did last year. He went No. 1 on Thursday.
College players to post a BPM of at least 18 in a season (min. 20 games):
Zion Williamson (20.0)
Brandon Clarke (18.9)
Anthony Davis (18.7)— Jackson Frank (@jackfrank_jjf) June 20, 2019
Clarke is a freak of nature. Standing 6’7.25 without shoes and boasting a less than stellar 6’8.25 wingspan, Clarke was able to turn his unreal athleticism into crazy production on both ends of the floor during his one year in Spokane. He posted the fifth-best ORtg in college basketball last year, per KenPom, while boasting the fourth-best effective field goal percentage and a top-40 offensive rebounding percentage in America.
The West Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year, Clarke spent all year proving that the otherworldly agility and athleticism he displayed at the NBA Draft Combine has a practical application on the floor. Clarke, despite not having the height or length of a dominant rim protector, was 15th nationally in block percentage.
He’s also as smart and active of a defender as a player can possibly be coming into the league, giving him a versatility that he takes a whole lot of pride in — when asked after his selection about his role in the league, Clarke proudly said he can guards threes, fours, and fives.
“It will probably start with just playing defense really,” Clarke said. “I can block shots, guard pretty much anybody on the floor.”
That emphasis on defense will fit in awfully well in Memphis. While the team saw the Grit and Grind era come to an end earlier in the week with the trade of Mike Conley, the Grizzlies’ identity still is tied to what they can accomplish on the defensive end of the floor. It also helps that Clarke will get the chance to grow and develop his game alongside an exciting young core — frontcourt mate Jaren Jackson Jr. showed gobs of promise during his first year in the league, while Ja Morant went second overall on Thursday evening.
Clarke praised both members of that pairing, going as far as to call Morant “one of the most fun players to watch ever to me,” and believes the way they compliment his game has the potential to lead to the Grizzlies becoming a League Pass darling.
“Ja is a really, really good passer,” Clarke said. “I play well with point guards, I can pass the ball well. And Jaren is just a really good talent, too, a really strong dude who can shoot it and also drive it. It’s always fun playing with dudes like that. I just played with [former Gonzaga teammate] Rui [Hachimura] and it was pretty much similar to that. Ja is just a really good passer and he’s a really, really bouncy player, too. So I’m sure we’re going to have some very fun highlights to watch.”
It makes for one heck of a situation for Clarke, who did slip a little on Thursday. Clarke — who sat in the green room and watched as 20 names were read before his, some of whom weren’t in attendance to shake Adam Silver’s hand — was a darling of the niche of social media known as Draft Twitter, which believed he was in the tier of players just below Williamson, while ESPN’s draft projections model believes only the No. 1 pick has a better chance of becoming an All-Star some day.
“It’s kind of tough to not be anxious when you’re just sitting there and you’re waiting for your name to be called,” Clarke said. “But just after I finally heard my name called, pretty much all that bad feeling went away and all that anxious stuff went away.”
He’s hardly a lock to make it in the league. The concerns about his size and length exist, he’ll turn 23 in September, and he has an admittedly funky game — Clarke’s 1.252 points per possession were in the 99th percentile of players on offense, per Synergy, but isn’t much of a shooter, going 4-for-15 on triples on the year.
But Memphis did what every team does this time of year: weighed all of that against the positives Clarke brings to the table.
When this happened, the team realized that he is a marvelous fit alongside the 1-2 punch that can hopefully serve as worthy successors to the most beloved era in franchise history, following up Grit and Grind with the kind of athletic, bouncy squad that endears itself to everyone. When put that way, Clarke makes all the sense in the world, and gives the Grizzlies a third pillar for an organization with bright days on the horizon.
