When Jordan Clarkson has a bad game, he sometimes uses a unique solution. This year’s 46th overall pick occasionally goes home after a rough outing and rewatches the entire draft.
“It’s motivating for me when I come in the gym,” Clarkson said at his exit interview Thursday. “I think I watched the draft maybe like 10 times throughout the year. So it’s just one of those things that keeps me hungry.
“When I have a bad game, I watch the film and just kind of remember everything. I try to not put two bad games together. It’s kind of just what gets me over the hump.”
The cycle of draft watching seems to have accomplished Clarkson’s goal, as he only scored in single digits in back-to-back games once as a starter. He followed up those two contests with a career-high 30 points at Oklahoma City on March 24.
“I feel where he’s coming from,” University of Missouri and Lakers teammate Jabari Brown said. “You’ve got to find things to fuel you sometimes, and he has a good reason to for that.”
Despite being selected behind seven other point guards — Dante Exum, Marcus Smart, Elfrid Payton, Tyler Ennis, Shabazz Napier, Spencer Dinwiddie and Nick Johnson — Clarkson’s motivation doesn’t stem from a negative perspective.
“I don’t look at it like: ‘I should have been drafted there (or) there,’” Clarkson said. “I feel like everything happened for a reason. I got drafted here for a reason. Going back to college, I didn’t have that good of a second half of the season, so it was kind of on me. I just had to come out and prove people wrong.”
As Clarkson heads into the offseason between his rookie and sophomore seasons, he says that he will continue to tap into his draft status for motivation.
“It’s always going to be in my mind,” Clarkson said. “Jabari posted the other day on Instagram the date of the draft and was like, ‘I never forgot and I’m not ever gonna forget draft day.’ That’s always going to be in my head to push me.”
Clarkson says that his draft viewings aren’t necessarily intense sessions. Sometimes he falls asleep and wakes up to see his name flash up on the screen.
And while fellow rookie Tarik Black acknowledges that Clarkson’s routine strengthens the mental side of his game, Black’s initial response to hearing how many times Clarkson has watch the draft was one of surprise.
“Wow,” he said. “That’s an obsession right there.”