"Core 4" Notes on Brandon Clarke's return
Brandon Clarke is making his return to the lineup after tearing his achilles roughly 13 months ago. Thoughts on his return and what I'm watching for.
If the Memphis Grizzlies’ “inactive report” pattern holds, Brandon Clarke will be making his return in tonight’s game — as he’s deemed “questionable” for their outing against the Lakers.
Roughly 13 months ago, Clarke suffered an achilles tear that sidelined him for the remainder of last year and all of this one. His return for this season was always up in the air, though whenever speaking to the media, Zach Kleiman held optimism he could make a cameo this season.
Now, Brandon Clarke is back, and it’s going to be great to see him play basketball again. People will toss out different questions and expectations with his return — mostly predicated around how he’ll look with a skillset amplified by his elite athleticism.
With Clarke’s return imminent by the hours, I don’t have many takes regarding his expectations and production. I’m monitoring the different elements within these valuable reps in the final 10 games of the season.
Brandon Clarke returning this year is a good thing
I know people were worried about having Clarke return in a lost season, at the risk of further injury 2024-25 season. Yes, that’s a risk — but hey, as I said a few weeks ago, we’ve seen players have long-term injuries outside games. They can’t completely bubblewrap players.
It’s good for Clarke to return at this point of the season, even with no playoff implications at stake.
This final stretch is the chance for Clarke to knock off rust. He can knock off the physical rust now, instead of at the beginning of next season when the games have more weight, and when there’s already a 19-month gap between his last game. He can find his legs a bit more too. Will we see his signature dunks? Will he be as formidable of a rim protector? At this stage of his recovery, that’d be great, but it shouldn’t be a critical expectation in this final games. It’s all about shaking rust off now, so he’s ready to go in 2024-25.
There’s also a psychological aspect to it. After suffering a devastating injury off the court, there’s value in removing that mental block now. Prepping for pregame, checking into the game, running some pick-and-roll, crashing the glass, making defensive rotations. Running through this cycle for a handful of games all clear should be a morale boost for Clarke and this team to set the runway for a big offseason and 2024-25 campaign.
And the Grizzlies will be careful
If their last inactive reports are indication, the Grizzlies will be careful with Clarke’s return and recovery.
He probably won’t play back-to-back’s — there are 2 left in this 10-game stretch. His minutes will likely be low.
It’s totally fine too, because everything for Clarke now is about building some sort of rhythm ahead of next season.
Minutes load with Jaren Jackson Jr.
Now this is what I’m ready for with Brandon Clarke’s return: sharing the floor with Jaren Jackson Jr.
Deep in the GBB archives I wrote on their synergy on and off the court. The Grizzlies shred their opponents with these 2 on the floor together.
Dating back to when Memphis drafted Clarke in 2019, the Grizzlies outscore their opponents by 7.2 points per 100 possessions (115.1 Offensive Rating, 107.9 Defensive Rating) in over 1700 minutes when Clarke and Jackson share the floor, per PBP Stats. If you shrink the sample size to just the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, the net rating bumps to 13.38 (118.3 Offensive Rating, 104.9 Defensive Rating) in 1091 minutes together.
That’s really freaking good.
Clarke with Jackson allows the Grizzlies to blend modern play-style while deploying the latter as the de-facto “4” and the former as the “5.” They can switch and run more. They play more above the rim.
It was their go-to in closing time.
Now, we wait to see how it looks after Clarke’s achilles injury, but it wouldn’t be shocking to see a good sample of this duo to close the stretch. Clarke will be a major component when it comes to building a frontcourt with Jaren Jackson — whether it’s in staggered, closing, or starting lineups.
(Don’t rule out starting for Clarke in 2024-25, especially if he looks close to his pre-injury self. It could also be a way to acclimate a rookie center.)
How will Brandon Clarke offset any potential slips in athleticism?
It’s more likely than not that Clarke may slip from an elite athlete to a very good one. In that event, what does he add to his game to offset any dip in athleticism?
I won’t get into the 3-point shot. Cool if he does, cool if he doesn’t. I say that because there are other components to his game that could be assets for him in his recovery.
Evident in his floater, he has nice touch with the in-between game. He shot 72.5% from the free throw line last year, while also making roughly 53% of his “long mid” range shots — per Cleaning the Glass (9/16 in ‘22-23, 6/12 in ‘21-22). Maybe expanding his range slightly out of the pick-and-roll could be another avenue for him to return to his efficiency as a roller — boasting an effective field goal percentage of 67% or higher in 3 of his 4 seasons, per Synergy Sports.
I value his passing a bit more than others. He has good feel with his decision-making in short roll situations. He’s not going to transform into this dynamic playmaker or anything, but his playmaking potential could up his value in higher leverage situations, even if he doesn’t possess 100% of his vertical pop.
Defensively, we’ll wait and see. I’m curious how he’ll perform in switching and rim-protection situations — and how his defensive role transforms.
Nonetheless, Brandon Clarke has more to his game than his athleticism, even if it’s the amplifier to his skillset.
While there are different elements to unpack as Clarke returns to the floor and regains his footing, the overarching take here is it’s damn good to have Brandon Clarke playing basketball again. He’s been a core complementary guy — a key cultural piece — next to Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Desmond Bane.
Clarke’s return signals a glimmer of hope for this vicious season, almost a light at the end of the tunnel for a bounce-back year in 2024-25.
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