Gonzaga Basketball: NBA Draft profile on Bulldog big man Brandon Clarke

Strengths: Athletic Profile, Preternatural Instincts & IQ, Touch

Brandon Clarke is good at basketball.

He really, truly is, and was arguably the second-best college player behind Duke’s Zion Williamson after sporting averages of 16.9 points, 8.6 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.2 steals and 3.2 blocks on a blistering 68.7 field goal percentage. His box plus-minus numbers were historically dominant, in the same realm as Williamson’s, and he led the nation in both on-court offensive (137.85) and defensive rating (84) according to sports-reference.com, something that hasn’t been done since Anthony Davis did so as a Wildcat in 2011-12.

Yet mainstream draft sites generally aren’t covering him as a prospect who deserves to get his name called within the first 10 picks of the draft.

He’s an elite defender with preternatural instincts, crisp rotations, mesmerizing timing that would make Dr. Strange sweat. He’s switchable due to his guard/wing-like athleticism, he blocks shots with utter disrespect, his hands are quick and active. Clarke’s body control and core strength are rare for a big, enabling him to contort his body mid-air, whether he’s finishing at the rim or reaching to block someone’s shot. He’s a rare athlete, with fluidity and speed and vertical explosion that gets him off the ground incredibly quickly (including an impressive second-jump). He plays well above his size with his athleticism, intelligence, and motor. He’s the best athlete in the draft class outside of Zion Williamson.

Brandon Clarke is more than just a top-shelf defender, though. He was legitimately elite on the offensive end, and his Synergy profile provides a succinct portrayal of this: 90th percentile in transition (1.312 PPP), 82nd percentile on cuts (1.345 PPP), 96th percentile on post-ups (1.14 PPP), 98th percentile on putbacks, 78th percentile as the roll-man (1.204 PPP), 92nd percentile on spot-ups, and 86th percentile in isolation (1.037 PPP).

His touch around the basket is soft, helping him finish an array of shots and boding well for his potential to shoot it from long-range. He’s overhauled his shot mechanics significantly, improving his free throw percentage (56.8% at San Jose State to 69.4% at Gonzaga) and draining 53 percent of his two-point jumpshots, which is higher than most draft prospects.

He’s so unique and so good, and the film backs it up.

Everyone knows that Brandon Clarke plays as if he’s a pogo stick that became sentient, with his 40.5-inch max vert and 34-inch standing vert getting shown off with regularity — as well as his ability to reach his peak in a split-second — as a fearless dunker and rebounder …

… and as a prolific shot blocker, be it strong-side, weak-side, chase-down, you name it. (Film via Sam Vecenie.)

But he’s more then just a flashy dunker and blocker. He’s elite in those areas, but his impact is felt all around the floor on both offense and defense. He’s truly everywhere.

He’ll put you in a jail cell on a switch if you’re brash enough to attempt to break him down off the dribble, regardless of how shifty or crafty your live-dribble game may be:

Clarke is phenomenal at recovering when closing out on shooters, flipping his hips and changing directions with ease and transitioning from a lateral slide into his vertical seamlessly and reaching max height in a split second to send away shot attempts with utter disgust:

A defensive savant with the core control of an Olympic gymnast, Clarke’s able to use masterful balance to stay vertical off of a max vert when defending shots at the rim, seemingly floating in the air with verticality that would make Frank Vogel and Roy Hibbert blush:

This body control is also awfully apparent on the offensive end, flaunting the ability to contort and stretch his body mid-air to get high-difficulty layups to fall, such as this Kyrie-esque up-and-under scoop against Zion Williamson of all people:

Clarke’s touch around the rim is elite, shooting 74.3 FG% on non-post shots around the basket in the halfcourt (higher than Williamson’s 73.5 FG%) as a junior with Gonzaga, per Synergy Sports. He loves to go to his push-shot floater, with his vertical pop and magnificent touch making it both a difficult shot to defend and a beautiful shot to watch glide through the net:

He really likes going to his floater, and the distance doesn’t matter — the touch is so pure that it’ll go in from the edge of the paint and over the top of several defenders. He doesn’t mind at all:

His footwork and ball skills are pretty impressive for a “power forward,” as he’s able to move jab into a spin and into his soft lay-in all in one effortless motion:

His handle needs work and he has a transparent tendency to go left, but Clarke’s ability to get low with his live dribble in transition and get off a few moves against a backpedaling Mfiondu Kabengele is impressive, even with the rushed layup attempt at the end:

He even flashed ball skills while at San Jose State, too:

Clarke doesn’t possess special passing vision or anything of that nature, but he makes smart, timely reads within the flow of the offense in order to help his team. He typically doesn’t let the ball stick, generally swinging a pass to a teammate or even dumping the ball off when attacking closeouts, like he did here:

Whew.