Fil-Am guard Jordan Clarkson pays tribute to former Sixth Man winners

Jordan Clarkson paid tribute to Manu Ginobili, Lou Williams, JR Smith and Jamal Crawford for inspiring him to win the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award.
The Fil-American guard of the Utah Jazz said the four players, all past winners of the award, had major influences in Clarkson embracing the sixth man role.
“It means a lot,” Clarkson said in a virtual press conference which came after teammate and runner-up Joe Ingles surprised him by being presented with the trophy during an interview with TNT’s Inside the NBA.
Clarkson tabbed Ginobili as the first player to make him realize that playing the reserve role isn’t bad after all. The San Antonio Spurs great won Sixth Man honors in 2008.
“He’s one guy that I watched growing up and it really made this role really cool to me,” said Clarkson, who grew up in San Antonio. “I wanted to be like Manu making moves and stuff like that. I felt like that was a big part.”
The 28-year-old had little mention of Crawford and Smith, a former teammate with the Cleveland Cavaliers, but praised Williams for the advices he only appreciated as he got older in the league.
Crawford was a three-time winner during his time with the Atlanta Hawks while Smith took the honor in 2013 while with the New York Knicks.
Williams, who was with the Los Angeles Lakers during Clarkson’s first three NBA seasons, also won it three times including back-to-back years with the Clippers in 2018 and 2019.
“Having a teammate like JR, Lou Will and even having conversations with Jamal, it’s just kinda something that they all kinda passed down to me,” said Clarkson.
“I remember Lou was big on me in LA of slowing down with life and everything, just giving me like so much knowledge that I wasn’t really wasn’t able to accept when I was a young player in the NBA.
“I was kinda ‘Yeah, yeah. You’re just talking old head.’ All the old stuff he told me, I really took it into account as I got older really got a flashback and remember a lot what he’s talking,” he added.