Your newest NBA draft crush: Campbell's Chris Clemons


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — Besides the Hulk-like arms, the elite athleticism and the little fact that he scored 3,225 points in college, third-most in Division I history, Campbell’s Chris Clemons seems somewhat more relatable than most of the other draft prospects.

The reason: He stands at only 5-foot-9.

He’s an average-sized human — at least heightwise — playing in a sport dominated by anything but average-sized humans.

“As you guys saw, he’s got a body most of us would love to have,” Utah Jazz vice president of player personnel Walt Perrin said after the Jazz's first draft workout of the season on Saturday.

He wasn’t being facetious, either.

Clemons is built like a tank — a tank that somehow soars 44-inches high. He looks like he belongs in an NFL defensive backfield, but he’d prefer an NBA backcourt instead.

Ok, so maybe he's not so relatable to the common fan after all, but here are some reasons why you would love it if your team drafted Clemons in June.

You like dunks? He gives you dunks. And impressive ones.

It's shocking when it happens. He dribbles in and then somehow blasts off like a rocket toward the rim: an undersized guy that not only is dunking, but slamming it home over helpless defenders.

The NBA is an entertainment business — a 5-9 dude posterizing 7-foot centers is quite entertaining.

“How cool is it to dunk?” Clemons asked back when the same query came from this not-so-tall reporter. “I think it’s the coolest thing ever.”

“To traffic dunk?” he asked, to the follow-up from another vertically challenged reporter. “That’s hard to do for anybody, so when I do it, I think it’s the best part of the game.”

Based on his highlight reel full of dunks, no one is probably going to argue about the “best part of the game” bit. Must be nice to have a 44-inch vertical.

He’s a straight up bucket getter

This past season, Clemons became the first player since 1997 years to average 30 or more points per game. No, scoring alone is not a great indicator of NBA success, (sorry, Jimmer fans). But the way he got points — scoring at every level — gives hope that it could translate at least a little to the next level.

He scored 30.1 per contest, led the nation in scoring for the second consecutive season, and had four 40-point games in his senior season.

He was a 35-percent 3-point shooter in his final season with the Fighting Camels,(yes, that's actually Campbell's mascot), and hit on 57 percent of his shots inside the arc.

“What he’s got to do, he’s gotta be able to continue to knock down shots because of his size,” Perrin said. He has to do this, “because of where he plays and because a lot of colleges don’t help players, especially small players, with floaters, which you gotta have that in our game.”

With Clemons’ scoring — not to mention his dunking — prowess, he seems destined to be a Summer League star. Heck, that alone might worth taking a flyer on him with a late second-round pick.

It’s an underdog story

At the Reese’s College All-Star Game last month in Minneapolis last month, Clemons met the person he is most often compared to — Nate Robinson.

“One of the coolest things I thought he told me was that I was looking like a mirror image of himself,” Clemons said.

Robinson carved out an 11-year NBA career despite also being just 5-foot-9. He won the NBA Dunk Contest three times during his career, had big moments in playoff series and proved that little guys can still have a role in the league.

Clemons is hoping to do the same.

“This is why I’m out here,” Clemons said. “When I get a chance to go at a bigger defender, I go at him. I have to guard the bigger defenders while I’m out here, and that’s what they want to see from a smaller guy. I’m going out here every day and trying to prove to the GMs that I can play at this level.”

Yes, he’s small and he knows he's small. But that didn’t stop him from leading the NCAA in scoring. Why should it stop him from reaching the NBA?

Related stories

Most recent Utah Jazz stories

Related topics

Utah JazzSports
KSL.com Utah Jazz reporter

ARE YOU GAME?

From first downs to buzzer beaters, get KSL.com’s top sports stories delivered to your inbox weekly.
By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

KSL Weather Forecast