BOSTON — Jordan Clarkson has been called a lot of things over his NBA career: a gunner, ball-stopper, someone that doesn't fit into a system.

And, yes, he’s heard them all.

"I get labeled a lot of stuff," Clarkson said. "It is what it is. I just go out there and try to do my job for the team."

Since he joined the Utah Jazz, not many have done their job better than Clarkson. Over the last month, he's been one of the premier bench scorers in the NBA. Since Jan. 29, he is fourth in the NBA among regular bench players, averaging 18.3 points per game and almost single-handedly saved Utah’s bench unit midseason.

When you watch how he almost effortlessly weaves into the lane and how he takes fearless shots, it’s easy to see where the reputation that has followed Clarkson since he came into the league comes from. It's mostly been born based on his own strengths. He saves possessions by creating opportunities for himself and has been asked to be a bucket-getter off the bench.

When you are that good of a scorer, the other things don’t immediately stand out.

"If you see a highlight or whatever, they usually don’t show highlights of guys pressuring the ball and shifting on defense, but I think I would say that those things are important to him," Jazz head coach Quin Snyder said.

Utah traded for Clarkson to fix a floundering bench. It was a unit that sat near the bottom of the league in scoring, and the front office had watched their team give up lead after lead when the starters sat. They needed help scoring in the worst way. Clarkson was the answer.

But he's more than just a guy with a green light — a green light that, by the way, he has been given because coaches trust him. And once he’s on your team, it’s easy to see why.

"You see a passion when he plays, and you see that even more when it’s up close and you get a chance to look in his eyes, and you see how he comes in the game, how he comes out of the game, and just how he competes," Snyder said. "I didn’t have any preconceptions about that, but it’s been fun to see him play that way."

On Monday, before the Jazz and Cavs tipped off, Kevin Love saw Clarkson from across the court and walked over to his former teammate with a grin. The two jumped up, appearing to be gearing up for a chest bump, but ended up in a bear hug. As they landed the pair smiled wide as their arms clenched around each other.

There was a void left in Cleveland when Clarkson was traded away, with Love even telling reporters he "fell to the ground" when he heard out his friend was on his way out. Teammates appreciate his passion, his competitiveness, and, yes, his unselfishness, too.

It’s why he has fit in so well with the Jazz.

As Jazz forward Joe Ingles jokingly harassed Clarkson during an interview session earlier this week, Clarkson playfully was asked, "Do you have true friends in Cleveland, unlike this?"

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With around four minutes remaining in Utah’s 114-113 win at Houston Sunday, Jordan Clarkson looked set to check back in. But soon, after a quick talk with Quin Snyder, he was on his way back to the bench.

"I was his best friend in Cleveland, now I’m his best friend in Utah; I’m his best friend worldwide," Ingles said as the two laughed.

"He's an unselfish guy, funny guy, laid back, relaxed," Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell said. "He knows his role. Perfects it."

December wasn't the first time Snyder or the Jazz front office had envisioned Clarkson on the team. Last summer, Snyder asked Dennis Lindsey, the Jazz’s executive vice president of basketball operations, about Clarkson, and the two had discussions about a potential fit — not necessarily in preparation for a move, just to share thoughts. It's a credit to Snyder that he saw Clarkson as more than just a volume scorer, the type that usually wouldn't thrive in a system like Utah's.

Last month, Snyder had Clarkson make a list of five things that he wanted to improve as the season went on. Snyder, then, made his own list for Clarkson.

"We want me to improve in areas," Clarkson said. "That’s not going to happen in one day or a week. It just gives me something to keep looking forward to and keep playing for. I watch a lot of film; I watch a lot of basketball, especially us. It’s just gonna help us grow as a team."

Clarkson or Snyder wouldn’t reveal what exactly was on their lists, but they both said that they were pretty similar — Clarkson joked that he'd reveal his list only when he had checked them all off. That's a sign of a coach and a player on the same page, which has been the case since Clarkson arrived. Snyder has a belief in him, and that hasn't gone unnoticed by Utah's sixth man.

"It’s a big boost," Clarkson said. "That’s why I go out there and play hard and try to do what I can do for the team."

And that might mean scoring, passing, trying his best to defend. Because no matter what Clarkson has been labeled as in the past, that’s not all who he is.

"I think there’s other things that he’s capable of doing, because he loves to play," Snyder said. "I think he’s going to become a better and better defender as he emphasizes that. He’s taken a lot more catch-and-shoot threes. He wants to improve. Anytime you see a guy that loves the game and that’s talented and wants to improve, those are fun guys to coach."

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