The Utah Jazz have long held the NBA’s best record this season, and by now, it’s clear that Fil-Am super sub Jordan Clarkson has had a large part in the team’s success.

But long before the world fawned over the natural scoring ability of this season’s Sixth Man of the Year award front-runner, his fans back home in the Philippines have long known that the 28-year-old guard was destined to carve his own niche in the NBA.

And one of those fans, one of the biggest, in fact, just happened to be fellow Fil-Am Gabe Norwood, the longtime heart and soul of Gilas Pilipinas.

“It’s no fluke. He put in the work. He only had one or two practices with us before that first game, but you could tell with the progression that he was taking, he was heading to something special, and I think you’re starting to see it all pay off this season,” he said on One Sports’ The Game program.

The world may have blinked and missed it as the 2018 Asian Games passed by, but Filipinos savored every minute as Clarkson starred with the Philippine national team after he was granted a one-time exemption to play.

For the first time since his college days, the 6-foot-4 guard was granted the greenest of green lights to do whatever he wanted on the court, and it paid off for the Philippines with a fifth-place finish in the tournament, its best in 16 years.

It was a small sample size, but Norwood, the national team captain, saw enough to validate his thoughts on what was yet to come for Clarkson’s career.

“In his role, he’s super comfortable, and I’d like to think part of that is his Asian Games experience kind of catapulted that progression,” he said.

“He was the man, he got the ball, he was able to go downhill and score at will and he’s never really stopped since then.”

Fast-forward to the present day, and Clarkson is leading all NBA reserves in scoring with 17.5 points per game on the highest usage rate of his six-year pro career.

To no one’s surprise, this development has helped Utah be the first team to clinch a playoff spot in the tough Western Conference.

Clarkson always showed flashes of stardom even in his early years, and Norwood is just glad that his country was able to help him get there, even just for a fleeting moment.

“To kind of come full circle and actually have the jersey on, and see him out there with the fun he’s having and the freedom that he was playing with, it was all love that he’s playing for the country,” Norwood said. “It was inspiring, and I’m very honored to be a part of that team that he first put the jersey on for.” – Rappler.com