While most of the New York Knicks offseason chatter has been centered around the futures of Mitchell Robinson and Landry Shamet, there's been a little buzz about fellow unrestricted free agent Jordan Clarkson. According to Stefan Bondy of the NY Post, the 2021 Sixth Man of the Year remains a possibility to re-sign with Knicks despite New York's intention to remain under the second-apron. Clarkson, an imperfect player who long established himself as one of the league's premier hired guns, played a supporting role in helping the team win the championship and the door is ajar for a reunion. The Knicks need to fill out their roster with three veteran minimums as things stand, so Clarkson is an option. But what he offers may not be as alluring to the Knicks this go-around.Clarkson's ups and down hold him back as Knicks considerationClarkson's pedigree and savvy-scoring punch is valuable. He was a positive presence in the locker room and showed how great of teammate he is. The proven walking bucket is one of the best sixth men to ever do it and his 8,656 points off the bench ranks seventh all-time. Accepting a diminishing role isn’t easy, especially for someone who's made close to $200 million. But the 12-year pro never complained and became the embodiment of staying ready. However, the Clarkson roller coaster experience had its peaks and valleys. There was the team's elder statesman's second-half heroics in the Cup Final against the Spurs, his 25-point outing on Christmas Day and season high of 27-points in his return to Utah. He also magically healed OG Anunoby's wrist with an unseen ancient technique. But during the first 11 games coming out of the All-Star break, Clarkson was a DNP (coach's decision) six times and only saw 27 minutes on the court. There was plenty of the Filipino sniper chucking up early-in-the-shot-clock bricks and coach Mike Brown yanked him from the rotation following the acquisition of Jose Alvarado at the trade deadline. Then came one of the more unforeseen late career transformations. The 6-foot-5 microwave scorer reinvented himself as a pitbull on defense and elite offensive rebounding guard. Clarkson sported the highest OREB% of his career and the Knicks' overall OREB% was 3.2% higher with him on floor during the regular season.Despite the uptick in defensive tenacity, Clarkson averaged a career-low 17.8 minutes and 8.6 points across 72 games. Most notably, the career 33.6% shooter from long range, totally lost his stroke during the final weeks. From March 20 on, Clarkson missed 18 straight threes until he finally connected on his only attempt in Game 1 against Cleveland. He made just three of the 10 following attempts from deep that he took. With the re-signing of Alvarado, once again using a third of the team's roster on five small guards is a tough sell. Barring a Miles McBride or Tyler Kolek trade, the Knicks could use those precious open roster spots on insurance up front and wings that are a bigger threat from long distance.There's no question that Clarkson is still capable of eating away at some regular-season minutes. Bringing back Clarkson wouldn’t be a bad move, but I’m not so sure that it’s the right move. No matter if he's back or not, Clarkson's one-year rendezvous in New York will be remembered fondly. Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow