Buy or sell Earl Clark as a solid rotation player for the Lakers.

[midnightpulp]

Has a little bit of vintage Lamar Odom in him. Long, quick, decent handles for a 6' 10" player, and a surprisingly competent passer from what I've seen.

Could fit the Shawn Marion role on the Lakers.

So, with that said, are his recent "breakout" games legitimate and a sign of things to come, or simply a product of "scrub gets hot for a couple games?"

Remember, Clark was a lottery pick, and objectively speaking, he's got some talent.

[InRareForm]

Everyone thought goldlock* was going to be a good rotational player too. Too small of sample size

[Sportcamper]

I don’t think many people including Mike D’Antoni know anything about him…Playing for the Iowa Energy he averaged 2.7 points & 1.1 rebounds in 45 games…Clark has made the most of his opportunities this past week…Kind of, “we will see what develops”…

[StrengthAndHonor]

He seems to have the tools to be a solid starter. Some of the moves he made were not an aberration. He can dribble, shoot the mid range, he can defend and he has very good footwork. He's also quite athletic, not on Jordan Hill's level but he's better than any of the Lakers big out there right excluding Hill who IMO is the Lakers best big man.


If he's developed and used properly by the D'Antoni they should move forward next season with the idea of inserting Clark in the starting lineup. Trade Gasol for anything useful and they'll be a better team next year.

[Koolaid_Man]

Has a little bit of vintage Lamar Odom in him. Long, quick, decent handles for a 6' 10" player, and a surprisingly competent passer from what I've seen.

Could fit the Shawn Marion role on the Lakers.

So, with that said, are his recent "breakout" games legitimate and a sign of things to come, or simply a product of "scrub gets hot for a couple games?"

Remember, Clark was a lottery pick, and objectively speaking, he's got some talent.

I don't care mid...I'm not watching that shit until we make a blockbuster trade...I don't even want to talk about it..in fact let's change the fucking subject...tell me mid...all things being equal if you had a choice which of these guys would you rather look like....:lol

When I first saw this guy I wondered how in the hell did they get sloth from the Goonies in the NBA. It’s like his face cobbled together with spare parts everything is out of wack. Not to mention looking at him straight on makes you think the room is slanted. How in the hell can a face be made at an angle?

Popeye Jones
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a68/Koolbreezey/popeye.jpg


I think “Pop” is the best coach in the NBA. Having said all that, his face looks like he swallowed an M80. Or survived a small plane crash. His hairline, if that’s what you want to call it, retreats more than David Haye from the Klitchkos. Maybe it is that he resembles the worst actor known to life Nicholas Cage. Well really he looks like Nicholas Cage as Ghost Rider.

Greg Popvich
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a68/Koolbreezey/popovich.jpg




Yeah he is old and doesn’t fight anymore but he is still so ugly There is so much space between his teeth even David Akers could split them. To take it one step further he has more gaps in between his teeth than the plot in M Night Shyamalan movies. I mean if his teeth were the US Army in WWII we would all be speaking Japanese

Michael Spinks
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a68/Koolbreezey/spinks.jpg

[Clipper Nation]

Sell.... once the league sees enough of him and adjusts defensively, Lakerfan will be scrambling for the next savior, tbh....

[JamStone]

Was impressive at Louisville and I recall wanting the Pistons to consider him in that draft. I think he went one spot ahead of Detroit and the Pistons took Austin Daye.

He has a common problem with a lot of young, combo forwards. He's caught in between positions. Has nice perimeter skills except for shooting but while he's a good athlete, he might be a touch slow to play primarily out on the perimeter. And he doesn't have much of a post game and isn't quite strong enough or doesn't know how to use his strength well enough to play primarily at the 4. He'd be well served if the Lakers or whatever team he ends up playing for in the longterm choose a position for him and then focus his workouts, conditioning, and game for that position.

Still young and still has potential to be a good, solid NBA player. Hardest part for him was getting the opportunity. Maybe now that he's gotten one, he can start to develop his game. If he can learn how to shoot consistently, even if it's not just three pointers, it would go a long way. He's solid in other facets of the game. Getting a jumpshot would open things up a lot for him.

[StrengthAndHonor]

He looks good and confident shooting those jumpers last 2 games. He's better than Gasol in that category imo.

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

Jamstone summed it up pretty well. He has yet to find a coach who'll be patient with him and let him get touches. Every team he's been on has tried to use him as a spot up shooter, something he's never been, and then he'd be yanked after he missed 2-3 shots.

[Mori Chu]

Take it from a Suns fan who watched Earl Clark play for a couple of years. He's garbage. He has all the tools and the physique where he should be successful, but he doesn't work hard and doesn't give a $h!t out there on the court. He just hangs out around the perimeter and jacks up very flat 20-footers that clank off the rim. He has horrible decision making and tries to go 1-on-5 too much. Despite his athleticism he never gets to the rim and is never the first one down the court on a fast break. He is supposedly an able passer, but he never demonstrates this on the court. By all reports he doesn't work hard on his game or in practice, so he doesn't improve. He'll be out of the league in a few years.

[LkrFan]

TBD tbh. Bigs generally take years to develop. He has some talent, but he still needs to learn the game. I'm hoping that eventually he'll be a solid rotational player. With J Hill out, he should get his opportunity. I hope he seizes it.

[Cry Havoc]

I'd buy that honestly, if for no other reason than he's the only guy who hasn't earned a spot yet and thus is going to play harder than every other Laker on the floor.

[JamStone]

TBD tbh. Bigs generally take years to develop. He has some talent, but he still needs to learn the game. I'm hoping that eventually he'll be a solid rotational player. With J Hill out, he should get his opportunity. I hope he seizes it.

No one knows if he's a big yet. He played a lot of 4 in college, but that was primarily because of his size. I recall in most of the draft bios the year he came out, he was projected as much a SF at the NBA level as a PF. He has perimeter abilities. And he's an above average athlete, just not elite. He lacks post skills offensively, and probably needs to add some muscle. He's caught in between positions. If he ends up being a PF, he has a ways to go in terms of refining his post work and probably re-inventing his body to get stronger.

[Latarian Milton]

only gonna be a short term measure imho. lakers are shorthanded in the paint now with two of their bigs down and even such a crap like clark will help ease the pain

[midnightpulp]

3 solid games in a row.

Time to move Gasol and just roll with Clark at the 3 and Metta/Jamison as your stretch 4s. Fun and gun looks much better as of late since the emergence of Clark.

Since the Lakers' title hopes are all but gone, if I were Mitch I'd look ahead to the future and see if there's a team willing to trade a young rotation player and maybe a first rounder. I understand the Lakers have something of 2014 plan in place when they'll have a Fort Knox of cap space, so Mitch's strategy was to probably wait and build a team around Dwight then (if he resigns), but I think they should use Gasol to start building a youth movement now, especially at the PG and PF positions.

[Ghazi]

Lakers are a better team w/ Gasol imo, even as ineffective as he's been

[irishock]

Sell.

[LkrFan]

bLB9HBw_psc&desktop_uri=

[LkrFan]

I'm still skeptical. Sure, I'm hoping that this "throw in" traded player gives us the type of impact Ariza did a few years back, but what is the likelihood of that happening - given how disastrous this season has turned out so far? I'm hopeful that this former lottery pick pans out but I'm not holding my breath.

[whitemamba]

hes not soft tbh..

[StrengthAndHonor]

Theres just a lot of misinformation in this thread. Callng him soft and questioning his shooting touch, smh.

[ambchang]

Reminds me of another Clark, Keon Clark, with a little more range. Are they related by any chance?

But given the latest string of games, Earlsanity coming soon?

[StrengthAndHonor]

Keon Clark is definitely a different ball player. He was like Deandre Jordan with a little bit less hops.

[InRareForm]

Cant wait til he falls back to earth...

[Spurs9]

:lol Lakers fans trying to be picky with the small amount of options they have

[Raven]

tweener, he can be a solid rotational player off the bench, but that's about it.

[JamStone]

Theres just a lot of misinformation in this thread. Callng him soft and questioning his shooting touch, smh.

He's not a consistently good shooter. Is he capable of making a jumper? Sure. Does he have the ability and potential to become a good shooter? Maybe. He wasn't a good shooter coming out of college. And he hasn't proven much in his limited playing time in the league that he can be a consistent outside jumpshooting threat. Like I said, it doesn't even have to be from three point range. Just a consistent midrange jumper to help create spacing and open driving lanes and keep the defense honest, like McDyess or Charles Oakley used to do.

[StrengthAndHonor]

He's not a consistently good shooter. Is he capable of making a jumper? Sure. Does he have the ability and potential to become a good shooter? Maybe. He wasn't a good shooter coming out of college. And he hasn't proven much in his limited playing time in the league that he can be a consistent outside jumpshooting threat. Like I said, it doesn't even have to be from three point range. Just a consistent midrange jumper to help create spacing and open driving lanes and keep the defense honest, like McDyess or Charles Oakley used to do.

I think you're going by his scouting report which is understandable because really, who follows a 3rd or 4th string forward, but from what I've seen from him, I knew he has a very reliable shooting touch. His touch on the FT line is a dead give away that the guy can shoot, and his 10-15 mid range jumpers only solidifies it. This is a reason why I never believe scouting reports, especially those from a year or two ago.


And Mike D'Antoni actually confirmed Clark's shooting capability.



"The game that gave Clark his opportunity to play was L.A.'s 112-105 loss to the Denver Nuggets, when three of the Lakers' big men -- Dwight Howard (shoulder), Pau Gasol (concussion) and Jordan Hill (hip) -- went out. When Gasol was hit in the nose by Denver's JaVale McGee and awarded two free throws, Gasol was unable to shoot them because he had to check out of the game to stop his nose from bleeding. By NBA rule, the opposing coach is allowed to select anybody off the bench to shoot the replacement free throws, so Karl chose Clark to come in.

Clark hadn't played a minute yet that game and was only 1-for-2 from the free throw line on the season before then, but calmly checked in with 1:05 remaining in the fourth quarter, stuck both the free throws, and checked back out.The clock was stopped the whole time so Clark's line in the box score that night looked pretty interesting: zero minutes, two points.

"I was like, 'Seriously? Did he do that?', Clark said of Karl singling him out. "I'm glad I was ready and knocked them down. It was like kicking it in his face."

Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said it only goes to show how much Clark has improved at shooting to the point where the scouting reports on him are wrong.


"I was kind of surprised he chose him because he’s one of our best shooters," D'Antoni said. "But, they didn’t know and we didn’t know. That’s why he sat at the end of the bench. Nobody kind of knew. His knock in Orlando was he couldn’t make shots, so that’s the scouting report and that’s why they did it and that’s kind of why he was the last guy to get a chance. He worked on it evidently all summer. Somewhere he got confidence in it and he’s knocking it down."


Shurgs*

[JamStone]

You see, I'm not buying it until he proves to be a consistent jumpshooter for more than a couple of games. D'Antoni pretty clearly is talking about his ability to shoot free throws. And while good free throw shooting often equates to being a pretty good jumpshooter, that's not an absolute correlation. Joakim Noah is an excellent free throw shooter, but would you have any problem leaving him wide open for a midrange jumper in games? Andre Miller is the same way. That's why I suggested earlier that Clark possibly can be a good jumpshooter but he'll have to prove it for more than the couple of games you referenced initially. Two games of him looking like he might be isn't exactly hard evidence of the fact. And quite frankly, he simply hasn't had enough playing time and opportunity in his short NBA career to prove whether or not he is. Only time will tell. We'll have to wait and see.

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

D'antoni said Grant Hill had a better jumper than Joe Johnson a few months after Hill signed here in 2007.

:lol anyone appealing to the authority of D'antoni's opinions

Seeing that he was glued to D'antoni's bench before D'antoni had to play him out of necessity, D'antoni doesn't think THAT highly of Clark's improvements over the summer.

[Killakobe81]

LOL clarksanity ...

clark wants to impress me do a credible job defending Bosh or James and score 10 points on Thursday ...

Playing well vs. bucks and Cavs ... :sleep

[Bobby Boucher]

Sell.... once the league sees enough of him and adjusts defensively, Lakerfan will be scrambling for the next savior, tbh....


Sell.


LOL clarksanity ...

clark wants to impress me do a credible job defending Bosh or James and score 10 points on Thursday ...

Playing well vs. bucks and Cavs ... :sleep

:lol high bball iq nba forum posters

[irishock]

:lol high bball iq nba forum posters

Both Boucher and Bane quoted this.... coincidence?

[StrengthAndHonor]

:lol @ armchair scouts in this thread

[mavs>spurs]

^This guy must have sold :lol

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

:lmao Bobby Boucher going HAM

[midnightpulp]

Sigh. I wish I was wrong about this guy, but I saw something in him when he dropped 22 on the Spurs. In addition to that, he's fits D'Antoni's system nicely. If the Lakers sneak into the playoffs, I'm sure he'll hit that first-time-in-the-playoffs wall and thoroughly suck, but without his emergence, the Lakers are probably 7 games under .500. He's kept their season alive, fuckin faggot.

[whitemamba]

Sigh. I wish I was wrong about this guy, but I saw something in him when he dropped 22 on the Spurs. In addition to that, he's fits D'Antoni's system nicely. If the Lakers sneak into the playoffs, I'm sure he'll hit that first-time-in-the-playoffs wall and thoroughly suck, but without his emergence, the Lakers are probably 7 games under .500. He's kept their season alive, fuckin faggot.

:lolbutthurt about earl clark

[LkrFan]

Sigh. I wish I was wrong about this guy, but I saw something in him when he dropped 22 on the Spurs. In addition to that, he's fits D'Antoni's system nicely. If the Lakers sneak into the playoffs, I'm sure he'll hit that first-time-in-the-playoffs wall and thoroughly suck, but without his emergence, the Lakers are probably 7 games under .500. He's kept their season alive, fuckin faggot.

:lol

On a serious note, I'm rooting for him. His game is still raw, but I could see some upside with him. I hope he is re-signed this offseason to a reasonable deal.

[freetiago]

Lakers depending on Earl Clark to keep up this level of play as a playoff virgin would end like it did for the spurs depending on Danny Green

[Expert]

Sell. He will be traded in a package deal along with either MWP or Pau for a backup PG, perhaps Rubio.

[slick'81]

pringles new channing frye

[Dinamita]

http://i.imgur.com/phcyQ.gif


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJZAclxScDE

Not sure if Earl Clark or Clark Kent.

[angelbelow]

Contract year IIRC.

[TheMACHINE]

That Earl Clark for Andrew Bynum trade was awesome....Mitch even suckered Orlando to throw in Dwight Howard.

[DeadlyDynasty]

That Earl Clark for Andrew Bynum trade was awesome....Mitch even suckered Orlando to throw in Dwight Howard.

:lol

[spurraider21]

Dwight was thrown in to make salaries work

[Brazil]

Sooollllddddd !

[Michael Jordan.]

Sell. He will be traded in a package deal along with either MWP or Pau for a backup PG, perhaps Rubio.
Nope.