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

[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.

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 ...

[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 ...

high bball iq nba forum posters

[irishock]

high bball iq nba forum posters

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

[StrengthAndHonor]

@ armchair scouts in this thread

[mavs>spurs]

^This guy must have sold

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

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, in got.

[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, in got.

butthurt 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, in got.

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]

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.

[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.