Massive Earl Clark article on ESPN.com

by BostonCardFan on Jun 23, 2009 12:47 PM EDT Comment 2 comments

Check out this ESPN.com article about Earl Clark. It's huge! And I was really impressed by the depth of their analysis:

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-41-119/What-We-Think-We-Know-About-Earl-Clark.html

Even though I've watched Earl intensely for the past three years, this article still pointed out details that I hadn't thought about before. And even though I frequently found myself frustrated by E5 in college, this article left me with much warmer feelings toward him. Here are some quotes:

"Is it possible that indictment #1 (Earl Clark doesn't look like he's trying) is directly related to indictment #2 (Earl Clark doesn't know what kind of player he is)? Is it a coincidence that guys who are classified as "versatile big men” are often regarded as flighty?..."

"Watching Clark at moments like these evokes memories of Lamar Odom's early days with the Los Angeles Clippers. Odom came to the pro game with a vast array of skills, almost none of which were wholly NBA-ready... It took Odom a couple of seasons to summon a level of effort he'd never before had to apply on the basketball court."

Here's hoping that he keeps developing into a Lamar Odom-type forward in the NBA. And great job by the guys at TrueHoop.

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Beat me to it....

…great article.

I think the biggest thing about Earl is that Pitino’s system was not designed for someone with his talents. The 4 is supposed to do certain things, and Earl could do certain things that most 4’s couldn’t.

Also, how many times did you say to yourself at around 8 minutes left in the game, man, Earl has had a crappy game, and you look up and he has 17 points and 11 boards?

I think if he gets the right situation and a coach who will develop his 1-on-1 skills, he could really be a star in the NBA.

It would be super cool to see both T-Will and Earl in an all-star game or 4 over the next few years.

by CardsFan922 on Jun 23, 2009 5:19 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

i agree...

…about Earl’s role in Pitino’s system. You’re right on there.

And yeah, I definitely remember all of those 17-11 games. It’s like the article says: “Though Clark has a sleepy expression at times, it rarely translated into performance… I had trouble finding too many instances of Clark taking plays off…”

I was particularly interested to see the results of Earl’s “BBIQ” test: “Clark rates high in coachability, resiliency, and appears to display a strong need for dominance (a good trait).”

Personally, I think that I let his mellow facial expressions fool me.

Of course, a lot of the article’s concrete evidence was from the Big East tourney – when Earl played great. The regular season was a lot more frustrating.

But now that I think of it, Earl really pulled it together in each of the past two post-seasons. That’s gotta count for something.

And I liked the article’s emphasis on Earl’s defense. He will end up being a very good defender at either forward position.

If he can just cut down on the turnovers and the ill-advised jump shots, he could be in for a long and productive career. I don’t know if I’m seeing All-Star games in his future, but hell yeah I’m pulling for it.

by BostonCardFan on Jun 24, 2009 1:59 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs