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Hey guys, I'm a big Knicks fan, but coming out of the draft I was really excited about what Terrance Williams and Earl Clark could do in the pros. Obviously neither one of them turned out to be the playmaker that I expected, but I loved watching Clark play this year. It seems that he came to his own, as a playmaker and teammate. My question is do you guys view him as a future starter, and what is his role on your team in the future? Also how has his defense been? Can he be a stopper with his frame defensively? Wish you guys the best and hope D'Antoni is gone ASAP. Love seeing Kobe win. His attitude trumps LeBron's, and it sucks to see you guys out of the playoffs.
Thanks!

EZ hit the wall about 3/4s through the season but he was a strong 1-1 defender with some lapses in team defense, rotations etc. Tons of hear tand hustle, decent 3-pt shooter, which was new for him, averaged a double -duble for a couples months. He's either a starter if we can afford to keep him or a sixth man,

He'll get minutes off the bench that's for sure, but if LA decides their future is going to consist of Earl Clark starting on a daily basis, I'mma flip

I hope to resign with the Lakers as long as I get paid.

brb, trading pau

he's only useful if he's aggressive on O and seemed like towards the end of the season he just became a stand still watcher and not a doer....also his D is suspect, not quite fast enough, not quite strong enough and this guy is easily taken out of the picture defensively even if he gets screened by a PG and he takes horrible wide angles to avoid screen which results the same thing, a wide open jump shot or path the basketball for his man. Most memorable defensive effort was on Dirk but I'm not sure if that wasn't more due to Dirk being slowed by injuries or Clark himself. So basically just your avg. role player who had a nice stretch of games but even as a 6th man I dont expect him to be 6th man award winning material either.

He wants money, he will be walking. If he is loyal, he will stay and get money later on. I think he is gone like all greedy players.

He's nice to have as a backup 4 but he's no starter material. With so many teams under the cap this coming offseason, don't think we have the resources to keep him.

laduane1 wrote:He wants money, he will be walking. If he is loyal, he will stay and get money later on. I think he is gone like all greedy players.

Yea it's super greedy to get paid millions more dollars to take care of your own life.

I think he could be a solid 6th man, he brings a lot of energy, hes a good rebounder, he has a decent outside shot which is only going to get better and he said in his exit interview that he wants to put on some muscle for next season because he sees himself as a better 4 than 3 (which I think we all agree with) he also said in his exit interview that he wants to stay here and he will take less money and a smaller role than he would get on another team for the chance to win a championship so I think its safe to say he's staying

Earl is a glue-guy, so really whether he's a starter or comes off the bench, it depends on who's around him. That said, we are in desperate need of glue-guys, so IMO he's pretty valuable to this current team.

Am I the only one who is 99.9% sure that the Lakers are amnestying Metta and signing Clark to be our starting SF? I don't want to sound cocky but Metta is almost 100% gone after this season, even if we can trade Pau over the summer. Since were so high in the lux tax territory Metta's contract for just next season will cost between $20-30M for 1 SEASON!!! That can be saved by amnestying him and just paying him his $6M contract while he plays for another team (and if some team bids on him, that even more savings for us).

Westbreezy wrote:Am I the only one who is 99.9% sure that the Lakers are amnestying Metta and signing Clark to be our starting SF? I don't want to sound cocky but Metta is almost 100% gone after this season, even if we can trade Pau over the summer. Since were so high in the lux tax territory Metta's contract for just next season will cost between $20-30M for 1 SEASON!!! That can be saved by amnestying him and just paying him his $6M contract while he plays for another team (and if some team bids on him, that even more savings for us).

I may not be understanding you but being amnestied you get all the money that your owed on a players contract. Do you know if his contract partially guaranteed?

I think the Lakers sign him, even if it means a bigger tax bill next season. We can still sign a max player even with Clark, Howard, and Nash on the books after next season, so it doesn't affect any future plans.

Clark is a nice starter as a stretch four in D'Antoni's system, IMO, with either Howard or Gasol at center. If we still have both next year, he will be a nice player off the bench, then possibly a starter the following season.

salmahayek wrote:I think the Lakers sign him, even if it means a bigger tax bill next season. We can still sign a max player even with Clark, Howard, and Nash on the books after next season, so it doesn't affect any future plans.

Clark is a nice starter as a stretch four in D'Antoni's system, IMO, with either Howard or Gasol at center. If we still have both next year, he will be a nice player off the bench, then possibly a starter the following season.

I think if we promise Clark the starting job coupled with the fact that we were one of the first teams to "believe in him"-- I think we could get him at $12M for 3/4 year contract which would be a steal if he keeps improving

As long as we keep Clark/Hill i'll be happy

salmahayek wrote:I think the Lakers sign him, even if it means a bigger tax bill next season. We can still sign a max player even with Clark, Howard, and Nash on the books after next season, so it doesn't affect any future plans.

Clark is a nice starter as a stretch four in D'Antoni's system, IMO, with either Howard or Gasol at center. If we still have both next year, he will be a nice player off the bench, then possibly a starter the following season.

he's better as a stretch 4, he needs alot more work to play at the 3.

He's a stretch 4. Right now the plan looks like try to keep the guys together despite the cost, get a combo in the draft, sign a SF, and get rid of MWP.

LApwnd wrote:

salmahayek wrote:I think the Lakers sign him, even if it means a bigger tax bill next season. We can still sign a max player even with Clark, Howard, and Nash on the books after next season, so it doesn't affect any future plans.

Clark is a nice starter as a stretch four in D'Antoni's system, IMO, with either Howard or Gasol at center. If we still have both next year, he will be a nice player off the bench, then possibly a starter the following season.

he's better as a stretch 4, he needs alot more work to play at the 3.

What does Metta World Peace possess that Clark doesn't that allowed MWP to be a 3 his whole career?

Westbreezy wrote:

LApwnd wrote:

salmahayek wrote:I think the Lakers sign him, even if it means a bigger tax bill next season. We can still sign a max player even with Clark, Howard, and Nash on the books after next season, so it doesn't affect any future plans.

Clark is a nice starter as a stretch four in D'Antoni's system, IMO, with either Howard or Gasol at center. If we still have both next year, he will be a nice player off the bench, then possibly a starter the following season.

he's better as a stretch 4, he needs alot more work to play at the 3.

What does Metta World Peace possess that Clark doesn't that allowed MWP to be a 3 his whole career?

Well Metta just a better overall player in his hey day.
Metta was stronger and quicker. In his prime he wouldn't settle for jumpers and was more of a post up player. He also has some hands on him.

If Clark can play half off what Ron Artest played in his prime than the Lakers would drop Gasol like a bad habit.