Ok first of all if you like bad offense and good defense and little scoring this game is for you!!!Q-is-here wrote: ↑Thu Jun 29, 2023 7:44 amLove it Monster! Putting in the work for the midwest volleyball forum members.Monster wrote: ↑Thu Jun 29, 2023 3:12 am Ucla vs Arizona
https://youtu.be/bVu_reJlQ1k
Watched this game I’ll give more thoughts after I sleep on it. Lol
Clark started off hot getting 9 points in the first 10 minutes of the game. He hit a 3 during that stretch but the rest was more effort plays offensive rebounds etc. it went poorly after that. He missed the rest of his 3’s couldn’t buy a basket at the rim or with his floater shot etc. he wasn’t alone.
I didn’t watch his defense as closely but he pulled down 10 rebounds including 6 offensive. He was also in on tipping numerous other balls and fighting for rebounds with bigger players. He had 3 steals including one late in the game that could have been a play to spark a whacky comeback but UCLA couldn’t score enough.
On offense Clark has a smooth handle when not driving. If you need him to bring up the ball and be around the perimeter he can do likely that without worry. That’s not insignificant. I think when he drives it’s a little loose and he puts his head down a bit. He has a post game and when he gets to his spot whether driving or post up he tends to go into people. This is mostly a good thing he is doing it purposely t draw contact and fouls. He will likely be able to draw some fouls similar to Okogie as he has some actual craft there. Clark took 308 shots last year. He went to the FT line 96 times. That’s kinda impressive. If you are worried about him being able to score…that’s something to consider because around a fifth of his points were at the FT line. That would have been more if he was a better FT shooter.
One thing Dane Moore and Brit Robison talked about was Clark’s floater because Britt talked about Bruce Bowen having that in his game and how that’s one way some guys can offset some of their other flaws as a scorer. Dane said he thought from what he saw Clark actually did have that. I tend to agree. In 2 games he used it a number of times in the paint either on drives or off sort of post ups. In this game they didn’t go down but it looked good and he looked very comfortable shooting that shot. I don’t have synergy numbers on what he shot on floaters so maybe they are bad but from what I saw it isn’t like something he would have to completely add to his game which is good.
The other thing Clark does well is he gets the ball on the perimeter and he can move it quickly and those passes are smooth and snappy. Overall Clark seems to be an actual basketball player if that makes sense. Yes he had 4 turnovers in this game. One was on a drive where he ended up having to split 2 Gus on a drive and the others were probably more about the poor play of the entire UCLA team which was often out of sync which at that point of the season was excellent at taking care of the ball. I don’t have any visions of Clark being a PG or even a combo guard but I could see him maybe being a guy with the passing playmaking of say Taurean Prince. He certainly looks like a guy that can play in an offense that wants to move the ball around and quickly. If Clark’s D is really good there are some tools that can be useful as an offensive player so when he comes into the game he isn’t a total liability there.
I’m probably done watching games on Clark. To me his D looks pretty legit and he looks like a guy that can actually be an asset in the rebounding dept which is an issue for the Wolves. If he somehow can make 3’s at even around 33% he could be pretty valuable if the D is really good. Players like that can be really valuable. He seems like a good kid willing to do anything to win. If seen worst late 2nd round picks. Hopefully he does better than the last UCLA guard with Injury issues the Wolves picked Malcolm Lee.
