Brandon Clarke

[tenn_smoothie]

I knew it, I knew it, I knew it !!

I sat there on draft night watching Danny with the four draft picks and waited for him to take Brandon Clarke from Gonzaga to help fill our need for interior players. Clarke is a 6-8 power forward, mature, smart player, athletic and just finished the NBA Summer League as MVP in Vegas - he had 14+ rebounds in each game of the tournament that the Grizzlies summer team just won.

Instead, we draft another small guard who can't shoot and a power forward who is a nice player, but is probably too small to ultimately help us. What is this absolute love affair Ainge and Stevens have with perimeter players ? Yeah, I know the game has changed since the 80's, but the good teams all have quality interior players. The Celts lost their two post starters and Clarke is there for the taking with both of our 1st round picks and we draft players too small to succeed when the real games start.

[RPGenerate]

You talk as if Brandon Clarke is some giant of a big man. What he's actually is a low-ceiling tweener with t-rex arms and no perimeter game. His potential is a career role player. Would rather swing for the fences on Romeo's potential. If we wanted a big man, any other big man projected in the first round would have been better anyways.

[gouki88]

I don't see Clarke as being worthy of being upset. He's only 6'8" and is not strong, and has a very short wingspan. He's also not a strong shooter.

I think dominating Summer League is hardly any indicator of future NBA success. Sure it is fun to get over-excited about a prospect, but it's not really worth anything.

Also, is the "small guard who can't shoot" you're referring to Edwards? Because if so, that is a woefully wrong assessment of his shooting talent. Unless you mean Langford, who is 6'6 with a 6'11 wingspan and weighs in at 215lbs. That is prototypical size for a shooting guard.

[RPGenerate]

I don't see Clarke as being worthy of being upset. He's only 6'8" and is not strong, and has a very short wingspan. He's also not a strong shooter.

I think dominating Summer League is hardly any indicator of future NBA success. Sure it is fun to get over-excited about a prospect, but it's not really worth anything.

Also, is the "small guard who can't shoot" you're referring to Edwards? Because if so, that is a woefully wrong assessment of his shooting talent. Unless you mean Langford, who is 6'6 with a 6'11 wingspan and weighs in at 215lbs. That is prototypical size for a shooting guard.

I think people underestimate how important wingspan is for an NBA player, especially on defense. You don't play defense with the top of your head, after all. Grant Williams may be shorter then Clarke by a couple of inches, give or take, but he has a longer wingspan (and a much stronger base), which I think will let hin play just as big as Clarke can.

[gouki88]

I don't see Clarke as being worthy of being upset. He's only 6'8" and is not strong, and has a very short wingspan. He's also not a strong shooter.

I think dominating Summer League is hardly any indicator of future NBA success. Sure it is fun to get over-excited about a prospect, but it's not really worth anything.

Also, is the "small guard who can't shoot" you're referring to Edwards? Because if so, that is a woefully wrong assessment of his shooting talent. Unless you mean Langford, who is 6'6 with a 6'11 wingspan and weighs in at 215lbs. That is prototypical size for a shooting guard.

I think people underestimate how important wingspan is for an NBA player, especially on defense. You don't play defense with the top of your head, after all. Grant Williams may be shorter then Clarke by a couple of inches, give or take, but he has a longer wingspan (and a much stronger base), which I think will let hin play just as big as Clarke can.

Yeah, and especially when they're short for their position anyway. I think he can do well in the right situation, but he'll struggle with some match-ups

[Csfan1984]

They kind of got burned when Grizz traded up if you believe reports. They would of got Clarke right where they planned to if not for that move by Grizz.

Bazley is the guy to say they missed on if it so happens he ends up better than GW.

[Sophomore]

I like Clarke too, and I think if his 3-point shot holds up Memphis is going to be very happy with him. He has Rob Williams-level hops, but vastly superior instincts and timing, which help compensate for his arms, and throughout college he had an excellent midrange jump shot. If he becomes a good three point shooter he could be a very very good stretch four, possibly a wing in a long lineup. He makes a lot of sense on Memphis next to JJJ.

That said, who is the short guard who can’t shoot? Langford has shooting problems in college but he isn’t short; he has above average length for a 2-guard at 6’6” and 6’11”. His hand injury is well documented, so I’m not making a judgment on his shooting til he heals. Carsten Edwards was a college career 37% shooter on more than 7 attempts per game; in SL he was above 40% from 3, shooting every kind of 3 - off a screen, off the bounce, standing catch and shoot. We got Edwards by passing on Clarke.

[ChillyWilly]

Too small a sample size.

He's same size as Williams who I agree is undersized but so isn't Clarke

[Surferdad]

Meh, didn't impress me.  Very happy with Grant.

[__ramonezy__]

You're making the wrong comp and looking at moves in isolation... we didn't draft Langford over Clarke because we prefer him. We drafted Langford because we preferred Poirier over Clarke and needed a young wing to groom in case Smart, Hayward or Brown is moved next year

[tazzmaniac]

I don't see Clarke as being worthy of being upset. He's only 6'8" and is not strong, and has a very short wingspan. He's also not a strong shooter.

I think dominating Summer League is hardly any indicator of future NBA success. Sure it is fun to get over-excited about a prospect, but it's not really worth anything.

Also, is the "small guard who can't shoot" you're referring to Edwards? Because if so, that is a woefully wrong assessment of his shooting talent. Unless you mean Langford, who is 6'6 with a 6'11 wingspan and weighs in at 215lbs. That is prototypical size for a shooting guard.

I think people underestimate how important wingspan is for an NBA player, especially on defense. You don't play defense with the top of your head, after all. Grant Williams may be shorter then Clarke by a couple of inches, give or take, but he has a longer wingspan (and a much stronger base), which I think will let hin play just as big as Clarke can.

I think people overestimate wingspan.  When people are evaluating prospects, it is one of the 1st things they look at.  Having a long wingspan doesn't mean you'll be a good defender.  You play defense with your feet and your mind first. 

[A Future of Stevens]

double post.

[A Future of Stevens]

Too small a sample size.

He's same size as Williams who I agree is undersized but so isn't Clarke

Williams actually measured 6'10 in shoes with an enormous 7'5.5" wingspan whereas Clarke measured 6'8.25 in shoes with a 6'8.25" wingspan. While the height difference isn't staggering, the arm length is. Williams even though he is slightly undersized for a center, has a standing reach comparable with the non Embiid's of todays game. Unfortunately for Clarke, his physical profile is much more similar to a Shawn Marion, except Shawn Marion had much longer arms.

Edit: I'm an idiot. I just realized you are talking about Grant Williams. Williams is actually a bit smaller than Clarke. He is 6'7.5" with a 6'9.5" wingspan. The big difference is that he weighed in at 240 in comparison to Clarke's 207. You can see the huge difference with Clarke's verticality compared to Grants elite strength.

The crazy comparison is Timelord vs Clarke. You can argue they are similar level jumpers in their ability to load up quickly and get off the floor with incredible height. The big difference is that Timelord is bigger as listed above, and he is also listed at 240, making him 33 pounds heavier than Clarke.

Edit 2: Yeah Gouki I was correcting myself as you posted that haha.

[gouki88]

Too small a sample size.

He's same size as Williams who I agree is undersized but so isn't Clarke

Williams actually measured 6'10 in shoes with a 7'5.5" wingspan whereas Clarke measured 6'8.25 in shoes with a 6'8.25" wingspan. While the height difference isn't staggering, the arm length is. Williams even though he is slightly undersized for a center, has a standing reach comparable with the non Embiid's of todays game. Unfortunately for Clarke, his physical profile is much more similar to a Shawn Marion, except Shawn Marion had much longer arms.

I think he might have meant Grant Williams?

[RockinRyA]

I don't see Clarke as being worthy of being upset. He's only 6'8" and is not strong, and has a very short wingspan. He's also not a strong shooter.

I think dominating Summer League is hardly any indicator of future NBA success. Sure it is fun to get over-excited about a prospect, but it's not really worth anything.

Also, is the "small guard who can't shoot" you're referring to Edwards? Because if so, that is a woefully wrong assessment of his shooting talent. Unless you mean Langford, who is 6'6 with a 6'11 wingspan and weighs in at 215lbs. That is prototypical size for a shooting guard.

I think people underestimate how important wingspan is for an NBA player, especially on defense. You don't play defense with the top of your head, after all. Grant Williams may be shorter then Clarke by a couple of inches, give or take, but he has a longer wingspan (and a much stronger base), which I think will let hin play just as big as Clarke can.

I think people overestimate wingspan.  When people are evaluating prospects, it is one of the 1st things they look at.  Having a long wingspan doesn't mean you'll be a good defender.  You play defense with your feet and your mind first.

Sure, for people who already have decent feet and and good defensive mind, you look at their wingspan. No one said wingspan is better than having good defensive awareness and agility, but rather wingspan is a better indicator than height, esp if the difference in height isn't great and if they are on the shorter side anyway.