Via Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports:
Earl Clark has agreed to a two-year deal with the Orlando Magic, league source tells Y! Sports.
UPDATE: Good signing.
It’s been reported that Earl Clark desperately wanted to re-sign with the Orlando Magic, spurring a more lucrative offer from the Denver Nuggets to make it happen.
Onto the peripherals. Clark’s numbers with the Magic last season, admittedly, were not very good. Although Clark brought a lot of energy and enthusiasm onto the court when he played, he didn’t produce (a sub-10 PER will attest to that for example). On offense, if Clark wasn’t finishing at the rim, he struggled to put the ball in the basket everywhere else with limited range and a shaky jumpshot. Clark’s True Shooting percentage was 46.8 percent in 2011, which is nothing to sneeze at. Clark’s potential, though, is associated with his defense.
At 6-foot-10, Clark is diverse enough athletically to defend opposing small forwards and power forwards. That’s the intrigue with Clark because, let’s be frank, outside of Dwight Howard and maybe Glen Davis, the Magic are lacking for players that can effectively defend forwards. And head coach Stan Van Gundy raves about Clark’s defense, as he feels that will make him an impact player in the NBA. That is, if Clark is open to carving that niche out for himself in the league.
Amidst the Howard hoopla, Clark will be a player to keep an eye on. Van Gundy is a proven developer of young talent and it’ll be interesting to see if Clark makes any progress in his second year with Orlando. Typically players in their second season with Van Gundy do.
If he can improve on his offense and further develop on defense, Clark could find himself becoming a bigger factor in Van Gundy’s rotation.