What does 1 D-League game tell us about Earl Clark?

Earl Clark got his first burn in the D-League last night and did pretty darn well (see Seth's write-up here).  27 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists and a block.  Sure it's only 1 game, but what does that tell us about Earl?  Or, about the Suns?

After an overnight of reflection, I don't think it tells us anything about Earl that we didn't already know.  Earl has uber-talent.  He was touted as having enough talent to have been a top-5 pick in the draft last spring.  He's 6-10" and he can pass, shoot (don't laugh now), rebound, and play defense.  At Louisville, he was credited with being a very good team player and floor leader.  But he dropped to the Suns at 14 due to questions about his "fire".  And some of us questioned the pick at times this season as we watched yet another ill-advised jumper clang off the rim. 

But I think that, for the most part, we all were witholding final judgment until *next* season.  After all, Lopez and Dragic looked terrible last year and look where they are now.  Earl could do the same.

So Earl is plenty-talented.  And so were Lopez and Dragic last year.

So why does Earl look SO bad with the Suns this year?  Especially while players with lesser pedigree do so well on other teams (Marcus Thorton (2nd round), Sundiata Gaines, Anthony Tolliver and 4 other D-league-turned-Warriors, to name a few)?

Maybe it's the Suns system?  The Suns rely on rhythm and teamwork and high-percentage shots.  Oh, and they want to win more games than they lose.

The Warriors offense is iso-heavy.  You score when you can score, whether it's putting up a long 3-ball or driving to the hoop or shooting a contested 20-footer.  If you make your shots, you can stay in the game.  Defense is filler.  And if the other team scores more points, who cares (Warriors lose twice as many games as they win).  A Warriors game is like an All-Star game.  Everyone's trying to make the coolest-looking play.  Winning is optional.

The Hornets are devastated by injury and suffocated by lack of wing talent (Devin Brown?  Morris Peterson?), which conspired to open up big minutes for Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton this season.  And they are filling up the stat sheet nightly as a result.  The team is even playing around .500 ball, a credit to Jeff Bowyer and a good system.  but they are not threats for the post-season.   And that's a huge disappointment in the big easy.  Just 2 years ago, the Hornets were the hot young team poised for a WCF appearance.

Then there's Oklahoma City - the latest hot young team.  OKC has great young talent, and are tied with the Suns in the playoff standings.  What a model franchise huh?  Well, when those great players were rookies, how many games did they win?  There's a reason the Thunder picked #2 overall (Durant), #4 overall (Westbrook) and #4 overall (local guy James Harden) in back-to-back-to-back seasons - because they didn't win many games in the first 2 of those seasons (or in many seasons prior to that).  Durant and Westbrook got a LOT of burn in their rookie seasons, and winning was optional.

So, I really think we need to put Earl's season in perspective.  On a lesser team, or one devastated by injury (Amare or even Lou), he might have played a lot this season.  Maybe even getting us all lathered up over his potential.  But he would be making lots of mistakes out there too.  And he'd likely be on a roller-coaster of good games followed by bad ones.

And the Suns would not be 42-26 right now, readying themselves for a postseason run that *might* *could* be better than any in several years.

So let's give Earl and the Suns a pass (for now), and thank the D-League for giving him some burn.  I'm glad he's been on the Suns bench all season rather than in Iowa.  He's learning how to win, and how to fit in.  Just give him a summer of reflection and growth, and I'll bet we see a much better version of him next season.