Ian Clark Continues to Impress Off The Bench

This season that player has been Ian Clark, who has impressed off the bench, improving his shooting ability and playmaking skills.

Many pundits looked at the Golden State Warriors’ bench as a weakness. The Warriors lost Marreese Speights, Leandro Barbosa and other key substitutes all to free-agency. It left just Shaun Livingston and Andre Iguodala, remaining from their championship run. The Warriors needed someone to pick up the scoring load left by Speights and Barbosa. This season that player has been Ian Clark, who has impressed early, improving his shooting ability and playmaking skills.

Last season, Clark was looked as an afterthought, a third-string guard that did not get much playing time. Most of his minutes were played in Warriors blowouts and meaningless games. Early in the season, it seemed like Clark would have the same role because the Warriors had just drafted Patrick McCaw, who was getting rave reviews in Summer League and the preseason.

Clark’s big break was unfortunate for the Warriors. In a early season matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans, McCaw sprained his ankle, sidelining him for five games. At the time, it seemed like the Warriors’ bench would suffer with the absence of McCaw. McCaw had shown he was good defensively with the ability to shoot while Clark was still a question mark.

In McCaw’s absence, Clark took advantage of his opportunity, including a perfect night against Portland. He made all eight of his shots, including three treys, scoring a season-high 22 points. From there, his confidence grew game to game, moving past McCaw on the depth chart. Clark has always been looked at as a streaky shooter from three-point range. But this season, he is driving to the basket with more regularity, stealing some of Stephen Curry’s skills.

He has employed Curry’s patented floater, which has really improved his game. Opponents look at Clark as a shooter so they close out on him hard on the perimeter. This makes it very easy for him to pump fake and drive the lane. From there, he has used Curry’s floater with almost the same frequency as Curry.

He has also stole from Klay Thompson’s game by constantly moving and coming off screens for open looks. He hit two huge threes in Utah in the fourth quarter on Thursday night by constantly moving and making the most of his opportunity.   

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Clark’s early season success has not been lost on his teammates and it was never evidenced more than it was on Friday, when Clark’s high-school jersey was retired. With the exception of Thompson, James Michael McAdoo and Anderson Varejao, everyone showed up to Clark’s jersey ceremony.

This was very telling because this team is made up of superstars, who could do anything on their off day in Memphis. Instead most of these multi-millionaires went to a tiny gym in Memphis to support their teammate’s accomplishment.

Clark’s numbers do not jump of the page, averaging seven points per game, on a team that averages 120 but his efficiency does. Clark is hitting almost 50 percent from the field, 40 percent on threes and employs an assist to turnover ratio of almost three to one.

The Warriors’ peak offense is predicated on great shooting while keeping their turnovers at a minimum, two things that Clark excelled at. Clark will only get better as the season goes on, due to all attention that is put on the Warriors superstars. His confidence will grow, continue to impress and help this team reach their goal of winning another championship.