Cameron Clark vs Ray Willis

[AdaSooner]

Cam Clark LED THE SOONERS in 3-pt shooting last year. Not Cade Davis. Not Stephen Pledger. Both good shooters. But Cam was the leader. So dont say he CANT shoot. He just doesnt get the looks he got last year.

BTW, Calvin Newell who many on this board suddenly act like was a superstar, shot a whopping 27% from 3 last year. Cam shot 37%

You forgot about Nick Thompson's 45% average from three.

Seriously, you're right about Cam. He led the top players in our rotation from three with a 37% average, which means no one on the team was burning up the nets from long range. Kruger has him driving with the ball and shooting more pull up jumpers now. Maybe it's time to turn last year's Cam loose from deep to see what he can do. It sure can't hurt.

 

[boutaroust]

And, we surely haven't been reduced to wishing we had Ray Willis back.

 

[lk2183]

It's way too early to call Cam a bust. As mentioned earlier, Cam's status as a high level recruit led to unrealistic expectations. But I think it's important to note that Cam likely received that high of a grade due to his superior athleticism which as we have seen on display a number of times in his year and a half here. At this point in his career, it is clear that Clark is an athlete playing basketball. I think it's safe to say that the majority of recruiting services and coaches all recognized that from the beginning and projected that with proper coaching, he could be come a basketball player with elite athleticism. It's too soon to say that won't happen, but he's just not there yet.

There's nothing wrong with that either. The problem is that we are a fan base that has been spoiled with years of success and now that we have been deprived of winning for a couple of years we are searching desperately for instant impact and a quick turnaround. Nothing wrong with that either, it's natural to want that. When things started going so wrong with our program, Clark was a bright spot that a lot of people were unfairly looking at to be this instant impact based on highlight tapes and a high recruiting grade. Now that the luster has worn off, many who had praised Clark before are giving up on him and quick to point out his flaws.

I guess what I'm trying to say is give the kid and coaching staff some more time to turn the athlete into a ball player. Labeling him or other players a complete bust on this small of a sampling is unfair. Who knows, he may never realize the potential that so many people saw coming out of high school, but right now it's too soon to know one way or the other.

 

[hoopsaustin]

And, we surely haven't been reduced to wishing we had Ray Willis back.

Consider the source man...

 

[sperry]

Carl Blair is shooting 28% from the field. That is awful. Cam's offensive skill set is at least higher than Blair's. Also, Cameron hardly ever plays out of control. That is the most inaccurate criticism I've heard of Clark. It shows that you're intent on demeaning him. If anything, Cameron plays way too in control. The coaching staff has been telling Cameron he needs to be more aggressive.

Cameron's shot also goes in more than Blair's shot and Groom's shot. They're both juniors, so why aren't you dogging on their offensive skill sets? Not that I'm saying you should, but this rampant criticism of Clark has been somewhat unwarranted.

I'm not intent on demeaning Cam or any other player on the team. Cam seems like a great kid, and he's still young. I hope he turns into a star before he's done, but I won't have anything against him if he doesn't, so long as he stays a high character, hard working guy.



Blair and Grooms are both terrible shooters as well, but they add something else to the table (bringing the ball up the court and distributing it). They also don't have near the potential that Cam does.


As for Cam playing out of control, that is something that has happened the last few games when he has tried to make something happen. He obviously isn't playing out of control when he's standing around being an offensive non-factor.

 

[Seymore Cox]

this has to be the dumbest one yet.

 

[Krugerfan52]

this has to be the dumbest one yet.

At least one of them.

BTW, Clark's 13 pts, 7 rebounds last night against Texas was a slightly above avg game for him, but likely better than anything Willis did in 2 years at OU. Although I'm sure ABD will come up with some game he had 13 against Coppin St.

 

[NormanPride]

Ray has the better nickname. I think this is an easy choice.