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Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today Sports reports that the Portland Trail Blazers are one of a number of teams interested in unrestricted free agent guard Ian Clark.
Undrafted rookie free-agent guard Ian Clark may have played himself into an NBA contract after his performance in the NBA's Summer League in Orlando and Las Vegas. Playing for the Miami Heat in Orlando and Golden State Warriors in Las Vegas, Clark demonstrated his ability to score and defend and has turned into one of the Summer League's attractive free agents.
The Warriors, Portland Trail Blazers and Utah Jazz have expressed interest in the combo guard.
Update: Zillgitt reports Wednesday that Clark has signed with the Utah Jazz on a two-year deal that includes a team option on the second season.
Clark took home Las Vegas Summer League championship game MVP honors after scoring a game-high 33 points and knocking down seven three-pointers for the Golden State Warriors, who defeated the Phoenix Suns.
Here are Warriors coach Mark Jackson's post-game comments on Clark.
"He carried us," Jackson said. "I'm sure he becomes a hot name right now. ... We'd love to have him. He's an NBA player."
Clark, 22, spent four years at Belmont before going undrafted back in June. He averaged 18.2 points and shot 45.9 percent from deep as a senior.
The Blazers would have one open roster spot if guard Terrel Harris, who is on a non-guaranteed contract, is released. Blazers GM Neil Olshey recently addressed whether he would use the 15th roster spot or leave it open.
I don't know. We're really comfortable with where the roster is. Unlike last year, the 14th guy on our roster is capable of playing in an NBA game. What we don't want to do is grab a guy, create another redundancy and have two guys on the inactive list. I like the the ability to do uneven deals. Having that roster spot, and the flexibility, we've got some tradeable contracts. We've done a really good job of not having to go out too far into the future. We've got a lot of young talent.
If the opportunity comes up once again to accelerate this and get another established veteran in, you don't want a deal to fall apart because you have to send something back rather than having an open roster spot to absorb a player.
PS Thanks to JP503 in the FanShots.
-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter