Whenever I think of Gary Clark, I always think of the massed hordes of Rockets fans who were convinced that he was going to be some kind of game-changing stud right out of the gate for their team. The amount of verbal fellation that they lavished upon Daryl Morey for having the foresight to acquire this guy was obscene. The cult-hero worship of Morey was at an ultimate high point then, and any transaction he made was immediately lauded as the savvy masterwork of a genius who was GM’ing circles around the 29 other GM’s in the league.
Clark was waived by the Rockets in early 2020, and I don’t remember if any Rockets fans actually came out and acknowledged how wrong they had been about this dude. They probably all stayed hidden in their muddy pig-hovels hoping that everybody had forgotten how the undrafted Gary Clark, signed from the garbage pile of unwanted players, was going to play a major role on the Rockets’ championship squads. Well, everybody did forget…everybody except the one man with an audience large enough to cast new light on old transgressions…the man known to the internet as DownToBuck!
I’m calling out Rockets fans right now. You were WRONG about Gary Clark. Maybe he’s a serviceable defender or even a good one, but his scoring ability is not up to par. At best, he’s a 12th man on a decent team. He might develop into a better player in subsequent seasons, but here’s the thing: Rockets fans were convinced that Clark was ready to contribute at a high level from DAY ONE. It seems impossible to believe now, but it’s true. They were drinking the sugary Morey kool-aid with so much gusto that I’m surprised they didn’t all end up with type II diabetes.
Now Clark is on the Magic and he’s not doing much, but at least Magic fans aren’t crowing endlessly about how good he is and how John Hammond is a genius and how championships are right around the corner. Thank you Magic fans for being sane in a world where most fanbases are not sane. I guess having mediocre to bad teams for a decade straight will do that to you.