Rather he played in Adelaide than with Sydney..much much rather lol

He is resigned and alot of talk that he might move now that GC have commited some big salaries to other players, they might not have enough money to convicne him to hang around.
Dont forget teams cannot officially talk to players until 2 weeks after the grand final.

Skud, opposition teams can't talk to players until 2 weeks after the grand final is done. The Blaze can talk to Ira Clark all they like about re-signing whereas Sydney, Adelaide etc can't. Its also why I seriously doubt we'd get a guy like Luke Schenscher. Other than the Crocs looking like finishing the regular season in 2nd compared to our 8th or 9th, they could re-sign him tomorrow and there is nothing anyone else hoping to talk to him can do about it.

I'll give the NBL one thing on that rule, it seems to gives team a chance to identify their best talent and keep them with the club rather than what a guy like Schenscher has done so far in the NBL which is 3 teams in 3 seasons. The rule seems to be aimed at clubs having a Brett Maher / Mark Davis type of player, a 'franchise player' so to speak. Imagine if Sydney could lock up Julian Khazzouh or the Breakers locking up Kirk Penny for at least the next 5 years? Its a chance to build on what they have and it stops other clubs poaching their stars, provided they fit under the salary cap/points system of course.

meh thats what I ment, i just didnt type it thanks for doing so for me.

I think Ira came out cause he likes & is friends with Joey & answered his SOS. The money here is laughable for such a talent. He'll move on but thanks for the cameo - he can seriously dominate!!

going to miss this guy- couple of things stick in my mind about him

1) In a post match interview on onehd the commentator asked him about his shooting and Ira responded "I'm a professional basketball player, if I can't hit wide open shots then i shouldn't be playing"
2) His dominance in the paint
3) His pure skill!!!

HoldenV8, I don't think its impossible to sign some one like Schenscher because his current club can talk to him whereas others cannot. With any players who are approached by their club to re sign, it gives them an indication of what they can get. It doesn't mean they can't say I will give you an answer 3 weeks after the grand final to see what else is around. If their club offers them a good salary, that's already a benchmark of what they should be offered elsewhere. If their club offers them a poor salary, its an incentive to look elsewhere. If your club wants you bad enough, they will wait for you to make the decision. Luke knows he has attracted interest elsewhere, it would be silly of him to not explore the possibilities. That goes for any other sought after player.

Just on another point about Luke Schenscher, he is no stranger to leaving a club hanging on waiting for a response. For this reason, I think he is open to any club that make him the right offer and is the right place for him to live.

No, not impossible, but Townsville are definitely in the box seat given that few teams are in need of a centre (probably three clubs, maybe four at a stretch), Luke has enjoyed Townsville, the team's been successful this year, and Adelaide frustrated him last off-season. If the Crocs can offer him something respectable, he may take it and play things safe this year rather than wait a bit and find out that other teams have cemented alternative plans.

He might be tempted to fully test the market though after the season he's had.

I thought other clubs could talk to players but with permission from the team the player is currently playing for?? so technically talks could commence as long as the permission was there or is that completely wrong?

That's true, but Townsville would only grant permission if the player requested it and it would be viewed very badly for a player to do that just prior to a finals run.

BTW, for those interested, check Ira Clark's +/- against the rest of the Blaze!

Gold Coast

Ira Clark (+48)
Anthony Petrie (+11)
Brendan Teys (+10)
Jason Cadee (+9)
Jaydan Tom (+3)
Pero Vasiljevic (0)
Luke Kendall (0)
Shaun Gleeson (-12)
Mark Worthington (-12)
James Maye (-14)
Tom Garlepp (-24)
Ater Majok (-29)
Adam Gibson (-40)
Darryl Hudson (-49)
James Harvey (-50)
Chris Goulding (-55)
Stephen Hoare (-96)

Sorry Isaac i was thinking more in terms of Ira Clark, if he knows there is no place for him at the gold coast and he is enjoying Australia then no reason why teams cant speak to him now. I know people are saying his kind of talent goes elsewhere but we have seen players that do enjoy playing here and if we cant get schencher then we should consider putting the money to him??

If he's friends with Wright, I'd say he'd play there if anywhere. I imagine if he doesn't return, this was just a year to help out Joey and then head back to Europe.

Can't hurt to ask I guess, if they're interested in him.

yeh my guess would be that he is not interested in staying and it was an SOS. im sure if he was interested he would have told Joey and he would be signed for next season but seems like he has done his job and plans to head back off. but wouldnt mind seeing him stay, good highlight maker.

Isaac, I think the +/- is a little misleading because he missed the period where they had serious injuries, were down imports and basically sucked.

No doubt he helped them out but that stat for the whole team needs to be broken down to only the gaems Clark was playing.

That's true, but he did play 23 games which is a reasonable set to work from. Here's the Gold Coast data for games on or after Nov 13 (Clark's first) -

Ira Clark (+48)
Brendan Teys (+10)
Jason Cadee (+9)
Jaydan Tom (+2)
Luke Kendall (0)
Tom Garlepp (-14)
Shaun Gleeson (-17)
Mark Worthington (-22)
Ater Majok (-29)
James Harvey (-33)
Adam Gibson (-37)
Darryl Hudson (-49)
Chris Goulding (-61)
Stephen Hoare (-76)

I think that's still enough to show a positive impact. I know he's a talented player, but I would not have guessed his impact to be that positive for a starter on a team outside the four.

Here's his game-by-game info:

13 Nov 2010 - Cairns vs Gold Coast (-8) / 96-76
21 Nov 2010 - Gold Coast vs Melbourne (-4) / 82-85
25 Nov 2010 - New Zealand vs Gold Coast (-4) / 100-79
03 Dec 2010 - Gold Coast vs Sydney (22) / 85-68
04 Dec 2010 - Melbourne vs Gold Coast (-5) / 82-78
11 Dec 2010 - Townsville vs Gold Coast (1) / 91-86
17 Dec 2010 - Gold Coast vs Townsville (14) / 93-81
23 Dec 2010 - Wollongong vs Gold Coast (-2) / 70-72
31 Dec 2010 - Gold Coast vs Perth (1) / 93-96
07 Jan 2011 - Cairns vs Gold Coast (-5) / 86-82
09 Jan 2011 - Gold Coast vs Wollongong (-5) / 87-86
16 Jan 2011 - Adelaide vs Gold Coast (-6) / 90-83
19 Jan 2011 - Gold Coast vs Cairns (13) / 90-85
28 Jan 2011 - Townsville vs Gold Coast (-8) / 71-62
30 Jan 2011 - Gold Coast vs Sydney (24) / 94-91
06 Feb 2011 - Perth vs Gold Coast (4) / 75-78
13 Feb 2011 - Gold Coast vs Adelaide (22) / 95-79
20 Feb 2011 - Gold Coast vs New Zealand (6) / 115-123
23 Feb 2011 - New Zealand vs Gold Coast (2) / 91-94
11 Mar 2011 - Gold Coast vs Wollongong (-11) / 68-80
13 Mar 2011 - Perth vs Gold Coast (-15) / 102-81
20 Mar 2011 - Melbourne vs Gold Coast (9) / 81-82
25 Mar 2011 - Gold Coast vs Adelaide (3) / 101-102

Interesting. He is -17 against the top five teams, and +65 against the bottom three (46 from two games against Sydney). I suspected his play had been much better against the teams who dont actually play defence.

These stats only tell a part of the story, but for mine he is a good player that could add to any team, but not someone to spend the biggest money on.

stupid enter!

if thats the case Paul, then he should have a huge plus against NZ, there defence isnt the best in the league at all.

He might have if him and the Blaze could have stopped NZ scoring at 105ppg against them! He averaged 19ppg against NZ, Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide, and 15ppg against the good defensive teams. Of course, part of that could have been supply, but that also doesnt touch on his defensive liabilities.

As I said, in my opinion he is a very good player but not worth spending the biggest chunk of your salary cap on.

isaac- thanks for putting in that info- much appreciated!!

Hey, I reckon we should sign Ira Clark, Brendon Teys, Jason Cadee, Jaydan Tom and Luke Kendall as our starting five. We're lookin' at +69 right there!

:-)