Taking A Look At The Bakersfield Jam Training Camp Roster

On Tuesday, the Bakersfield Jam finalized their training camp roster for the 2015-16 NBA Season. The roster is made up of four returning players and three affiliate players, in addition to some others that were acquired via trade, draft and through the tryout process. Here are notes on some of the key players from that roster.

Names you should know:

Earl Clark — Acquired via trade

If you’ve been a Suns fan for more than the past couple years, there’s a legitimate chance that you know the name Earl Clark. The now 27-year-old small forward was drafted by the Phoenix Suns in 2009; he was selected with the 14th pick in the first round.

In his rookie year, Clark played just 7.5 minutes per game; he was somewhat of a disappointment, and before long, he was playing for a different team.

Since joining the league, Clark has played for a total of six different teams; the best two-year stretch of his career came in the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons, where he averaged right around 19.8 minutes, 6.4 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.

Last year, Clark spent time in the D-League with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. In six games, Clark averaged 26.2 points and 8.0 rebounds per game, shooting 33.3 percent from three. Clark has spent parts of two seasons in the D-League, posting a PER above 20 in each of them; his best PER for an individual NBA season was 12.5, which he put up on the Lakers in the 2012-13 season.

My guess is Earl Clark will end up back in the NBA by the end of the year. He is in line to prove himself as one of the most talented players on the roster, and he should be interesting to watch moving forward.

Terrico White — Affiliate

Terrico White has played in the NBA Summer League for four different teams in four different seasons. He’s also played in the preseason in three different years. However, he’s never been able to stick on an NBA team.

Instead, he’s been just about everywhere else in the world.

In addition to a D-League stint back in the 2011-12 season, White has played in Serbia, Turkey, Israel and Russia (most recently). A former four-sport athlete in high school, White had all the physical tools to be a decent NBA player, including a 6’9” wingspan — he’s 6’5” in shoes — and a 40-inch vertical.

However, out of college, a couple of things really hurt White. He was never really the guy to just rise up over the defense and drain a jumper with a defender draped all over him; he only averaged about four free throws per 40 minutes and had a fairly low usage rate for a player that was supposed to be one of the top scoring options on the team.

For reference, the only player on Ole Miss who averaged more points than White in his last college season had a higher usage rating, and looking at last year’s Ole’ Miss squad, the top three scorers on the team all posted higher usage rates than White during his last year in college.

If White can come out aggressive and willing to take over, there’s no reason he can’t work his way back to relevancy and maybe even earn a call up. However, there’s still a lot of work to be done for that to happen. Until then, feel free to enjoy some of his highlights; I’m sure he’ll be making more this year for Bakersfield.

Names You May Not Know, But Will

Xavier Munford — Returning player

Last year, Xavier Munford played on the Bakersfield Jam, and he was pretty solid. He scored around 10.8 points per game, but really, that doesn’t tell the whole story of his season.

In 13 different games, Munford played 13 or fewer minutes; he also played 30 or more minutes in 11 different games — including the last five games of the year. He played 45 or more minutes three times.

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Game to game, the results were dramatically different.

In Munford’s first two games, he posted a combined seven points. In his third game he posted 29 points and 14 rebounds. It took him six games after that performance to reach that same total of boards.

Throughout the year, Munford posted point totals of 22 (2x), 24, 26, 29, 31, 32, and 34; he also played in five games where he went scoreless, and eight others where he scored five or fewer points.

Now in his second year with Bakersfield, Munford will look for consistency, while aiming to improve from in areas such as three-point shooting. If his start to the year looks anything like how he closed out the 2014-15 season, he may just as well end up on an NBA roster too, though he’s definitely not the most likely candidate.

Kyle Casey — Affiliate

Playing at Harvard, Kyle Casey had a pretty weird college career. From the start, Casey averaged 10.4 points per game, shooting 38.1 percent from three, 81.1 percent from the line and 52.3 percent from the field.

All of those numbers except one would be end up being his career-bests. An injury in his junior season was partially to blame, but really, there wasn’t a lot of improvement being shown.

Now, Casey actually played a lot of center in college, but moved to small forward last year for his club in Slovenia, where he posted 12.4 points and 7.1 rebounds per game, according to azcentral.com. He finally starting showing improvement, in more than a few areas, although that wasn’t necessarily on display at the Summer League, where he averaged less than one point per game.

If Casey can make some noise with Bakersfield, there’s absolutely a chance he could be called up. He’s a smart kid who can be efficient on the court when it comes down to it. He has solid physical tools with a 7’1” wingspan and a 40-plus inch vertical. However, now he needs to put it all together against other D-League competition.

Question Mark

Askia Booker — Acquired via trade

If you’re only an NBA fan, you’ve probably never heard of Askia Booker. However, if you’re a Colorado fan, Pac-12 fan, Kansas fan or maybe even a college basketball fan, there’s probably a chance the name rings a bell.

Here’s why.

With a euro-step, game-winning, buzzer-beating 30 footer, Booker snapped Colorado’s 19-game losing streak against the Kansas Jayhawks, pulling off what he said after the game would be the best moment of his career, short of playing “in the NBA championship.”

Booker is an ultra-competitive point guard who played four years at Colorado. In college, he took a ton of threes even though he wasn’t a great shooter, which brought his percentage down a bit. Realistically, it seems like 35 percent from behind the arc would be a good goal to set, and if he can get there, I think the team would be pretty happy.

Right now, Booker is capable as a driver, and can do some good things when he gets into the lane, but (like a lot of these guys) he really needs to put it all together. Another area of his game that could develop would be on the defensive side. Booker does not project as a bad defender, but I would imagine he’ll be spending a lot of time working on his jumpshot this year with head coach Chris Jent — who is somewhat of a shooting expert — meaning he needs to make sure his defense doesn’t fall by the wayside.

Next: Phoenix Suns 5-on-5: Early Season Musings, Big Picture Stuff