Tale of the Tape - Ian Clark's Best Sixth Man season

When Melbourne United was in the process of building its roster of local stars, they felt they needed an added element of class to help buoy their chances of taking home the NBL24 title.

Enter former NBA and NBL champion Ian Clark.

Clark’s Best Sixth Man victory is the latest in a growing theme of potential stars accepting a backup role of the good of the team. Reigning Best Defensive Player Shea Ili won the award in 2022, multiple All-NBL nominee Jo Lual-Acuil Jr won it in 2021, and fellow import Hakim Warrick took the honours in 2016.

Clark was one of the final pieces signed to a Melbourne roster that had already announced the arrivals of former starts Matthew Dellavedova and Lual-Acuil Jr, and the arrival of the NBL-proven Luke Travers and rising talents Flynn Cameron and Kyle Bowen.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The ultimate spark ??<br><br>Ian Clark has been named as the NBL24 Best Sixth Man, presented by Marsh ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TheGazeys?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TheGazeys</a> live on the NBL website &amp; app ? <a href="https://t.co/BtpxapNa5q">pic.twitter.com/BtpxapNa5q</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1759504223719620805?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Through the early season – until he went down with a calf injury himself – Clark was a crucial presence among the injury crisis at United. Whether it a near like-for-like positional replacement in Dellavedova, or a rotation-shuffling absence like Lual-Acuil Jr, Clark was trusted to step into the starting five and thrive.

He started eight in eight of his 22 appearances in NBL24, and was such an effective offensive spark from the bench that only All-NBL selections Chris Goulding and Lual-Acuil Jr ended the season averaging more points per game than his 13.6.

He also finished second behind development player Campbell Blogg in three-point percentage, and third behind Dellavedova and Shea Ili in assists per game.

In short, he was instant offence for the highest-flying side in the competition.

We’d seen him play this type of role before with the Sydney Kings during their NBL22 title-charge, however Clark himself noted earlier in the campaign this would be the first NBL campaign in which he actually played in pre-season and could ramp up his full season with the same side, and it showed.

Clark was a model of consistency over the course of a strong team campaign. He scored fewer than 10 points just five times this season, and one of those performances came in just seven minutes against Perth, where he suffered a calf injury.

He shot below 40 per cent from the field in just five games across the campaign, and while he doesn’t get to the free throw line often, he hit 24 of his 28 attempts on the season at 85.7 per cent.

Only seven players who took more than 20 foul shots across the campaign shot at a higher clip from the line than Clark.

This Melbourne United team is absolutely flush with stars, and there’s no doubting Ian Clark is one of them, but the ability of the former NBA champion to not just accept, but flourish, in a bench role speaks volumes about the project United is building towards this season.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ian Clark - The NBL24 Sixth Man of the Year ? <a href="https://t.co/dxrso5gDQA">pic.twitter.com/dxrso5gDQA</a></p>&mdash; Melbourne United (@MelbUnited) <a href="https://twitter.com/MelbUnited/status/1759504814713786388?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Best Sixth Man winners
2024 – Ian Clark (Melbourne United)
2023 – Barry Brown Jr (New Zealand Breakers)
2022 – Shea Ili (Melbourne United)
2021 – Jo Lual-Acuil Jr (Melbourne United)
2020 – Jason Cadee (Brisbane Bullets)

Multiple Best Sixth Man winners
2 – Stephen Hoare