I didn't say she played well. I just added another part of her stat line that the other guy left out for some reason.
Time for a Real Discussion About Caitlin Clark
- Thread starter wenkeej
- Start date
It's not impressive to score 20 points on 15 shot attempts. 6 of her points were from free throws, So she scored 14 points from 15 shots. You left the details out
I think she may end up with a few quadruple-doubles in her career.
20 points, 10 rebounds, 12 assists and 11 turnovers.
it did look like the quickness and physically changed a bit for her last night.
That is why I laugh when they say she should be playing with guys. or anyone like Griner should play in the NBA, etc. They would get ripped if half. you imagine Brunson playing against her?
that being said. She has got to be exhausted. She had a gauntlet of March madness, shooting commercials, doing interviews and shows, flying across the country appearing places, signing hours of autographs, working with sponsor events, WNBA Draft, trying to practice and gain chemistry with a new team while the entire world is watching. And half the world, including the wnba players want her to fail. pretty crazy couple months for her and has to be taxing.
not to mention school in there somewhere.
she will be fine.
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Absolutely. She's going to have to settle in and adjust to being double-teamed and the focal point of WNBA defenses, going to be much tougher than being double-teamed and the focal point of college WBB defenses for sure.
So your takeaway is professional players are better than collegiate players? Amazing insight
To be fair, every person will have an occasional bad night shooting. Since she has a history of being a great shooter, her shooting last night should not be of concern long term. What is an absolute concern long term will be her ball handling. She has a history of turning over the ball a lot in college, and just set the wnba record for most turnovers in their first game.
She's playing against the very best now. They will expose any weakness an individual may have. And CC has weaknesses, which the media has been covering up for years.
I am not an NBA fan, but the freedom of movement in the NBA vs the WNBA is night and day. The WNBA seems to be an extension of women's college basketball of grabbing, holding, etc. The NBA is much more fluid offensively and defensively.
It is sad when you have WNBA teams who score 13 points in a quarter.
It is possible that Caitlin is just a really good offensive player with elite instincts, but not the g.o.a.t? Seems like that has been the case to me for awhile now. I spent more time watching her this year than in years past and it seems like there are other players in the women's game that might actually be better complete players. Better athletes, defenders etc. and can still score and pass the ball. Certainly better rebounders. I was not surprised to see she had 0 rebounds last night. Most of her rebounds in college seemed like chasing down shots that missed long and I don't think I've ever seen a player gather more rebounds without having to jump for the ball.
Just like when she played for Iowa. She always guarded the other team's worst player.
Bloder gave CC full reign to do what she wanted on the court, most coaches are not going to like it when she launches 15 feet behind the arc, but in college she could and would make enough of them that it opened up the floor for her excellent passing. Her biggest strengths were unlimited range and her quickness, in the pros, that quickness will not be as much as an help, as the players are all going to be bigger and faster than what she was used to playing against.
And against players who are older than her. All the Iowa fans got their shorts in a wad when Diana Taurasi said there is a transition period for rookies; guess what? It's true, especially for guards who handle the ball constantly.
It's a lot different being guarded by someone 26 and 20 pounds bigger than you vs. being guarded by an 18-22-year-old college player.
Can't believe there is still so much activity on this.
Simple for me - will never root for her as she's a Hawkeye. But also no longer pay attention because she's not playing for Iowa anymore. She's just another has-been Hawk to me that is out of sight, out of mind.
Simple for me - will never root for her as she's a Hawkeye. But also no longer pay attention because she's not playing for Iowa anymore. She's just another has-been Hawk to me that is out of sight, out of mind.
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Watching the WNBA is a little like watching the NBA back when the Pistons were good. The WNBA seems like it has valued size of skill. Hopefully that changes in the future and makes games for fun to watch.
Full disclosure... I have not seen CC play before (other than some youtube clips posted here). I have never seen a WNBA game and likely never will. Based on what I am reading here, it seems to me that CC was a great shooting offensive player in college... nothing more. Her offensive numbers in college detracted from her flaws. Now that she is playing in a league with players that are equal or better than her, she is being exposed for player she really is. As the season goes on, she will adjust and find her place. Will she dominate the WNBA? We will see. My guess is that she will be a good player... but not an elite one.
The "out of sight" comment...I wish! Living in the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City corridor right now the topic is hard to avoid...she is talked about constantly!
She's not going to carry a bad team to a championship, players will just guard her 30 ft from the basket, she will need other players that can score and contribute.
In every level before now it's just easier because most of the players she played against just aren't that good, in the WNBA everyone is good. Kelsey Plum was an elite scorer in college and it took her years to become an All-Star.
Clark just can't turn it over 10 times a game on the way to whatever she becomes, she needs to be on the court to do it and she'll get benched eventually if she's just a turnover machine.
In every level before now it's just easier because most of the players she played against just aren't that good, in the WNBA everyone is good. Kelsey Plum was an elite scorer in college and it took her years to become an All-Star.
Clark just can't turn it over 10 times a game on the way to whatever she becomes, she needs to be on the court to do it and she'll get benched eventually if she's just a turnover machine.
The Fever are in an interesting predicament. I am not sure they could afford to bench her no matter how out of control she plays or inefficiently she gets her buckets. Fans are still lining up and tuning in (not me, but I assume this is the case) to watch her. They don't care about the Aaliyeah Boston or the Fever as a whole, they want to watch CC. She would have to underperform over an extended stretch - 7 or 8 games probably - for the buzz to go down any.
I think it's pretty crazy that she played her last college basketball game less than a month ago and since that point she has gotten drafted, practiced with her team, and only played in 2 preseason games before the regular season. Leading scorer in her debut? Yeah, I think that's pretty solid.
Yeah that's a good point, I don't think she's in danger of getting benched in the short term by any means. It's also been one game, like @Saul_T said it's been a whirlwind from college to pro debut in hardly any time at all, it'll be interesting to see where it shakes out in like 10 games.
