NBA WNBA 2K24: The Caitlin Offseason

[Sweater of AV]

 

[skysolo]

The Sky win by 15 in their first game without Reese, their largest margin of victory this season.

Reese's replacement in the lineup Isabelle Harrison goes off for 21-9-2 with a couple of steals and a block.

Kamilla Cardoso with a dOuBlE DoUbLe.

Chennedy Carter with 28-4-6 found plenty of room for her short/mid range game with Harrison doing most of her damage away from the basket.


Angel who?

This win put them back up a game on the Dream who was all in on beating the Fever. But the Sky beat the Wings who are in the Paige sweepstakes.

Carter could be won of the best guards in the league if she stopped with Draymond shit and just focused on ball instead of trying to be a personality.

The Dream and Sky game on the 17th will be interesting. It might be the tie breaker. The Dream has two games in a row against the Mystics who are definitely in the PB sweepstakes. I won't be surprised if they don't play any starter.

The Sky have 3 games left against winning teams. The only upside is that those teams may start resting starters cause their seedings are almost set regardless.

 

[skysolo]

The Fever had a hard fought battle against the Dream. This was a game that they could lose.

The Dream is fighting for the 8th spot. The Fever lost their win streak a couple of days ago. It was tough over time win.

But damn do they need to get control of the turnovers. By halftime, the Fever had 12 turnovers to the Dream's 1.

 

[Steve4192]

Caitlin Clark's 0.592 True Shooting % (TS% accounts for the extra point given to three pointers and free throws) is 7th highest in the WNBA for players likely to finish the season with over 1000 minutes played. I didn't expect that at all, given her 0.423 overall shooting percentage (which ignores free throws and the extra point on threes). I knew it would be higher, but I didn't know it would be among the league leaders.

I'm still guilty of thinking in NBA terms, where a sub-60% TS% wouldn't even rank in the top 50. Just goes to show how far behind the WNBA is at utilizing the three as a weapon. Further proof is that the WNBA only has two players making more than 3 threes per game (Clark and Arike) while the NBA had 13 last season. It gets worse as you drop the standard. The WNBA only has 8 players making 2.5 threes per game, while the NBA has 33 over 2.5 last season.

The question is, will Clark and the Fever enjoy the same kind of run that the team that broke the 3-point paradigm in the NBA had? Golden State won four titles by being the first team to completely embrace the three. Can Indiana do the same in the WNBA? And would they have the guts to pull off an 'all in' move like the Warriors did when they signed Kevin Durant?

 

[Deleted member 592570]

The Sky win by 15 in their first game without Reese, their largest margin of victory this season.

Reese's replacement in the lineup Isabelle Harrison goes off for 21-9-2 with a couple of steals and a block.

Kamilla Cardoso with a dOuBlE DoUbLe.

Chennedy Carter with 28-4-6 found plenty of room for her short/mid range game with Harrison doing most of her damage away from the basket.


Angel who?

It's actually hilarious how much they tried to force Angel Reese. I mean it worked to some degree, you've got absolute dunces like @Sweater of AV who actually bought it, but it's going to be much worse for her now when the team will be clearly better for her being out of the lineup.

 

[Deleted member 592570]

The Fever had a hard fought battle against the Dream. This was a game that they could lose.

The Dream is fighting for the 8th spot. The Fever lost their win streak a couple of days ago. It was tough over time win.

But damn do they need to get control of the turnovers. By halftime, the Fever had 12 turnovers to the Dream's 1.

What do people expect? They're women. Of course there are going to be a lot of turnovers. Complaining about all the turnovers is frankly ridiculous unless we're also going to acknowledge that they're very bad at shooting, passing and dribbling as well.

With Clark especially it's ridiculous when half her 'turnovers' are perfect passes and her team mates just miss them.

 

[Sweater of AV]

It's actually hilarious how much they tried to force Angel Reese. I mean it worked to some degree, you've got absolute dunces like @Sweater of AV who actually bought it, but it's going to be much worse for her now when the team will be clearly better for her being out of the lineup.

Feeling lonely without manipulating your boyfriend from the bunker, lad?

 

[Sweater of AV]

Looks like my girl Chennedy has been on fire since returning. Glad to see she's healthy.

 

[Sweater of AV]

Lol at 204 turnovers. Even she admits she can't even dribble without dribbling it off her leg. Now I know why @ColemanwastheGOAT is upset.

Sherfront, take notes.

 

[skysolo]

What do people expect? They're women. Of course there are going to be a lot of turnovers. Complaining about all the turnovers is frankly ridiculous unless we're also going to acknowledge that they're very bad at shooting, passing and dribbling as well.

With Clark especially it's ridiculous when half her 'turnovers' are perfect passes and her team mates just miss them.

Bruh? Really? Women have a lot of turnovers? Clark had 6 in one half. The Dream had 1. Clark is sloppy with the ball and her team doesn't always catch passes. The first clip in the video wasn't a turnover.

 

[Deleted member 592570]

Bruh? Really? Women have a lot of turnovers? Clark had 6 in one half. The Dream had 1. Clark is sloppy with the ball and her team doesn't always catch passes. The first clip in the video wasn't a turnover.

Have you actually watched any of CC's games? Have you seen the turnovers for yourself? They're like 50% just women bobbling the ball. I will concede that part of it is they aren't used to getting long passes because the level of play in WNBA is so low.

 

[skysolo]

Have you actually watched any of CC's games? Have you seen the turnovers for yourself? They're like 50% just women bobbling the ball. I will concede that part of it is they aren't used to getting long passes because the level of play in WNBA is so low.

I've watched every game. It's certainly not 50% of her turnovers. She is a high risk, high reward player. She will always have a lot of turnovers. She handles the ball more like Steph Curry than Chris Paul. But she still needs to be more careful with the ball.

The Fever in general was being loose with the basketball. 12 turnover to 1 by halftime.

 

[Steve4192]

Have you actually watched any of CC's games? Have you seen the turnovers for yourself? They're like 50% just women bobbling the ball. I will concede that part of it is they aren't used to getting long passes because the level of play in WNBA is so low.

Your numbers are way off. I posted this article a few days ago from a guy who has way too much time on his hands and actually broke down film of every Clark turnover and every Reese offensive rebound.

I Watched All of Caitlin Clark's Turnovers and Angel Reese's Offensive Rebounds So You Don't Have To

The WNBA's star rookies are driving fresh interest and putting up startling numbers but there are still questions about their flaws. We take a closer look.

herhoopstats.substack.com

The number is closer to 10% of her turnovers being due to teammates flat-out dropping her passes than it is to 50%.

I also have trouble reconciling the 'level of play' argument because her college teammates had no problem catching her passes, and with only a couple of exceptions they were clearly a few notches below WNBA-level players. Female players can catch Clark's passes just fine, once they get to used to her style and begin to anticipate them. The problem early in the season was that she was hitting them from angles they ha never seen and they weren't ready for the passes. That issue has declined over the course of the season and hasn't really been a problem since the Olympic break when the team had a month to just practice and start to gel as a unit. Caitlin is getting better hitting players in the favorite spots on the court, and her teammates are getting better keeping their head on a swivel and being ready to receive a pass.

 

[Steve4192]

Reese provides some detail on her injury. Turns out it is a hairline fracture on her wrist that she 'could' have played through but potentially would have long-term consequences if she did. She made the right move. Taking that kind of risk as a rookie on an 8th seeded losing team doesn't make sense. If she were in the latter half of her career and her team was better, it might make sense to play through it, but even that is iffy. Kevin McHale fucked up his career by gutting out an injury in order to win a championship. He didn't get the ring and he was never the same afterwards. It probably took three-to-five years off his career. The juice might be worth the squeeze if you win a ring, but the Sky aren't going to win a ring this year.

 

[skysolo]

The problem early in the season was that she was hitting them from angles they ha never seen and they weren't ready for the passes. That issue has declined over the course of the season and hasn't really been a problem since the Olympic break when the team had a month to just practice and start to gel as a unit. Caitlin is getting better hitting players in the favorite spots on the court, and her teammates are getting better keeping their head on a swivel and being ready to receive a pass.

A bunch of dorks have been saying for years how the WNBA is a more "fundamental" game, but they can't anticipate passes and a rookie is showing them angles they've never seen.

 

[Steve4192]

A bunch of dorks have been saying for years how the WNBA is a more "fundamental" game, but they can't anticipate passes and a rookie is showing them angles they've never seen.

Yep

One of the biggest things they had to adjust to was her hitting them on the move and throwing the pass where they would be, not directly at them. That's something that NBA point guards do by instinct, but almost no one in the WNBA does it. They throw passes that hit stationary targets in the chest, not passes that lead a moving target towards the bucket or to their favorite spot on the floor to hit a catch-and-shoot jumper.

 

[Sweater of AV]

Prayers for our girl. Hope GOATgel has a successful surgery and recovery.

 

[Croaker]

Reese provides some detail on her injury. Turns out it is a hairline fracture on her wrist that she 'could' have played through but potentially would have long-term consequences if she did. She made the right move. Taking that kind of risk as a rookie on an 8th seeded losing team doesn't make sense. If she were in the latter half of her career and her team was better, it might make sense to play through it, but even that is iffy. Kevin McHale fucked up his career by gutting out an injury in order to win a championship. He didn't get the ring and he was never the same afterwards. It probably took three-to-five years off his career. The juice might be worth the squeeze if you win a ring, but the Sky aren't going to win a ring this year.

She should get her hairline fixed too

 

[TeTe]

74-50 right now Sky looking like a balanced offensive juggernaut instead of trying to force double doubles it’s weird.

They definitely need to reexamine having their worst offensive player as the #1 option.

Cordoso ftw

 

[Deleted member 592570]

Prayers for our girl. Hope GOATgel has a successful surgery and recovery.

Why? Her team is doing better without her.