How is CC's rookie year going to go?

[IlikeSHAIguys]

She was one of if not the NCAA GOAT but how do you guys think she'll adjust to the pro level? Just going to assume she isn't doing the ice cube thing for now.

[MrDollarBills]

She was one of if not the NCAA GOAT but how do you guys think she'll adjust to the pro level? Just going to assume she isn't doing the ice cube thing for now.

She's not going to play in Ice Cube's retirement league.

She'll have an adjustment period because she will be playing against pros, but I see no reason why she won't be great at the next level.

[tmorgan]

My prediction: starts off as more of a playmaker. 17 and 10.

[acheck13]

My prediction: starts off as more of a playmaker. 17 and 10.

10apg has only happened once in W history. I think people need to keep in mind the inherent statistical constraints of a 40 mpg, talent-rich, relatively slow paced league. If CC averages 15/4/6 on good efficiency, that’s a fantastic rookie season.

[cupcakesnake]

I find her super hard to project because guards don't tend to dominate right away in the W, but Caitlin Clark is a unique prospect.

You have to go back to Semoine Augustus to find a guard that just came in and was immediately on the MVP radar.

I'm curious to see how her strength will translate. One low-key thing about Clark was how when she drives, people just can't get her off her path. She doesn't look super strong, but is clearly packing some immense core strength. If the driving immediately translates, that means she'll have room to bomb away from 3.

She's going to a team that already has Aliyah Boston commanding all kinds of attention on the interior, so she's going to be set up to succeed.

[OriAr]

I guess something like 20/8? Depends on how much usage she gets really.
If she gets to stuff the stat sheet she could put up some numbers alright.

[tmorgan]

My prediction: starts off as more of a playmaker. 17 and 10.

10apg has only happened once in W history. I think people need to keep in mind the inherent statistical constraints of a 40 mpg, talent-rich, relatively slow paced league. If CC averages 15/4/6 on good efficiency, that’s a fantastic rookie season.

While I wasn’t aware of the “only once in history”, I’ll stick with the prediction. She’ll have the ball a lot, I imagine, and while she gets all the attention for her scoring, passing is her truly elite skill. That and ridiculous range.

[OriAr]

Slightly off topic but the WNBA should seriously consider extending the game to 12 minute quarters.
Pumping up the volume stats will help with the marketing.

[Lockdown504090]

Dominant of the rip

[boogiezen]

Depends on the coach. If she gives her the green light.

[MrDollarBills]

I find her super hard to project because guards don't tend to dominate right away in the W, but Caitlin Clark is a unique prospect.

You have to go back to Semoine Augustus to find a guard that just came in and was immediately on the MVP radar.

I'm curious to see how her strength will translate. One low-key thing about Clark was how when she drives, people just can't get her off her path. She doesn't look super strong, but is clearly packing some immense core strength. If the driving immediately translates, that means she'll have room to bomb away from 3.

She's going to a team that already has Aliyah Boston commanding all kinds of attention on the interior, so she's going to be set up to succeed.

She will have to adjust to the physicality of the next level because we know she's going to have a target on her back from Game 1 and she's going to draw some awesome assignments, but I think she'll grow and adjust.

I just hope people will not overreact to anything that happens in the first month of her pro career.

[MrDollarBills]

My prediction: starts off as more of a playmaker. 17 and 10.

10apg has only happened once in W history. I think people need to keep in mind the inherent statistical constraints of a 40 mpg, talent-rich, relatively slow paced league. If CC averages 15/4/6 on good efficiency, that’s a fantastic rookie season.

Well said. People need to understand, the W is not the NCAAs. These are literally the best 144 players in the world Clark will be apart of.

I often get the feeling that people think that Clark is walking into a den of scrubs or something. She is not. This is the den of lionesses that have some real killers among them.

[acheck13]

Slightly off topic but the WNBA should seriously consider extending the game to 12 minute quarters.
Pumping up the volume stats will help with the marketing.

Completely agree, would help with player development (a major problem for young players IMO) having more minutes to utilize.

[cupcakesnake]

I find her super hard to project because guards don't tend to dominate right away in the W, but Caitlin Clark is a unique prospect.

You have to go back to Semoine Augustus to find a guard that just came in and was immediately on the MVP radar.

I'm curious to see how her strength will translate. One low-key thing about Clark was how when she drives, people just can't get her off her path. She doesn't look super strong, but is clearly packing some immense core strength. If the driving immediately translates, that means she'll have room to bomb away from 3.

She's going to a team that already has Aliyah Boston commanding all kinds of attention on the interior, so she's going to be set up to succeed.

She will have to adjust to the physicality of the next level because we know she's going to have a target on her back from Game 1 and she's going to draw some awesome assignments, but I think she'll grow and adjust.

I just hope people will not overreact to anything that happens in the first month of her pro career.

It's going to be a nightly thing, I think. There are a lot of insanely good perimeter defenders in the W, and CC will be an opportunity for a reputation boost.

If Clark is able to carry over a chunk of her fanbase to the pros, people are tuning into the WNBA for maybe the first time to see the Caitlin Clark hero's journey continue. That's such an opportunity for a perimeter defender to make a name for themselves. If I'm Brittney Sykes or Natasha Cloud or Jordin Canada or Chelsea Gray, I'm amped for the opportunity!

[MrDollarBills]

I find her super hard to project because guards don't tend to dominate right away in the W, but Caitlin Clark is a unique prospect.

You have to go back to Semoine Augustus to find a guard that just came in and was immediately on the MVP radar.

I'm curious to see how her strength will translate. One low-key thing about Clark was how when she drives, people just can't get her off her path. She doesn't look super strong, but is clearly packing some immense core strength. If the driving immediately translates, that means she'll have room to bomb away from 3.

She's going to a team that already has Aliyah Boston commanding all kinds of attention on the interior, so she's going to be set up to succeed.

She will have to adjust to the physicality of the next level because we know she's going to have a target on her back from Game 1 and she's going to draw some awesome assignments, but I think she'll grow and adjust.

I just hope people will not overreact to anything that happens in the first month of her pro career.

It's going to be a nightly thing, I think. There are a lot of insanely good perimeter defenders in the W, and CC will be an opportunity for a reputation boost.

If Clark is able to carry over a chunk of her fanbase to the pros, people are tuning into the WNBA for maybe the first time to see the Caitlin Clark hero's journey continue. That's such an opportunity for a perimeter defender to make a name for themselves. If I'm Brittney Sykes or Natasha Cloud or Jordin Canada or Chelsea Gray, I'm amped for the opportunity!

Yes!!! Natasha Cloud is the first person I thought of when thinking about which players are itching to match up against CC. That is going to be a must watch

[MrDollarBills]

Slightly off topic but the WNBA should seriously consider extending the game to 12 minute quarters.
Pumping up the volume stats will help with the marketing.

Completely agree, would help with player development (a major problem for young players IMO) having more minutes to utilize.

I agree with this. I see zero reason why W games are shorter than NBA games.

We need two more franchises, roster size expansion to 15, and 12 min quarters. It's time.

[ellobo]

I do think Clark has some holes in her game that she will need to close up in order to be a dominant pro.

She's a little too two dimensional in her scoring. It's mostly either sidestep three going left or drive to the rim going right, and almost everything else she does is setting up one of those finishes.

Being able to drive and finish going left and having a midrange/floater game will make is so much harder for defenders to sit on any one thing. She seems really uncomfortable shooting in the midrange, even in the lane. Teams with size on the back line could run her off the three point line and invite her into the lane, but with bigs walling off the rim. Instead of taking a relatively open pullup or floater, she'd often just pick up her dribble and then look around for an outlet instead of taking a relatively open pullup or floater.

Especially closing games, being able to get to a midrange spot and hit a contested shot is so valuable, and Clark seems like she should be able to do this effectively, but it's not really a part of her game right now.

She also seems really good shooting off the catch, although she got few opportunities to do it at Iowa. So I'd look for her to play more off the ball than she did in college where there really wasn't anyone to make plays for her.

I thought she got a lot stronger and tighter with her handle over her college career, and I think there's still room for further development there.

In college, she coasted a lot on defense because she spent so much energy on offense and couldn't afford foul trouble, but when she was engaged, I thought she showed she could be a good defender. However, in the W she's going to have to be a two-way player on a consistent basis. As much as teams will lock in on her defensively, they'll also try to attack her defensively.

And individual defenders and team defenses are obviously going to be super locked in against her. Of course, that's always been the case in college, but it's going to be another level in the W. We've already seen that a tough and committed defender, like Nika Muhl or Raven Johnson can slow her down.

Her passing is her trump card though. She's such a good passer that teams will have to pick their poison in either loading up to stop her or staying at home her teammates. She's great in pick and roll and she's going to have a great partner in Aliyah Boston.

I mean, she can't be bad, but I can see it going either way between hitting the ground running and struggling a bit to adjust. So I'm going to go out on limb with the bold prediction that it will be somewhere in the middle.

[TheSuzerain]

The offensive standard in the WNBA as a whole is very low. The league average O-Rating is 104.

I just don't see a scenario where Clark - Mitchell - Boston lineups aren't well exceeding that.

And the PG she's replacing in Indiana is very bad. So the impact could be large here.

[LewisnotMiller]

I find her super hard to project because guards don't tend to dominate right away in the W, but Caitlin Clark is a unique prospect.

You have to go back to Semoine Augustus to find a guard that just came in and was immediately on the MVP radar.

I'm curious to see how her strength will translate. One low-key thing about Clark was how when she drives, people just can't get her off her path. She doesn't look super strong, but is clearly packing some immense core strength. If the driving immediately translates, that means she'll have room to bomb away from 3.

She's going to a team that already has Aliyah Boston commanding all kinds of attention on the interior, so she's going to be set up to succeed.

She will have to adjust to the physicality of the next level because we know she's going to have a target on her back from Game 1 and she's going to draw some awesome assignments, but I think she'll grow and adjust.

I just hope people will not overreact to anything that happens in the first month of her pro career.

It's going to be a nightly thing, I think. There are a lot of insanely good perimeter defenders in the W, and CC will be an opportunity for a reputation boost.

If Clark is able to carry over a chunk of her fanbase to the pros, people are tuning into the WNBA for maybe the first time to see the Caitlin Clark hero's journey continue. That's such an opportunity for a perimeter defender to make a name for themselves. If I'm Brittney Sykes or Natasha Cloud or Jordin Canada or Chelsea Gray, I'm amped for the opportunity!

I'm tuning in for Jordin matching up on CC for sure. Such an interesting defensive player in terms of her approach and smarts.

[LewisnotMiller]

Slightly off topic but the WNBA should seriously consider extending the game to 12 minute quarters.
Pumping up the volume stats will help with the marketing.

Completely agree, would help with player development (a major problem for young players IMO) having more minutes to utilize.

I agree with this. I see zero reason why W games are shorter than NBA games.

We need two more franchises, roster size expansion to 15, and 12 min quarters. It's time.

The current timing is aligned with FIBA, though. I've never thought of it as being 'junior-sized'...

(Both men and women play 40 minutes in our pro league here)

I think getting the league to 16 teams over the coming years makes sense. Plenty of talent coming through.