WNBA is approaching the halfway mark to their season. I want to share some stats and thoughts on Caitlin Clark and the Fever at this point.
Team Standings
Atlanta Dream, Chicago Sky, and Indiana Fever seem to be battling for the 7th and 8th spots, which get a team into the playoff. At this moment the standings are Atlanta and Chicago at 7-11, and Indiana at 8-13. The Olympic break is July 20. Over the next two weeks, the schedule favors Indiana with 3 games vs losing teams and 2 games vs winning teams. Chicago plays 1 losing and 3 winning, while Atlanta plays 2 losing and 4 winning.
Scoring
Clark is averaging 16.0ppg, which ranks #16 in the WNBA. If she scores 2ppg more, she jumps up into the top 10 in the WNBA.
Threes Pct.
Leading three points shooter by percentage is Stefani Dolson (Wash) at 51%. Clark ranks #24 at 34%. While that may not seem impressive, there are a boat load of traditionally great shooters at low percentages this year- Plum 35%, Ionescu 34%, Loyd 29%, Breanna Stewart 25%.
Threes Made
Anika Ogunbowala of Dallas leads the WNBA with 3.3 threes per game. Kelsi Plum is right behind with 3.0 and Sabrina Ionescu with 2.8. Clark is making 2.7, which is #13 in the WNBA.
Turnovers
Caitlin Clark leads the league with 5.6 turnovers per game. The next highest is Alyssa Thomas of Conn at 3.9. It is interesting to see how this compares to the NBA, realizing the NBA game is 48 minutes not 40 minutes of the WNBA. Paulo Banchero of Orlando had 4.6 turnovers/game, Joel Embid 4.2, Luka Doncic 4.1, LeBron James 3.8- they are the top four in turnovers.
Assists
Clark is #3 in assists at 7.1apg. Alyssa Thomas of Conn is leading the league with 7.5 assists.
Random Thoughts
Clark is averaging 10.8 assists per game over the last four games. I find that I watch Fever games from a Clark lens, and every time she makes a good pass and they miss the shot saying,”She should have 10 assists per game if people made shots.” The reality is that people are making shots, Mitchell is #8 at 41% at threes, and Samuelson #15 at 37%.
WNBA keeps stats on everything- presently on Boston ball screens on Clark, if one of them shoots off the screen action, they score 0.97 points per possession. That is the second highest scoring rate on ball screens in the WNBA. So it is obvious the two of them are learning to work together.
Kelsey Mitchell as a senior at Ohio State had the following line- 24.5ppg, 39% threes, and 3.9 assists. She has always been a very good shooter, but not a high level assist/passer offensively. With Caitlin Clark having the ball more, it is harder for Mitchell to get assists. She is averaging only 1.8 assists per game. The other night she had the ball high on the left wing when Samuelson broke to the basket. She was in the lane with no one within 10 feet of her- Mitchell did not see her until a defender came back. This is one example, but my point is Mitchell is a score first guard.
Aliyah Boston is still shooting 40% on threes, but is averaging only 0.7 attempted per game. I don’t think she is headed to become someone shooting 5 threes per game, but I do think the more she steps out, the more it will open the lane for Clark.
Kate Martin is shooting 38% on threes and 100% from the FT line.
Clark has scored 30 points twice, and she has scored over 20 points in a game in 7 of 21 games. Her best three point shooting games were 7 for 13 and 5 for 9. As Clark keeps getting more and more comfortable, I predict we will begin to see some games where she “goes nuts” from the three point arc. I am not saying every game but I think we will see some more games where she is making 5+ threes. As well as her stat line is- 16ppg, 7.1apg, 5.4rpg- she has done this without having the typical "Clark's gone nuts" type games. With better defense in WNBA, I predict we will see some more of these going forward this year.
The Fever drafted Celeste Taylor in the 2nd round (15th overall) and have already cut her. Kate Martin was drafted three spots later and is contributing on a much better team. Kate might have had a hard time being drafted as CC's sidekick in Indy, but it shows that Martin was probably an under appreciated prospect and the Fever need to fill their roster with players who fit with CC and a style of play that optimizes her talent.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed your comments regarding Caitlin Clark and the Fever. As I've watched their games, it has struck me how different Clark's role and rhythm are in the WNBA vs her days at Iowa. Much like Scott Skiles at Michigan State vs in the NBA, Clark no longer has the type of green light that allowed her to get into a shooting rhythm almost every game at Iowa and have those "go nuts" shooting nights. A lot of this is due to the better and more athletic WNBA defenses, and their intense focus on Clark specifically, but it seems that she is also being hindered by the relative lack of other good passers on her team and, frankly, her own lack of movement when she is off the ball. I read that she had been studying Steph Curry's off-ball movements, but I haven't seen evidence of that in Fever games so far. Perhaps the fact that she plays almost every minute of the Fever's games, on top of having had long NCAA and WNBA seasons back-to-back has contributed to her relative lack of movement when she doesn't have the ball? I anticipate that the Fever's performances, as well as Clark's, will continue to improve as she, her teammates and their coaches figure out together how best to utilize her skills and to complement those of her teammates, and as the Fever continues to build its roster. Even at her and their currently relatively low efficiency rate, Clark and the Fever are fun to watch, as they try to figure it out.
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