So defy the coach and not run the play the coach called. Got it.
***Official Caitlin/Fever/Kate/Meg Games Mega Thread***
- Thread starter Tenacious E
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It was basically a pick and roll, but they were so far out and also pretty slow to get into the play. When you’re that close to the sideline they just cut her off so she was forced to give it to Boston way too far from the basket. And with so little time she had to shoot it immediately.
So not a good play called by Sides.
Again, CC is always an option in a play.
You have to play the game as it is presented to you, regardless of a play that's called, and especially when you're the best player.
But again, in that particular play, CC keeping it was certainly an option.
If Sides isn't ok with her best player making the correct read to take advantage of a good situation, then that's on her
The Fever did a piss poor job of feeding the ball to Boston in the 4th. Either they defended it better or we just stopped doing it.
Also did a piss poor job of defending Reese.
Just an embarrassing 4th quarter.
I don't know chit about basketball, with that being said:
Clark absolutely needs to learn how to drive and score. Other than an occasional wide open layup, it's either from 3 point land or at the free throw line. There's really no in-between. There are girls shorter that can drive and score, not sure why she can't.
Also did a piss poor job of defending Reese.
Just an embarrassing 4th quarter.
I don't know chit about basketball, with that being said:
Clark absolutely needs to learn how to drive and score. Other than an occasional wide open layup, it's either from 3 point land or at the free throw line. There's really no in-between. There are girls shorter that can drive and score, not sure why she can't.
That’s been discussed. She’s a unique skill player but not obviously a great leaper or finisher around the rim. She’s being guarded by some high level athletes. But yes, she needs a mid range game and/or a floater in the lane. Guessing it will be added.
I agree, but again you're acting like she has a choice in the matter.
She doesn't.
Plain and simple.
There was no choice.
Sides is attempting to coach this out of her. Those plays were drawn up for other players and CC is simply running the scheme. I guarantee she'd rather go rogue, but if she does and it doesn't work then Sides benches her and throws her under the bus and calls it a, "Bad Habit."
Lastly, CC is already comfortable in those situations because that's what's she's done her entire life. It's Sides that's not comfortable with anyone else doing it.
This isn't accurate, she's shown multiple times she can get to the rim, especially 1v1.
Problem is this team is so f*cking bad at setting screens and Sides is even worse at drawing up plays that she's always getting double and triple teamed.
Nobody is driving to the basket under those circumstances.
I will say as much of a genius Clark is with a ball in her hands, she could be better using her body as a shield on layups. She got her shit thrown twice yesterday. The one on the fast break layup the opponent was just a better athlete. But, not so much better that Clark couldn’t have gotten the shot off. Just a tiny thing to improve upon, in the ocean of things she does great.
If you’re suggesting here that Christy Sides should have been fired at least a couple weeks ago, then you and I are in wholehearted agreement.
Sides benching her would be career suicide. She's playing almost 40 minutes now every game, unless it's a blow out one way or the other. Now while the play might have been for Boston she certainly has an option to abort the play. She's the pt guard. Now she might not be 100% comfortable doing that yet at this point in her career and that's on Sides. I do see this working out similar to the Magic Johnson /Paul Westhead situation back in the day. If Sides is going to take all the fun out of the game for Clark it's not only bad for the Fever but it's terrible for the league. CC is not easy to coach. You could see it on her face a couple of times. Trying to get some of these women to play the right way is so hard. She's got great chemistry w/Boston but man Smith and Mitchell are just going to do what they want to do.
Mitchell is maddening. So damn athletic and talented. But not so great sharing the ball.
The last few games she's not getting blitzed near as much. She's gotten way more comfortable as the announcers said yesterday, at getting rid of the ball quicker. And she's not getting triple teamed.
Being fast is obviously a plus, but imo being able to slow down and stop suddenly is too, and Caitlin seems to have that in buckets. Thinking here of the full sprint, stop, and step back three.
Just wondering if she couldn't do that at the rim better? Seems like on that first block the defender would have just sailed right past her.
Dunno, but I do know she's gonna pick up tricks and lil' shots here and there. She will, ofc, be fine.
Just wondering if she couldn't do that at the rim better? Seems like on that first block the defender would have just sailed right past her.
Dunno, but I do know she's gonna pick up tricks and lil' shots here and there. She will, ofc, be fine.
You happen to be wrong. Plain and simple.
Yes, based on the expected defensive coverage, Boston was the #1 option. But pretty much every ATO/dead ball play and live action set that I've seen the Fever run has multiple options. Even their freelance (motion) actions have multiple options. You still have to play basketball.
We could go back and forth all day about who's fault it was. All I know is the situation called for CC to keep it.
CC understands that every play has multiple options. But she hasn't been in many high leverage situations with other players skilled enough to be realistic options. Being that CC didn't look comfortable approaching a couple of those spots with an instinctive aggression yesterday, it's quite possible that Sides hasn't clearly and forcefully communicated to her the importance of maintaining that instinctive and aggressive mindset in those situations.
We don't know for sure what's been communicated or not. People who insist on assigning the blame to Sides will do so. But I can pretty much guarantee that yesterday's situation is now being looked at as a learning experience for all, and the necessary communication for how to handle these spots has been made clear. Thus, if CC doesn't make the right read in the future, it will be her fault. Expect better execution from all in these spots going forward
There’s not another player in the league that could hold up to the standards that are set for Clark. She’s the only player that is expected to be great in all aspects of the game. Too many turnovers, FG % is too low, 3 point % is too low….and on and on. But Angel Reese (for example) can’t make layups, has no hops, can’t block shots, yet she’s a superstar. Every player in the league has weaknesses, but Clark is the only one that constantly gets called out on them.
Holy crap, I'm seeing two days ago CC revealed she ruptured her eardrum at NY on June 2nd.
Has this not been discussed here? Guessing it occurred on the play where Caitlin ran into the Stewart screen? Legal screen but Stewart leaned very far forward for maximum impact. Idk, seems pretty dirty to me. And don't tell me this is the standard rookie treatment.
Amazingly she kinda laughed it off, but still! Hope there's no long-term effects.
Has this not been discussed here? Guessing it occurred on the play where Caitlin ran into the Stewart screen? Legal screen but Stewart leaned very far forward for maximum impact. Idk, seems pretty dirty to me. And don't tell me this is the standard rookie treatment.
Amazingly she kinda laughed it off, but still! Hope there's no long-term effects.
Could be why she wasn’t shooting well, it would throw off her balance.
I saw this the other day but forgot to bring it up. She certainly isn’t a whiner.
Clark was being doubled off the screen... she did the right thing, which was the only thing to do, and passed it to Boston
Watch it again.
The pass seemed premeditated, which caused her to give it up a bit too quickly.
If she'd have kept the option open to keep it herself, the dribble would have remained live, and her instincts would have attacked the large open space that opened a split-second later
Clark's a rookie. Analyzing her weaknesses at this stage seems ... a little silly. CC's number 1 problem is she has a head coach who had the number 1 pick in the draft 2 years in a row and can't coach her way out of a wet bag. If Sides is still the head coach in 6 months ... well I hope a sports "journalist" offers up an opinion as to why.
I agree with this. It seems like CC gets at least one or two layups per game that are far from wide open. She as a nice high arching release and touch off the glass that frequently allows her to finish without getting her shot blocked. Frankly I've been impressed with her ability to take the ball to the hoop. I didn't think that would happen much in the wnba given that she doesn't seem to have elite hops. Yesterday with Cordoza prowling the lane it wasn't happening, which is understandable especially since she was hitting her 3's.
wtf are you talking about???
she was being doubled... you are out of your gawd dammed mind
you're just making sh*t up
watch it again?
I just watched it again.. you are a f*ckin moron... I'm putting you on ignore
You know, after looking at it again myself, I have to admit the play was much more bang-bang than I remember. It certainly wasn't as clear a read for CC to keep it as I have claimed.
Think I was recalling a similar play in which CC had already put it on the floor. Sorry fellas, it's been a long week.
Hope you didn't ignore one of the few guys that tends to agree with your football posts 😉
Besides wanting Fagbenle back in the lineup, I'd really like to see less of Kristy Wallace. She's okay at a few things, but doesn't do anything particularly well and the Fever can replace her limited scoring. Maybe she isn't ready, but I wish we could see more of Celeste Taylor for her defense. CC can easily pick up the offensive production of Wallace, and if Taylor could slow down the top guard on defense, it might be a worthwhile trade to give her some solid minutes.
Clark needs to work on her 10 footer for sure, but that's not happening during the season so we just need to deal with it. Chicago changed something on defense to take away the return pass to Clark. They'd let Clark bring the ball up the floor but as soon as she got rid of it they made sure she couldn't get it back. It's possible that the rest of the Fever just collectively decided to quit doing what got them the huge lead but I'm more inclined to think that Chicago did something to stop it. Sides had no answers for the change, evidently. Guess she's going to need to hit YouTube again to see what people suggest they do when the other team stops your inside out game. I wish she'd do that with the defense. I don't know who posted the video of the horrible defense Indiana was playing but I'm convinced that's actually the reason they lost.
Lol do you even watch the games? She has 52 layup attemps. It's her second most attempted shot range.
Still wondering why Kristy Wallace was getting so many minutes, when she was not being at all productive. It's a puzzlement.
Magic is giving too much credit to Angel, imo. Angel is not selling out arenas when Caitlin/the Fever is not the opponent.
The full text of Magic's tweet:
Larry and I heightened the NBA’s overall popularity. The Lakers and Celtics sold out arenas throughout the league and increased television viewership exponentially. The higher viewership numbers led to the NBA signing significantly larger TV contracts which then led to higher salaries for the players.
Caitlin and Angel are now doing the same thing, selling out arenas and increasing the viewership. They have taken women’s basketball by storm and with expiring TV deals on the horizon, the WNBA is now in a position to negotiate higher TV contracts and increase salaries for all of the talented players.
The full text of Magic's tweet:
Larry and I heightened the NBA’s overall popularity. The Lakers and Celtics sold out arenas throughout the league and increased television viewership exponentially. The higher viewership numbers led to the NBA signing significantly larger TV contracts which then led to higher salaries for the players.
Caitlin and Angel are now doing the same thing, selling out arenas and increasing the viewership. They have taken women’s basketball by storm and with expiring TV deals on the horizon, the WNBA is now in a position to negotiate higher TV contracts and increase salaries for all of the talented players.
Main difference being, the WBNA, would get similar numbers if Angel wasn't in the league. It's all about CC. If Caitlin retired tomorrow, the numbers would fall off a cliff. If Angel retired tomorrow, the numbers wouldn't change very much. That's just fact.
After watching many of their games, I am wondering why they are not seeking a trade for Kate Martin. I think Martin could take a lot of Wallace’s minutes and has a lot more athleticism. Not sure how often trades happen in the WNBA, but I would be looking to get Clark someone that can handle her passes.
Because Vegas doesn't want their roster to get worse either........
Nobody will take Wallace or Wheeler off their hands via a trade.
Magic is definitely right about himself and bird but he is not even close to being right about cc and Reese. It's ALL cc and everyone knows it, they just don't want to admit it
I can't imagine they would let her go to the Fever from a strategic standpoint. I would trade everyone on the team for her combined, not including Clark, Boston, Mitchell, Smith, and Temi.
But, but, Wallace and Wheeler are two of the best 144 women basketball players in the world, amirite? 😉
