It\u2019s a hypothetical question,<\/a> but it comes with a reason as CC\u2019s been limited to just 13 games in her sophomore year. She\u2019s missed all the important games from the Commissioner\u2019s Cup to the All-Star and now the playoffs. So, you know where the question came from. But still, DeMita ain\u2019t gonna crown Paige so quickly, and she\u2019s got a reason too!<\/p>\nADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n
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\u201cI think they just have different bags. I think if you\u2019re talking about straight handles then, yeah Paige\u2019s bag is probably a little bit deeper, but if you\u2019re talking about shooting ability, ability to create space, get yourself open, get your shot off, then I think Caitlin\u2019s bag is deeper. When you talk about ceilings I think that just comes with straight work ethic,\u201d DeMita added.<\/p>\n
Yes, Bueckers has been incredible in her rookie year as she shattered multiple records. She was the only player in the W this season ranked in the top 10 in points, steals, and assists per game. And can you forget her 44 points against the LA Sparks on August 20th? It was the W\u2019s single-game rookie record with nearly perfect 17-of-21 shots from the field. She has hence joined Diana Taurasi, Tina Charles, Maya Moore, Breanna Stewart, Crystal Dangerfield, and Napheesa Collier as Huskies to earn the ROTY honor. But let me tell you the secret\u2026 none of them earned it right after a championship win. Still\u2026 she\u2019s got her own ceiling and style.<\/p>\n
As she herself puts it better after the August 20th game: \u201cI truly think basketball has gotten away from it \u2014 it\u2019s mostly layups and 3s\u2026 Teams don\u2019t know how to guard it. So I think it\u2019s an advantage when you can score in the midrange.\u201d And yes, she\u2019s capitalizing on all these shots. She\u2019s the first person in league history to score more than 40 points while shooting 80% from the field.<\/p>\n
But CC, she\u2019s got her own unique abilities. So, while Paige usually takes a shot from midrange, CC\u2019s popular for her logo threes. Despite suffering multiple injuries this season, she\u2019s shot from 35, 36, 30, and 27 feet. This range is so far that many defenses are forced to extend just to guard her, opening up the court. She\u2019s even got elite court vision and impressive passing skills. Perhaps her signature trait is that she sees plays developing before they happen. She anticipates where help will come and where her teammates will move, which allows her to make those \u201cmiracle\u201d or \u201cthread the needle\u201d passes.<\/p>\n
She can score in multiple ways: deep threes, pull-ups, midrange, and even drives to the basket. We\u2019ve also seen her excel in transition, pushing the ball, making quick decisions, and even delivering long outlet passes when needed. And that\u2019s how she accomplished over 19 records in her rookie year. However, what adds to her being called the face of the league is her incredible impact.<\/p>\n
Be it viewership, attendance, or even financial impact, she\u2019s reigning over the league all alone. So, when 39 anonymous WNBA players were surveyed by The Athletic about CC being the face of the league in five years, a majority of them voted yes. Though she wasn\u2019t alone in getting the votes. While she got nearly 53.8% of the votes, JuJu Watkins was second with 17.9%, and Bueckers was third with 14.1%.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, she (Caitlin Clark) currently is the face of the league,\u201d one respondent told The Athletic last month after the voting process. So somewhere CC\u2019s on her way to sit on the throne. Is she?<\/p>\n
Sue Bird\u2019s here to highlight the path ahead!<\/p>\n
While CC\u2019s loved globally, due to her impressive r\u00e9sum\u00e9 and the \u201cCaitlin Clark effect\u201d that\u2019s driving the league, Sue Bird is here to highlight what\u2019s missing. On her Bird\u2019s Eye View podcast, the August 12th episode, Sue Bird revealed the metric she uses to judge a face of the league.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s (Caitlin Clark) already breaking records left and right\u2026 the way this kid fills a box score is unprecedented. I think what we all want to see from her is that translating into championships\u2014because ultimately, for me anyway, that\u2019s how you get judged,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
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And yes, CC, despite everything in her bucket<\/a>, still lacks a championship ring. So far in her career, she\u2019s never had a chance to win a championship, neither during college nor in the pros. So, do you think Sue\u2019s got a point?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They travel for hours. They\u2019ve got their faces painted. They\u2019re usually holding bold signs. Young, old, and even…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":165357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-165356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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