Post#32 » by ellobo » Thu Jun 13, 2024 3:46 pm
It's certainly been a mixed bag so far, and a lot of it is definitely due to a combination of team situation/coaching, and opponents giving her prime Steph/Harden treatment defensively. However, there are some holes in her individual game that were somewhat apparent in college, but that WNBA teams have exploited.
The turnovers are obviously a big problem. Some of them are double teams and intense defensive pressure, but some are just bad judgment, and some are being lazy, passive, and casual with her dribble and not doing anything to threaten the defender to set up her moves, leading to getting stripped, which is a habit she had in college but which she got away with more often.
Her scoring game is very two dimensional, stepback three to the left or straight line drive to the right. So when teams aren't blitzing her, they've tended to sell out hard to push her right, toward help and rim protection. Using a long, athletic defender like DiJonai Carrington, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, or Jackie Young helps too. Jackie Young in particular seemed almost completely unconcerned with letting Clark blow by her going right because she had help defenders waiting that way and A'ja Wilson waiting at the rim.
Right now, Clark just doesn't seem comfortable driving left, keeping her dribble alive in traffic, or taking shots in the lane, whether floaters, pullups, or turnarounds. When she gets in the lane and sees rim protection in front of her, she gets scared, picks up her dribble, and stops the possession cold, if she doesn't end up forcing a pass and turning the ball over. Trae Young, Chris Paul, and Jalen Brunson would be great models for adding this dimension of keeping the dribble alive and exploiting the 3-15 foot range. It will also open up a lot of passing lanes because right now, opponents don't even need to really guard her in that range; they just have to be there and Clark will guard herself.
There are lots of schematic things the team could do to help her out more, on and off the ball, but these are issues with individual skill and habit that she needs to address (and there's no reason she shouldn't be able to). Teams have the blueprint for taking away the things she already does well, and even uniquely well in the case of the deep shooting. She doesn't need to do those things better as much as she needs counters and more diversity.
In a way, it's a tribute to her that teams defend her the way they do. But it's also a criticism that she and the team can't leverage it into better individual and team offense.
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