Snotbubbles wrote:HotelVitale wrote:Snotbubbles wrote: Pick any one guard you want. What's the point of rostering Taurasi? Is she playing so much better than Clark right now? If you removed Taurasi for Clark, can Team USA still win gold?
Taurasi is better than Clark because Clark's a bad player right now. Maybe people aren't really paying attention but Clark is not a good WNBA player, she's pretty productive and has a ton of promise but she's just not a good overall player atm. She's shooting 37% and 33% from 3 and tossing out 5.6 TOs per game (which is like 40% more than anyone else in the league). Yes her team is bad and doens't know how to run an offense but she's still not taking advantage of what she's got.
The US team could win gold with her playing like 10mpg, sure, but they could also win with like Ariana Grande or Zendaya on the squad. I don't understand why bball fans are crying out for gimmicks all of a sudden. It'd be one thing if CC was playing really well this year but they were still trying to make her pay her dues, but she's not. She's just a young struggling player who will probably be at least pretty good in a year or two.
Stop with this. Clark is a good WNBA player. Do people even see how she's being guarded in the WNBA? Diana Taurasi isn't being guarded that way. Taurasi isn't even the best guard on her team, let alone one of the best guard in the country. She's a legacy pick at this point. Kelsey Plum is another player that you could have kept off for Clark.
Caitlin Clark statsMP: 33.5
PTS: 16.8
FGA: 13.2
2P%: .373
3P%: .327
REB: 5.3
AST: 6.3
STL: 1.5
BLK: 0.9
TOV: 5.6
TS%: .553
PER: 16.4
Diana Taurasi statsMP: 28.5
PTS: 16.3
FGA: 14.0
2P%: .370
3P%: .360
REB: 4.5
AST: 1.1
STL: 0.6
BLK: 0.1
TOV: 1.4
TS%: .523
PER: 15.2
Kelsey Plum statsMP: 37.4
PTS: 19.3
FGA: 17.8
2P%: .363
3P%: .349
REB: 1.7
AST: 4.9
STL: 1.0
BLK: 0.0
TOV: 1.9
TS%: .500
PER: 14.7
I agree with your points that the women's team could roster Ariana Grande and still win gold which makes leaving Clark off the roster even more egregious since the on-court product won't suffer by having Clark, but NONE of the other women on the roster have anywhere near the off-the-court following Clark does. Having her on the roster instead of a Taurasi or even Plum makes the women's game a must see event. Now, people will only follow in passing. You need to get eyes on these women to grow the sport, and I don't mean posters on a basketball board, I mean people who don't normally follow basketball. Those are the people you need to rope in if you want to grow the sport. Total missed opportunity to promote women's basketball. This was a chance for Team USA management to think outside the box and they blew it.
People really need to get off the Taurasi point. Taurasi is not of the team because she's a top 12 player in the WNBA. She's on the team because she's been one of the captains of team USA over their past 4 Olympic appearances (she's won 6 gold medals). So yes, team USA has included at least one player that doesn't deserve to be there on the merit of the current level of play. This is a completely separate issue of the team making another exception for a rookie player due to popularity.
It's totally fine if there's a bunch of fans who think Caitlin Clark's popularity is a reason she HAS to be on the team. I don't get why people are so rabid about this point though. Team USA did not decide to capitalize on CC's fame and I'm not sure I really care? I'm surprised other people care so much? It seems like most of the people who suddenly care about the marketing of women's sports were here caring before the CC era. The reactionary nature of the CC era has been a bit unpleasant. (I'm a fan of Clark's and think she's going to be an incredible player).
The stats you're posting are a bad argument. Yes CC has good counting stats but most of that is her usage. Look at those turnovers... this is a player who's struggling to adapt to a big role in a bigger, extremely physical league. She'll be fine, but she's not currently amongst the best WNBA players. Her and Aaliyah Boston were both team USA candidates, but they're having little nightmare seasons right now and I wasn't surprised neither got the invite. By some statistical metrics, Clark is one of the worst performing players in the league so far this year. I've watched 5 Indiana Fever games this year, and while Clark has a ton of jaw dropping plays (which let you know she's definitely going to be fine in the long term), she also looks pretty overwhelmed and sped up by W defenses.
Taurasi might or might not play minutes as a shooting specialist. If neither Clark or Taurasi are important to the rotation, I can't fault team USA for choosing the legacy player and the veteran captain who has been part of the program for 2 decades and 6 gold medals.
Based on performance, the biggest snubs that could have replaced Taurasi are: Arike Ogunbowale, Skylar Diggins-Smith, and Dearica Hamby. I was surprised to see Ariel Atkins left off because she's been on every team USA forever. Benitjah Laney would have been a cool pick.
Only 4 WNBA rookies have ever made team USA. Candace Parker, Taurasi, Sylvia Fowles, and Stewie. All those players were basically MVP candidates as rookies (except for Fowles, who was a DPOY candidate). Parker won MVP as a rookie.
