Caitlin Clark left off USA Roster

[madskillz8]

I'm a big Iowa supporter and I'm absolutely thrilled that we got lots of national fanfare for a historically great player.

I also am totally fine with Clark being left off the roster. She's simply not good enough yet. And that's fine. The marketing nonsense is irrelevant; you guys are Americans right? We're goin for the gold! The Olympics are the very last thing where jersey sales and idiots on First Take matter. What matters is the best twelve-woman roster wins us the gold medal.

I'm very confident that Clark will improve her game against the rest of the best women ballers in the world and get herself on the '28 roster. And if some 21 year old phenom is proving her worth in 2028, that'll bump off one of our WNBA veterans. And that veteran is going to cheer her guts out for her national team, same as Caitlin Clark is going to for this Olympics roster. FFS guys this is the Olympics; it's about cheering on our nation over all those other chumps, same as every England and Thailand fan and every other fan in the world is going to be doing. Marketing is irrelevant. Clark is going to be worth $100 million dollars by the time she's 30; she's gonna be fine.

I am not American and I don't have to be a one to point one big obvious missed opportunity to capitalize CC hype for growing women's basketball and WNBA... Looking at the just published figures across the league (not Fever, not CC jersey but whole WNBA stuff) you can see what we are referring here. F*ck jersey sales - millions of girls just started to watch WNBA and you will see the consequences soon.

Sad to see bunch of long-time "American" "WNBA fans" hating on one young well-spoken "American" woman who is going to chance the fate of the game for good.

As an outsider all can say about this: Weird, very weird. In this thread, there were even a joyful "told you so crowd" today. I went to check what happened only to see 10 points CC game. And it was enough to make long time WNBA fans are very happy, it seems. Very weird. I think this is one of the consequences of identity politics in the US, you are making everything about the race, gender, etc... Just my two cents.

And she's the most fun to watch player in women's basketball. Period. Back in the day, Iverson and Carter generated many new NBA fans but I don't really remember an old NBA fans telling them they have to watch Duncan & Spurs first, and they shouldn't talk about NBA because they only watch Iverson & Philly. Good for them because that would have sound very weird -

I woke up this morning, looked at the mirror and said: who the hell am I to tell anybody what to watch? I recommend that to everyone. Repeating three times is better. The funny thing is, from the words they use, I feel like the most of the anti-CC crowd here is leaning left, liberal side of the American political spectrum. But at the same time, they are acting extremely conservative here. Like a textbook definition of conservative. I'm confused... And that's why I want to say this: Laissez faire, laissez passer.

[cdubbz]

I woke up this morning, looked at the mirror and said: who the hell am I to tell anybody what to watch? I recommend that to everyone.

Hell yeah. Starting this tomorrow morning. My Gf might think it’s weird, but eff it.

[KembaWalker]

I think my biggest disgust with women’s basketball handling of CC is that it’s way too reminiscent of how my dumbass franchises in Hornets/Panthers always fumble the few and far between times they get a rare talent or something to be excited about. Whether it’s giving Cam Newton no protection or receiving options his entire career or refusing to manage Christian McCaffrey properly and then hand him over to a non-dumpster franchise and watch him become the league darling. Like always playing LaMelo Ball next to other point guards or giving him 10 years expired moldy old Steve Clifford as a coach. Throwing him out there before his ankle is even healed and acting surprised when he tweaks it again

The WNBA is like the Hornets of pro sports leagues. Good fortune doesn’t find them very often. But even those rare times when it does, they are aggressively, offensively good at fumbling the bag. This girl should be getting the 2020 Trae Young whistle, not getting shoved in the back offball for a common foul. The NBA does the this **** proudly and shamelessly with picking and choosing its stars, why is the W being so dumb about it

[MrDollarBills]

I'm a big Iowa supporter and I'm absolutely thrilled that we got lots of national fanfare for a historically great player.

I also am totally fine with Clark being left off the roster. She's simply not good enough yet. And that's fine. The marketing nonsense is irrelevant; you guys are Americans right? We're goin for the gold! The Olympics are the very last thing where jersey sales and idiots on First Take matter. What matters is the best twelve-woman roster wins us the gold medal.

I'm very confident that Clark will improve her game against the rest of the best women ballers in the world and get herself on the '28 roster. And if some 21 year old phenom is proving her worth in 2028, that'll bump off one of our WNBA veterans. And that veteran is going to cheer her guts out for her national team, same as Caitlin Clark is going to for this Olympics roster. FFS guys this is the Olympics; it's about cheering on our nation over all those other chumps, same as every England and Thailand fan and every other fan in the world is going to be doing. Marketing is irrelevant. Clark is going to be worth $100 million dollars by the time she's 30; she's gonna be fine.

I am not American and I don't have to be a one to point one big obvious missed opportunity to capitalize CC hype for growing women's basketball and WNBA... Looking at the just published figures across the league (not Fever, not CC jersey but whole WNBA stuff) you can see what we are referring here. F*ck jersey sales - millions of girls just started to watch WNBA and you will see the consequences soon.

Sad to see bunch of long-time "American" "WNBA fans" hating on one young well-spoken "American" woman who is going to chance the fate of the game for good.

As an outsider all can say about this: Weird, very weird. In this thread, there were even a joyful "told you so crowd" today. I went to check what happened only to see 10 points CC game. And it was enough to make long time WNBA fans are very happy, it seems. Very weird. I think this is one of the consequences of identity politics in the US, you are making everything about the race, gender, etc... Just my two cents.

And she's the most fun to watch player in women's basketball. Period. Back in the day, Iverson and Carter generated many new NBA fans but I don't really remember an old NBA fans telling them they have to watch Duncan & Spurs first, and they shouldn't talk about NBA because they only watch Iverson & Philly. Good for them because that would have sound very weird -

I woke up this morning, looked at the mirror and said: who the hell am I to tell anybody what to watch? I recommend that to everyone. Repeating three times is better. The funny thing is, from the words they use, I feel like the most of the anti-CC crowd here is leaning left, liberal side of the American political spectrum. But at the same time, they are acting extremely conservative here. Like a textbook definition of conservative. I'm confused... And that's why I want to say this: Laissez faire, laissez passer.

I'm fairly left leaning and I like CC a lot.

However its very obvious that she's being co opted by culture warriors who whine about identity politics.

[MrDollarBills]

I think my biggest disgust with women’s basketball handling of CC is that it’s way too reminiscent of how my dumbass franchises in Hornets/Panthers always fumble the few and far between times they get a rare talent or something to be excited about. Whether it’s giving Cam Newton no protection or receiving options his entire career or refusing to manage Christian McCaffrey properly and then hand him over to a non-dumpster franchise and watch him become the league darling. Like always playing LaMelo Ball next to other point guards or giving him 10 years expired moldy old Steve Clifford as a coach. Throwing him out there before his ankle is even healed and acting surprised when he tweaks it again

The WNBA is like the Hornets of pro sports leagues. Good fortune doesn’t find them very often. But even those rare times when it does, they are aggressively, offensively good at fumbling the bag. This girl should be getting the 2020 Trae Young whistle, not getting shoved in the back offball for a common foul. The NBA does the this **** proudly and shamelessly with picking and choosing its stars, why is the W being so dumb about it

Did you watch the game last night?

[MrDollarBills]

Leaving her off Team USA has to be one of the most colossally stupid ignorant and short-sighted moves in sports that I can think of.

You have women's basketball finally becoming a bit more mainstream and anything that can help bring eyeballs to that product be it Pros the Olympics College whatever the big picture should be a priority number one.

You have a golden opportunity to transcend the sport and these clowns decided to pass on that is mind blowing

Did you watch the game last night?

[MrDollarBills]

While maybe it's not fair or comes out as "clicky". Like you said, they've been together for a while and can easily win with or without CC. So maybe they want to stick to their usual group and continue their run on their own.

Now if they come back and complain about low viewership and jersey sales. That's on them.

But I get seeking something more "quiet" and continuing the comradery they've built, and also taking a break from the CC-Mania.

I'm not sure how much money is being "lost" here. Is the Olympics that big of an opportunity for money? Doesn't Team USA Mens have trouble getting viewership? I think the were barely getting 1 mil.

No one watches Olympic basketball like that on either side, so you can see where (not saying this about cdubbz) there is a disingenuous air to this entire argument in this thread. As if the world will end because CC's cult fandom won't watch the Olympics.

Absolutely, you guys, lol at how big a deal some people are making over this.

I do think it’s a missed opportunity, but I’m 100% fine with her omission, and I don’t think it’s that big. I said earlier in this thread, if people weren’t already paying attention to the WNBA after Iowa…March Madness…Final Fours and title games and against defending champs, against undefeated SC, competitive, exciting games….

You’re telling me they are going to latch on to women’s basketball due to tape delayed games, against no name squads, in huge blow outs, where Caitlin gets much less playing time, during the warmest, nicest time of year to be outside and enjoying life? Really?!?!

Disingenuous isn’t the word. It’s much harsher than that.

It’s all crazy. Like that one YouTube video comments I highlighted. People claiming they canceled W league pass due to how Caitlin has been treated.

Zero reflection on why current players might come at her other than…tHeY jEALouS!!

The Clark controversy is just the latest lightning rod for the very real race and political issues facing our nation.

There are people bitching in this thread over the last 24 hours that couldn't be bothered to even watch last night's game between the Fever and Sun. They don't even care about Caitlin, they just want to use her as a prop for their racism.

These dudes are very transparent.

[KembaWalker]

I think my biggest disgust with women’s basketball handling of CC is that it’s way too reminiscent of how my dumbass franchises in Hornets/Panthers always fumble the few and far between times they get a rare talent or something to be excited about. Whether it’s giving Cam Newton no protection or receiving options his entire career or refusing to manage Christian McCaffrey properly and then hand him over to a non-dumpster franchise and watch him become the league darling. Like always playing LaMelo Ball next to other point guards or giving him 10 years expired moldy old Steve Clifford as a coach. Throwing him out there before his ankle is even healed and acting surprised when he tweaks it again

The WNBA is like the Hornets of pro sports leagues. Good fortune doesn’t find them very often. But even those rare times when it does, they are aggressively, offensively good at fumbling the bag. This girl should be getting the 2020 Trae Young whistle, not getting shoved in the back offball for a common foul. The NBA does the this **** proudly and shamelessly with picking and choosing its stars, why is the W being so dumb about it

Did you watch the game last night?

I sure didn’t, like I already said the W slaughtered that golden goose fast enough. I can still eulogize and lament what could have been

[MrDollarBills]

I think my biggest disgust with women’s basketball handling of CC is that it’s way too reminiscent of how my dumbass franchises in Hornets/Panthers always fumble the few and far between times they get a rare talent or something to be excited about. Whether it’s giving Cam Newton no protection or receiving options his entire career or refusing to manage Christian McCaffrey properly and then hand him over to a non-dumpster franchise and watch him become the league darling. Like always playing LaMelo Ball next to other point guards or giving him 10 years expired moldy old Steve Clifford as a coach. Throwing him out there before his ankle is even healed and acting surprised when he tweaks it again

The WNBA is like the Hornets of pro sports leagues. Good fortune doesn’t find them very often. But even those rare times when it does, they are aggressively, offensively good at fumbling the bag. This girl should be getting the 2020 Trae Young whistle, not getting shoved in the back offball for a common foul. The NBA does the this **** proudly and shamelessly with picking and choosing its stars, why is the W being so dumb about it

Did you watch the game last night?

I sure didn’t

Oh.

[KembaWalker]

Did you watch the game last night?

I sure didn’t

Oh.

I also didn’t watch Diana Taurasis 7/5/0 blow out loss the other day if that makes you feel better

[afarmenian]

Leaving her off Team USA has to be one of the most colossally stupid ignorant and short-sighted moves in sports that I can think of.

You have women's basketball finally becoming a bit more mainstream and anything that can help bring eyeballs to that product be it Pros the Olympics College whatever the big picture should be a priority number one.

You have a golden opportunity to transcend the sport and these clowns decided to pass on that is mind blowing

Did you watch the game last night?

She's been mediocre so far and it's irrelevant she's not going to make a break the team as the 12th man but just her presence is going to bring many more eyeballs.

They should be doing everything to keep people tuned in as long as they can.

you don't get opportunities like this very often with a floundering sport

[MrDollarBills]

Leaving her off Team USA has to be one of the most colossally stupid ignorant and short-sighted moves in sports that I can think of.

You have women's basketball finally becoming a bit more mainstream and anything that can help bring eyeballs to that product be it Pros the Olympics College whatever the big picture should be a priority number one.

You have a golden opportunity to transcend the sport and these clowns decided to pass on that is mind blowing

Did you watch the game last night?

She's been mediocre so far and it's irrelevant she's not going to make a break the team as the 12th man but just her presence is going to bring many more eyeballs.

They should be doing everything to keep people tuned in as long as they can.

you don't get opportunities like this very often with a floundering sport

Right you could have just said "no".

[MrDollarBills]

Does anyone else who doesn't watch the WNBA want to chime in? I'm enjoying watching you lot make complete asses of yourselves in this thread.

[afarmenian]

Did you watch the game last night?

She's been mediocre so far and it's irrelevant she's not going to make a break the team as the 12th man but just her presence is going to bring many more eyeballs.

They should be doing everything to keep people tuned in as long as they can.

you don't get opportunities like this very often with a floundering sport

Right you could have just said "no".

Do you want to be a one note smart ass jerk or do you want to actually contribute to the conversation and talk about it seriously and add a minimal amount of thought?

I've seen many of her games not all of them and I've watched more WNBA this year than probably my entire life so what's your point?

[BigGargamel]

Leaving her off Team USA has to be one of the most colossally stupid ignorant and short-sighted moves in sports that I can think of.

You have women's basketball finally becoming a bit more mainstream and anything that can help bring eyeballs to that product be it Pros the Olympics College whatever the big picture should be a priority number one.

You have a golden opportunity to transcend the sport and these clowns decided to pass on that is mind blowing

Did you watch the game last night?

She's been mediocre so far and it's irrelevant she's not going to make a break the team as the 12th man but just her presence is going to bring many more eyeballs.

They should be doing everything to keep people tuned in as long as they can.

you don't get opportunities like this very often with a floundering sport

Okay, say Clark "makes" the team (definitely not earned it, gifted a spot of course). She rides the bench because she's the worst player on the roster. How do you think all of her cult followers are going to act? The racism, anger, jealousy and ugliness are going to be dumped all over the black players who are playing that none of these people know. You really think her riding the pine and having the camera pan over to her 300 times per game is "good for the game"? It's a lose lose situation. Clark will get her time, it's better this way. They're trying to win gold, not bring in even more casual eyeballs that really don't bring anything positive to the table.

There really is no reasoning with CC fanboys. It's just classic cult behavior. Can't tell them nothing, ever. Keep drinking the Kool-Aid.

JustBuzzin really did say it best. All of these new eyeballs don't even know who A'Ja Wilson is. It's not helping the game as a whole. It's helping Caitlin Clark and the Fever.

[afarmenian]

Did you watch the game last night?

She's been mediocre so far and it's irrelevant she's not going to make a break the team as the 12th man but just her presence is going to bring many more eyeballs.

They should be doing everything to keep people tuned in as long as they can.

you don't get opportunities like this very often with a floundering sport

Okay, say Clark "makes" the team (definitely not earned it, gifted a spot of course). She rides the bench because she's the worst player on the roster. How do you think all of her cult followers are going to act?

Don't care people will be talking about it. All that stuff is present in all sports in society anyways.

And frankly this racism angle seems pretty dramatic.

But sure overthink it and live in these pseudo psychology fears. It's basketball it's not that deep.

[EmperorLocky]

Instead of calling CC fans racist try being grateful that she's made the league money, a whole lot of it, and she's made the league relevant.

[afarmenian]

Did you watch the game last night?

She's been mediocre so far and it's irrelevant she's not going to make a break the team as the 12th man but just her presence is going to bring many more eyeballs.

They should be doing everything to keep people tuned in as long as they can.

you don't get opportunities like this very often with a floundering sport

JustBuzzin really did say it best. All of these new eyeballs don't even know who A'Ja Wilson is. It's not helping the game as a whole. It's helping Caitlin Clark and the Fever.

Right so.......didn't know her before either way but the elitist wnba fans say the attention is a bad thing for..... reasons.

The irony being that her name is right now brought up and talked about only because of the attention we are giving it in a thread about CC.

I did not know there were these elitist wnba fans but I do now and have to say it'd amazing watching these people find fault in the best things that's probably happened in woman's professional basketball maybe ever.

Instead of embracing new fans we have this clown behavior of acting like you can't have an opinion on unless you were interested since the Lisa Leslie days or something.

There is another thread asking why aren't we talking about Stewart...we'll I bet twice as many people know that name in 24 than they did in 23 so what's the frigging issue?

[cdubbz]

Okay, say Clark "makes" the team (definitely not earned it, gifted a spot of course). She rides the bench because she's the worst player on the roster. How do you think all of her cult followers are going to act? The racism, anger, jealousy and ugliness are going to be dumped all over the black players who are playing that none of these people know. You really think her riding the pine and having the camera pan over to her 300 times per game is "good for the game"? It's a lose lose situation. Clark will get her time, it's better this way. They're trying to win gold, not bring in even more casual eyeballs that really don't bring anything positive to the table.

There really is no reasoning with CC fanboys. It's just classic cult behavior. Can't tell them nothing, ever. Keep drinking the Kool-Aid.

JustBuzzin really did say it best. All of these new eyeballs don't even know who A'Ja Wilson is. It's not helping the game as a whole. It's helping Caitlin Clark and the Fever.

The WNBA players started to recieve charter flights this season (definitely not earned, gifted via Caitlin Clark).

If women who were in charge truly wanted to GROW THE WOMENS game - they would embrace Clark on Team USA. They would embrace the viewership she brings. They would embrace showcasing her in the Olympics in hopes to bring more fans to the failing league. They would also PLAY Caitlin Clark on Team USA and not keep her on the bench.

What does it tell you if most NBA fans don't know who A'Ja Wilson is? She is supposedly the GOAT. Her skillset is unmatched in the WNBA and she is probably going to grab another MVP. How were the WNBA viewership last season? Did she grow the game? No she did not.

If women were supporting their own sport they would have embraced Caitlin Clark. They players can opt out of the current CBA and renegotiate this off season...what leverage do they have? Caitlin Clark brought the fans but they were excluding her.

There really is no reasoning with WNBA fanboys. It's just classic cult behavior. Can't tell them nothing. Keep drinking the Kool-aid. The WNBA will be broke until they realize they need to ride the wave of popular players.

[afarmenian]

Okay, say Clark "makes" the team (definitely not earned it, gifted a spot of course). She rides the bench because she's the worst player on the roster. How do you think all of her cult followers are going to act? The racism, anger, jealousy and ugliness are going to be dumped all over the black players who are playing that none of these people know. You really think her riding the pine and having the camera pan over to her 300 times per game is "good for the game"? It's a lose lose situation. Clark will get her time, it's better this way. They're trying to win gold, not bring in even more casual eyeballs that really don't bring anything positive to the table.

There really is no reasoning with CC fanboys. It's just classic cult behavior. Can't tell them nothing, ever. Keep drinking the Kool-Aid.

JustBuzzin really did say it best. All of these new eyeballs don't even know who A'Ja Wilson is. It's not helping the game as a whole. It's helping Caitlin Clark and the Fever.

The WNBA players started to recieve charter flights this season (definitely not earned, gifted via Caitlin Clark).

If women who were in charge truly wanted to GROW THE WOMENS game - they would embrace Clark on Team USA. They would embrace the viewership she brings. They would embrace showcasing her in the Olympics in hopes to bring more fans to the failing league. They would also PLAY Caitlin Clark on Team USA and not keep her on the bench.

What does it tell you if most NBA fans don't know who A'Ja Wilson is? She is supposedly the GOAT. Her skillset is unmatched in the WNBA and she is probably going to grab another MVP. How were the WNBA viewership last season? Did she grow the game? No she did not.

If women were supporting their own sport they would have embraced Caitlin Clark. They players can opt out of the current CBA and renegotiate this off season...what leverage do they have? Caitlin Clark brought the fans but they were excluding her.

There really is no reasoning with WNBA fanboys. It's just classic cult behavior. Can't tell them nothing. Keep drinking the Kool-aid. The WNBA will be broke until they realize they need to ride the wave of popular players.

I agree with everything except giving out PT. That's a line that can't be crossed imo. Having her on the team is one thing Nah but you have to earn minutes no matter who you are. She can't become great unless she scraps like everyone else to play.

It's just like people whining about the physical play. If she can't handle it she will never be great.