Caitlin Clark is like the WNBA equivalent to Oscar Robertson or Wilt Chamberlain

[Dominator83]

She's pretty much the sole reason why they got that new fat TV deal

[Doctor MJ]

Yeah guys I dunno maybe let her be herself and not heap all these crazy comparisons on her. She's standing on her own two feet

Threads like this are honestly weird and uncomfortable. Cringy

I think it’s pretty normal to make comparisons to other players, certainly nba-wnba, but even across sports. Like someone the other day was asking me about angel Reese’s nba comp because they don’t watch any wnba. I said maybe like domantis sabonis, although like less of a passer and a better rebounder. Then they had some idea of how she plays. Whether my comp is accurate or not, who knows, but it’s still like a totally common thing to do imo.

This is like when people were saying Anthony Edwards reminded them of MJ and a tiny minority of people were saying we shouldn’t put this pressure on Ant. The guy has been competing at the highest levels his entire life and is out here saying he’s the number 1 option for team USA. I think he’ll be fine if people want to make comparisons about him, even if those comparison are premature, inaccurate, etc. (and Caitlin will be fine too).

Let's clarify here: With Ant people are against it because they think he's not good enough, not because they don't see that Ant is a similar type of player to Jordan. Pretty understandable to find those folks annoying.

The thing about saying Clark is like Oscar or Wilt is that she plays nothing at all like either of them. It's no sin to trying to predict how much of a historic outlier Clark will be - and that's clearly what the Oscar/Wilt analogy is really trying to do - but it's basically pure guesswork, whereas explaining to people about actual analogous playing types is something we can share real information on.

As far as Reese, first name that would come to mind to me would be Dennis Rodman. She's someone is first and foremost a rebounder who gets those boards not by out-massing others, but out-motoring them. Plus she's got that big personality. Not saying that's the "right" answer, but I think it's more helpful than trying to guess who Reese will rank next to on an all-time list when all is said and done.

[Lalouie]

i think you should compare her to someone more contemporary

oscar and west or wilt BUILT the nba and were groundbreaking in what was basically a nascent industry/sport.

cc is only putting up numbers if it's numbers you want to talk about. big numbers were and always will be a basketball staple

cc's impact seems more along the line of a curry bird magic mj sorta thing

[UcanUwill]

She's been going nuts lately. I haven't been watching but my assumption is she's finally adjusting to professional game speed?

I hope she becomes the unanimous WNBA GOAT.

Yeah she's adjusting. I also keep bringing up to anyone who will listen that I think it matters that she really didn't have an off season.

Girls legs have to be gassed.

Will she play overseas i wonder? Most stars also play overseas, since euro women season is parallel to mens, where WNBA is more of a side gig anyway. Money in Europe is better than WNBA also I think.

That said, recently, a few American WNBA and team USA stars just dont play overseas anymore, they just play in WNBA. Wonder who will offer Clark the money, women bball usually dominated by Turkish or Russian clubs, Russians had that team with Taurasi and Candace at the same time, and when Candace retired, they just signed Grinder...

[Sealab2024]

She's been going nuts lately. I haven't been watching but my assumption is she's finally adjusting to professional game speed?

I hope she becomes the unanimous WNBA GOAT.

Yeah she's adjusting. I also keep bringing up to anyone who will listen that I think it matters that she really didn't have an off season.

Girls legs have to be gassed.

Will she play overseas i wonder? Most stars also play overseas, since euro women season is parallel to mens, where WNBA is more of a side gig anyway. Money in Europe is better than WNBA also I think.

That said, recently, a few American WNBA and team USA stars just dont play overseas anymore, they just play in WNBA. Wonder who will offer Clark the money, women bball usually dominated by Turkish or Russian clubs, Russians had that team with Taurasi and Candace at the same time, and when Candace retired, they just signed Grinder...

Russia burned any chance of having athletes go there when they pulled the Griner stunt. Not sure who steps up in their place but my guess is nobody is going to Russia... For a very, very long time.

[jc23]

She's been going nuts lately. I haven't been watching but my assumption is she's finally adjusting to professional game speed?

I hope she becomes the unanimous WNBA GOAT.

Yeah she's adjusting. I also keep bringing up to anyone who will listen that I think it matters that she really didn't have an off season.

Girls legs have to be gassed.

Will she play overseas i wonder? Most stars also play overseas, since euro women season is parallel to mens, where WNBA is more of a side gig anyway. Money in Europe is better than WNBA also I think.

That said, recently, a few American WNBA and team USA stars just dont play overseas anymore, they just play in WNBA. Wonder who will offer Clark the money, women bball usually dominated by Turkish or Russian clubs, Russians had that team with Taurasi and Candace at the same time, and when Candace retired, they just signed Grinder...

no, she is already set money wise with her Nike deal. My guess is she vacations, works on her game and does a few commercials.

[UcanUwill]

Yeah she's adjusting. I also keep bringing up to anyone who will listen that I think it matters that she really didn't have an off season.

Girls legs have to be gassed.

Will she play overseas i wonder? Most stars also play overseas, since euro women season is parallel to mens, where WNBA is more of a side gig anyway. Money in Europe is better than WNBA also I think.

That said, recently, a few American WNBA and team USA stars just dont play overseas anymore, they just play in WNBA. Wonder who will offer Clark the money, women bball usually dominated by Turkish or Russian clubs, Russians had that team with Taurasi and Candace at the same time, and when Candace retired, they just signed Grinder...

Russia burned any chance of having athletes go there when they pulled the Grinder stunt. Not sure who steps up in their place but my guess is nobody is going to Russia... For a very, very long time.

Yeah, and no one goes to Russia for other obvious reason. I believe USA even set a ban for their female players to go there now. I mean, I am not sure you can put a ban, if player goes, it is her choice, but they would probably black ball you abroad, same like Thomas Heurtel is by France mens team. We trash French guard lineup, but with Heurtel in, it would be a bit different, hes definitely best French PG.

But as said, Clark is set with endorsements, most these stars do because probably they still need that money, WNBA salaries aren't that high by USA standards at least. If Clark goes, she probably goes because the place is nice, like Paris or Barca...

Russia burned everything euro related, but Turkish teams ere still powerhouses in women basketball. But cant picture Clark there, cool place for 2 week vocation, but I wouldn't want to live in Turkey for 9 months, especially if I am a woman. I am not saying Turkey is fundy country or anything, but still just not the same as premier European places.

[Jay 20]

She's been going nuts lately. I haven't been watching but my assumption is she's finally adjusting to professional game speed?

I hope she becomes the unanimous WNBA GOAT.

Yeah she's adjusting. I also keep bringing up to anyone who will listen that I think it matters that she really didn't have an off season.

Girls legs have to be gassed.

Will she play overseas i wonder? Most stars also play overseas, since euro women season is parallel to mens, where WNBA is more of a side gig anyway. Money in Europe is better than WNBA also I think.

That said, recently, a few American WNBA and team USA stars just dont play overseas anymore, they just play in WNBA. Wonder who will offer Clark the money, women bball usually dominated by Turkish or Russian clubs, Russians had that team with Taurasi and Candace at the same time, and when Candace retired, they just signed Grinder...

My guess is no since she's making great money off the court with her endorsements. I'd imagine she would value the time off more.

[UcanUwill]

Yeah she's adjusting. I also keep bringing up to anyone who will listen that I think it matters that she really didn't have an off season.

Girls legs have to be gassed.

Will she play overseas i wonder? Most stars also play overseas, since euro women season is parallel to mens, where WNBA is more of a side gig anyway. Money in Europe is better than WNBA also I think.

That said, recently, a few American WNBA and team USA stars just dont play overseas anymore, they just play in WNBA. Wonder who will offer Clark the money, women bball usually dominated by Turkish or Russian clubs, Russians had that team with Taurasi and Candace at the same time, and when Candace retired, they just signed Grinder...

My guess is no since she's making great money off the court with her endorsements. I'd imagine she would value the time off more.

Yes, I think that will be the case.

[AI_Efficiency]

Yeah guys I dunno maybe let her be herself and not heap all these crazy comparisons on her. She's standing on her own two feet

Threads like this are honestly weird and uncomfortable. Cringy

I think it’s pretty normal to make comparisons to other players, certainly nba-wnba, but even across sports. Like someone the other day was asking me about angel Reese’s nba comp because they don’t watch any wnba. I said maybe like domantis sabonis, although like less of a passer and a better rebounder. Then they had some idea of how she plays. Whether my comp is accurate or not, who knows, but it’s still like a totally common thing to do imo.

This is like when people were saying Anthony Edwards reminded them of MJ and a tiny minority of people were saying we shouldn’t put this pressure on Ant. The guy has been competing at the highest levels his entire life and is out here saying he’s the number 1 option for team USA. I think he’ll be fine if people want to make comparisons about him, even if those comparison are premature, inaccurate, etc. (and Caitlin will be fine too).

Let's clarify here: With Ant people are against it because they think he's not good enough, not because they don't see that Ant is a similar type of player to Jordan. Pretty understandable to find those folks annoying.

The thing about saying Clark is like Oscar or Wilt is that she plays nothing at all like either of them. It's no sin to trying to predict how much of a historic outlier Clark will be - and that's clearly what the Oscar/Wilt analogy is really trying to do - but it's basically pure guesswork, whereas explaining to people about actual analogous playing types is something we can share real information on.

As far as Reese, first name that would come to mind to me would be Dennis Rodman. She's someone is first and foremost a rebounder who gets those boards not by out-massing others, but out-motoring them. Plus she's got that big personality. Not saying that's the "right" answer, but I think it's more helpful than trying to guess who Reese will rank next to on an all-time list when all is said and done.

Yea, I like the Rodman comp for Reese.

[Ice Man]

Yea, I like the Rodman comp for Reese.

Hey now, I have that one patented. Although when Reese annoys me, I switch to Tristan Thompson.

[Godymas]

i think you should compare her to someone more contemporary

oscar and west or wilt BUILT the nba and were groundbreaking in what was basically a nascent industry/sport.

cc is only putting up numbers if it's numbers you want to talk about. big numbers were and always will be a basketball staple

cc's impact seems more along the line of a curry bird magic mj sorta thing

i mean you literally described why I am comparing her to oscar and wilt.

She is building the WNBA and being groundbreaking for the sport.

In terms of her actual game, the Nash/Curry comp someone else made is spot on. She has the vision in transition offense like Suns era Nash and she has the pure shooting ability and off ball movement of Curry.

[bledredwine]

She's so exciting to watch. I actually want to watch the WNBA now.

She's a legit competitor. You don't find many cut from that cloth these days with all of the money and premature deals floating around.

[cupcakesnake]

She's pretty much the sole reason why they got that new fat TV deal

I think lots of people assume that and I get why. No question she's a big part of it, and the W has been forever waiting for that transcendant star that captures audience interest at the national/international level.

But anyone following the WNBA's business over the past 5+ years knew a fat new deal was on the horizon. Viewership and investment numbers have been rising dramatically since 2019.

I think the pandemic was the largest catalyst because it was the first time in a while where sports audiences had more time to watch and were looking for what else was out there.

Then you have to look at the women's college game. Even before Clark, women's march madness was steadily becoming hugely popular. It was the platform where people became aware of her and a star was born. Had women's march madness not already been doing huge viewership numbers, Clark's incredible performances wouldn't have started this CC-mania. Rees was another big personality with big game that tens of millions became acquainted with. Then they both went to the WNBA, a less popular league but one that was also on the rise.

But here we get the weirdness of this season. There's a whole new massive glut of new WNBA fans that came out of the CC-mania, but most of them don't know the league well and there's been some pretty intense feelings as Clark has acclimated to the league. The W isn't really a guard's league, so she was always going to have a wild time as a rookie guard (historically there's only been 1-2 guards that have become legit MVP conversation level stars as rookies).

[MrDollarBills]

Yeah guys I dunno maybe let her be herself and not heap all these crazy comparisons on her. She's standing on her own two feet

Threads like this are honestly weird and uncomfortable. Cringy

I think it’s pretty normal to make comparisons to other players, certainly nba-wnba, but even across sports. Like someone the other day was asking me about angel Reese’s nba comp because they don’t watch any wnba. I said maybe like domantis sabonis, although like less of a passer and a better rebounder. Then they had some idea of how she plays. Whether my comp is accurate or not, who knows, but it’s still like a totally common thing to do imo.

This is like when people were saying Anthony Edwards reminded them of MJ and a tiny minority of people were saying we shouldn’t put this pressure on Ant. The guy has been competing at the highest levels his entire life and is out here saying he’s the number 1 option for team USA. I think he’ll be fine if people want to make comparisons about him, even if those comparison are premature, inaccurate, etc. (and Caitlin will be fine too).

Nah it's cringe. Sorry even now rereading this thread it gives me the ick.

She is Caitlin Clark. CC. I don't wanna hear her compared to Wilt or anyone.

She is who she is, she is a superstar that stands on her own merits.

To your point, I also didn't like Ant-Man being compared to MJ. That is unfair. Let him be Anthony Edwards

[MrDollarBills]

She's pretty much the sole reason why they got that new fat TV deal

I think lots of people assume that and I get why. No question she's a big part of it, and the W has been forever waiting for that transcendant star that captures audience interest at the national/international level.

But anyone following the WNBA's business over the past 5+ years knew a fat new deal was on the horizon. Viewership and investment numbers have been rising dramatically since 2019.

I think the pandemic was the largest catalyst because it was the first time in a while where sports audiences had more time to watch and were looking for what else was out there.

Then you have to look at the women's college game. Even before Clark, women's march madness was steadily becoming hugely popular. It was the platform where people became aware of her and a star was born. Had women's march madness not already been doing huge viewership numbers, Clark's incredible performances wouldn't have started this CC-mania. Rees was another big personality with big game that tens of millions became acquainted with. Then they both went to the WNBA, a less popular league but one that was also on the rise.

But here we get the weirdness of this season. There's a whole new massive glut of new WNBA fans that came out of the CC-mania, but most of them don't know the league well and there's been some pretty intense feelings as Clark has acclimated to the league. The W isn't really a guard's league, so she was always going to have a wild time as a rookie guard (historically there's only been 1-2 guards that have become legit MVP conversation level stars as rookies).

Cosigned 1000000000%.

[MrDollarBills]

i think you should compare her to someone more contemporary

oscar and west or wilt BUILT the nba and were groundbreaking in what was basically a nascent industry/sport.

cc is only putting up numbers if it's numbers you want to talk about. big numbers were and always will be a basketball staple

cc's impact seems more along the line of a curry bird magic mj sorta thing

i mean you literally described why I am comparing her to oscar and wilt.

She is building the WNBA and being groundbreaking for the sport.

In terms of her actual game, the Nash/Curry comp someone else made is spot on. She has the vision in transition offense like Suns era Nash and she has the pure shooting ability and off ball movement of Curry.

I doubt Clark would agree with the notion that she is solely building the WNBA. She stands on the shoulders of the women/people that came before her, such as her idol, Maya Moore.

This league didn't start two months ago.

[MrDollarBills]

Yeah she's adjusting. I also keep bringing up to anyone who will listen that I think it matters that she really didn't have an off season.

Girls legs have to be gassed.

Will she play overseas i wonder? Most stars also play overseas, since euro women season is parallel to mens, where WNBA is more of a side gig anyway. Money in Europe is better than WNBA also I think.

That said, recently, a few American WNBA and team USA stars just dont play overseas anymore, they just play in WNBA. Wonder who will offer Clark the money, women bball usually dominated by Turkish or Russian clubs, Russians had that team with Taurasi and Candace at the same time, and when Candace retired, they just signed Grinder...

Russia burned any chance of having athletes go there when they pulled the Grinder stunt. Not sure who steps up in their place but my guess is nobody is going to Russia... For a very, very long time.

I don't think any W player that isn't a Russian citizen should ever play ball there again. What Putin did to Griner was unconscionable.

If I was an agent I would advise my clients that there are other leagues in countries not run by psychopaths

[MrDollarBills]

Yeah guys I dunno maybe let her be herself and not heap all these crazy comparisons on her. She's standing on her own two feet

I with MrDB here. I don't think comparisons like this are helpful.

It'd be one thing if Clark played like those guys, but she doesn't at all. Meanwhile there are modern guys she actually is similar to - you could say she's something of a cross between Curry & Nash. That's really cool!

I get that folks are trying to say what an outlier she's going to be, but honestly, there's a lot we can't yet know about how the arms race between Clark and opponents ends up going which will determine where she ends up stacking up on GOAT list. What we can do is talk about the specifics of her game, and connect those to other players they strike us of.

Yeah if someone were to say, "man CCs game reminds me of a cross between Nash/Harden"' I would be like hell yeah, maybe even more dynamic in some aspects. I don't think her off ball game is where it needs to be to be compared to Steph. At least not today.

But please, can we let her be herself before we start invoking Wilt? That's not fair to her at all.

She is Caitlin Clark, one of one.

[tmorgan]

I kinda doubt CC’s off-ball ever develops to a Curry equivalent level, because, well, that means you’re screwing up your offense for no reason.

She’s 10x the passer of anyone else on the Fever (tho that wouldn’t be true on every team), so while you could run her around off-ball and thru screens, you’re still utilizing her second best skill instead of her best one. The Fever just need more finishers — Boston can’t do everything.