Big Blue Huddle

Diana Taurasi is the women's version of Jordan/Kobe. Arguably the greatest woman basketball player ever. I'm biased as a UConn fan, but I'd rather watch Taurasi in her final Olympics appearance than Clark who is more hype and potential at this point. If you want to beat the champ, you have to knock out the champ. Don't depend on winning a close decision. Clark has more work to do to establish herself as one of the greats in my opinion. I'm confident she will be one of the best players on the next Olympics team in 4 years but she's not there yet.

If we think this is an issue that must be discussed in a Giants football forum, then I suppose it's all and good.

Cheers!

Quote from: DaveBrown74 on June 09, 2024, 11:26:42 AMYeah - her WNBA numbers so far have not been quite what her college numbers were, which were the best college numbers of all time (best scoring numbers for either gender). That doesn't mean she's not deserving of being on this team. Why is the 42 year old Taurisi a better pick for this team? Hell, is Brittany Greiner having a better WNBA year than Clark?

Here is the article Dave- read it and weep.  If she went to Paris , she would not play except for garbage time based upon this opinion

https://nypost.com/2024/06/07/sports/espns-shocking-ranking-of-caitlin-clark-among-wnba-rookies/

With the issues she has had in the WNBA, I'd say its better she not go to Paris.
The turnovers rate alone are disqualifying.  She needs to work on her general game.
No doubt she is a great shooter

I don't think it's a mistake at all- and interestingly enough I think it benefits Clark not to be on it. 

Keep balling, keep getting better, pay your dues, and come back in 4 years.  That's how she'll earn respect (and I'm sure she'd likely agree she doesn't want anything handed to her, if she's really the competitor she seems to be).

Quote from: Doc16LT56 on June 09, 2024, 11:56:51 AMDiana Taurasi is the women's version of Jordan/Kobe. Arguably the greatest woman basketball player ever. I'm biased as a UConn fan, but I'd rather watch Taurasi in her final Olympics appearance than Clark who is more hype and potential at this point. If you want to beat the champ, you have to knock out the champ. Don't depend on winning a close decision. Clark has more work to do to establish herself as one of the greats in my opinion. I'm confident she will be one of the best players on the next Olympics team in 4 years but she's not there yet.

I will admit right now I don't watch WNBA games or follow the players that closely. I have watched some though, and I have watched Clark play (both in college and the WNBA), and I have come away impressed pretty much every time.

If you follow the league closely I will readily defer to your knowledge. I do not. FWIW, I do follow the NBA closely and used to follow men's college basketball closely, plus I played in my younger days, so I have a reasonable understanding of the game in general including the various performance metrics (ie stats). Looking at what Clark has done so far versus her peers, it seems to me she is among the top echelon of WNBA players, and she hasn't even played a full rookie season yet, so she is likely to only keep improving, even in the very near term.

If this decision was based entirely on merit and it's able to be backed up by hard facts, then that is of course fine. There are plenty of knowledgeable people out there about women's basketball, including Lisa Leslie (as one example), who do not agree with that stance though. At the bare minimum it seems it's up for fair debate.

Quote from: DaveBrown74 on June 09, 2024, 12:30:37 PMI will admit right now I don't watch WNBA games or follow the players that closely. I have watched some though, and I have watched Clark play (both in college and the WNBA), and I have come away impressed pretty much every time.

If you follow the league closely I will readily defer to your knowledge. I do not. FWIW, I do follow the NBA closely and used to follow men's college basketball closely, plus I played in my younger days, so I have a reasonable understanding of the game in general including the various performance metrics (ie stats). Looking at what Clark has done so far versus her peers, it seems to me she is among the top echelon of WNBA players, and she hasn't even played a full rookie season yet, so she is likely to only keep improving, even in the very near term.

If this decision was based entirely on merit and it's able to be backed up by hard fact, then that is of course fine. There are plenty of knowledgeable people out there about women's basketball, including Lisa Leslie (as one example), who do not agree with that stance though. At the bare minimum it seems it's up for fair debate.

I definitely don't have expertise in the women's game. I'm just shooting the breeze with everyone else. Admittedly  I'm a biased UConn fan. I follow the lady Huskies fairly closely and I would say 80% of my interest in the WNBA has to do with following the UConn players rather than the league itself.

No knock on Clark. I think she's a legitimately great talent, though not an elite player yet.

Quote from: Doc16LT56 on June 09, 2024, 11:56:51 AMDiana Taurasi is the women's version of Jordan/Kobe. Arguably the greatest woman basketball player ever. I'm biased as a UConn fan, but I'd rather watch Taurasi in her final Olympics appearance than Clark who is more hype and potential at this point. If you want to beat the champ, you have to knock out the champ. Don't depend on winning a close decision. Clark has more work to do to establish herself as one of the greats in my opinion. I'm confident she will be one of the best players on the next Olympics team in 4 years but she's not there yet.

Geno Auriemma was the former UCONN coach who made the comments about Caitlin Clark and her future

The WNBA is interesting in that the best college players often continues at a high level in the WNBA.

Clark's outside shooting is already pretty good.  Think she needs to get stronger physically and get much better on defense. Coming from a family of I think four brothers, she said she battled a lot so I doubt the WNBA's physicality will affect her psychologically.

Taurasi is a better pick for the Olympics team as she is damn good and knows the other players well in terms of their games.  She has a ton of international experience.

Clark will likely make many future teams.

All.these rookies are having amazing seasons so far
Its either they are all.amazing
Or the league was  that bad
Of course they screwed up
They were going to win the gold
Plus how many players can shot 3 point shots like she can
Even if these are better players
Tell.me how not putting in a player who just tied the 3 point record in a single game  wont make the team better?
Give her time which this team would
She would hit the shot
Who can shoot the outside better then her

Is she one of the top 2 or 3 players at her position who is eligible to play for the United States of America at the Olympics?  If "yes", she should be on team.  If "no", she should not.  Her exposure should not have anything to do with it.  And, I do not follow women's basketball enough to know if she is currently one of the top 2 or 3 at her position.

Wow! A lot to unpack with the responses to this topic.

First, my daughter played basketball in high school so we have been watching Clark together long distance and texting each other during the game. This whole story has nothing to do with the Olympic team. They took the best players, which by the way doesn't include a single player from any of the 5 worst teams in the league at the moment. Caitlin Clark is on one of those teams. The 12 best players make it and she isn't one of the 12 best. Period.

I love the "slow start" comments. How many games have you watched this season? She leads the team in points, assists, and steals. Yes, she also leads the team in turnovers by a wide margin but her teammates are starting to get their heads around. If they start making just a few of the astonishing number of layups they have missed this season, she will lead the league in assists (she is 4th in the WNBA now.) The league pushed Indiana, and Clark, out in front of the fans. They played more games than any other team including 4 games in 6 days leading up to and during the Memorial Day weekend. Clark is averaging 13 points per game on one day's rest or less (9 times already) and 26 points per game in the three other games. She'll be fine once she gets her legs under her.

I get the comments about ticket sales but this is about coming home with gold, not selling out arenas in Paris for silver.

I have no dog in this hunt because I don't follow women's basketball and don't plan to.  But I will say that it's bad optics.  No one but the hardest core fans of women's basketball has heard of any of the players on the team, while even the casual sports fans have heard of Clark.  Apparently the women's team has been dominant for 30 years but they've gotten very little attention.  Now they'll get attention but it will be because all the media will want to talk about is Clark not being there, not the players on the team or the team's performances.  It's not about putting butts in the seats in Paris, it's about growing interest in women's basketball, and from that perspective they completely blew it, IMO.

So when viewership is up in the WNBA, who is the demographic that is now watching and paying attention that was not previously?

Quote from: AZGiantFan on June 10, 2024, 05:23:28 PMI have no dog in this hunt because I don't follow women's basketball and don't plan to.  But I will say that it's bad optics.  No one but the hardest core fans of women's basketball has heard of any of the players on the team, while even the casual sports fans have heard of Clark.  Apparently the women's team has been dominant for 30 years but they've gotten very little attention.  Now they'll get attention but it will be because all the media will want to talk about is Clark not being there, not the players on the team or the team's performances.  It's not about putting butts in the seats in Paris, it's about growing interest in women's basketball, and from that perspective they completely blew it, IMO.

The Olympics will do absolutely nothing to help grow women's basketball.  Same argument about hockey. The Olympics brings out a sense of patriotism and not a love of a particular sport.

....and if you took the time to watch the game last night, you understand why she was left off the team.  She isn't ready.