First, I'll get my Clark criticism out of the way. She can't play defense. WNBA players have said this many times. Second, she throws up clown shots which won't work as a pro. Third, she is turnover happy. Lastly, she has never learned to be a team player.
Now to Paige. She is a master in all phases of basketball. You know it's true. Second, she is destined to be the UConn women's BB coach. Yes! I had a dream about this. In my defense...some see the check mate 10 moves ahead, some see it 3 moves ahead, and others see it at the checkmate.
1. You're right about the defense part.
2. In college, yes, she did throw the ball up within 2 seconds of the possession started, and yeah, that probably stops in the W. Her teammates would rip her a new one if she did that more than 4 times a game I would think.
3. TOs are definitely a problem, some of them are out of bad decision making (passing to Boston while she has 2 defenders crowding her) or because her teammates don't run to the pass. There's definitely work to be done there.
4. Uhhh... she led the nation in assists for 2 years in a row. I think 7-8 per game is "team ball." We can say she wasn't a team player as a freshman maybe, because the assists numbers back then didn't match to actually watching her play. A quote from an article from CC herself a while back said something like "I'm not going to pass it because you won't make it," to one of her teammates. That's immaturity and she seems to have grown out of that phase. Though I will admit that the championship loss this year, she made some blunders at the end not giving the ball to a wide open Martin or Marshall at the 3, and instead she chucked a contested 2 multiple times.
PB's weakness is the confidence level in big games and being guarded by quick, scrappy defenders. She practically disappeared against Texas against Harmon, and she had a quiet 15 points against Hidalgo. She also doesn't know when to fully take over in some games. But we can expect some growth next season, especially because she won't have to carry the team on her back for the first half of the season with everyone healthy again.
IMO, she is more WNBA ready than Clark. Not only does UCONN have one of the best OOC every year, so they face tons and tons of future WNBA rookies, but Paige also possesses one of the most important shots in the WNBA, which is the midrange. It's hard to defend in college and the pros, because of the movement associated with it, and its sudden occurrence on offense. Paige can hit it from anywhere, which makes it even more unpredictable. The fadeaway is the other most important shot IMO, which is why it sucks Kitley is hurt.
Paige is
lethal from that spot, and you can see its widespread use in the pros. Not only is it smooth and simple, the lean from the jump that PB likes separates her from the defense. In some cases, players lean a bit more forward, like Ash does, rather than backwards, but it's still useful either way. It's something CC must add to her bag. She also plays great defense, is tall, lanky, can pass, and versatile from positions 1-3.
