Paige wins ROY

[browns]

And Clark had the benefit of key cogs like Mitchell and Boston being on the team when she was drafted. Paige didn't have that situation in her case and still broke records.

Switch scenarios and it's very likely Paige would have had a similar impact with that same roster. Context matters when you make such statements.

No she wouldn't..Paige has never come close to averaging over 8 assists a game not even in college

 

[browns]

Just a minor oversight by ESPN? We all have seen how much ESPN, a Disney company, is heavily invested in Caitlin. There is a clear difference in ESPN's level of investment and media attention given to Clark vs Bueckers. ESPN has their obvious bias toward Clark. It's been covered pretty extensively on this forum and there shouldn't even be an argument about that based on the media attention they give Clark vs Bueckers but after all the back and forth as there surely will be by Clark fans I'll go with Geno's opinion: Bueckers is a better and "more unguardable' player. But that isn't going to change ESPN so there's no need even looking for it.

Why wouldn't ESPN give Clark the most media attention..she's the face of the WNBA and elevated the W like it's never been before

 

[temery]

Why wouldn't ESPN give Clark the most media attention..she's the face of the WNBA and elevated the W like it's never been before

Because for the WNBA to have a future, it has to move beyond Caitlin Clark. If they hitch their wagon to any one person, the spark created by Clark will die a quick death.

 

[NycUcWbbFan]

No she wouldn't..Paige has never come close to averaging over 8 assists a game not even in college

At UConn, Paige wasn’t the main/ only point guard.

If you follow UConn WBB at all, the read-react offense thrives with many ball handlers capable of making an assist.

And Geno also moved Paige as the off-ball scorer and pleaded with Paige to curb her assist-first urge and hunt for her shots and shoot when open.

Caitlyn’s assists at Iowa came with high usage (40.1%, senior year), high turnovers (15.5%, senior year) and middling A/TO (1.87). Paige’s college stats are here. Paige’s A/TO (senior year) is gold-standard level.

In the WNBA, Indiana requires Caitlyn to be the point guard. She has comparable stats to her Iowa years — being the point guard, but with better usage (i.e. better teammates) but with the same abysmal turnovers and middling A/TO.

If you compare the distribution of Win Shares (Caitlyn | Paige ), it is clear that being the point guard with better teammates has a lot to do with the assist numbers.

Lastly, Paige’s WNBA assists (5.4) and A/TO (2.70) compare favorably to WNBA all-time lists (assists | A/TO) even while not being the point guard.

 

[cancontent]

Why wouldn't ESPN give Clark the most media attention..she's the face of the WNBA and elevated the W like it's never been before

ESPN will focus their coverage on the topics and players that get them attention, however they're not going to put all their eggs in one basket. This past season was an example, with Clark out for majority of the season. Not to mention, people get tired if the focus is on one player.

The same thing was happening to Bueckers in 2020. There was a fair bit of griping online about ESPN pushing the Bueckers' narrative that season. When Bueckers was injured in 2022, more attention went to Clark, deservedly so, because she was the new storyline that ESPN could promote. Had Bueckers been healthy that year, we'd likely would have had a lot of comparison discussions, similar to Bird and Magic when they were in college.

With respect to whether she's "the face" of the WNBA, I would argue she is "one of many faces" of the WNBA. Assuming that everyone watching are there for just Clark or that fans only started to pay attention when Clark graduated is short sighted. Growth in attendance and viewership started as Clark started her collegiate career. Yes she helped, significantly, but to say it's all because of Clark is incorrect and disingenuous if you have been paying attention to the league for some time.

 

[BobbyJ]

At UConn, Paige wasn’t the main/ only point guard.

If you follow UConn WBB at all, the read-react offense thrives with many ball handlers capable of making an assist.

And Geno also moved Paige as the off-ball scorer and pleaded with Paige to curb her assist-first urge and hunt for her shots and shoot when open.

Caitlyn’s assists at Iowa came with high usage (40.1%, senior year), high turnovers (15.5%, senior year) and middling A/TO (1.87). Paige’s college stats are here. Paige’s A/TO (senior year) is gold-standard level.

In the WNBA, Indiana requires Caitlyn to be the point guard. She has comparable stats to her Iowa years — being the point guard, but with better usage (i.e. better teammates) but with the same abysmal turnovers and middling A/TO.

If you compare the distribution of Win Shares (Caitlyn | Paige ), it is clear that being the point guard with better teammates has a lot to do with the assist numbers.

Lastly, Paige’s WNBA assists (5.4) and A/TO (2.70) compare favorably to WNBA all-time lists (assists | A/TO) even while not being the point guard.

Nice effort but you're probably just confusing him with all this. 😉

 

[BobbyJ]

ESPN will focus their coverage on the topics and players that get them attention, however they're not going to put all their eggs in one basket. This past season was an example, with Clark out for majority of the season. Not to mention, people get tired if the focus is on one player.

The same thing was happening to Bueckers in 2020. There was a fair bit of griping online about ESPN pushing the Bueckers' narrative that season. When Bueckers was injured in 2022, more attention went to Clark, deservedly so, because she was the new storyline that ESPN could promote. Had Bueckers been healthy that year, we'd likely would have had a lot of comparison discussions, similar to Bird and Magic when they were in college.

With respect to whether she's "the face" of the WNBA, I would argue she is "one of many faces" of the WNBA. Assuming that everyone watching are there for just Clark or that fans only started to pay attention when Clark graduated is short sighted. Growth in attendance and viewership started as Clark started her collegiate career. Yes she helped, significantly, but to say it's all because of Clark is incorrect and disingenuous if you have been paying attention to the league for some time.

Good points but you can't argue with these guys. They think Clark is like their niece or granddaughter or something.

 

[cancontent]

Good points but you can't argue with these guys. They think Clark is like their niece or granddaughter or something.

Fair, but the same can be said about any fan who has their favourite player. 😉

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I am a huge Citron fan but I can't think of any way to justify picking her over Paige.

Some media outlets worked awful hard to pull that off, then went dark in mid-August. Can't figure why. 🤣

 

[BobbyJ]

Fair, but the same can be said about any fan who has their favourite player. 😉

I would hope not, since they don't even know her. 🫤

 

[cancontent]

I would hope not, since they don't even know her. 🫤

True, but this is the culture nowadays with respect to popular athletes and celebrities. I chuckle at some of these "groups" when they think they're favourite has been slighted. Tribalism has been amped up so many levels in the last 5 - 10 years because it's so profitable.

 

[WiseWillie]

Why wouldn't ESPN give Clark the most media attention..she's the face of the WNBA and elevated the W like it's never been before

Browns it's time for you to stop the Clark comparison charade. No one is interested in comparing the two. They are both great players and if you want to broadcast Clark vs Paige do it somewhere else. This is Paige's page.