🧐 Layup Lines: Reese, Clark, etc.

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Happy Monday and welcome back to Layup Lines, your quick recap of what’s going on in the WNBA.

• I was supposed to send one of these on Friday, but the main news of the day was discourse and I didn’t feel like wading in.

• Well, the entire weekend was discourse and I still don’t really want to write about it — but for you, dear reader, we trudge forward.

This 629 word newsletter should take a little over 2 minutes to read.

🔬 Clark’s defense under fire

• One of my main goals of this newsletter is to focus on just the basketball part of the WNBA. So there’s probably a lot more to say about Caitlin Clark fighting with coach Stephanie White on the sideline, and then her fans response to that fight, and then the reponse to the response…

  • The actual basketball issue here is that Clark is being hunted on defense so far this season. Teams are entering games with the strategy of going at her to score points. That’s a problem.

    • Take the Fever’s game against the Valkyries on Friday. Golden State attacked Clark all night long and scored 28 points with Clark as the primary defender, the most points surrendered by any primary defender in a game this season.

      • This supercut of her effort in that game, a loss for Indiana, is…not fun to watch.

• It’s easy to focus less on a player’s defense if they are carrying an offense (Young, Trae) but Clark is also struggling there. One of the greatest pure shooters I’ve ever seen is making 39% of her shots this year and has just two games with more than two made 3-pointers.

  • It’s the first day of June and this is a long season. Clark was hurt last year. It could all turn around soon — but defense is largely effort based, particularly on the wing. If teams are intentionally picking on Clark becuse it’s the easiest way for them score, she’s going to have to fix that, and soon.

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👑 Rebounds, Mebounds, Webounds

• Over the weekend, Angel Reese became the fastest player in WNBA history to grab 900 career rebounds.

  • The third-year player is already on her way to becoming one of the best rebounders in the history of the league.

• Yes, she’s still not a good shooter, but to me, this is a different conversation than Clark. Reese has always struggled from the floor, but she still averages a double-double and is improving on her strengths on a new team that just so happens to be one of the best in the league.

  • If you don’t think those things are valuable, you might not know anything about basketball.

• The rivalry continues Thursday, when Reese and the Dream head to Indiana to play Clark and the Fever for the first time this season.

📺 What’s on this week

• It’s a pretty full slate! We’ve got 13 games between now and the weekend, including four on Tuesday night. Best games of the week:

  • Portland @ Golden State (Tuesday, 10pm ET, League Pass)

  • Toronto @ New York (Wednesday, 7:30pm, USA Network)

  • Atlanta @ Indiana (Thursday, 7pm, Prime Video)

  • Golden State @ Minnesota (Thursday, 9pm, Prime Video)

    • *In terms of bets, I like the Lynx -3.5 tonight vs. the Mercury and the under of 164.5 in tomorrow night’s Valks-Fire game.

      • *I am 5-2 on bets I like this season.

🗞️ Article to go

• If you read one other thing today, make it this ESPN article on European W players. Really smart framing for the opening month of the season.

  • How higher WNBA salaries have brought more European players to the league

Layup Lines is written 100% by a human being. I very much appreciate you reading!

— Everett Cook, Founder & Editor