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Angel Reese Is Not Helped By WNBA Rookie Comparisons to Caitlin Clark

Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese will only deal with enhanced scrutiny of her flaws the longer she is compared to Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark.

Robin Lundberg

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Angel Reese is the kind of player who can help any team. She rebounds. A lot. She hustles. She plays defense. She does the dirty work. Reese's skills should positively translate across most basketball situations.

However, one thing she is not is a standalone star. Which is why comparing her to fellow rookie Caitlin Clark is getting more and more ridiculous, and isn't good for Angel.

Reese is simply not the type of player the opposing team has to focus on in the scouting report, given she cannot create shots for herself or others. This was apparent in the Chicago Sky's loss to the Phoenix Mercury, as the team desperately missed Chennedy Carter. Without Carter, no one else on the Sky was a threat to make anything happen offensively. Particularly after Marina Mabrey was traded to the Connecticut Sun before the WNBA Olympics break.

That's not to say Reese can't expand her game as time goes on, however, the high profile comparisons to the Indiana Fever star are only going to lead to Angel's flaws being amplified as the season moves along. Specifically the difficulty she has finishing around the rim.

Reese was just 4-14 in the loss to the Mercury and is shooting under 30% in her last four games. Her field goal percentage sits at about 40% overall for the season. Which is especially glaring since the bulk of her shots come right around the basket. Angel is shooting 45.7% from less than five feet and 11.5% from 5-9 feet according to WNBA.com. That while taking over 85% of her attempts from those areas.

Early in the year her historic double-double streak was used as the main argument against Clark in the oft-discussed Rookie of the Year debate, but now even posts celebrating her reaching that threshold are being met with slander. While one YouTuber put together an 8-minute compilation video of Reese missing layups that went viral online.

Advanced stats show that Angel indeed provides plus value on the floor. And the benefit of what she brings could be seen during the WNBA All-Star Game when Reese was able to play off of other standout players.

However, throughout basketball history, hoopers of her mold have generally never been compared to individual offensive engines like Clark, whose shooting and playmaking make her the number one focus of any defense. Hence the Fever's social media team now getting frisky in dubbing the Rookie of the Year race no contest as they continue to tout records broken by Caitlin.

Focusing so much on comparing Reese to Clark will only up the scrutiny for Angel, when she should be able to grow her game and shine for the tenacity she already brings.

Because it is very clear we are dealing with two different levels of player when discussing the two WNBA rookies, despite what any NBA2K ratings might say.


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Robin Lundberg
ROBIN LUNDBERG

Robin Lundberg is a media veteran and hoops head who has spent the bulk of his career with iconic brands like Sports Illustrated and ESPN. His insights have also been featured on platforms such as Fox and CNN and he can currently be heard hosting shows for Sirius XM and on his burgeoning YouTube show. And now he brings his basketball expertise to Women's Fastbreak on SI!

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