A Check-In On Rookie Hoopla Alums
Iowa's rookies stand out while I beg for more Celeste Taylor minutes
Today I wanted to look at how our former Big Ten legends are performing in the WNBA. Caitlin Clark is obviously the main headline from the group, but four Hoopla alums have seen their first WNBA action this season to varying degrees.
Also as a scheduling note, there will be no Hoopla next week for very important reasons (it’s my birthday). Starting July 1, we will start to look more closely at the 2024-25 season ahead, and I’ll have a schedule for the team previews decided.
Last Week’s Hoopla:
Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever
Round 1, Pick 1
WNBA Stats: 16.1 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 6.2 APG
We’re talking basketball here, not all the other noise surrounding it, and the on-the-court product for Clark had its best showing of the season yesterday against the Chicago Sky. Clark had 23 points, 8 rebounds, 9 assists and 2 blocks on 7-of-11 shooting in the win, a great all-around performance, and I expect more performances like this are coming.
The first 15 games of Clark’s WNBA career can be best described as up and down, which is to be expected for a rookie with massive potential trying to lead a team that has struggled for much of its recent history. Her shooting is down (38.3% overall, 32.8% from 3PT), but she’s also shot above 40 percent from deep in three of her last four games.
Clark’s biggest weaknesses for now are familiar ones: turnovers and defense. She leads the WNBA with 5.5 turnovers per game, and while some of that can be contributed to her significant minutes total, she also leads the W with 6.6 turnovers per 40 minutes. The risk/reward balance has always made Clark’s high turnover numbers feel more like a byproduct than a genuine issue, but 5.5 per game is *a lot,* as she was often much closer to an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2 than 1 in college.
The defensive issues were less notable at Iowa, but have shown themselves to the tune of a 109.2 defensive rating (seventh-worst in the WNBA) and -0.2 defensive win shares (fifth-worst) thus far.
There is a caveat here to the defense: the six players with a worse defensive rating than Clark are all Fever teammates, so this is a team issue larger than one player. And, above all else, Clark is putting up very impressive offensive numbers and has shown progress already in getting fully on the track so many anticipated for her. The connection with Aliyah Boston is blossoming, the Fever have won two straight and there is plenty more to be excited about with Clark’s game still, even with the early struggles.
Jacy Sheldon, Dallas Wings
Round 1, Pick 5
WNBA Stats: 2.3 PPG, 1.3 RPG, 1.7 APG
I will not pretend to ever understand what the Dallas Wings are doing. They are a roster stacked to the brim with potential, but to the point where it feels like they never give any of their multitude of fresh talent a real chance. Thank goodness Maddy Siegrist has been given the green light this year, but it appears Sheldon is going to have to find a way to carve out a role on the roster.
Much like Clark though, Sheldon has found the most success in recent games. After a large spell without any points and while playing under 10 minutes a game, Sheldon has played 16+ minutes in three straight contests, including 23 minutes against the Connecticut Sun on Saturday. In that game, Sheldon had 7 points, 2 rebounds and 4 assists.
The Wings are very much set at forward: Siegrist, Monique Billings and Teaira McCowan have taken large roles while Natasha Howard and Satou Sabally recover from injuries. But outside of star Arike Ogunbowale, Sheldon’s main competition for significant minutes is guard Sevgi Uzun, who has averaged 6.4 PPG and 4.1 APG in 29.8 minutes a night.
The 23 minutes against the Sun could be a sign that Sheldon is going to get a chance in that role, and even with the former Ohio State guard shooting poorly (31.3% overall, 18.2% from three), Sheldon brings playmaking, tenacious defense and a relentless motor that should be useful next to Ogunbowale.
I hoped for more standout moments from Sheldon to this point, but I do believe there’s reason for optimism heading into the rest of the rookie season, especially with the Wings struggling at 3-9 so far.
Celeste Taylor, Indiana Fever
Round 2, Pick 15
WNBA Stats: 0.8 PPG, 0.3 APG
It’s a real shame that we have only seen the No. 15 overall pick for 15 total minutes on a Fever team that has largely struggled out of the gates. That might now be changing off back-to-back wins, but Indiana has needed a spark — specifically a defensive spark — from their rotation, and yet Taylor has barely been called upon.
Clark and Kelsey Mitchell are the obvious no-doubt plays at guard for Indiana, but I have continued to grumble at the amount of Kristy Wallace and Erica Wheeler action that has been seen above Taylor, Lexie Hull or Grace Berger. Wheeler has been the least valuable player in the league. That’s not hyperbole: She is 111th out of 111 in win shares. Wallace is a bottom-four defender and a three-point specialist shooting 29 percent from deep. I understand vets probably get some leeway, but eventually it has to be time to see what the promising guards have that are sitting behind them.
The Berger agenda will never cease, as I believe she can be, at worst, an excellent stable guard off the bench that can hit a shot or make the right read to get someone else a good look. But outside of that, I do not understand why Hull and Taylor have been overlooked so frequently, as both are known specifically as great defensive guards on a team begging for some defense.
This has spiraled past a Taylor review, but that’s because the Fever haven’t given me enough Taylor to fully analyze. Indiana has won lately, and hey look at that, Hull got a season-high 21 minutes in the win over the Sky. Maybe it would also be worth putting in the player who won Defensive Player of the Year in two different conferences as well.
Kate Martin, Las Vegas Aces
Round 2, Pick 18
WNBA Stats: 4.5 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 1.5 APG
Finally, we end with Martin, who faced an immediate uphill battle when getting drafted in the second round to the two-time defending champions. Martin was one of four selections made by the Aces in this draft, so even making the roster felt like a big win in year one.
Well, Martin not only has stuck around, but she has played in 18.7 minutes per game for the Aces, including a damn start. She’s been a pivotal role player for a team that’s trying to survive a tough early stretch without Chelsea Gray, and while Gray’s nearing return should cut Martin’s role some, it seems that she has established herself as a important cog in the Becky Hammon machine.
Martin’s shooting just 34.0% overall, but is hitting 37.5% of her 2.9 three attempts per game. She’s avoided turnovers and holds a 2.0 assist-to-turnover ratio, and has been overall just very solid for the Aces as a rookie. I held the belief that Martin would be a great bench player for someone in the W as she understands how to be an extremely valuable secondary option in an offense, but even I didn’t expect this much immediate success for her, especially not on a team like Vegas.
What a great story for Martin, and it’ll be very interesting to see how she’s utilized once Gray does officially return.
Photo Credit: Las Vegas Aces (@LVAces), Twitter/X
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