This summer time, the Celtics don’t have a primary spherical choose within the 2023 NBA Draft, making Boston an unlikely vacation spot for Victor Wembanyama. Admittedly, I haven’t seen a lot of the French massive man to be jealous about. Nonetheless, I’ve seen sufficient of Caitlin Clark on this event to know that she’d be the proper Celtic.
Boston’s offense relies on all people on the ground, notably their perimeter gamers, having the ability to do the whole lot on offense: shoot, drive, and move. The various skillsets of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Sensible, Derrick White, and Malcolm Brogdon collectively make them more and more tough to defend. They’ve the second most effective offense within the league (117.3 factors per 100 possessions).
Simply ask the Milwaukee Bucks. The Celtics hung 140 factors on them at Fiserv Discussion board Thursday night time en path to a 42-point blowout. Clark isn’t unfamiliar with that form of offensive explosion. She’s averaged almost 32 factors a recreation within the Ladies’s NCAA Match, together with a cool 41 towards South Carolina, arguably the perfect protection within the school recreation.
Watching Iowa on Friday night time, I couldn’t assist however suppose simply how properly Clark’s recreation would slot in at Boston. The Hawkeyes common probably the most factors within the Huge Ten behind her 27.7 factors per recreation. She’s a lethal outdoors shooter (38.7% on 9.2 makes an attempt) and if she will get a shoulder round you, she’s a blur zipping to the rim.
My favourite factor about Clark is my favourite factor about Brogdon. They’re Black Friday customers at 12:01 am; if there’s even the slightest crack in entrance of them, they’re making a bee line for a sale on straightforward buckets. It’s uncanny actually. Brogdon is nearly tied with Tatum and Brown in drives per recreation regardless of taking part in ten much less minutes an evening. With all due respect, neither are actually distinctive athletes, however a bit of misdirection right here, a bit of bump there and so they’re proper on the rim.
And with all of the switching groups are doing to forestall taking pictures pockets from forming, bigs are getting switched on to smalls and making unwilling dance companions.
To like Clark and the Celtics is to embrace fashionable basketball. Which means wrapping each arms round three-point taking pictures, even when it doesn’t make a number of sense like on a quick break. Historically, you’re taught to fill the lanes and try to get a layup. Nonetheless, when you’ve obtained the flexibility to shoot particularly on an evening if you’re feeling it, it’s OK to bombs away on the secondary break.
Clark can also be improbable playmaker with how a lot consideration she attracts. She and teammate Monika Czinano roasted South Carolina a number of instances working easy pick-and-rolls. Boston doesn’t run a number of PnR, however with Robert Williams lurking the baseline and hanging out within the dunker spot, he makes for a superb goal if his defender decides to assist.
There are nonetheless some old skool dynamics that new college groups incorporate like moving into the paint to generate open appears on the perimeter. Nonetheless, the idea has been turned on its head. As a substitute of throwing it into the publish for the massive man to search out open shooters, drivers are kicking out to the entrance court docket teammates for 3.
I cheated. This kick forward outlet from Brogdon to Sam Hauser is from Friday night time’s recreation towards the Jazz. The Celtics aren’t precisely a working group (14 factors a recreation in transition, fifteenth within the NBA), however they’re the perfect defensive rebounding group — sure, you’re studying that proper — and so they’ll take straightforward factors on the run at any time when they will.
In opposition to SC, Iowa obtained clobbered on the offensive glass 26-to-5, however ran the larger group off the ground once they may with Clark quarterbacking off of defensive rebounds and discovering run outs with pinpoint passing.
Alas, Clark isn’t destined to be in Celtic inexperienced. However hopefully later in the present day, she’ll have her one shining second towards LSU within the championship recreation. And if Boston can replicate Clark’s dominance of the event up to now, the Celtics may very well be lifting a trophy of their very own in July.