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Grading Every Aspect of Indiana Fever Star Caitlin Clark's Rookie Season

Nekias Duncan

Following an 87-81 loss to the Connecticut Sun on Wednesday night, the Indiana Fever's season has ended. More specifically, the rookie campaign of guard Caitlin Clark has concluded, and what a season it was.

Clark set the league—and its record books—on fire this year. She ranked seventh in the league in scoring (19.2 points per game) while leading the W in assists (8.4 apg); her 337 total assists marked a new league record.

The laundry list of Clark accomplishments is long; so much so, that it took a five-tweet thread from the Fever's Twitter account to detail them. Considering that the WNBA has only announced two awards to this point—MVP (where Clark finished fourth) and Most Improved—you can expect her to add Rookie of the Year, All-WNBA First Team and All-Rookie selections to the tally soon.

With a full season under her belt, let's take a look at where Clark stands as a player and project her forward. We'll be looking at both ends of the ball, digging into broad and micro-skills.

Naturally, Clark ranking poorly in an area isn't meant as a death knell; she can and likely will improve. Conversely, some things that she got away with in Year 1 might be more difficult to replicate as teams get even more detailed with their scouting reports heading into Year 2.

Let's have some fun.

Overall Scoring: B+

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The Basics: 19.2 points (7th), 53.3% on 5.6 two-point attempts, 34.4% on 8.9 three-point attempts, 90.6% on 4.5 free-throw attempts

Advanced Numbers: 52.2 Effective Field Goal Percentage, 58.3 True Shooting Percentage

WNBA League Average Efficiency: 48.8% on 2s, 33.8% on 3s, 49.5 Effective Field Goal Percentage, 53.6 True Shooting Percentage

If we were grade this with a rookie scale, you could make the argument for an A-plus here. Scoring at an efficient clip as a rookie guard typically doesn't happen. That Clark was able to do so with this kind of volume, in light of the coverages that she saw, should frankly scare the rest of the league.

Many were introduced to Clark due to her Steph-like three-point heroics at Iowa. While she didn't hit that level of efficiency in Year 1, her three-point percentage probably undersells how deadly of a shooter she was.

Per Second Spectrum, no player in the league took more threes off the dribble than Clark. This may shock you (sarcasm font), but among 39 players to attempt at least 100 three-pointers, none took deeper threes on average than Clark did. To still finish above league average from deep -- and to shoot 37.0 percent on nearly ten attempts per game after the Olympic break -- is, again, terrifying.

What keeps Clark from being an A-level scorer, for now at least, is her comfort inside the arc. She's already a quality driver, a skill that translated more smoothly than I anticipated. While lacking elite burst, Clark's decisiveness, improving play strength, and penchant for "rejecting" ball screens -- only Arike Ogunbowale logged more PnR rejects in the Second Spectrum database -- allowed her to generate paint touches.

She converted 63 percent of her shots in the restricted area, a mark that placed her in the realm of star bigs like Napheesa Collier (64.1%) and Clark's teammate, Aliyah Boston (62.7). The "problem" is that Clark only averaged 3.2 attempts. More pressing, Clark is still looking to establish a consistent go-to shot in the middle of the floor.

Clark grew more comfortable with floaters as the season went on, but it isn't a consistent weapon in her arsenal. Much was made about Christie Sides wanting her team to practice long-twos earlier in the season, but it's worth noting that Clark didn't counter drop coverage with pull-ups inside the arc as much as she could have.

Developing something in the intermediate area -- a floater, a pull-up, or both -- will turn Clark into a true three-level scorer. At that point, I'm not sure what teams would be able to do with her.

Playmaking: A-

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The Basics: 8.4 assists (1st), 5.6 turnovers (most in the WNBA)

Advanced Numbers: 39.1 assist rate, 25.3 turnover rate

We don't have to spend much time here: In one season, Clark has already established herself as a top-two passer in the league.

The Point Gawd, Las Vegas Aces guard Chelsea Gray, still deserves the "best passer" title for now; it's hard to argue against her body of work, and Gray is still dropping what-the-heck dimes on a nightly basis. Still, Clark isn't that far off in terms of pure ability.

There isn't a pass in the book she can't make; the fun part about Clark is that there isn't a pass she isn't willing to try. Full-court hit-aheads, lasers in traffic, behind-the-back dots—you name it, she tried it.

If there's a nitpick for Clark's playmaking, it's that her decision-making needs to be refined. It's a luxury to see and create the type of passing windows that Clark does; the next step is deciding when to try some of the passes she does.

The turnover numbers were record-breakingly loud this year. There were a fair share of dropped and bobbled passes, a natural consequence of chemistry-building. On the flip side, there was also a fair share of passes that, while impressive, weren't fully optimal to her teammates. I expect both of those areas to improve in Year 2; heck, we saw her turnover rate dip in the second half of the season.

On-Ball Defense: C-

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The Basics: 1.3 steals, 0.7 blocks, 2.8 personal fouls

Advanced Numbers: 1.9 steal rate, 1.7 block rate

It's fair to acknowledge that Clark isn't a positive defender yet. Most rookies aren't, and, again, the transition to the W for guards is really tough.

With that said, Clark (and the Fever overall) made real strides as the season went on. As she became more acclimated with the league's speed and physicality, her prep work and containment on drives improved.

Per Second Spectrum, the Fever allowed 0.92 points per possession on trips featuring a drive defended by Clark; that ranked 26th of 56 players to defend at least 100 drives in their database. Among that same group of players, Clark ranked 10th in opponent blow-by rate—a metric that tracks how often a player gets beaten cleanly off the dribble.

There is obvious context to add to those figures, like matchup difficulty (who she's guarding) and team scheme; for example, the Fever often went with "ICE" coverage on pick-and-rolls, meaning Clark would be tasked with shading the ball-handler toward the sideline while her defensive partner would provide relief behind her.

Clark's foot speed and screen navigation has room to grow, but I don't think we're terribly far off from her being serviceable on the ball.

Off-Ball Defense: D

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The Basics: 5.3 defensive rebounds, 1.3 steals, 0.7 blocks, 2.8 fouls

Advanced Numbers: 17.3 defensive rebound rate, 1.9 steal rate, 1.7 block rate

The off-ball portion is where Clark really has to grow, in my opinion.

Clark often struggled with navigating off-ball screens and re-attaching to her assignment. Some of those lapses led to her being forced into some switch-and-scram situations that she shouldn't have been in.

When faced with weak-side responsibilities against pick-and-rolls, Clark oscillated between committing too early to the roller and not reacting on time. The former often shed a light on her closeouts—a skill she has to take a step forward in.

There are still positives to Clark in this regard. On a basic level, she's already one of the best guard rebounders in the league and adds value as a possession-ender. We all know how deadly the Fever's transition offense is by now, especially when Clark gets to spearhead the attack with a board.

She put together some fun steals and blocks on film this season. Clark quietly has a plus-wingspan, which allowed her to sneak in for some dig-down steals, deflections and recovery blocks against unsuspecting players.

A lot of this is rookie stuff, so I'm not super concerned long term. I also wonder how much of her lapses were fatigue-based, in light of the offensive burden she had. It's natural for star creators to take their foot off the gas when they aren't directly involved in the action. But understandable doesn't equal acceptable; there's still work to be done. The goal for Clark heading into Year 2 should be to nail the little things on a possession-by-possession basis.

Overall Grade: A

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Now technically, this isn't how grading is supposed to work. The defense should bring the average all the way down. To that I say...do your own grades, man, I don't know!

In all seriousness, Clark just put together one of the best rookie seasons in WNBA history. In terms of scoring and assists, she generated more points per game than any other player. Following a 2-9 start to the season, the Fever went 18-11 while having the league's best offense and ultimately made their first playoff appearance in nearly a decade.

Yeah, I'd say Clark put together an "A" season. And it's equal parts cool and terrifying that this might be the worst version of Clark we'll see in the league.

Overall Grade: A

   

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