While the long-distance shots and the nifty ball-handling skills often got plenty of airtime on SportsCenter, one underrated skill that Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark has is her passing ability. And according to her teammate, Lexie Hull, it’s definitely something that shouldn’t be overlooked.
In a conversation with Nekias Duncan and Steve Jones on “The Young Man and The Three,” the 6’1″ guard discussed Clark’s ability to thread the needle and get the ball to her open teammates for several easy buckets.
Always ready to catch a pass
What sets fantastic court generals apart from run-of-the-mill point guards is their ability to see plays unfold before they happen. All the great ones, such as Magic Johnson, John Stockton, and Jason Kidd, had this unique ability to anticipate what would happen next and make the perfect pass in advance.
Clark, the reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year, is no exception. Despite being known for her scoring prowess since her stint as an Iowa Hawkeye, she also has a keen eye for finding her teammates in the right position to score. In fact, her passing ability is something that Hull had to get used to.
“I definitely got passes and tried to finish when I wasn’t expecting to get the ball,” Hull shared.
Whereas before, the former Stanford star would cut or hustle in transition to try and get easy baskets but to no avail, this past season, she had her fill of those, which allowed her to score in double-figures seven times.
“So now it’s like, okay, every cut I have, every cut I make, every fast break I run, like, I have a real opportunity to get the ball—which definitely, like, took me a second,” Hull said. “And I think it really just took one of those to really get my head around, like, ‘Oh, she’s all the way down at the other end of the floor, and she could still make the pass to me down at the block at this end.'”
Building that chemistry
If there’s one blemish on Clark’s spectacular rookie season, it was her turnovers, as she averaged 5.6 a game. Hull explained that some of that could be attributed to Clark and the rest of the Fever getting used to each other on the court.
“Everyone sees the game a little differently, right? So, like, I might see the cut, and I might think she sees the cut, but also, the post could be seeing that lane and trying to post up. So it’s like trying to make sure that all five people on the court are reading the defense the same way so that we’re all in sync,” Lexie remarked.
It took some time, but the results were spectacular when Caitlin and her teammates earned one another’s trust. As a matter of fact, Clark had a sensational string of games wherein she had double-digit assists in eight of nine games.
Clark finished her rookie campaign averaging 19.2 points, a league-leading 8.4 assists, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per game.