Rebounding Records Are Cool And All, But Angel Reese Should Consider A Side Hustle Of Laying Bricks

Matt Fitzgerald·
CULTURESPORTS
·
Angel Reese WNBA
CBS

Really don’t mean to be harsh here, but the supposed competition between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese for WNBA Rookie of the Year really isn’t a thing. Nor should they be considered rivals, because that’d imply Reese is somewhere near Clark’s skill-level stratosphere. That simply is not the case.

Last I checked, the primary objective in basketball is to shoot the ball through the hoop. Despite taking many of her shots from much longer-range, Clark is a more efficient scorer than Reese. Case in point: When given an open look from long distance in the Chicago Sky’s game against the Las Vegas Aces on Sunday, Reese proceeded to do this:

We’re down to 2-for-11 from 3-point range on the season for Reese, who should probably develop a more reliable jump shot if she does want to be one of the main faces of the WNBA in the coming years.

The good news is, there’s so much room for Reese to improve. Maybe it’s because she portrays a more brash and cocky personality to the public, but in her defense, Reese had the same quick turnaround from the end of her college career, to the WNBA Draft, and then hitting the pro circuit. I’m not saying her dominance on the glass is a fluke, or isn’t valuable. The numbers are too great to ignore.

What I am saying is, Reese won’t exactly be beating all the “inflated offensive rebounds stats via her own missed layups” narrative by shooting the ball so poorly. She was 3-for-10 from the floor as of this writing today, or 3-for-9 from 2-point range (33.3%). The storylines around Reese are complicated as a result.

Inefficient close-range shooting is a somewhat disturbing, prevailing trend for Reese’s biggest fans, and let’s just say it doesn’t bode well for her outlook as a high-end superstar.

But hey, as long as she keeps crashing the glass with enthusiasm and scoring in double figures, there’ll be no shortage of graphics that hide/obscure her shooting percentage. The double-doubles and elite rebounding will continue to propel the narrative that Reese is a similar caliber player to Clark — even if it ain’t at all true.

Angel brings a lot of criticism onto herself, and well, the noise won’t quiet down any time soon unless she starts making her layups at a far higher clip.

To me, if you can score at a high rate, and become the preeminent assist artist/facilitator, you might be approximately 12 times more valuable to your team.

An old take but a good take here to end this thing…

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