General manager Lin Dunn was asked to compare Caitlin Clark to two Birds shortly after the Indiana Fever’s media day began. Sue was the player Dunn selected first overall in 2002, and Larry was the player who made the Boston Celtics an immediate contender in the NBA in 1979.
It remains to be seen if Clark’s career takes off like theirs did.
Dunn wants the 22-year-old star rookie for the Fever to concentrate on adjusting to the professional level, settling in with her new teammates, and concentrating on making the playoffs for the time being. We can discuss the rest later.
“After 20 years, I see a lot of similarities between Sue Bird and Caitlin Clark,” Dunn remarked on Wednesday. “Caitlin has promise, based on the excellent guards I’ve watched over the course of how many years—28 years—to date. She might have that kind of career if she maintains her health and rapidly adjusts to the toughness of this level.”
For a team attempting to snap a seven-year postseason drought, Clark’s arrival has already caused waves.
Thirty-six of the Fever’s forty regular-season games are slated for national television, ticket sales are soaring in Indiana and throughout the league, and the excitement in the community is unlike anything witnessed since Tamika Catchings’ retirement after the 2016 season.
Security is another significant modification.
Indiana has placed a premium on safety, with the first major test being at Friday’s preseason opener in Dallas. Clark’s fame, her collision with a fan during a court-storming at Ohio State last season, and the airport run-in involving Brittney Griner this spring have all contributed to this.
Everyone would probably agree that it would be preferable to constantly fly charter, and it would undoubtedly be helpful, Clark added. However, I believe that the Fever organization has done a fantastic job of staying ahead of the game. We will be traveling with a lot of security, and there will be procedures in place for how we will get through airports. It’s for every player in the WNBA, not just us. It must be navigated by all.
Clark has also made changes on the court.
Clark’s trademark logo 3-pointers will help Indiana spread the floor, as coach Christie Sides has already noticed, and her teammates have been raving about her clever, quick passes.
The combination has some outside the organization projecting a championship run. Inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse, though, the expectations are more grounded. “Like Lin said, the idea of winning a championship right away — let’s be realistic,” Sides said. “When you talk to players, they’re always thinking we can win today, we can win every day. Our main goal is we want to make the playoffs. That’s our main goal, but we have a plan in place and steps we want to make sure we don’t skip so we can obtain more sustainable success.” She’s hoping to follow in the footprints of the two Birds, who both led their teams on title runs.
Larry Bird won championships and three MVP awards with the Celtics before returning to the league as coach and later president of basketball operations with his home-state Indiana Pacers. Sue Bird won five Olympic gold medals and four titles playing with the Seattle Storm and is now part of the team’s ownership group.
With Clark being paired with 6-foot-5 forward Aliyah Boston, last’s season’s unanimous league rookie of the year, it’s hard not to think big.
“We can expand who we are in so many ways on and off the floor but especially on the floor,” longtime guard Kelsey Mitchell said. “We can do so many different things in so many different ways, scoring and defending the ball and just being aggressive because we are young. But, more importantly, we’re developing a great chemistry together.”
Dunn agrees that there are a lot of encouraging signals for Clark and Indiana going forward, but she’s also doing her best to gently minimize any immediate expectations in the hopes that Clark’s career would take off as the Birds’ did.
“Hopefully, she will have the same influence on this franchise as Larry did on his,” Dunn remarked. The best thing about her, in my opinion, is that when she’s on the court, she improves everyone. She’s really selfless, has a great passer’s ability, and has that effect on people. Does she have the capacity to significantly influence our program? In my opinion, yes.
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