If ESPN is trying to be taken seriously with their latest WNBA rookie rankings, they’re certainly going about it the wrong way.
Nobody with a functioning set of eyes and ears could find a way to keep Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark off the top of any such list. Unless your last name is Swoopes.
Yet, somehow they did. And fans weren’t having it.
Angel Reese, the Chicago Sky forward, tops their list based on the strength of her numbers in metric categories that nobody understands. Reese, you see, has a higher player efficiency rating (PER) and wins generated via estimated RAPTOR, according to the network.
RAPTOR, as everybody knows, stands for “Robust Algorithm (using) Player Tracking (and) On/Off Ratings”.
Uh huh. What about regular stats?
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Angel Reese Tops ESPN’s WNBA Rookie Rankings
When you have to dig that far into the weeds to make a case for Reese as WNBA Rookie of the Year with your rankings, ESPN, you’re not doing a good job.
Fans were beside themselves over the list.
“Do your experts even watch these games? My god!” one person wrote.
Bold of them to assume anybody over at ESPN qualifies as an expert.
Added Iowa sports reporter David Eickholt, “Angel Reese ranked No. 1 is so laughable(y) insulting to the game of basketball.”
“I LOVE Analytics, but there comes a point where you just watch and understand the game.”
Bold of him to assume ESPN understands the game.
Others posted stat comparisons that show Clark, with the exception of rebounding, torching Reese in every statistical category known to man or woman.
ESPN “experts” are NOT serious people, enough said. pic.twitter.com/e2w1UWxMd2
— just1n (@just1nvest) August 30, 2024
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Clark And The Fever Moving Up, Reese And The Sky Moving Down
If you didn’t think Clark was the better WNBA Rookie before the Olympic break, as ESPN has shown with their rankings, then your mind clearly should have changed since the league came back.
Reese and the Sky are currently enveloped in a four-game losing streak, clinging to the eighth and final playoff spot by one game over the Atlanta Dream.
Clark and the Fever have won four of their last five contests (three of those wins were against teams at or above .500) and are creeping up on the sixth seed.
During the stretch of games after the break, Reese’s highest point total was 19 in a blowout loss to Phoenix. 19 also represents the lowest point total from Clark since the return.
Clark was named Player of the Week.
As for the rebounding, Reese’s position and height advantage naturally lead to more opportunities to grab boards. But also, fans are starting to think she’s intentionally missing layups in order to pad her stats.
The WNBA Rookie of the Year award is all but in Clark’s possession at this point, no matter what ESPN and their illegitimate rankings try to tell you.
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