Is Caitlin Clark really hurt, or playing pretend to appease Coach White?
Does anyone else think coach White may be asking Caitlin Clark to play pretend on injuries to “be a team player” and “allow” the Indiana team to grow without her? I have been suspecting this since last season with the groin injury. It was too opportune and went along the lines of “let’s work to kill some of the hatred against you and get you accepted by the league (hater players)”.
If this could possibly be true, which I absolutely think White capable of asking Caitlin for, maybe even in a behind-closed-doors threatening and manipulative style, saying things like: “you either play along or I will make you look like a difficult player to work with, you got your last coach fired and now you won’t work with me”, etc, then I wonder why in the heck would Caitlin ever play along with it. It’s hurting the WNBA and will have lasting effects that they do not see yet, all to appease og players who did not like a rookie white player being better than them and racking up stats like it was piñata candy being thrown around.
Playing along also hurts Caitlin immensly, her career stats — no way to take that 2nd year back. It also is giving false messages that she is just one more of the players in the team, when she is really the franchise. White could want to play hardball and a young (still only 24), still a bit immature perhaps, and with lacking ability to be assertive over her coach, could give in at this time, but this is not sustainable as CC may become discontent and resentful about having to “lie” to play along with White’s coaching “strategies”.
CC should be the star she is destined to be. Rack up points, assists, rebounds, double-doubles, triple-doubles, wins, minutes, etc, etc, etc. All these opportune injuries to allow the team to play without her are a bit sad, if White truly has a hand on it. And if people above White could also be involved, then that’s just even more shameful.
Just some inquiring thoughts on so many missed games.
Now, it’s either the above or CC is another Bynum and injury-prone. Pick one.