If you have a problem with Caitlin Clark, the problem is you

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) passes the ball from under the basket while being defended by Seattle Storm guard Jordan Horston (23) and center Mercedes Russell (21) on May 30 in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)

Let’s talk about Caitlin Clark.

For the Indiana Fever, who are 5-10 thus far in the WNBA’s 40-game regular season, she is averaging 16.1 points, 6.2 assists and 5.1 rebounds.

Those figures may not seem amazing, and still they put her 13th in the league in scoring, fourth in assists and, believe it or not, 21st in defensive rebounding (5.1), which is dang good for a guard who’s there to be a playmaker.

She has been pilloried for not turning her team into a winner, and perhaps that’s justified if, say, Larry Bird’s the standard, because the Celtics jumped from 29 wins to 61 upon his arrival, but not if reigning NBA rookie of the year Victor Wembanyama is the standard, whose Spurs won 22 games this past season, the same number they won the season before.

Of course, any judgment like that is probably jumping the gun. 

Though the Fever are 5-10, they also dropped eight of nine out of the gate, making them 4-2 over their last six, in which Clark has averaged 14 points, 5.7 assists and 5 rebounds.

Oh, no! Those numbers don’t work for the column I thought I was writing. They’re heading the wrong direction.

But then if you take away the night Clark scored just three points against the New York Liberty and a mere seven against the Atlanta Dream, she's averaged 18.5 points, 5.8 assists and 6 rebounds in the other four, which is better.

Of course, none of that reflects when she’s really been on her game, going for 30 points and six assists against the Los Angeles Sparks on May 28; or 20 and nine assists against the Seattle Storm on May 30; or 30, six assists, four steals and eight rebounds against the Washington Mystics on June 7; or 23, nine assists and eight rebounds her last time out, leading the Fever past the Chicago Sky 91-83 three days ago.

The point of which is, Caitlin Clark, for everything she’s done and everything she, the Fever and the WNBA at large has not … is whoever you want her to be and whoever you decide that is, well, it likely says more about you than Caitlin Clark.

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