Caitlin Clark left off USA Women’s Basketball Olympic roster: was this disrespectful? | WNBA | SPEAK

Caitlin Clark left off USA Women’s Basketball Olympic roster: was this disrespectful? | WNBA | SPEAK

now she has been left off of the Olympic team 12 players have made it and she did not she said there was no disappointment adding quote I think it’s just a little more motivation there have been a lot a lot a lot of polarizing opinions on this topic this will be the most debated conversation we will have all day so buckle up and get ready Joy asking you first was it disrespectful to leave Caitlyn Clark off the Olympic roster no I don’t think it was disrespectful to leave Caitlyn Clark off the Olympic roster she is not one of the 12 best professional basketball players in the United States of America right now the goal of the US Women’s Basketball team is to win a gold medal is to win that is their goal that is the goal of the people that put this team together that is the goal of the team heading to Paris and that should be their only goal ratings is somebody else’s problem and that is not the priority nor should it be even considered when you’re talking about putting together a roster that is going to competes at the highest level at the biggest stage in the world which is the Olympics remember how salty we got when the men weren’t winning the gold that was a problem we’re not we’re not getting involved in this this is the best team in the world it is a very hard team to make they take a lot of considerations for who makes this team not just who the best players are but how they’re going to play together because they aren’t just assembling an All-Star group they’re putting together a team of players that have to play together Caitlyn is going to have an incredible career she will have an opportunity to go to the Olympics she will have an opportunity to develop as a player I think she is going to be one of the greatest players that the game has ever seen I’ve enjoyed watching her start in the WNBA but all of those factors the the ratings the popularity people paying attention to it growing the game that’s not the responsibility of the US Women’s National team that is not their goal and responsibility so I don’t think it’s disrespectful to her I think it was I’m sure greatly debated and evaluated with a lot of care because they knew there was going to be a lot of discussion about this but when it comes to the actual competition you cannot simultaneously say that you care as much about ratings as you do about winning unless those things completely align and in this case they don’t so you have to prioritize what your goal is which is winning I um I totally disagree totally disagree I think it’s one of the dumbest moves that the WNBA has ever done right now you talked about the 12 best players she is not one of those I will say that kitlin Clark is not one of those for sure right now but when you look at this the Olympic team the 12 best women go over and play the Olympics right there if I’m not mistaken they are they won seven in a row yeah seven gold medals in a row seven gold medals in a row so winning ain’t really that y a about the winning part y gonna do that but when you talk about growing this game right Angel re said that it’s it’s two of them that’s GRE grew a game but I I would say really Caitlyn has really grewed a game so if you look at the NBA you look at the NFL one thing they want to do is they Market they want to make more money how do you do that right you make the game a little safer so players are always playing right and another thing is you you you go out to different countries to get this going right same thing with the Dream Team back in the day right it was Michael Jordan he was the big name and all that and he started developing the whole game a certain way across the country so you look at Caitlin it’s like yo this is the biggest player we have in basketball ever we’re not saying the best but the biggest yeah so now when people are tuning in and watch these games it’s not just me talking it’s all the numbers from from going from 4,000 people going to 177,000 average the attendant talking about the the viewerships they averaging like two million viewers every time they play so now you take the biggest draw of WNBA basketball players you take her away to replace her with who for who why so now people that was watching before are they gonna watch again people in other countries they know who she is are they gonna watch her now when they go to the Gams they want autographs they want to see the women play who they going to see that’s a serious thing so now when I look at the the commission I look at the the the the group that put us together it’s like yo yall dropping the ball this is stupid you’re going to lose money the max you can make in a in women’s contract is what 20 250 a year is that what it is 250 on the court yep come on man listen if you want to grow the game out and make the game bigger not just for Caitlyn but for the whole league for years to come you put this girl on the roster right you you Market it a certain way you take her to other countries and let them see her right and now the money drives up and everybody can make more money this is dumb for them I don’t think it’s disrespectful at all um Shady touched on it Joy touched on it right now at this stage of her career she’s not one of the 12 best players in the world she’s not I appreciate it because finally sports did what sports was supposed to do forget how much you’re going to grow forget the name go with the best basketball players in the world and I think that’s what they did here Caitlyn Clark is going to be a great basketball player has Caitlyn Clark grew this game absolutely but she’s not the 12th best so you’re sitting here telling me just because she is Caitlyn Clark and she might bring some attention I’mma leave a player off that she’s not better than I don’t think that’s fair and I don’t think that’s disrespectful to Caitlyn Clark she’s going to be on a bunch of Olympic teams she is still going to grow this game right now where we are at today it sucks that these girls are better than her right now and that is what it is and it’s okay she will get better but they went over better players putting together a roster that they felt was the 12 best players in the world over trying to get notorized and grow the game and all that because I hear people say grow the Game grow the Game grow the game and that is good the game is going to grow it is growing a large part because of Caitlyn Clark but these girls right now in their career deserve to be here and are better basketball players than Caitlyn Clark so I don’t think she should feel disrespected and she said all the right things even though I know it’s probably eating her up but she said the right things but she should not feel disrespected these girls that they picked are really good basketball players to go represent the USA I’m torn I don’t think there’s a wrong answer I think everything y you all y’all have said has been brilliant I think Shady you’re right I don’t think it was wise as it pertains to viewership James and joy I believe that yall are right she’s not one of the 12 best players but I love Olympic sports because track and field is my favorite sport to cover albe it I love covering football basketball track’s really my favorite sport it’s an Olympic sport the 12 best don’t always go and I don’t believe the 12 best are going right now I don’t believe Diana terasi is one of the 12 best I believe she’s a legacy pick I believe she’s one of the greatest basketball players of all time but when you talk about agumba W who plays for Dallas she’s dropped 20 straight and nine straight games W record I mean she cold cold like one of the coldest she’s not on the roster I don’t believe the 12 best always go sometimes there are Legacy picks sometimes there are just hey we respect what you’ve done we respect your role in in this sport whatever the sport may be we’ve also seen it in track and field I’ll get to that later if need be so I don’t know that it’s the 12 best that are going the reason I don’t have an issue with it I don’t think it’s disrespectful I think it’s best for Caitlyn I truly think it’s best for Caitlyn like for so long we have been getting as much juice out of the squeeze as Caitlyn as possible make her play 11 games in 20 days y’all wonder why the best game she’s played all season was when she finally got some rest most recently she just dropped 30 points on seven of 12 from three why CU she finally got rest she went to the podium after the game and said well for the first time all season we’ve been able to practice plays at full speed all we’ve been able to do is walk through place because we ain’t had no time off unique to women’s sports particularly women’s track and field and women’s basketball when you leave College you don’t have a break before the Olympics so if you’re sending Caitlyn after the basketball season in College to the draft then after the draft you go from Iowa to Indiana then you play 11 games in 20 days you’ve played 12 games while some teams have only played nine then in the midst of that you leave America now you got to go to Paris she ain’t got no time to recover and not only that you’re going to drive a wedge between her and the rest of her sorority sisters in the WNBA if you give her a spot that she hasn’t necessarily deserved y’all we’ve all been on sport she’s helping but she’s helping them out she is let me let me do you think that the women’s game um it helped him not on this list then then if she is on his list this is an easy question in regards to what yeah yeah in regards to what the game the game she’s not going play much if she if she did make it’s not about that talking about growing the game of it no growing the game no so the WNBA and the US Women’s National Team are not two separ entities the WNBA is the league the US national team is the US national team they are not the same thing okay so it’s women playing basketball from the WNBA correct so so yall don’t think it’s going to help the if suit of entities I get that you don’t think it’s going to still help the the I’m not arguing that it wouldn’t help grow the sport what I’m trying to figure out is why is it the US Women’s National Team and the US Women’s commission that puts together this team why is it their responsibility to worry about ratings their responsibility is to the Integrity of the US Olympic team that they’re putting together to go across to Paris and represent the United States of America and win a gold medal their their concern should not be about ratings some things have to remain about the sport they did this before with Christian lner this has happened before this is not even new and he played on that team you play that team cuz they were be 40 and Shaq didn’t make it and had Shaq made they would have an entire team dream team of everyone being Hall of Famers and Christian ler wasn’t a bump but he was the best player in college basketball right played for Duke he was all white hope right so it was it was a it was a marketing thing youer my thing is like there there’s nothing wrong with that though right there’s nothing wrong with that there’s nothing wrong with it but there’s also nothing wrong with them saying cool but we’re going to focus on the winning women’s sports is not a novelty like this is about competition like at some point it has to be about the sport I’m for the business I’m I’m for it think all I think all the conversation is even if it is hostile and polarizing and even if some of it is completely off the rails I think it all is good for the sport because we are talking about it here on these shows which I think is a overall positive thing of course the problem is I can’t get with it getting so far that it’s compromising the competition leer was criticized like that it’s not like that move when everyone was like cool like there was conversation about who whether he should have been there played not a lot because there were so much so much better so many on that his first year in the league so it’s there’s parallels there for sure but what is what is the growth if she’s not playing as well I’ll say this it’s times where she had a long Peri time she wasn’t really playing great right that didn’t stop the viewership people still watched it all I’m saying is this why the viewership the responsibility of the Olympics let let me tell you why because I get what you’re get into but at the end of the day it’s all to grow this sport out it’s all to make more money for for the league make more money for the players playing there the league and the and the Olympics are two separate things you keep saying that but they are them girls playing it’s part of watching them play they they could work in tandem obviously they’re different obviously they’re different but I guess to in Shady’s in Shady to Shady’s point if you heighten the eyeballs around the US Women’s Olympic team that two will translate and it will pour into the bucket of of the W last point before I’m done J so let’s just say okay so she’s not playing on that right now we don’t know what the viewership is going to be like right I I guarantee it’s not going to be what it would be if she was playing all saying is it’s easy for us to talk like talk like this about it because in NFL the money’s going up right but there was a there was a point in time where it wasn’t like that basketball NBA basketball it was a point in time where the money wasn’t like that now it is so you can talk that way all I’m saying is for so long women they’ve been complaining about hey we need more viewership we need more money to our game show us more attention make more awareness you remember this ask some players to come out to the games that was the point they really lived at what I’m saying is now it’s changed you got everybody watching right and this young girl from for the fever Caitlyn has a big part of that all I’m saying is yes she probably should have made it te cuz she’s not bearing them 12 players right now she’s not but for to make the game evolve and be better and get more viewership so we all can make more money and make this sport bigger put this girl on the team here’s my question for everybody because we all know and we’ve watched Olympic teams long enough to know they sometimes they just choose a player for the sake of choosing him right Larry Bird he shouldn’t have been on the Dream Team Larry birdie retired that year is back he couldn’t even like walk I mean the dude’s back was was completely maligned Magic Johnson obvious he had his off the off the court stuff he didn’t play that 92 season selected to the All-Star team off Magic Johnson’s name plays on the Olympic team uh Diana terasi again I don’t believe she’s one of the 12 best players though she still do be getting buckets she’s 42 years of age she has five gold medals already all of the things so I I don’t know that we always do choose the best player we’ve seen that we don’t always so I guess Joy with that in mind because I’m with you for the most part I like meritocracy in sports on the field if you are the best player you play I Love It I live for it that’s is the truest origin of sport but we’ve seen Joy when it comes to the Olympics sometimes you keep a legacy name because of a name you bring in a big star because of the stardom the Dream Team you got to have Larry Bird there you have to have Larry Bird there I don’t care if he plays or not he got to be there so I do understand there is a vacancy if like you could have put Caitlyn on it they’ve won 55 games straight they’re not going to lose they’ve won seven straight gold medals they’re not going to lose so Caitlyn maybe you just put her on the team Joy because you’re going to win anyway more eyeballs this bucket of the Olympics it pours into the bucket of the W albe it Jo is exactly right there two separate buckets two different coaching staffs two completely different entities that pours into the W bucket it’s it’s a win it’s just a win but I would also say when you’re talking about putting these teams together they’re putting together a team it isn’t just the best players we’re talking about arque like she should be on the team if we’re doing the best players right now they’re putting together a team of players when you look at a roster isn’t there usually a Savvy veteran on that roster of any NBA team of any WNBA team maybe they’re not the not what they were in their Prime but they have other value for from just production like they’re putting together a team as well I’ll be honest with you I was surprised that she wasn’t on the team I thought for sure they were going to put her on the team for all the reasons that you’re saying but I also can can respect the reasoning behind why they didn’t put her on the team and look at it from a basketball perspective for winning like all of this is cool and I’ve honestly never had more conversation about ratings with people who aren’t in television in my life I’m like when when did y’all get like the executives must be so excited so worried about ratings now like you don’t know how you even get ratings like respectfully you don’t know how ratings work I don’t want to B burst everyone’s bubble but like it’s much more complicated than you think they pay people lots of money to evaluate ratings you don’t know how to do it but the overall point is I get what you’re saying they should grow the sport more business more eyeball money more conversations I’m I’m here for I’m here all I am not concerned about Olympic ratings at all and neither should anyone who cares about basketball they should be concerned about us winning a gold medal and like the putting women in this category that they’re like it’s like this circus act that this is only supposed to be about ratings like it it has to be about the competition as well and that’s why everyone is getting so hostile because it’s like we’re having these conversations and and if you’re saying okay service level this is just about ratings it’s just about growing the game it’s just about business then you can’t simultaneously have the conversation about it being the best players and this is this is US Women’s Olympic team but every sport has went through this though when you’re trying to grow the game out there’s things that you have to do to sacrifice to get it there well here’s my here’s my question because shady I love this conversation I hope yall are as engaged and captivated as I am um I I Joy’s right I don’t want to make it a circus but we’ve all been around and I’ve been around long enough to have gotten the text from the executives in the WNBA hey AO can you come out to a game this was before the W was popping like out to a game show love no back in 2022 and 2 no I went obviously one of my best friends Chan gum for the Sparks former number number one overall pick I went obviously so it was going before it was popping now they I don’t get those same texts they don’t need AO to show up anymore everybody else is showing up but four years ago Kyrie Irving donated $1.5 million to help cover WNBA salaries during Co like we’re not so far away from the lack of w financial support because of a lack of viewership and because of a lack of ticket revenue and all these things so Joy I feel you and I do think Joy’s exactly right let me let me put the period to it because I’m all done I think you’re exactly right but joy when when I remember those texts when I remember Kyrie Irving donating 1.5 million to cover W salaries I’m like the alleviation of that is more viewership more money for these women but at the end of the day though I understand where y’all coming from from viewership and it happens all the time right it happens when you voting all for voting for the all star voting for the Pro Bowl we talk snubs we talk all this all the time and a lot of times it goes off a name it’s a lot of players that I knew that had way better Seasons than some of these big time players and these Big Time Players because of the name and you like way more touchs and this dud so that type stuff happen so that’s why I respect it cuz it’s like yes kitlin Clark will bring more viewership the WNBA is doing fine now may not have been doing fine when Kyrie Irving had to donate all that money but it’s doing fine now they went over all these ratings and all that to these best players are the best players in the world and they earned it and deserve it more on the basketball court than Caitlyn Clark That’s Where It’s At that’s all it is right now in her career she’s not better than ratings wise will she do that yes but they didn’t go for Ratings they went and put together a roster of the best girls in the WNBA and I could respect that and that’s I respect what you’re saying because I’ve been there where I got snub from I’m buring this dude had a name in front of me and all that but the N NFL already was established there though dudes making type of money they making the basketball for the women is not the same so my thing is this James cuz you all right I I would love for the best player to to play yjy I AG I agree with y’all but what I’m saying is the big it’s a bigger picture they are not there yet right I can’t remember when people just arguing back and forth about women’s basketball they are now so now that you have that monetize that get that thing bigger because if you don’t right this that’s the truth of a matter if Kayla’s not be playing I’m not gonna say this but I don’t think most people be watching that for what for who girls it’s been better players than Caitlyn playing years ago so right ain’t nothing changed so you just saying get it bigger beyond the how good these players are snub somebody else toow yes s you you know why because the game listen Real Talk the the game is so big right now it’s never been there all these years so my thing is if you already have it don’t lose that now you have the chance to go out there and get people from different countries why the hell you think that the NFL was going to Germany and and London to play football because want a vacation no to make the game bigger make more money but where I will push back is what James said when you get snubbed from a bigger name with lesser numbers it’s a snub mhm this she’s does she’s not better agreed so so that’s the inverse here like if you if you had a better season than somebody and they had they had less numbers on you but a bigger name that is truly a snub that’s because of their name right she’s not better and where where the the other bad parallel with the Christian leer thing is the we know the dream team was incredibly influential like the dream team was one of those teams that changed the course of basketball for the world it introduced the best players in the world internationally people fell in love with basketball that’s it’s a big reason why we have a lot of international players in the NBA now like it was all a Genesis of that it truly grew the game of basketball internationally but Christian lner did not grow the he was on that team but he won the reason why it grew the Stars the biggest stars in the NBA the best players in the NBA were playing on that dream team are the reason why it grew so Kaitlyn would be Christian later she would not be just going people with her freaking jerk how talking she wouldn’t play I’m saying the reason why the dream team was influential is because Jordan was was playing she is the best she’s not’s Jordan yes she is no Jordan great I’m talking about on the court I get that’s y’all looking at the one way so I I agree with y’all but what I’m saying is when people okay when the fans come to watch these girls play right the best of the 12 cool they might not even know some of these girls who who they are going to know is Caitlyn I give you an example nobody cared before she got there true or false true right so what I’m saying is I get what you’re saying right I don’t use um um um Christian L cuz he’s not even he’s a great player player than she was but I’m just saying like what she means to the game she’s there Michael Jordan and my thing is if you want these fans and viewers to get bigger like it is put that girl what I’m saying they’re going to be coming to see her in her warm-ups bro she ain’t been Jordan she ain’t been Jordan this whole year and they she every she go she selling out but she’s starting and she playing a lot of minutes she is going to be coming off there and I believe she going to play a lot too cuz they’re going to win and they going to beat a lot of people like this has nothing to do if Caitlin’s on the team they winning goal if Caitlin not on the team they WI let actually she don’t play like that though do you think the P fans still going to be there you went to the game they going to be waiting for see I think that’s a totally different conversation this would be like if Indiana wasn’t playing her here’s my question though don’t don’t we can we all agree though can we all agree that this though whether we care or not it is a hugely missed marketing opportunity for women’s basketball in America I think everybody can agree on that can we agree that and I think I think that’s where the tension lies because if you are a I forget the word but if you are like a just a a yes thank you if you’re a purist then you just want the best players or the best team whatever she’s not one of the 12 but there’s a huge missed marketing opportunity because as we all know when you’re in when you’re in Europe now you got BBC World News you don’t just have Fox and ESPN and and and Turner Sports like now you got world news now you got now the country didn’t even care until she got there question wasn’t is it a missed marketing opportunity for Caitlyn Clark to be left out the Olympic team is it disrespectful toit thep and I’m Caitlyn will put chip on because of a lot of haveed to since the WNBA which as a as an athlete is a good thing it makes you work harder and it puts her in a completely different head space as she’s developing as a young player I think we will see lots of Caitlyn Clark I’m again personally surprised she wasn’t on the team from the marketing perspective I’m on board with all of it like I’ve been trying to talk about women sport on these shows forever I’ve snuck it in it as many times as I can I’m very happy to be talking about this even if we disagree like I think it’s all a great thing but I can see their line of reasoning last thing do you think it’s a dumb move for her not to be on the team let’s ask that later in the show because I’m writing that down it right now I have it written I want to re I want to revisit this conversation later on in the show because I am curious was it a good decision is what I’ve written down to leave Caitlyn Clark off the team you will not want to miss that conversation subscribe here to get the latest from speak and go watch a few segments from our other shows on FS1

Emmanuel Acho, LeSean McCoy, Joy Taylor and James Jones discuss the latest news in sports including WNBA rookie sensation Caitlin Clark’s omission from the Team USA Women’s Basketball Olympic Roster. The Speak cast decide if this was a respectful move by team USA.

#Speak #TeamUSA #CaitlinClark

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Caitlin Clark left off USA Women’s Basketball Olympic roster: was this disrespectful? | WNBA | SPEAK

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