Most discussions around Caitlin Clark are usually about her contention for ROTY and MVP. Most also note she’s grown exponentially since the Olympic break. A few basketball veterans have noted that she’s trusting her teammates more, which translates to her epic assists records. In Wednesday’s game against the LA Sparks, Clark picked up her second career triple-double and is the first rookie to make 100 3-pointers in their first season. She’s brought an overall improvement to Fever and made them definitive playoff contenders. Yet it’s not entirely satisfying to fans.

A discussion popped up on Reddit’s WNBA community right after the Fever won 93-86 over the Sparks. “I love CC, and she is a great shooter…from 30 feet on out. Why is she so bad and awkward shooting it from 5 to 20 feet?”

The point guard is about 42.9% between 10 to 20 feet from the basket. Statkeepers estimate a noticeable decline beyond that, roughly between 32.9 and 37% beyond 25 feet. While she has attempted a few shots beyond 35 feet, her FG% is 0.

This Redditor argues, “She either tries this weird one handed floater type shot or simply won’t shoot it at all from this distance. For someone who can obviously shoot the hell out of the ball she has absolutely 0 ability in the way of making a normal distance jump shot. 99% of her points come from 35 foot 3 pointers or drives to the bucket. Honestly one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever seen.”

Now Clark and Indiana’s improvement has gone hand-in-hand. She brought the team up to .500 and from the 10th seed last year to the 6th. Her assists have enabled Aliyah Boston’s and Kelsey Mitchell’s offensive tallies while she picks up her own. NBA veterans like Charles Barkley also noted that she’s become faster in the recent games. He attributes her slow start to entering the WNBA straight after playing in the NCAA Tournament Final.

Despite the remarkable improvement, fans miss the Hawks Clark too who was a whole other thrill to watch. So this opinion created a divide on Caitlin Clark’s growth.

The Caitlin Clark mid-range dilemma

Someone who sounds like they’ve followed Clark’s career since Iowa agreed with the OP and said, “Simple explanation: she learned a few quasi bad habits while maximizing her game at Iowa… didnt need a mid range floater so she didnt use it. Didnt need to play smothering defense, so didnt. If you dont do something regularly in sports, you get a bit rusty, no matter how good you are. But she is sharpening those skills now because she recognizes that she needs them in the pros. Simple.”

As noted, there are significant differences between Clark’s Hawkeyes and Clark’s Fever. As the primary point of offense in Iowa’s lineup, she avoided foul trouble. Fever is more balanced and she’s becoming a two-way player, but has ways to go. Some argue that she’s however not working on her mid-range game. “Valid point…but what evidence do you have that she is “sharpening these skills now”…because I’m seeing 0 evidence of that,” a Redditor told the previous commenter.

After returning from the Olympics break, CC acknowledged the same and said she’d been working on it during the break. In response to the skepticism, one listed, “She literally made a fallaway middy off one leg in todays game in the first quarter, she made a floater against Dallas in the game prior, she’s been taking and making the stepback midrange coming off ball screens at a much higher clip than she was prior to the break, and she’s averaging 20 and 10 in her last 20 games on 60% TS… there is definitely evidence of her sharpening the middy lol.”

Do you think Caitlin Clark’s midrange is lacking? Or are there definitive signs of improvement?