Fever's Caitlin Clark has to shoot more, Christie Sides says - ESPN

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark is leading all WNBA rookies in scoring (16.2 PPG) and assists (6.6) as well as field goals made (4.9) and attempted (12.2). After Thursday night's 89-77 loss at Seattle, Fever coach Christie Sides said she wants Clark to shoot the ball even more.

«Caitlin Clark needs to shoot a minimum of 15 shots a game for us,» Sides said. «She's got to get shots, and we've got to do a better job of setting her up, setting some really good screens for her to get her open.»

On Thursday, Clark led the Fever with 15 points on 4-of-9 shooting from the field, including 3-of-7 from behind the arc, and went 4-of-5 from the foul line. She also had 7 assists and 6 rebounds.

Post players Aliyah Boston (5-of-16, 11 points) and NaLyssa Smith (5-of-11, 12 points) led the Fever in shot attempts against the Storm, and guard Kelsey Mitchell was 5-of-10 for 14 points.

Clark is second on the Fever this season in shot attempts, behind Mitchell's 13.4 per game. During her four-year Iowa career, she averaged 20.1 shots per game, with a high of 22.7 in her senior season.

While Clark currently leads all WNBA rookies in shot attempts, she is 22nd overall in the league. Dallas guard Arike Ogunbowale leads the WNBA with 21.8 shot attempts per game.

Other true guards who average more shots than Clark are Seattle's Jewell Loyd (17.5) and Skylar Diggins-Smith (13.5), Las Vegas' Kelsey Plum (15.9) and Jackie Young (14.7), New York's Sabrina Ionescu (15.3), Phoenix's Diana Taurasi (13.7), Chicago's Marina Mabrey (13.6), Washington's Ariel Atkins (13.0) and Atlanta's Rhyne Howard (12.5) and Allisha Gray (12.4).

Of those 12 guards, all but Ogunbowale, Mabrey and Mitchell either are Olympians for the upcoming Paris Games or have