Lisa Bluder Motivated Caitlin Clark Using Phil Jackson’s Tactics For Michael Jordan

Caitlin Clark has the Michael Jordan gene in her, but she needed the spiritual guidance of a Phil Jackson type, which Lisa Bluder provided.

Lisa Bluder Motivated Caitlin Clark Using Phil Jackson’s Tactics For Michael Jordan

Caitlin Clark, Michael Jordan (FS Image)

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There are many ways that the WNBA is in the same stage of evolution as the NBA was during the mid-80s. For one, the league is nearly 30 years old, while the NBA was already 37 years old by 1984. Yet, due to the professionalization of sports, the way the WNBA has caught on in the zeitgeist is faster than the NBA did. Caitlin Clark, however, is the one who will take it mainstream, like Michael Jordan back then.

None of the WNBA’s recent successes could have been foreseen less than 28 months ago. The league was known for producing physically dominant players, as well as a fair share of skilled players. Team USA women have had a stranglehold on the Olympics competition. Yet, there really hadn’t come around a player whose playing style, bravado, demeanor and panache would appeal to the casual sports fan.

All of this changed when Caitlin Clark embarked on her historic 2023 NCAA Tournament run. She became the first player in NCAA tournament history to record a 40-point triple-double – man or woman. Her performance against Louisville in the Elite Eight made basketball fans sit up and take notice of her play. She compounded this by leading the unheralded Iowa Hawkeyes to a Final Four win over Dawn Staley’s South Carolina, who were on a 68-game unbeaten streak.

The amount of interest she generated led to the 2023 NCAA Final gaining over 10 million viewers – the highest ever at that point. As a result, Caitlin Clark became a household name and a star to look out for. Clearly, her profile was on the rise as a personality as well as a player. And her Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder wanted to train her in the footsteps of Michael Jordan, who was a sensation in the same way at UNC.

Bluder sought learnings from Phil Jackson’s book ‘Sacred Hoops’, in which he detailed how he kept Michael Jordan sharp. She pointed out how she put Caitlin Clark on the spot and held her accountable for improving her teammates, much like Jackson did to Jordan:

The true measure of a really good player is the ability to make the people around you look good. As the best player, you have to make your team better. You have to invest in them because you’re kind of this object. ‘Oh, Caitlin Clark.’ That was what Phil tried to get Michael to do: invest in his team.

Caitlin Clark is like Michael Jordan in more ways than people realize

Having a psychopathic, ‘killer’ mindset while trying to better oneself is an integral component of sporting stories. In that way, Caitlin Clark and Michael Jordan are cut from the same cloth. Both put in extreme amounts of work so as to rise to the tough occasions. And both relish the challenges of being in the spotlight and putting their teams in the back.

Caitlin Clark
Caitlin Clark (Image via Nike)

But the similarities don’t end there. Off the court, Caitlin Clark has a magnetic personality that encapsulates the quirks of women her age extremely neatly. She is relatable, even to women who don’t look like her and aren’t from a white ethnic background. This was similar to how Michael Jordan’s casual, yet charismatic persona inspired a whole host of new fans to start following his basketball journey.

And much like Michael Jordan changed the game on the commercial side forever, Caitlin Clark has already become a trailblazer for the WNBA. Her entry to the league has spurred hitherto unseen levels of interest in the game, allowing the league to slowly and surely become a part of the mainstream American cultural zeitgeist in a way it never was before. This can only be a good thing for the league in the near and far futures.

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