While it’s been a rebuilding year for the Dallas Wings, it’s also been an adjustment period for Arike Ogunbowale.
With number one overall pick Paige Bueckers taking the keys, Ogunbowale moves to the passenger seat of the offense.
Ogunbowale was the scoring champion in 2020. She had been the Wings’ scoring leader every year since she was drafted in 2019.
The four-time all-star is averaging 15.6 points per game on 14 shots per game, both career lows. Last year, as a high volume scorer, she averaged 22.2 points per game, the second-highest of her career, and a career-high 19.2 shots per game.
Ogunbowale is shooting a career-low 31.8 percent from deep this year. Despite the percentages, defenses are still guarding her as if she’s shooting above 38 percent.
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Coming off a screen, Ogunbowale sees the defender switch and closes out hard. Ogunbowale launches her signature rainbow 3-pointer and drains it as the shot clock expires.
Since the all-star break, Ogunbowale is shooting 12 for 33 (36 percent) from downtown. So, the numbers are going back to the mean.
Ogunbowale-Bueckers 1-2 punch
It’s not about the Ogunbowale-Bueckers partnership being able to “co-exist,” it’s about the duo meshing well and playing off each other.
Bueckers is currently day-to-day with a back injury, and this may ask Ogunbowale to return as the first option until further notice.
Here’s an offensive set play for Ogunbowale and Bueckers:
With Ogunbowale initiating the offense, Bueckers comes up to set a ghost screen – a fake screen before sprinting towards open space.
They play pitch-and-catch as Ogunbowale is open off Myisha Hines-Allen’s flare screen – a screen used to create space away from the basketball.
Bueckers hits Ogunbowale perfectly in the shooter’s pocket for a wide-open catch-and-shoot 3-pointer.
Last week, after defeating the defending champions, New York Liberty, Bueckers spoke highly of her teammate.
“Everybody should be writing about her tonight,” Bueckers said. “To have an efficient 20 points, an efficient 14 assists (career-high) and one turnover, playing within the offense, playing within the flow, playing on both sides of the ball, for her to come in and turn it around after the all star break and perform how she performing, I think the conversation between us has been controlling what we can control.”
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Going from the first option to the second option isn’t a demotion; it’s a realignment.
And that’s exactly what Ogunbowale has displayed: her ability to set her ego to the side and make the transition to being the second option.
While the numbers don’t indicate a smooth transition, Ogunbowale has shown on tape that she is making adjustments for Dallas.
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