Cameron Brink’s Refined Playmaking Is Opening Doors for Stanford and her WNBA Potential

The Stanford Cardinal lost in the final game of the Pac-12 Conference, but likely locked up a coveted No. 1 seed for March Madness the game prior after ousting a fantastic Oregon State squad, one with deep tournament aspirations. A Final Four run is a possibility for this Stanford team, largely due to the talents of their star frontcourt of Cameron Brink and Kiki Iriafen. Guard play at the highest level is a question, as seen in the loss to USC, but both forwards have legitimate shots to be All-Americans, and Brink potentially a top pick in the WNBA Draft if she were to declare.

Over her last 10 games played, Cardinal star forward Cameron Brink is averaging 18.3 points, 12.8 rebounds, 3.8 blocks.... and 4.3 assists per game!

Brink has long dominated on the interior, cementing herself as a force with that extra uptick of aggression this year. She's paramount in every way to Stanford's success; efficient as a scorer, drawing the defense routinely on the block, key in her synergy with Kiki Iriafen, and the most dominant rim protector in college basketball.

She's long been lauded as a high level for the next level, and rightfully so. She's a fantastic athlete with great height and length. She has phenomenal touch with room to keep growing as a shooter. The defense is game-changing, with the mobility and mind to alter the floor and how offenses can approach the game. That passing jumps out to me, however.

Brink's ability to make reads has always stood out for me in watching. She's consistently been a plus playmaker within Stanford's Princeton sets since she set foot on campus. 

"Who is running Princeton in the pros, though?"

A great question! And one I think about often when evaluating certain contexts and environments with respect to professional/higher level translation. Princeton reads are more robotic in a sense; those are things you know and are looking for. You're not making something happen, you're reacting to how a defense plays against something you've repped out a great deal.

That's not to diminish, but it's an important note in pulling apart what makes playmaking standout and translatable. I think there's often an idea that you can kind of just "throw out" the assist numbers from Princeton offense based prospects, and I disagree heavily with that. There just needs to be more layers and nuance in parsing through what goes into that playmaking, something that was evident with Haley Jones last season as well.

The high low game is a staple of the Stanford offense, one of the most difficult to guard actions in the country, as Brink and Iriafen have dominated with their synergy all season. While not every team is going to build the offense around a high low game, Brink is the level of prospect and player that team's will adjust and lean into it: If you're not, what did you draft her for?

Post entry and interior passing in and of itself is so underrated to me. Is it as sexy as a one-handed whip pass? No. But, it's just as if not arguably more impactful when done with precision. Cam and Kiki both excel at finding one another, getting each other the ball better than anyone else on the roster. How do you pull apart the layers of that passing?

• Are the reads made quickly when opportunities are presented?
• What is the touch like on the pass, and is it consistent given coverage? Do you lob/float over a front?
• Can you adjust with angles to open things up that wouldn't be present otherwise?
• Can you still present yourself as enough of a threat to score that you make the passing truly mean something?

On top of all that, I've been routinely impressed with some of the subtlety Cam throws in with her passes. She can look off help and use some eye manipulation to buy time, an advanced aspect of playmaking and reading the game. You don't often think of someone in the frontcourt jump passing, especially at 6'4, but Cam will throw in jump passing to attack shorter defenders and ball pressure, which is something I really appreciate. It's effective and it shows creativity and the thought process to adjust on the fly to defensive coverages.

Brink excels as a connective playmaker in the flow of the offense, hitting cutters, finding the open player with quickness, and rarely stopping the ball. She has all of the tools and traits to function at a high level as a secondary player in an offense.

It's key to add understanding and evaluation to turnovers. While Cam is averaging 4.3 assists over this stretch (roughly 2 per game in the 21 games prior), she is also averaging 3.3 turnovers per game.

There are some marked areas of growth I'd like to see moving forward. Her handle can be a little high, understandable given her height, although I would still consider her ball-handling quite solid for her size. Nail help has led to many of her turnovers off of drives, as she's mainly a straight line driver right now. On top of that, after going back through the past 10 games, almost half of all her turnovers are charges and moving screens. 

Why is that key?

The majority of Brink's turnovers are not because of bad passes. There are certainly some premeditated reads and forced passes on tape, but they veer more towards wanting to be aggressive rather than not seeing the court. I will say though, I think my biggest thing I want to see continue to develop is how she feels out what's coming behind her. That's partially on your teammate in the slot/corner if you're in the mid-post facing the opposite sideline, but with respect to unlocking better vision, it's vital. About a fifth of her turnovers on tape come from a defender hard stunting into her handle from the side of the court she isn't facing.

It's worth remembering too though, we are really early in the development of Cameron Brink as a primary option/playmaker. The growth we've seen in those regards this year in efficiency, fluidity, and consistency are incredibly exciting. She's great in the flow of an offense as hit on earlier, but the past month, she's shown even more upside in her potential as a playmaker.

She's shown so much more with the aggression in her passing. Yes, some of that has led to turnovers, but it's also led to some phenomenal plays. There are legitimate proactive reads that she's starting to put on film, and that's incredibly exciting!

For reference, proactive reads are dictating on your own terms. Reactive is just that, reacting to a defense. Both are vital parts of playmaking, but proactive reads are the types of passes that can alter a defense, and that's a crucial distinction.

Cam's showcasing and wading into more off the dribble playmaking, both in transition and the halfcourt. As her shot continues to grow on volume, those things are going to be even more available. Especially with how large a part of her game the face-up is, making those sorts of plays more comfortably is substantial. Again, there's real room for growth in cleaning up some aspects, but the thought process and actual decision-making, what I consider the most important part of passing, is on display.

She's not considered the top overall prospect in this class, which I understand given how prolific Caitlin Clark is, but there are pathways of development where Brink could wind up being the most productive and impactful player in the 2024 class should she choose to declare. This continued development in facilitating and reading the game is yet another example of that.