JoePgh
Cranky pants and wise acre
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- Aug 30, 2011
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As the WNBA season goes on hiatus for a month because of the Olympic break, the Connecticut Sun have produced a 5-3 record in the month of July. That includes a victory over the Minnesota Lynx, accounting for 1 of only 4 Lynx losses in the season (against 24 wins). At home, they took the 21-3 Los Angeles Sparks to overtime before losing. Their other July losses were against Atlanta and New York, both among the league's better teams -- and both games were very competitive.
This sudden success corresponds with the trade of Kelsey Bone, delivering Courtney Williams to the Sun. That means that Coach Curt Miller was able (eventually) to get all four of the players that he most coveted in the 2016 college graduating class: Morgan Tuck, Rachel Banham, Jonquel Jones, and Williams.
The success also concided in time with the return of Chiney Ogwumike to starter's minutes, and her level of play to the level that long-time fans have come to expect of her. She is the closest the Sun have to a real "star", but really at this point the team is beating teams with bigger stars through effort and team play. In the last week, they were able to get road wins against Indiana with Tamika Catchings (by more than 20 points) and Chicago with Elena Della Donne.
Other than Chiney, I don't think any of the many younger players have reached their ceiling yet. Jonquel Jones had a 20-point, 10-rebound performance against Chicago when she had to play a lot of minutes after Chiney got into some silly foul trouble. Morgan Tuck is starting to look like her UConn self in every respect except 3-point shooting accuracy, and I have to believe that will come around. Williams seems to be occasionally brilliant but consistently inconsistent -- against Chicago, she was the first guard off the bench, but she played only 3 minutes before Kelly was sent in for her. Kelly played her usual nearly mistake-free basketball, but without any scoring contribution (just what we have come to expect).
A major concern is that the Sun don't have a 1st-round draft pick next year, but they will have Jillian Alleyne and Rachel Banham returning from injury, both of whom should add some 3-point scoring to their repertoire. That has been a continuing weakness this year. If this year's rookies get anywhere close to their ceilings next year, the Sun should certainly be a playoff team in 2017 and could possibly (I said POSSIBLY) contend for a title.
This sudden success corresponds with the trade of Kelsey Bone, delivering Courtney Williams to the Sun. That means that Coach Curt Miller was able (eventually) to get all four of the players that he most coveted in the 2016 college graduating class: Morgan Tuck, Rachel Banham, Jonquel Jones, and Williams.
The success also concided in time with the return of Chiney Ogwumike to starter's minutes, and her level of play to the level that long-time fans have come to expect of her. She is the closest the Sun have to a real "star", but really at this point the team is beating teams with bigger stars through effort and team play. In the last week, they were able to get road wins against Indiana with Tamika Catchings (by more than 20 points) and Chicago with Elena Della Donne.
Other than Chiney, I don't think any of the many younger players have reached their ceiling yet. Jonquel Jones had a 20-point, 10-rebound performance against Chicago when she had to play a lot of minutes after Chiney got into some silly foul trouble. Morgan Tuck is starting to look like her UConn self in every respect except 3-point shooting accuracy, and I have to believe that will come around. Williams seems to be occasionally brilliant but consistently inconsistent -- against Chicago, she was the first guard off the bench, but she played only 3 minutes before Kelly was sent in for her. Kelly played her usual nearly mistake-free basketball, but without any scoring contribution (just what we have come to expect).
A major concern is that the Sun don't have a 1st-round draft pick next year, but they will have Jillian Alleyne and Rachel Banham returning from injury, both of whom should add some 3-point scoring to their repertoire. That has been a continuing weakness this year. If this year's rookies get anywhere close to their ceilings next year, the Sun should certainly be a playoff team in 2017 and could possibly (I said POSSIBLY) contend for a title.