I have been a Lynx fan since Maya entered the league. Admittedly my enthusiasm waned with Maya’s departure. Love Pheesa and was thrilled when Crystal and later Dorka were drafted, so I have continued to follow them.
But have been all in on moving on to the Storm with Nika being drafted, to be clear they were always my second favorite, with Sue, Stewie snd honorary Huskie- Jewel ( not to mention stints by Kia and Gabby) on the roster it was a no brainer.
If Nka gets cut for purely monetary reasons, rather than being among the 11 best players (as Quinn has said will be the criteria) I’m pretty sure wbb will have to wait until next fall for me when our Huskies take rhe court.
This season is a critical time for the W, the explosion of interest in wcbb can be a catalyst for the same for the WNBA but its critical that they capitalize on that.
If the Storm can’t /won’t sign their primary draft choice for purely financial reasons, irregardless of her potential value to the team - that does it for me.
IMO It would be both unfair to Nika, in bringing her in to compete for a spot that wasn’t realistically an option and detrimental to the league’s real opportunity to explode.
I’m still hopeful that Nika gets a real chance to make the roster basd on her body of work. ( as stared by Quinn in quote beliw) If so I think she will be a Storm player this season We’ll know within a couple weeks
Quinn confirmed that Nika Mühl will miss tonight's game due to Visa issues. But stated that one game does not erase her body of work throughout her college career and from the practices in camp. And that she'll be back with the team when they return to Seattle
It is not purely money vis-a-vis Nika. The Storm are Cap limited to 11 players (thanks to Jewel, Nneka and Skylar). Were they not Cap limited, they could carry 12.....is what I read. Hence, the best 11, indeed....I have not looked into it any farther.
But you know, it has to be a team of complementary size, positions, skills and intangibles and, desirably, flexibility.....Horston is more F than G but she plays both. 2 Cs: Mercedes and Ezi, the latter can play PF as well. Nneka at PF and up to 3 more Fs. Sami is a guard but she has played SF as well. After Jewel and Skylar, what do you do? Do you want heft in the front court or do you want enough size but more speed and flexibility?
Look at players who can play more than one position. You already have Horston and Whitcomb who can play G/F, Ezi who can do C/F. Leaving Melbourne and Nika aside for a moment, among the other invitees there are Mandjadeu (C/F) and Vivians (G/F) who also can do mutliple positions.
And so, what to do about your promising young players: Nika and Jade. The latter is supposed to be the better athlete and has improved her PG play as well as raised her 3pt accuracy to a little over 31% this past Australian season. If Jade is a better athlete, she must be quite good because Nika is no slouch. On everything else, Nika seems to have the advantage: defense, PG play & passing skills, 3pt accuracy and I would say, leadership and intangibles (older and the UConn experience). They are both 5'11", good size with Nika having more heft.
If I were Quinn, I would look for a way to keep both and develop flexibility throughout the lineup except for Mercedes. Nneka can play 5 when Quinn plays a small lineup for short bursts - it won't be so small with Horston alongside her (they are both hefty) and 3 guards, with only Skylar at 5'9".
We shall see.....
