Starting Center Kiah Stokes

[bschwartz]

Laimbeer is continuing to gush over Kiah -- even as a 3pt shooter. Yeah I know, he is hypin'his own player, but still. One of his observation is interesting. He said her mentality is to not shoot so sometimes her feet are not in the right place or she gets the ball and is like now what. He wants to change that attitude. This is from their Website. Below is a separate article with him gushing.

LINK

 

[Huskies Rule]

I love Kiah, but what a hoot! The kid spends 4 years unsuccessfully trying to break into UConn's starting lineup, and in less than a few months she becomes the starting center for a professional WNBA team.

 

[EricLA]

I love Kiah, but what a hoot! The kid spends 4 years unsuccessfully trying to break into UConn's starting lineup, and in less than a few months she becomes the starting center for a professional team.

Coaching...!

 

[EricLA]

I love Kiah, but what a hoot! The kid spends 4 years unsuccessfully trying to break into UConn's starting lineup, and in less than a few months she becomes the starting center for a professional WNBA team.

All joking aside... From Lambier:

"I'll start with Kiah Stokes, who will start for us opening night. A very steady player. Smart. Always in position, shot blocker -- and we didn't know she was this good of a shooter. She can shoot the three ball with the best of them. Now it's getting her to look for the shot. She's not trained to do that so we're working on that one intensely. But she's really good shooter"

A player does not become "this good of a shooter" overnight. To me that means she possessed those skills while at UCONN. I continue to be impressed with her as a pro, but disappointed in the coaches that they were not able to get her to exhibit more of her skills while at UCONN. People can say "it was in Kiah - it's her job now and she won't get paid if she doesn't produce"...

Butt the coaching staff was able to get Gabby Williams, a guard in high school, who came to UCONN 2 years rusty with questionable guard skills, and helped turn her into a productive post player. I find it hard to understand why they could not do the same thing over a 4 year period with Kiah's offense. It's odd that not even 3 months removed from her college team, and suddenly she's an offensive "force".

My point is Lambier has gotten this out of her in 2+ months but UCONN couldn't in 4 years. I'm confused...

 

[ThisJustIn]

My point is Lambier has gotten this out of her in 2+ months but UCONN couldn't in 4 years.

Shall we see how she actually does in the W and then make a judgement?

 

[EricLA]

My point is Lambier has gotten this out of her in 2+ months but UCONN couldn't in 4 years.

Shall we see how she actually does in the W and then make a judgement?

Well, um, we've seen 3 preseason games. While not an entire season, it's at least enough of a sample, along with Lambier's comments, to make some observations.

Kiah has started 2 of the 3 games, averaged over 26 MPG, and almost 9 PPG while grabbing 9 boards per game. Shall we just ignore the pre season games and pretend they don't exist?

 

[2Husky]

All joking aside... From Lambier:

"I'll start with Kiah Stokes, who will start for us opening night. A very steady player. Smart. Always in position, shot blocker -- and we didn't know she was this good of a shooter. She can shoot the three ball with the best of them. Now it's getting her to look for the shot. She's not trained to do that so we're working on that one intensely. But she's really good shooter"

A player does not become "this good of a shooter" overnight. To me that means she possessed those skills while at UCONN. I continue to be impressed with her as a pro, but disappointed in the coaches that they were not able to get her to exhibit more of her skills while at UCONN. People can say "it was in Kiah - it's her job now and she won't get paid if she doesn't produce"...

Butt the coaching staff was able to get Gabby Williams, a guard in high school, who came to UCONN 2 years rusty with questionable guard skills, and helped turn her into a productive post player. I find it hard to understand why they could not do the same thing over a 4 year period with Kiah's offense. It's odd that not even 3 months removed from her college team, and suddenly she's an offensive "force".

My point is Lambier has gotten this out of her in 2+ months but UCONN couldn't in 4 years. I'm confused...

I disagree that the coaches at uconn couldn't bring it out of her. Kiah had every day in practice for 4 years to show that she wanted to be a dominant offensive player and she didn't. She had the opportunity, and I'm sure they were teaching her, but for her to be an option in games she would have had to show a desire to be in practice, and I'd bet that after two years she would have had a good idea of what the coaches would want to see. She had a very successful career despite not scoring huge points.


Also Kerith has a short interview with Kiah:
http://snyuconn.com/uconn/geico-sportsnite-kiah-stokes/

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Kiah at draft time said she was going to bring out her offensive game "that was only seen in practice at UConn". Go figure.

 

[Huskies Rule]

YIKES! WHAT'S ALL THE HUBBUB ABOUT ?
Kiah's 4-year career numbers (averages) at UConn:

- 15 minutes per game
- 6 rebounds per game
- 4 points per game

- Extrapolating Kiah's miniscule WNBA sample size and allowing for minutes played, her collegiate and professional numbers are virtually the same.
- One thing is NOT disputable- Bill Laimbeer is clearly a better coach than the over-rated Geno Auriemma.

 

[rocky rococo]

Laimbeer talks a lot of trash, for a lot of reasons. I remember him talking up Chandi Jones, even though he wasn't playing her much. I wondered what that was about. Then he traded her for Katie Smith. Point made, BL.

 

[Huskies Rule]

Kiah at draft time said she was going to bring out her offensive game "that was only seen in practice at UConn". Go figure.

Geno (and Stewie, KML, Morgan, Moriah et al.) would have absolutely loved a more "offensive" Kiah. How many times did we see opponents double Stewie or Kaleena when Kiah was on the floor because they were unconcerned about her offensive game? UConn played 4 on 5 offense almost every time Kiah was in (though she was a solid screener), and no coach would choose to play at such a disadvantage. I'm sure Geno and CD tried their darndest and were stymied by Kiah's seeming lack of desire to do what every kid in America (except Moriah) prefers to do- shoot and score. It's not about GA, CD or Lame-beer.

I think it's ALL ON KIAH. When Kiah decides Kiah wants to be a presence on the offensive end, then Kiah will make it happen. And not a moment before. Maybe now is finally that time.
JUST MAYBE.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Geno (and Stewie, KML, Morgan, Moriah et al.) would have absolutely loved a more "offensive" Kiah. How many times did we see opponents double Stewie or Kaleena when Kiah was on the floor because they were unconcerned about her offensive game? UConn played 4 on 5 offense almost every time Kiah was in (though she was a solid screener), and no coach would choose to play at such a disadvantage. I'm sure Geno and CD tried their darndest and were stymied by Kiah's seeming lack of desire to do what every kid in America (except Moriah) prefers to do- shoot and score. It's not about GA, CD or Lame-beer.

I think it's ALL ON KIAH. When Kiah decides Kiah wants to be a presence on the offensive end, then Kiah will make it happen. And not a moment before. Maybe now is finally that time.
JUST MAYBE.

Agree completely. I do not think she had any instructions to limit her offense, but that when she did not engage Geno grew resigned to putting her in situations in which she could use and succeed with her strengths.

 

[Goodgood]

Nobody will ever know for sure what was going on during her 4 years at UConn, except that she was never an offensive threat while in the lineup. If somehow, she becomes a complete player while coached by Laimbeer, then we will know what is happening now...

 

[Wbbfan1]

Kiah is now playing for DOLLARS and her immediate livelihood as well as starting over with a new coach and system. We'll have to see what she does when some of the other centers and power forwards start being physical with her and will she be able to score. Besides not looking for her shot, making shots when Kiah was hit was a big problem.

 

[cohenzone]

Kiah's lack of offense severely limited Stewie and company to where we almost didn't win three NCs in a row. Bad job GA.

 

[ThisJustIn]

Shall we just ignore the pre season games and pretend they don't exist?

Simply put, yes. All the players are not in... preseason is not the real season... Or are you looking at the games and ready to crown the champeens and MVP?

I'm not saying Kiah won't be all that Bill claims she will be - I'm just saying it's silly to throw the UConn staff under the bus.

 

[Kmoney]

All joking aside... From Lambier:

"I'll start with Kiah Stokes, who will start for us opening night. A very steady player. Smart. Always in position, shot blocker -- and we didn't know she was this good of a shooter. She can shoot the three ball with the best of them. Now it's getting her to look for the shot. She's not trained to do that so we're working on that one intensely. But she's really good shooter"

A player does not become "this good of a shooter" overnight. To me that means she possessed those skills while at UCONN. I continue to be impressed with her as a pro, but disappointed in the coaches that they were not able to get her to exhibit more of her skills while at UCONN. People can say "it was in Kiah - it's her job now and she won't get paid if she doesn't produce"...

Butt the coaching staff was able to get Gabby Williams, a guard in high school, who came to UCONN 2 years rusty with questionable guard skills, and helped turn her into a productive post player. I find it hard to understand why they could not do the same thing over a 4 year period with Kiah's offense. It's odd that not even 3 months removed from her college team, and suddenly she's an offensive "force".

My point is Lambier has gotten this out of her in 2+ months but UCONN couldn't in 4 years. I'm confused...

,

 

[Carnac]

Laimbeer is continuing to gush over Kiah -- even as a 3pt shooter. Yeah I know, he is hypin'his own player, but still. One of his observation is interesting. He said her mentality is to not shoot so sometimes her feet are not in the right place or she gets the ball and is like now what. He wants to change that attitude. This is from their Website. Below is a separate article with him gushing.

No one on this thread loves Kiah more than I do. I'm supporting and rooting for her big time. I just subscribed to the WNBA season pass, so that I can see all of her games. I'll wait until the end of the season before I pass judgement on her first WNBA season. Remember, Rome was NOT built in a day! Her metamorphosis is not going to happen over night. As Laimbeer said, she needs to be "de-programed". It may take an entire season or two. While I'm not happy with how Kiah was handled at UConn, I'm not going to throw the coaching staff under the bus. They know what they're doing. They've got the last 3 NC trophies in their trophy case to prove it. No matter how long it takes, I'm cheering for her at the top of my lungs. Go Kiah!!! Show 'em what ya got.

 

[rvwsleep]

Isn't it obvious why Kiah is scoring more so far in the WNBA ?
She has to. She had a better "supporting" cast in college.

 

[EricLA]

Simply put, yes. All the players are not in... preseason is not the real season... Or are you looking at the games and ready to crown the champeens and MVP?

I'm not saying Kiah won't be all that Bill claims she will be - I'm just saying it's silly to throw the UConn staff under the bus.

Did I say that? Don't put words into my mouth. And where did I throw them under the bus? I asked a legit question.

 

[JavaMan]

Kiah starts at center, Tina at forward. Kiah wins the tip off and NY scores the first two.

 

[JavaMan]

Kiah to Tina ...NY up 6-2

 

[JavaMan]

Tina hits a another J. 8-2

 

[JavaMan]

Shoni hits a J. 10-10

 

[JavaMan]

36-23 NY, early in the 2nd.