2024 WNBA Season: Part 2 (August ---)

[Hayven]

Pheesa will be the MVP.
Out of the three, Phee, Stewie, and Aja, the Lynx have better W-L against the Liberty and Aces.

The Lynx are 3-1 against the Aces and will not play in the regular season again.
The Lynx are 2-1 against the Liberty with another head to head later this season.

While the Liberty also have a 2-0 record against the Aces. And will play one more game later this season as well.

As steady as Aja has been. Pheesa has done a lot more with less supporting star players. This better not be a Pheesa-Gustafson senior college award season all over again

 

[WBBTakeover]

Minnesota has to be the favorite to win the title, they have an above average coach who has been there.
Good outside shooting, good backcourt play, guards who can defend, and depth.

The Lynx winning it all would not surprise me (they are the hottest team in the league right now), but the Liberty are the title favorites until we see something that suggests otherwise. I do not believe in Vandersloot and Brondello, so if they don't win a title it'll largely be because of those two.

 

[WBBTakeover]

Pheesa will be the MVP.
Out of the three, Phee, Stewie, and Aja, the Lynx have better W-L against the Liberty and Aces.

The Lynx are 3-1 against the Aces and will not play in the regular season again.
The Lynx are 2-1 against the Liberty with another head to head later this season.

While the Liberty also have a 2-0 record against the Aces. And will play one more game later this season as well.

As steady as Aja has been. Pheesa has done a lot more with less supporting star players. This better not be a Pheesa-Gustafson senior college award season all over again

The voters are supposed to take all of the games and the entire season into account. Phee has already missed five games and, even after her scorching hot streak, does not have the same numbers that A'ja has.

A'ja has not been "steady". She's been phenomenal. Oh, and let's not forget that Phee plays with two other Olympians and another All-Star. What an underwhelming supporting cast indeed.

Stewie is not a Top 5 MVP candidate, IMO. Sabrina is the MVP of the Liberty in 2024.

 

[baggerbob]

Is?

What happens if neither of them make it? This is an Olympic year, so we've seen the favorites fall before the Finals.

Sloot is not a very good player right now, can't play defense and since her return doesn't appear to be in true game shape.

 

[WBBTakeover]

Sloot is not a very good player right now, can't play defense and since her return doesn't appear to be in true game shape.

When Betnijah returns, Sloot, not Fiebich, should be the one who moves to the bench. We'll see how series Sandy is about winning a title.

 

[baggerbob]

When Betnijah returns, Sloot, not Fiebich, should be the one who moves to the bench. We'll see how series Sandy is about winning a title.

I agree but Not a fan of Sandy as a coach, 1 championship at Phoenix, when you had players like DT, Griner, Taylor, Bonner, and Breland.
She has a terrible track record as a coach.

 

[azfan]

Is?

What happens if neither of them make it? This is an Olympic year, so we've seen the favorites fall before the Finals.

In Vegas a dollar bet on a final with out those two would yield a comfortable addition to retirement savings.

 

[azfan]

When Betnijah returns, Sloot, not Fiebich, should be the one who moves to the bench. We'll see how series Sandy is about winning a title.

Deadly.......

 

[GirlBoo1020]

Pheesa will be the MVP.
Out of the three, Phee, Stewie, and Aja, the Lynx have better W-L against the Liberty and Aces.

The Lynx are 3-1 against the Aces and will not play in the regular season again.
The Lynx are 2-1 against the Liberty with another head to head later this season.

While the Liberty also have a 2-0 record against the Aces. And will play one more game later this season as well.

As steady as Aja has been. Pheesa has done a lot more with less supporting star players. This better not be a Pheesa-Gustafson senior college award season all over again

I still think A'ja will win it because of the media hype early in the season but I agree, Phee is the best player on the best team in the league (I wouldn't be surprised if they take that number 1 spot from the Liberty once they get fully healthy) and has far less talent around her. In the past Phee would be the no brainer MVP but unfortunately we are now in the age of the stat infatuation so we'll just go with whoever wins the box score battle.

 

[azfan]

That has to rank up there as one of the worst collapses ever for the LA Sparks.

Simply pathetic. Very unserious franchise.

Least surprising.

Remember these are the two bottom feeders in the w and while Dallas is simply awful defensively the Spark are not far behind. Over 200 points scored in this laugh fest. Both organizations should feel deep shame about the junior high level of defense exhibited by these professional athletes.

 

[WBBTakeover]

In Vegas a dollar bet on a final with out those two would yield a comfortable addition to retirement savings.

Same could've been said of Connecticut (who had the MVP that season) and Las Vegas (who had the 2020 MVP) in 2021. Olympic years are weird.

 

[azfan]

As steady as Aja has been. Pheesa has done a lot more with less supporting star players. This better not be a Pheesa-Gustafson senior college award season all over again

I might add

Steady in:

An historic season in which she is currently setting any number of records including highest per game score average in. the w history exceeding that of the GOAT. Her predominance in All phases of the game is reminiscent of some of the dominating seasons of the past by elite halfway s.

Setting aside the records and numbers we are so fortunate to be watching this historic season.

There are a number of players also having the outstanding seasons and in any other year would be worthy of MVP consideration. This is just not any other year.

 

[azfan]

I agree but Not a fan of Sandy as a coach, 1 championship at Phoenix, when you had players like DT, Griner, Taylor, Bonner, and Breland.
She has a terrible track record as a coach.

Terrible? Really?

Top 10 all time......

Ranking the 10 Greatest WNBA Coaches of all time

This list has SB #9

Home - Betway Insider

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1. Sandy Brondello (2010, 2014-Present)

Regular Season Record: 180-148 (0.549%)
Playoff Record: 25-23 (0.521%)
Teams: San Antonio Stars, Phoenix Mercury, New York Liberty
Awards: WNBA Champion 2014, WNBA Coach of the Year 2014

Sandy Brondello is an Australian former basketball star who won the Women’s National Basketball League MVP award in 1995. She was a two time WNBL All Star and a WNBA All Star while playing for the Detroit Shock in 1999.

Brondello’s first shot at a head coaching role in San Antonio didn’t go as she had planned, so after just one season she was relieved of her duties and went back to developing her skills in an assistant coaching role with the Los Angeles Sparks.

She spent three seasons there before she was offered the head coaching job with the Phoenix Mercury, and this time she was prepared. That season the Mercury stormed to a 29-5 record, the best season record in WNBA history, and Brondello was named the WNBA Coach of the Year.

The Mercury went on to claim the WNBA title by sweeping Chicago in the finals, giving Brondello a championship season in her first year in charge of Phoenix.

She took the Mercury back to the finals in 2021 but couldn’t claim the title this time around, and is now the New York Liberty coach having moved on when her contract expired in Phoenix.

 

[GirlBoo1020]

..

The Liberty lost to the Lynx twice though so its a tough sell to say the are better than the Lynx. They are three games back but Collier was hurt for 3 of their losses (they lost the game she got hurt in). I don't see much of a reason to think the Liberty are better than the Lynx with Collier, and I am a Liberty fan and don't even like Collier that much.

Napheesa plays with two other Olympians but non from team USA. A'ja has 3 other US Olympians and 2 non-USA Olympians on her team. To act like the Lynx don't have a significant talent gap compared to the Aces isn't being honest imo. The Lynx went 3-3 when Phee was out but all three of those loses came from teams currently not slated to make the play-offs. To say that means the Lynx are more talented than the Ace's is again, not being honest. A'ja hasn't missed a game so its impossible to say whether they could beat three of the worst team in the league without her. I tend to think they'd be fine but thats just me, who watched the Ace's build a 13 point lead with A'ja on the bench today and then lose that lead once she came back in. Who knows though, thats a strawman argument.


And I wasn't touting her stats, I was touting her rebounding ability, despite her offensive stats. Another example of box score watching that I am talking about.

 

[WBBTakeover]

Terrible? Really?

She's not terrible, but she's been a career underachiever relative to the talent that has been at her disposal. How many coaches can say that they've coached as many MVP winners, Olympians, and future HOFers as she has? She coached in Phoenix for eight seasons. She should've had at least three rings--maybe four.

Also, Game 4 of the 2023 WNBA Finals should've been a win for the Liberty considering the circumstances.

 

[bballnut90]

She's not terrible, but she's been a career underachiever relative to the talent that has been at her disposal. How many coaches can say that they've coached as many MVP winners, Olympians, and future HOFers as she has? She coached in Phoenix for eight seasons. She should've had at least three rings--maybe four.

Also, Game 4 of the 2023 WNBA Finals should've been a win for the Liberty considering the circumstances.

I don’t think she’s awful, but she’s far from an elite coach with how little success she had with almost a decade with one of the best ever (DT) and the most imposing physical presence the game has ever seen (Griner). For the most part of that stretch they weren’t much better than a .500 team.

 

[bballnut90]

Sorry I disagree they owned her rights they didnt want to release , she wanted to play with them while younger she collected money while she sat out with injury, why mot stick with a team that stuck with you

I agree. It’s a business, EDD already forced her way out of one franchise and the Mystics invested a lot in her (paying her full salary to voluntarily sit out of the 2020 season, injured all of 2021 and stretches of 2022 and 2023). They have every right to not trade her for a minimal return and make their competitors better. Just as EDD has every right to sit out if she doesn’t want to play for Washington.

 

[bbsamjj]

Good point. I totally forgot about her getting the Core tag by the Mystics. Hopefully the Wings don't win that #1 pick. I would feel badly for Paige if they draft her. We will see what happens.

I thought Magic Johnson was on that ownership team of the Sparks? As for the most recent mock draft listings, it is between Washington and LA. One week Washington has the #1 pick. The next week LA has the pick. Paige, Rickea, and Cameron. That would be exciting to watch.

Here's the things: LA, DC, and Chicago were not "supposed" to make the playoffs this season, and it didnt' seem like it was their goals either. The biggest disappointment by far has been Dallas, and to an extent, Atlanta (Though they seem to be better post break).

The LA Sparks are not built to (nor was it the goal) to win this year, plus their backcourt has been decimated by injuries (Last night they played with out McDonald, Clarendon, and Lexie Brown). They have a lot of talented forwards (Hamby, Jackson, Azura, Brink when healthy) but not a balanced roster construction. Sims can be great but she also joined them like 5 days ago. Last night they started 4 forwards and C. Dangerfield.

The Sky bench is definitely disappointing at this time, but E. Williams is injured and they just traded away Mabrey. Even though they are sitting in 8th spot, they also seem to be...playing for the future. DeShields is just not back to being the player she used to be; Evans seems to have fallen out of favor, Izzie Harrison has been serviceable.

Remember, it look Indiana 3 straight years of drafting top 2 picks to even look pseudo playoff ready. A lot of young talent at these teams for the future.

 

[azfan]

Tonight (edit: tomorrow night) the underperforming million dollar coach takes the Mercury to the court at Footprint Arena against the Liberty in their rubber match.

Back in June during the Mercury's most successful week of play the Mercury laid 99 points on the Liberty.

For those optimists who think the scheming of the million dollar coach, commitment to defense, and culture of hustle will lead the Mercury to the finals tonight's game can recalibrate those expectations.

Championships by current WNBA head coaches

Sandy -1
Stephanie -0
Cheryl-4
Noelle-0
Becky-2
Nate ......... Haha
Sides-0
Teresa-0
Tanisha-0
Junior-0
Trammel-0
Kurt-0

It's obviously hard to win a championship. Only three active coaches have a championship and eight of the current coaches have very dim prospects of ever hoisting a trophy. In fact five of these coaches will not be on the sidelines in 3 years.

 

[azfan]

Can the Fever catch the Mercury and who cares?

Over the final 10 games of the season the Mercury have by far a much more difficult strength of schedule than the Fever.

Currently the Sun would be meeting the Fever while Cheryl and the Lynx would face the Mercury.

I'm guessing Stephanie and Cheryl aren't concerned with either team but if push comes to shove they might rather face the Mercury. I mean Lexi Hull maybe giving those coaches nightmares.


Ok, on reflection it really doesn't matter.

Second place in the W may come down to the pre-ultimate season matchup between the Sun and the Lynx. That is the most consequential matchup of the remainder of the season with home court advantage in the balance.

As to last place in the playoffs and an opponent for Stewie I know the league is really rooting for Angel.

 

[GamecockFam]

Can the Fever catch the Mercury and who cares?

Over the final 10 games of the season the Mercury have by far a much more difficult strength of schedule than the Fever.

Currently the Sun would be meeting the Fever while Cheryl and the Lynx would face the Mercury.

I'm guessing Stephanie and Cheryl aren't concerned with either team but if push comes to shove they might rather face the Mercury. I mean Lexi Hull maybe giving those coaches nightmares.


Ok, on reflection it really doesn't matter.

Second place in the W may come down to the pre-ultimate season matchup between the Sun and the Lynx. That is the most consequential matchup of the remainder of the season with home court advantage in the balance.

As to last place in the playoffs and an opponent for Stewie I know the league is really rooting for Angel.

 

[baggerbob]

Can the Fever catch the Mercury and who cares?

Over the final 10 games of the season the Mercury have by far a much more difficult strength of schedule than the Fever.

Currently the Sun would be meeting the Fever while Cheryl and the Lynx would face the Mercury.

I'm guessing Stephanie and Cheryl aren't concerned with either team but if push comes to shove they might rather face the Mercury. I mean Lexi Hull maybe giving those coaches nightmares.


Ok, on reflection it really doesn't matter.

Second place in the W may come down to the pre-ultimate season matchup between the Sun and the Lynx. That is the most consequential matchup of the remainder of the season with home court advantage in the balance.

As to last place in the playoffs and an opponent for Stewie I know the league is really rooting for Angel.

Don't count on the Liberty being in first place at the end of the year.

 

[GirlBoo1020]

Ok so we know nothing good Angel does matters because she struggles to finish around the room so please try to hold yourself back commenting that on this post about her because I have already said it, but I thought this was a cool thing for her:

 

[cancontent]

Ok so we know nothing good Angel does matters because she struggles to finish around the room so please try to hold yourself back commenting that on this post about her because I have already said it, but I thought this was a cool thing for her:

Someone did a much deeper dive in the stats earlier this season confirming what Lobo said. Sadly, the perception of Angel for some will not allow them to look deeper to see she's killing it with respect to rebounding.

At a barbeque recently and someone said to me that they weren't a fan of Reese and used the "she's padding her stats" talking point as their reason. Ironically enough, I had the article bookmarked and read it off to them. In the end, it turned out the person was not even a casual fan. They admitted they were going off of posts they'd seen from others. It's really unfortunate these conversations have to be had out there.

 

[cancontent]

Here's the things: LA, DC, and Chicago were not "supposed" to make the playoffs this season, and it didnt' seem like it was their goals either. The biggest disappointment by far has been Dallas, and to an extent, Atlanta (Though they seem to be better post break).

The LA Sparks are not built to (nor was it the goal) to win this year, plus their backcourt has been decimated by injuries (Last night they played with out McDonald, Clarendon, and Lexie Brown). They have a lot of talented forwards (Hamby, Jackson, Azura, Brink when healthy) but not a balanced roster construction. Sims can be great but she also joined them like 5 days ago. Last night they started 4 forwards and C. Dangerfield.

The Sky bench is definitely disappointing at this time, but E. Williams is injured and they just traded away Mabrey. Even though they are sitting in 8th spot, they also seem to be...playing for the future. DeShields is just not back to being the player she used to be; Evans seems to have fallen out of favor, Izzie Harrison has been serviceable.

Remember, it look Indiana 3 straight years of drafting top 2 picks to even look pseudo playoff ready. A lot of young talent at these teams for the future.

In the case of Atlanta, they didn't have Jordan Canada at the start of the season due to injury. The point guard situation was a platoon with Haley Jones running it, which never really worked. Now with Canada healthy playing along with Gray the offence has been a lot better.

The other positive change is moving Naz Hillmon into the starting rotation. Considering the Dream have taller bigs, who are supposed to be more skilled than her, she continues to outwork them to get these opportunities and isn't wasting them.

Tina Charles also seems to have found the fountain of youth and is back to who we all as fans remember. Really happy for her as her previous season in the league was a struggle.

 

[GirlBoo1020]

Someone did a much deeper dive in the stats earlier this season confirming what Lobo said. Sadly, the perception of Angel for some will not allow them to look deeper to see she's killing it with respect to rebounding.

At a barbeque recently and someone said to me that they weren't a fan of Reese and used the "she's padding her stats" talking point as their reason. Ironically enough, I had the article bookmarked and read it off to them. In the end, it turned out the person was not even a casual fan. They admitted they were going off of posts they'd seen from others. It's really unfortunate these conversations have to be had out there.

Agreed. Its really sad to see all over social media how she is picked apart. She was the 7th pick in the draft, players picked above her aren't getting picked apart like her (Jacy, Aaliyah etc) even though in many ways she's outperforming them. You'd think she was the worst rookie in WNBA history with how much her field goal percentage is discussed. I also find the field goal % stat disingenuous because she IS still rebounding them so its not like her team isn't still scoring on a lot of those possessions. It speaks to her inability to finish but it's not hurting her team as much as people like to pretend.

 

[cancontent]

Agreed. Its really sad to see all over social media how she is picked apart. She was the 7th pick in the draft, players picked above her aren't getting picked apart like her (Jacy, Aaliyah etc) even though in many ways she's outperforming them. You'd think she was the worst rookie in WNBA history with how much her field goal percentage is discussed. I also find the field goal % stat disingenuous because she IS still rebounding them so its not like her team isn't still scoring on a lot of those possessions. It speaks to her inability to finish but it's not hurting her team as much as people like to pretend.

Doesn't help that media don't provide this type of insight when talking about it on a consistent basis either. The analytics are there if they really wanted to help educate fans.

 

[azfan]

Don't count on the Liberty being in first place at the end of the year.

I am.

If the Liberty go 4-4 the Sun would have to go seven and one to tie.

Las Vegas would love to take odds on that and I might be willing to make a small wager as well.

BTW-the Liberty won't be going four and four down the stretch. And the Sun...... They have the Storm twice, the Aces twice and the Lynx. They definitely will not be going 7 and 1. That probability is somewhere between 0.1 and 0.0000000001.

Could the Lynx catch Stewie and company? Of course not but they might have a slightly higher probability as they face both the Liberty and the Sun down the stretch.

The Liberty won't be going 4-4.

 

[azfan]

In the case of Atlanta, they didn't have Jordan Canada at the start of the season due to injury. The point guard situation was a platoon with Haley Jones running it, which never really worked. Now with Canada healthy playing along with Gray the offence has been a lot better.

The other positive change is moving Naz Hillmon into the starting rotation. Considering the Dream have taller bigs, who are supposed to be more skilled than her, she continues to outwork them to get these opportunities and isn't wasting them.

Tina Charles also seems to have found the fountain of youth and is back to who we all as fans remember. Really happy for her as her previous season in the league was a struggle.

3-1 in August and after tonight's game against CC and company end the month on the road against The Storm and The Aces.

Like the Sky, the Dream are three and seven over their last 10 and not a very good road team. As these two stagger to the finish to see who gets to play the number one seed (the Liberty on most dance cards LOL) these games will only be interesting to demonstrate who is more motivated.

As the playoff order with the exception of the number eight slot is already set one wonders who's looking ahead, who's resting starters, and who might be playing for their next contract.

One might quibble about where the Sun and Lynx end up and who plays the Fever and who plays the Mercury but in the end it really won't matter as the higher seeds will advance. The Fever don't have the defense to hang with any of the top 4 teams ( and maybe not even the Dream tonight) and the Mercury will fall merely because of their ineptitude on the road.

 

[JellyBean]

Someone did a much deeper dive in the stats earlier this season confirming what Lobo said. Sadly, the perception of Angel for some will not allow them to look deeper to see she's killing it with respect to rebounding.

At a barbeque recently and someone said to me that they weren't a fan of Reese and used the "she's padding her stats" talking point as their reason. Ironically enough, I had the article bookmarked and read it off to them. In the end, it turned out the person was not even a casual fan. They admitted they were going off of posts they'd seen from others. It's really unfortunate these conversations have to be had out there.

Sad that we have to have these conversations, but these are the conversations that must be had, especially when you have the non-causal fan or the casual fan throwing out random comments. Rather than applaud or give Angel praise for her elite rebounding skill, she gets criticized for rebounding. Nobody gave one of the games elite rebounders and iconic players, Yolanda Griffith, static when she was crushing the offensive glass to the tune of 168 back in early 2000s. Same with Tina Charles or Rebekkah Brunson. Nobody ever made the claim that those legends were "padding" their rebounding numbers. Those ladies were given praise about their effort and desire. The same should be said for Angel. She works her butt off on those rebounds.

I think we probably read the same report. I was reading the Sporting News report where the writer compared Angel's numbers to Clint Carela, Nikola Jokic, and a few other NBA players & WNBA players who are decent offensive rebounders and Angel's numbers were 0.1%-0.4% behind or on par with those players. Angel is just being judged by a different standard and it is sad and annoying.