2025 WNBA Regular Season | Page 22 | The Boneyard

2025 WNBA Regular Season

So, in a post above, I looked at who the Dallas Wings would have in terms of young players under contract before next season.
ESPN took it one step further and took a look at the teams that have the most promising/solid group of young 'uns coming back.
They're going with Clark and Boston of the Indiana Fever as their #1, but the Washington Mystics (Citron, Iriafen, Edwards, Melbourne, Austin and the injured Amoore) are right behind. Citron, btw, is still only 21 years old (22 in September).

www.espn.com

Ranking every WNBA team's roster core, 1-13: Which team has the best young players?

Let's stack every WNBA team's core by the youth of its roster, leading off with the Fever and Caitlin Clark.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
 
Dillon77 said:
Dang...old favorites reside hard in my mind! :)
Loved that franchise and still moderately po'ed that the NBA hasn't gotten a franchise back in there.
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The new/renovated arena is extremely nice.
 
EricLA said:
She can go as far as I'm concerned. She's not terrible, but not great either. You don't like the minutes you are getting in the league? Get better. Honestly I hope no one wants her. Let her go back to China.
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Not a good thing to say. :confused:
 
azfan said:
Whose losing streak ends tonight in Phoenix?
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Well, it sure as heck wasn't pretty, but it was (kinda) competitive. Phoenix won the 4th by nine and so they did the game, 86-77.
Lexi Held took the driver's wheel today with 24 points on 4-9 from three and 6 of 6 from the FT line.
 
Dillon77 said:
Well, it sure as heck wasn't pretty, but it was (kinda) competitive. Phoenix won the 4th by nine and so they did the game, 86-77.
Lexi Held took the driver's wheel today with 24 points on 4-9 from three and 6 of 6 from the FT line.
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Ikr

When an expansion team comes to your home court and is leading late in the 4th you do feel very very very fortunate to win
 
azfan said:
Ikr

When an expansion team comes to your home court and is leading late in the 4th you do feel very very very fortunate to win
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OK, my fellow WNBA poster, everybody who frequents this thread knows of your, ahem, skepticism for the "million dollar coach" and, ostensibly, the administration that hired him. But, at some point, the question must be asked: are you still a fan of the Phoenix Mercury team (as in, the players) or just using them as a springboard to ostensibly "in-house" troll the administration?

Why do I ask?
For all intensive purposes, the Mercury -- save for one Satou Sabally -- are playing with a roster that might be more "expansionish" than the Golden State Valkyreis. Sami Whitcomb is the best known name of W vets, but the others -- Haley Jones, Kalani Brown -- were hardly in steep demand. And the regular rotation includes new (or just having had a cup of coffee) players such as Kat Westbeld, Lexi Held, Monique Akoa Makani and Katija Laska.

They're 6-3. And they're doing this without Alyssa Thomas or Kaleah Copper. Don't really care who they're playing because they're all WNBA teams. A Mercury fan would accept the fact that it wasn't well played, but they woke up to win. And maybe admire how another misfit W'er won the day.

BTW, before you diss the opponent, the Valkyries -- after getting shellacked in the first game of an away and away with the Liberty (great scheduling there, home office) -- nearly won the second of the matches with the defending champs. So, that team can play from time to time.

Now, I have no vested interest in Phoenix (I live in northern New Jersey), but do enjoy watching Kat Westbeld play...a lot.. in her first year in the W. What I'm interested in is if you'll enjoy the success of -- at least -- the Merc players.
 
Dillon77 said:
OK, my fellow WNBA poster, everybody who frequents this thread knows of your, ahem, skepticism for the "million dollar coach" and, ostensibly, the administration that hired him. But, at some point, the question must be asked: are you still a fan of the Phoenix Mercury team (as in, the players) or just using them as a springboard to ostensibly "in-house" troll the administration?

Why do I ask?
For all intensive purposes, the Mercury -- save for one Satou Sabally -- are playing with a roster that might be more "expansionish" than the Golden State Valkyreis. Sami Whitcomb is the best known name of W vets, but the others -- Haley Jones, Kalani Brown -- were hardly in steep demand. And the regular rotation includes new (or just having had a cup of coffee) players such as Kat Westbeld, Lexi Held, Monique Akoa Makani and Katija Laska.

They're 6-3. And they're doing this without Alyssa Thomas or Kaleah Copper. Don't really care who they're playing because they're all WNBA teams. A Mercury fan would accept the fact that it wasn't well played, but they woke up to win. And maybe admire how another misfit W'er won the day.

BTW, before you diss the opponent, the Valkyries -- after getting shellacked in the first game of an away and away with the Liberty (great scheduling there, home office) -- nearly won the second of the matches with the defending champs. So, that team can play from time to time.

Now, I have no vested interest in Phoenix (I live in northern New Jersey), but do enjoy watching Kat Westbeld play...a lot.. in her first year in the W. What I'm interested in is if you'll enjoy the success of -- at least -- the Merc players.
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Great question. I'm a long time fan of the Arizona State Sun Devils, the Phoenix Mercury, the Grand Canyon Antelopes and NAU Lumberjacks.

For the college teams I'm a season ticket holder and admire the athletes and the excellent coaches. The not so excellent coaches let's think Natasha Adair and or the million dollar coach do not fall into the category of excellent.

Just as I enthusiastically celebrate the triumphs of my favorite teams and admire greatly the work of the athletes I do feel a responsibility to be consistent. That is when things are going well for the coaching staff I praised Charlize Turner Thorne and her 500 wins, Molly Miller a 30 season last year and Loree Payne who rebuild a program that was in shambles I express my admiration and praise those who are involved. Reviewing my postings last year of Grand Canyon and NAU there's joy, pleasure, celebration and a feeling of gratitude. In fact on the boneyard I received pushback from my support and admiration for CTT and her defense.

Trolling.

Well I think that the Phoenix Mercury who released a coach now with 2 WNBA championships in Sandy and made the decision to award one of the 13 rare spots of the head coach in the w to a coach would never coached women's basketball, never been a head coach, and clearly like Natasha Adair appears to be in over his head

AND

Made this coach the first million dollar earner and the highest paid coaching WNBA history I think it's both appropriate and responsible to expect results and when those results are not forthcoming to articulate it.

On balance I spend most of my time and energy so grateful for the Molly Millers and a Loree Paynes and now Laura Dinkins of the world and the impact they're having on their respective programs.

I had a sense that some members of the BY sympathized with the agony and the pain of Natasha Adair 3 years of results that don't even rise to mediocrity following the excellence dare I say it dare dare the greatness of Charlize Turner Thorne.

I celebrated the hirings of Winston Gandy and Laura Dinkins at the collegiate level and anticipate that their performance will align with expectations. In fact gandy has placed a structure in place to exceed expectations

My passion for the programs I support motivates my celebration of excellence and my condemnation of mediocrity.

I think professional athletes in particular after negotiate a number of challenges. I admire their athleticism and the way the majority of them handle these challenging situations with grace and class.

Held and Westfield have seized their opportunity. While I discount for petformance against expansion teams, and teams close to the expansion level a la the Wing and Connecticut I do find gratifying the ability of these young players to perform particularly with the knowledge that Coop and AT will return to the court and they will return to the bench.

So I'm not sure that I find trolling accurate or adequate description of my belief that when people do well and exhibit virtue they should be praised and when people fail to rise to expectations and exhibit a lack of virtue they should be condemned. Maybe I'm just channeling Seneca.
 
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azfan said:
Great question. I'm a long time fan of the Arizona State Sun Devils, the Phoenix Mercury, the Grand Canyon Antelopes and NAU Lumberjacks.

For the college teams I'm a season ticket holder and admire the athletes and the excellent coaches. The not so excellent coaches let's think Natasha Adair and or the million dollar coach do not fall into the category of excellent.

Just as I enthusiastically celebrate the triumphs of my favorite teams and admire greatly the work of the athletes I do feel a responsibility to be consistent. That is when things are going well for the coaching staff I praised Charlize Turner Thorne and her 500 wins, Molly Miller a 30 season last year and Loree Payne who rebuild a program that was in shambles I express my admiration and praise those who are involved. Reviewing my postings last year of Grand Canyon and NAU there's joy, pleasure, celebration and a feeling of gratitude. In fact on the boneyard I received pushback from my support and admiration for CTT and her defense.

Trolling.

Well I think that the Phoenix Mercury who released a coach now with 2 WNBA championships in Sandy and made the decision to award one of the 13 rare spots of the head coach in the w to a coach would never coached women's basketball, never been a head coach, and clearly like Natasha Adair appears to be in over his head

AND

Made this coach the first million dollar earner and the highest paid coaching WNBA history I think it's both appropriate and responsible to expect results and when those results are not forthcoming to articulate it.

On balance I spend most of my time and energy so grateful for the Molly Millers and a Loree Paynes and now Laura Dinkins of the world and the impact they're having on their respective programs.

I had a sense that some members of the BY sympathized with the agony and the pain of Natasha Adair 3 years of results that don't even rise to mediocrity following the excellence dare I say it dare dare the greatness of Charlize Turner Thorne.

I celebrated the hirings of Winston Gandy and Laura Dinkins at the collegiate level and anticipate that their performance will align with expectations. In fact gandy has placed a structure in place to exceed expectations

My passion for the programs I support motivates my celebration of excellence and my condemnation of mediocrity.

I think professional athletes in particular after negotiate a number of challenges. I admire their athleticism and the way the majority of them handle these challenging situations with grace and class.

Held and Westfield have seized their opportunity. While I discount for petformance against expansion teams, and teams close to the expansion level a la the Wing and Connecticut I do find gratifying the ability of these young players to perform particularly with the knowledge that Coop and AT will return to the court and they will return to the bench.

So I'm not sure that I find trolling accurate or adequate description of my belief that when people do well and exhibit virtue they should be praised and when people fail to rise to expectations and exhibit a lack of virtue they should be condemned. Maybe I'm just channeling Seneca.
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I've heard variations of the word "trolling," but I'm probably not using the most recognizable one.
So I'll go with a different tact: it seems to me that you're using the WNBA thread as a way of lashing out at the administration of the club, vis a vis the actual players themselves.

So, my apologies for that, but I still wanted to know if, hey, you enjoyed some aspects of being a Merc fan. ;)
(My thought is life's too short...enjoy the good of whatever is happening and this crew has at least a 6-3 record for now. Gosh, imagine being a Sun, Sky or Wings fan this season.)

BTW, I enjoy the coverage you give us all on all the AZ teams over the years....was just noting the discomfort with the Merc.
(And yes, the firing of Brondello in my mind was completely a knee-jerk reaction....)
 
Dillon77 said:
Dang...old favorites reside hard in my mind! :)
Loved that franchise -- the Sonics -- and still moderately po'ed that the NBA hasn't gotten a franchise back in there.
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Growing up in the late 70s, the Sonics were my team! I still remember watching their 78 and 79 Finals run against the Bullets. Taped delay games. Those were the days.
 
Dillon77 said:
Well, it sure as heck wasn't pretty, but it was (kinda) competitive. Phoenix won the 4th by nine and so they did the game, 86-77.
Lexi Held took the driver's wheel today with 24 points on 4-9 from three and 6 of 6 from the FT line.
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I think that Golden State has lost a few games in the last 3-4 minutes or less.
 
JellyBean said:
Growing up in the late 70s, the Sonics were my team! I still remember watching their 78 and 79 Finals run against the Bullets. Taped delay games. Those were the days.
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DJ (pre-Celtics), Gus Williams, Jack "Dutch-boy haircut" Sikma, Wally Walker. Coached by Lenny Wilkens.
 
Dillon77 said:
I've heard variations of the word "trolling," but I'm probably not using the most recognizable one.
So I'll go with a different tact: it seems to me that you're using the WNBA thread as a way of lashing out at the administration of the club, vis a vis the actual players themselves.

So, my apologies for that, but I still wanted to know if, hey, you enjoyed some aspects of being a Merc fan. ;)
(My thought is life's too short...enjoy the good of whatever is happening and this crew has at least a 6-3 record for now. Gosh, imagine being a Sun, Sky or Wings fan this season.)

BTW, I enjoy the coverage you give us all on all the AZ teams over the years....was just noting the discomfort with the Merc.
(And yes, the firing of Brondello in my mind was completely a knee-jerk reaction....)
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I think the word you're looking for is "dunking on." @azfan is not living up to their name with respect to any prominent AZ team and does indeed seem to get great pleasure from dunking on them. I get to some extent frustrations with a particular coach or particular management team, but it's been pretty unyielding, with rarely even a single occasional gracious remark, for years now, and for every prominent women's basketball team in the state (Wildcats, Sun Devils, and Merc). So I think dunking is the right word, and questioning if they're even actually a fan in good faith is very reasonable. That said, I think I'd be pretty disillusioned too if those were the three teams I'd had to root for over the past few seasons...
 
Well, the Sun isn't permanently set! Connecticut gets its first home and second overall win, beating the Atlanta Dream, 84-76.
The Sun had a slim, one-point lead going into the fourth quarter and then outscored Atlanta, 22-15 to take home the win. The Sun's starters scored 75 of those 84 points led by Bria Harley's 11, Tina Charles' 18 and, especially, Marina Mabrey's 34. Mabrey did most of her damage inside the arc tonight, going 10-14 from two-point range and 5-6 from the FT line. She also had 4 assists, while Harley led the team with 6 of those.

The Sun lost Olivia Nelson-Ododa early on and in the second half rookies Kariata Diaby and Aneesah Morrow tried to fill the void. Morrow wasn't ready to take on Brittany Griner, put hit a clutch spin, turn and drive to help keep the Sun in front.
The Sun rookie who shined though was Saniya Rivers who had, not one, but two blocks on Rhyne Howard. She oozes athletic confidence and Mabrey & Hartley have her back. If she can work on her shooting, this could be a case of a player who takes big steps in the pro's.

So, rooks Rivers, Morrow and Diaby all helped the vets bring it home in eastern Connecticut.
 
Hamby and Stevens both had 20 point games for LA. Good for them. Sims has strung a couple nice games together. Good to have Jackson back. Plum wasn't scoring much but had 9 assists and only 1 TO. Got the win over the Wings.
 
nwhoopfan said:
Hamby and Stevens both had 20 point games for LA. Good for them. Sims has strung a couple nice games together. Good to have Jackson back. Plum wasn't scoring much but had 9 assists and only 1 TO. Got the win over the Wings.
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Not a whole lot of sunshine to see in the Wings' 79-93 loss to the Sparks...for this season, but...the best two players on the court for them last night were Luisa Geiselsoder, the 25-year old rookie post from Germany and Kaila Charles, the 27-year-old from Maryland. Of course -- given that this is the Wings -- Geiselsoder will leave shortly until the end of the month to play for Germany until the end of June. But last night had to be tantalizing for Coach Chris Koclanes: 11 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists. I think she could play well with Ms. Bueckers in 2026.
 
Wow. Just finished watching that Wings/Sparks game. My heart goes out to Coach Koclanes. I don't think any coach could muster up a lot of wins with a team that lacks depth, dealing with injuries to players especially your key players, having players missing easy baskets, or having one of your key players struggling with her shot. That is not a good sign for any type of success.

One player on the Wings (3rd quarter) grabs a rebound and goes coast to coast...and misses the easy layup. Now it looked like a makeable basket but who knows what that player was thinking or feeling at that moment. All I know and saw, she had the basket or she had a teammate open on that 2 on 1 break. She took and missed the layup. That is not on the coach. It is still early in the season. 9 games in roughly 33-34 games left in the season. Just set small goals and go from there. I think the Wings will get things going shortly.
 
TheFarmFan said:
I think the word you're looking for is "dunking on." @azfan is not living up to their name with respect to any prominent AZ team and does indeed seem to get great pleasure from dunking on them. I get to some extent frustrations with a particular coach or particular management team, but it's been pretty unyielding, with rarely even a single occasional gracious remark, for years now, and for every prominent women's basketball team in the state (Wildcats, Sun Devils, and Merc). So I think dunking is the right word, and questioning if they're even actually a fan in good faith is very reasonable. That said, I think I'd be pretty disillusioned too if those were the three teams I'd had to root for over the past few seasons...
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As I was mentioned in this explanation of trolling/dunking *(thank you) I wanted to perhaps clarify my love of and rooting for WBB.

I am very appreciate to have discovered the BY - a unique, animated a community of thoughtful, gracious, passionate and predominately civil fans discussing and debating all things women's basketball and at times other fields and topics.

I have tremendous respect for WBB in general and in particular our Arizona participants and I relentless and regularly praise and delight in: Molly Miller and the Antelopes and now Sun Devils (over 100 positive posts expressing my respect and admiration), Lorre Payne and the Jacks - now at Santa Clara (over 100 gracious posts expressing my appreciation, respect and gratitude) WBB in general - particularly the end of season tournaments in Las Vegas for WAC, WCC, and MW that I attend and presented gracious fan based posts from attend the past 2 March madness seasons and attending 20+ games each tournament season over the past 2 years. These posts were 180 degrees from the characterization of my fan based enthusiasm)

As I value and appreciate this community I make every effort to respect the norms and conventions of online discussion.

Over the past 30 years I have been a consistent and passionate fan of the ASU Sun Devils (going back to the hiring of CTT from NAU), The NAU Lumberjacks, the GCU Antelopes and the Mercury.

Over the past years I have posted:

Northern Arizona Lumberjacks over 50 posts of praise, respect, admiration and anticipation outlining Coach Loree Payne, Sophie Glancy, Taylor Feldman and the excitement of the offense first scheme that turned the program from an 11 win team to a 27 win team. More that rare there 50 plus posts were intended to be gracious and as I reread them I do think most would regard these posts as more than rare and positively gracious.

Grand Canyon Antelopes over 75 posts that were intended to and I think achieved gracious respect for coach Molly Miller (now the ASU coach) and here talented team and a culture of grace, graciousness and success. As I discussed Coach Miller, the Olympian TSA from Puerto Rica, the transfers from Las Vegas and the GREAT crowds of students I was enthusiastically passionate about both the type of program and the success and culture of support.

Arizona State University 80+posts - during the CCT era I posted my pleasure and admiration for the team and memories including the Rumble on The REZ when Kim Mulkey brought her Baylor squad to Window Rock to face the Devils (*A team with Kalani Brown, current Mercury and the Robbi Ryan lead team led at the end of the first quarter). the unbelievable comeback from 18 points down in the 4th quarter against Utah on my birthday in 2018, Courtney Ekmark transferring back to the valley of the Sun, well the frequent, relentless, not rare positive posts about my beloved ASU Sun Devils did change with the disaster of Adair, a response any respectable, passionate fan would express - I think? Don't you?

General women's basketball - 50 posts - my attendance at the WAC, Mountain West, West Coast Conference tournaments in Las Vegas were unrelentingly positive, passionate, enthusiastic and grateful for the chance to see these great athletes and coaches in person. SOOOO much fun and I really took unrelenting, frequent pleasure in sharing with the BY community.

Have I posted critical and passionate concern as a fan? Of course.

ASU rival - UofA - the kitties - 100 posts poking the kitty. For those aware of rivalry - tOSU v Michigan, Oklahoma v Texas, on the BY Huskies v Irish or Vols or . . my posting fall into the unrelenting rivalry subgenre.

ASU Natasha Adair - 100+ - enough said, any fan of the Sun Devils would have joined me. 3 years, 20 loses a season . . . don't get me started.

The Mercury - 100 - posts - THE GOAT, Sandy, the championships and . . . . oy

While I celebrated the successes, the GOAT, BG, etc, the recent disaster is so much like Natasha Adair

After years of success (4 finals and a championship) Sandy was shown the door in 2022 (same year CTT retired and Adair was hired) and
if we go back to that time and put together a list of the top 25 candidates to replace Sandy -- would anyone expect that a hire with no experience as a head coach, never coached women would be the selection? This is after trying out the high school coach and Nikki Blue.

So, my posts have been unrelentingly passionate, varied, frequent, enthusiastic and based upon firm fandom, a committed rooting for the Devils, Lopes, Jacks and Mercury.

@TheFarmFan may be reflecting (suffering from?) recency bias as the recent troubles at ASU and Mercury Land have been . . . negative?.. and while the posting of positive comments regarding NAU, GCU, WBB tournaments were very positive, gracious and celebratory they were in the spring and the WNBA is ongoing now.
 
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