2025 WNBA Regular Season

[azfan]

Definitely some, but outside of Collier nobody I would call a superstar. We don't agree sometimes, but can you find it in your heart to entertain the possibility that Reeve gets more out of her team than Brondello does? Give Sandy more talent than everybody else, and she MIGHT win a Championship, but it's far from a guarantee. Given a choice between those 2 coaches, I'd take Reeve 1000/1000.

Back to your favorite coach, there is no sense in comparing somebody halfway thru his second season w/ a coach who is in her 12th year. Of course career wins and stuff like that are going to tilt in Sandy's favor.

Absolutely!

Reeves is a tremendous coach - I believe in comparing her to Nate I mentioned her 4 coach of the year awards and 4 championships, like Brondello an elite coach. There is a reason they have been head coaches for so long.

My favorite coaches -- Molly Miller, Lori Payne, Karen Self, and of course CCT. Of pro coaches I would say its a tie between Geno and Reeves.

I take CCT 1000/1000

 

[EricLA]

Definitely some, but outside of Collier nobody I would call a superstar. We don't agree sometimes, but can you find it in your heart to entertain the possibility that Reeve gets more out of her team than Brondello does? Give Sandy more talent than everybody else, and she MIGHT win a Championship, but it's far from a guarantee. Given a choice between those 2 coaches, I'd take Reeve 1000/1000.

Back to your favorite coach, there is no sense in comparing somebody halfway thru his second season w/ a coach who is in her 12th year. Of course career wins and stuff like that are going to tilt in Sandy's favor.

Yeah I'm not sure i get the dislike for Tibbets. Unless people are angry he's not a minority woman. By all accounts he's a terrific coach, but when you have starters of Cloud, Copper, Taurasi, Griner, and Cunningham... Dee had great moments, but it was her last season, and Sophie as a starter?

And for the record, head coaches SHOULD be paid a lot of $ in the W - draw the best talent you can regardless of sex or race.

Allen, Taylor, Sutton, Mack and Billings got the most minutes off the bench. A pretty solid roster overall, but to judge a HC solely based on his first/second season with the inherited roster, and in this case, a new one for 2025...

 

[nwhoopfan]

Whew. If LA lost to Connecticut, in LA...

I think Plum had 5 at halftime, she finished w/ 23. Her last several games have been way more efficient, so that's good. 21 for Stevens, 19 for Jackson, 17 for Hamby.

There's been a Hartley siting, she poured in 25. 20 for Rivers. Some good rookies around the league this year.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I take CCT 1000/1000

CTT? Yeah, with her hack them til they can't walk approach to coaching, it makes me question your qualifications for judging coaches...

 

[nwhoopfan]

Seattle maybe the most perplexing team in the league? Lost a close one at home today to the Mystics.

 

[FanInNC]

Arike was terrible today. 0-10 from the field. A couple of bad defensive moments too, at one point she had a miss near the top of the key and her defender took off down the court on the long rebound - she was the only one responsible for guarding her - she sees Clark get the board and takes a step towards her (never mind two other Dallas players were in better defensive position for Clark already) and it resulted in an easy pass ahead for a lay up. Just terrible court awareness.

If you are 0-10 you also can’t make miscues on defense. She played 28 minutes and was a team worst -23.

Maybe shaking off the rust or trying to figure out how to fit back in with the emergence of the other rookies during her absence. Feels like they need to move her though. Too many guards on that team and not much defense to be found.

 

[EricLA]

Arike was terrible today. 0-10 from the field. A couple of bad defensive moments too, at one point she had a miss near the top of the key and her defender took off down the court on the long rebound - she was the only one responsible for guarding her - she sees Clark get the board and takes a step towards her (never mind two other Dallas players were in better defensive position for Clark already) and it resulted in an easy pass ahead for a lay up. Just terrible court awareness.

If you are 0-10 you also can’t make miscues on defense. She played 28 minutes and was a team worst -23.

Maybe shaking off the rust or trying to figure out how to fit back in with the emergence of the other rookies during her absence. Feels like they need to move her though. Too many guards on that team and not much defense to be found.

I actually think Arike's problem is 3-fold. As you said, poor defense and court awareness. 2nd, historically, she's a volume shooter who is capable of getting on a hot streak and winning you games, or going 4-20 and shooting you out of games.

3rd, with the addition of Paige, who is already better despite being only a rookie, the ball is not in her hands nearly as often so she can't call her own number whenever she wants. So she's struggling to figure out how to contribute.

And as a side note, the Dallas rookies (Bueckers, Quinnerly, and James) all seem to be really good, and 3 of them are guards. Then there's Guiselsoder (rookie), and Yeru (2nd year) who is young as well. Build for the future. Dump the past. IMHO Dallas is better without Arike (and they should dump Carrington also).

 

[bbsamjj]

If Arike does decide to leave Dallas, I could see Chicago being a good fit. She'd be an upgrade over Banham/Nurse, and their two post offense is closer to what Dallas had with McCowan/Sabally back when they were a top 4 team. She's also from Milwaukee, so would be a "homecoming" of sorts. If Vandersloot comes back, I think Arike would work real well with a real PG too.

 

[azfan]

CTT? Yeah, with her hack them til they can't walk approach to coaching, it makes me question your qualifications for judging coaches...

20 years of supporting ASU, NAU and GCU plus a certificate from an online academy for coaching evaluation

CTT is part of the 500 club and I suspect both Miller and Payne will join her before they retire.

On the WNBA front Brondello and Reeves have multiple championships and deserve respect and admiration.

The w has a new wave of head coaches and I include Tibbets in that group. Brondello has been criticized for not winning more titles with the talent she's coached. While it's very hard to take it all the way I suppose I can see that criticism. Once healthy Phoenix according to some on the board has this high level of talent on the roster and a great deal of depth Working from the same assumptions of the criticism of Brondello should Nate be criticized if he doesn't bring home multiple trophies with a group that includes Olympians, a great undiscovered shooting talent, and a revolutionary three-point shooting scheme?

Nate Tibbetts may end up as a great coach. Thinking back to 2014 when Sandy Brondello led the Merc to the championship I was impressed immediately with her unique combination of coaching high-level talent and connecting with the community.

Tibbetts may indeed scale these heights. I think my skepticism initially and moving forward was a selection process that seem to exclusively focus on a type of background with an emphasis on the NBA as well as coaching the male side of the sport. With the exception of high school Tibbetts has coached men. Now I know Geno has a philosophy that it's all players and that may very well be the case going forward in the w. We'll see.

Am I the only one who has speculated that the Merc job might well be a stepping stone?

 

[Geew1992]

Arike was terrible today. 0-10 from the field. A couple of bad defensive moments too, at one point she had a miss near the top of the key and her defender took off down the court on the long rebound - she was the only one responsible for guarding her - she sees Clark get the board and takes a step towards her (never mind two other Dallas players were in better defensive position for Clark already) and it resulted in an easy pass ahead for a lay up. Just terrible court awareness.

If you are 0-10 you also can’t make miscues on defense. She played 28 minutes and was a team worst -23.

Maybe shaking off the rust or trying to figure out how to fit back in with the emergence of the other rookies during her absence. Feels like they need to move her though. Too many guards on that team and not much defense to be found.

I believe she has torn ligaments in her thumb. Don't know which one. I don't know how healthy she is or if she should even being playing

 

[cancontent]

 

[Bone Dog]

The game within the game: I was rewatching the second Ind-Dallas game and with 1:48 left in the third Paige strips the ball from Caitlin and goes the other way for an easy layup. Meanwhile Caitlin feigns injury instead of chasing her down. As it ever was. And I get it -- the rivalry between them is a lot to play through and a slight slip up can make one want to seek some cover. It's a very natural instinct, even understandable.

 

[cancontent]

 

[JellyBean]

I love my Minnesota Lynx but if coach Reeve wins the COY award, she should give it or share it with Coach Natalie Nakase. What Coach Nakase is doing in Golden State is impressive as heck! Other than Orlando Miracle with Coach Carloyn Peck, I have not seen an expansion team play this hard, play this together, and look this good, which is a testament to the coach and how they have their players believing and buying into the vision of the program/franchise. If I could vote for COY, Coach Nakase gets my vote.

 

[TheFarmFan]

I love my Minnesota Lynx but if coach Reeve wins the COY award, she should give it or share it with Coach Natalie Nakase. What Coach Nakase is doing in Golden State is impressive as heck! Other than Orlando Miracle with Coach Carloyn Peck, I have not seen an expansion team play this hard, play this together, and look this good, which is a testament to the coach and how they have their players believing and buying into the vision of the program/franchise. If I could vote for COY, Coach Nakase gets my vote.

I double pinkie swear I did not pay for @JellyBean's post. We came by this honestly, guys, for real.... BALLHOLLLLLLLA. Even after the crushing one point loss due to an extremely sus whistle, it was all smiles. Tip and VB did a chalk talk with the season ticket holders after and it was a genuine mutual lovefest. Huskies, somehow I missed Tip's time at UConn, but dang y'all got a good one.

[Edited to add: I may need to start wearing earplugs. Just got home and my ears are ringing. Genuinely wondering if Ballhalla is going to be the Bay's leading local source of long term hearing loss...]

 

[GamecockFam]

I love my Minnesota Lynx but if coach Reeve wins the COY award, she should give it or share it with Coach Natalie Nakase. What Coach Nakase is doing in Golden State is impressive as heck! Other than Orlando Miracle with Coach Carloyn Peck, I have not seen an expansion team play this hard, play this together, and look this good, which is a testament to the coach and how they have their players believing and buying into the vision of the program/franchise. If I could vote for COY, Coach Nakase gets my vote.

They've definitely exceeded expectations but they're currently out of the playoff picture. I wouldn't give COY to a coach with a losing record and out of the playoff picture no matter the circumstances...

IMO Nate Tibbetts is the leading candidate going into the All Star break

 

[JellyBean]

They've definitely exceeded expectations but they're currently out of the playoff picture. I wouldn't give COY to a coach with a losing record and out of the playoff picture no matter the circumstances...

IMO Nate Tibbetts is the leading candidate going into the All Star break

I can respect that.

 

[cancontent]

They've definitely exceeded expectations but they're currently out of the playoff picture. I wouldn't give COY to a coach with a losing record and out of the playoff picture no matter the circumstances...

IMO Nate Tibbetts is the leading candidate going into the All Star break

Where does Johnson of Washington rank based on these metrics? I would guess second to Tibbetts at this point of the season?

 

[GamecockFam]

Where does Johnson of Washington rank based on these metrics? I would guess second to Tibbetts at this point of the season?

If I were ranking all coaches he would be in the middle of the pack for COY. I'd probably rank the top 3

1) Tibbetts
2) Smesko
3) Reeve

 

[cancontent]

 

[GamecockFam]

All Star Skills challenges have been set.

Participants in Friday Night Events at AT&T WNBA All-Star 2025

All-Stars Caitlin Clark, Sabrina Ionescu and Allisha Gray headline participants in Friday night events at AT&T WNBA All-Star 2025

www.wnba.com

3-Point Contest:
Caitlin Clark
Sabrina Ionescu
Allisha Gray
Sonia Citron
Kelsey Plum

Skills Challenge:
Natasha Cloud
Skylar Diggins
Allisha Gray
Erica Wheeler
Courtney Williams

 

[The deacon]

The game within the game: I was rewatching the second Ind-Dallas game and with 1:48 left in the third Paige strips the ball from Caitlin and goes the other way for an easy layup. Meanwhile Caitlin feigns injury instead of chasing her down. As it ever was. And I get it -- the rivalry between them is a lot to play through and a slight slip up can make one want to seek some cover. It's a very natural instinct, even understandable.

It seems your efforts to say good things recently about Clark are apparently over, Bone Dog.

I didn't see that play and surely know players feign injury, but you do recall that Caitlin is currently recovering from a quad injury and battling a groin injury. Is it possible it was wise on her part to not tear down the court after Paige?

 

[Bone Dog]

It seems your efforts to say good things recently about Clark are apparently over, Bone Dog.

I didn't see that play and surely know players feign injury, but you do recall that Caitlin is currently recovering from a quad injury and battling a groin injury. Is it possible it was wise on her part to not tear down the court after Paige?

I still say good things about Caitlin. I just don't deny obvious video evidence, and in this case it is clear. You can pretend not to see it if you like. Paige swiped the ball and a second later Caitlin grabs her head. Doesn't look like a quad injury. This was a recurring pattern in college too.

And if you check, in my original post I offered a defense of Caitlin. I get that she's under a lot of pressure and these sorts of dodges are practically a reflex. Lots of athletes react in the same way.

 

[aceboon]

If that's another significant groin injury this season is probably lost for CC. I'd imagine her offseason training regiment to put on muscle is getting overhauled, her lower body has been cooked since the preseason.

 

[The deacon]

I still say good things about Caitlin. I just don't deny obvious video evidence, and in this case it is clear. You can pretend not to see it if you like. Paige swiped the ball and a second later Caitlin grabs her head. Doesn't look like a quad injury. This was a recurring pattern in college too.

And if you check, in my original post I offered a defense of Caitlin. I get that she's under a lot of pressure and these sorts of dodges are practically a reflex. Lots of athletes react in the same way.

Good response, Bone Dog, although I'm not quite sure what you mean by 'You can pretend not to see it if you like.' If I said I didn't see it, I didn't see it.