iamcbs -
I happened to watch the Turkey Spain semi final which was 'the big stage' in front of a rabid and loud fan base for the opponent, and she came through with 39 minutes of pretty great basketball - scoring 28 on 55% shooting, adding 6 rebounds and 3 assists. 24 hours later she maybe did not have as much left in the tank as the USA players guarding her who had played 12 minutes less, and perhaps was not getting the quality of passes because her teammates were not quite as good as her opponents. USA defense was focused on two players primarily - Torrens and Lyttle, Spain's defense was more focused at guarding the paint which left Moore wide open early.
If you watched one game only, you really do get a skewed appreciation for players skills and ability - I watched that friendly against France and couldn't understand why Moore and Taurasi had been included in the travel team - they should have been part of the early cuts. They took way too many shots and combined for something like 10% shooting!
If you watched LA during the WNBA season you would think Gruda was a scrub - she didn't start and scored only 5.5 ppg on 33% shooting in 20 minutes off the bench with 4.5 rebounds. Put on a different team (France) she started and scored 14.7 ppg, grabbed 8.8 rebounds in 30 minutes per game shooting 55% - and against the USA with Griner, Charles, Dupree and Nneka trying to guard her upped the numbers to 18 and 9 in only 27 minutes.
Torrens was the third highest scorer in the games - second behind her teammate Lyttle of those that played 6 games shooting 43% overall and 44% from three. And that on a team that really only had two 'stars' so defenses could try and key on them.
The WNBA has a number of very good international players. I just think you are making a pretty broad indictment of European players based on a single game - a lot of European players make the choice not to play in the WNBA because the pay is crap compared to their European contracts and unlike the USA players they do not need to play 12 months a year to make their money and more like the NBA players prefer a few months off between seasons. And while NY or LA might be fun places to play a season or two, Uncasville and Tulsa are not quite as alluring! I am not sure that Cambage's choice of not playing for Tulsa is because she is afraid of the competition - she seemed to do OK against Charles in the friendly before she tore her achilles.
