Australia vs USA - 9/30/18 | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Australia vs USA - 9/30/18

UcMiami said:
I worry about players choosing Europe - the season is significantly longer and the number of different competitions leads to many more games - I think the competition is likely better as well making the games more demanding (?)

While it may be less money and less prestige to play in asia, I think it has allowed players like Maya to get consistent breaks between foreign seasons and the WNBA seasons that allows their bodies a bit of recovery time between the leagues. I think it is significant that she seemed to break down during the WNBA season the year after she switched back to Europe from china, and that she failed to answer the USA basketball call for the first time in her career.
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Stewie picked China for 2 years I believe precisely for the reasons you articulated. Why the change? Maybe she feels strong and more up to it. Maybe it's Diana's influence. Maybe it's the money. She mentioned the team I think, but she said it quickly and I didn't pick it up.
 
Like this one.

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Dawn talks here about the profound influence of USA Basketball on her as a person and a coach. Some of you probably know I like to poke a little fun Dawn's way and I'm not keen on her in game decision making as USC's coach. But I have to say I find her a different and admireable person in her role as head of Team USA/

USA head coach Dawn Staley
On the significance of being the first USA World Cup gold medalist as an athlete, assistant coach and head coach:
USA Basketball is ingrained in me. I grew up from an unruly young lady, to maturing in a system that allowed me to grow and mature and aspire to become a coach, when I didn’t want to be a coach a day in my life. But once I started coaching, I knew that USA Basketball was a place in which I wanted to be a part. Because it’s so pure, it’s so different from any other arena in our sport. I’m super proud. I’m super proud, because I get to share it with our coaching staff, and most important, I get to share it with Sue (Bird) and Diana (Taurasi), who were teammates of mine, who embraced me as their coach. For me, from afar, I’ve admired them. Being teammates with them, being in the locker room with them, and knowing that they’re just winners. They’re winners. They’re leaders. They’re people who have made a commitment to USA Basketball much like myself. It makes it really special.

Additional Quotes: USA 73, Australia 56
 
UcMiami said:
I worry about players choosing Europe - the season is significantly longer and the number of different competitions leads to many more games - I think the competition is likely better as well making the games more demanding (?)

While it may be less money and less prestige to play in asia, I think it has allowed players like Maya to get consistent breaks between foreign seasons and the WNBA seasons that allows their bodies a bit of recovery time between the leagues. I think it is significant that she seemed to break down during the WNBA season the year after she switched back to Europe from china, and that she failed to answer the USA basketball call for the first time in her career.
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Natalie Achonwa has played in South Korea (winning the championship) and got to drop into the Olympics, to boot. I think your point is an interesting one that I'll now be following: Maya and others (Kayla McBride) went straight from the Euro Final Four to the WNBA.
 
UcMiami said:
I worry about players choosing Europe - the season is significantly longer and the number of different competitions leads to many more games - I think the competition is likely better as well making the games more demanding (?)

While it may be less money and less prestige to play in asia, I think it has allowed players like Maya to get consistent breaks between foreign seasons and the WNBA seasons that allows their bodies a bit of recovery time between the leagues. I think it is significant that she seemed to break down during the WNBA season the year after she switched back to Europe from china, and that she failed to answer the USA basketball call for the first time in her career.
Expand ...

There is more money in China than in all but the absolute elite clubs in Europe. When Maya was winning all the championships in China, they had it strategically figured out that they would lose the battle in the post, but nobody could stop her so they had the overall advantage. Once that stopped working, the team went in another direction so her value in China compared to Russia plummeted.

There will be some rules changes in China this season so we have to see how they go. Expect a few former Huskies to be there. Before there were only around 10 jobs for foreigners there, but this season that will jump to 17. They are changing from a multi-stage league to one regular season followed by the playoffs. That means that the practice of signing two foreign players and having one start the season and then replacing them with the other one for the playoffs is no longer possible. That had allowed Sylvia Fowles to rest after the WNBA season and then join Beijing to help them win the past few championships. It would be interesting to hear perspectives from players on which is more grueling. Most weeks in China have three games in five days as opposed to the one or two games per week in Europe. Like in Russia, teams are generally too far apart to not travel by air, which I have heard can be a little scary, while most domestic leagues in Europe do all travel by bus. Practices in both are supposed to be relatively intense. Historically in China, foreign players were expected to play all 40 minutes of the game, which is not a common practice at higher levels in Europe.

South Korea is other Asian league that draws WNBA players. The pay there is not as high as the richest clubs around the world, but is about $150,000 after taxes and unlike most places, they always pay on time plus the clubs provide excellent accommodations in a very modern country and provide a full time translator. Just like China, since there is no other competition, the season is more compacted than Europe. Unfortunately, this offseason they cut the number of foreigners per team from two to one so six jobs were eliminated.

Australia has an even shorter season, but the money is not as good there. A lot of spots go to non-WNBA players, including to a few Americans who play and live year-round in Australia in their local leagues.
 
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