Diana in top form, Maya out of this world!

[MilfordHusky]

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The biggest hardware collectors in WBB. Great pic!

 

[easttexastrash]

I am not sure why everyone keeps commenting about Maya carrying the scoring load like that is a bad thing. Minny is without their #2 and #4 scoring option. What would the proper response be? Don't leaders score when there aren't any other scoring options? Why is that commented on like it is a negative?

Coach Reeves named Maya as a captain THIS year, her fourth year in the WNBA. Why? Coach says Maya has made a tremendous jump in her leadership role and has become very vocal in the group. This isn't the Maya that let her actions on the court do the talking that the UCONN fans were used to. If you have followed the W for the past couple years, there is a clear difference in Maya's role on the team.

I am not taking away from Diana, and she is among my favorites, but look at her surrounding cast. She is leading BG, P Taylor, C Dupree, etc. Each of those players would probably be the leading scorers on the respective teams if they weren't playing in Phoenix. I just think Maya has had to really earn everything she is doing in Minny right now.


When speaking of stats, Maya is the clear leader. Speaking of intangibles, Maya is right up there with Diana. VAMike said it best-the will to prepare to win. She doesn't just prepare herself, she expects that of her teammates as well. 3 WNBA champship games, 2 titles in 3 seasons. That isn't by chance.

BOTH are incredible players. How fortunate were you at UCONN to have had the privilege of watching each play for 4 years and bringing home 5 NCAA titles between them. And now you have Stewart to carry on that tradition.

Maybe they can each have the MVP trophy for half of the year.

 

[RadyLady]

I am not sure why everyone keeps commenting about Maya carrying the scoring load like that is a bad thing. Minny is without their #2 and #4 scoring option. What would the proper response be? Don't leaders score when there aren't any other scoring options? Why is that commented on like it is a negative?

Coach Reeves named Maya as a captain THIS year, her fourth year in the WNBA. Why? Coach says Maya has made a tremendous jump in her leadership role and has become very vocal in the group. This isn't the Maya that let her actions on the court do the talking that the UCONN fans were used to. If you have followed the W for the past couple years, there is a clear difference in Maya's role on the team.

I am not taking away from Diana, and she is among my favorites, but look at her surrounding cast. She is leading BG, P Taylor, C Dupree, etc. Each of those players would probably be the leading scorers on the respective teams if they weren't playing in Phoenix. I just think Maya has had to really earn everything she is doing in Minny right now.


When speaking of stats, Maya is the clear leader. Speaking of intangibles, Maya is right up there with Diana. VAMike said it best-the will to prepare to win. She doesn't just prepare herself, she expects that of her teammates as well. 3 WNBA champship games, 2 titles in 3 seasons. That isn't by chance.

Nothing in life is by chance.
Clearly Maya gets your vote. I see things differently.
And no where in my post did I even imply that Maya carrying the scoring load is a bad thing.

 

[RadyLady]

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Love this pic, Kib!

 

[RadyLady]

I didn't mean that Maya's net effect on her team is greater than Diana's, I meant that with respect to those particular effects she *does* have on her team--which I attempt to describe in my post--she is a cut above the rest. (I could have made that clearer in a couple of those sentences.) Just as the two have different styles and different games on the court, they have different strengths in the intangibles area as well. Not to say that either of them are devoid of those characteristics that the other may be strongest in.

To my mind DT would be a cut above when it comes to being a General, to organizing and leading on and off the court, getting everyone dialed in as you say and on the same page, coaching them really, and also guiding/mentoring younger players like BG with the "long-form" sit-down meeting as just one example. She and Sue are really on a similar level to coaches in many ways. My post was meant as a response to ETT's implication (at least I read it that way) that DT's intangibles, overall, were greater than Maya's. I disagree and believe that they bring *different* intangibles but that overall Maya's are not less than Dee's.

It appears that my post elicited some strum und drang from some. I simply meant that Diana gets my vote for MVP for the reasons stated.