Goodrich Starting Ahead of Diggins

[easttexastrash]

I watched the Phoenix vs Tulsa game and Goodrich is starting at PG. I always thought Goodrich was underrated in college. And I know that many thought Diggins was over rated.

 

[easttexastrash]

Also, Charde Houston is starting in place of Bonner. WOOHOO!!! I hated seeing Bonner run wild under Gaines and jacking up 25-foot shots with 20 seconds left on the shot clock. Houston can get to the basket, and the new coach seems to be looking to get more points in the paint.

 

[doggydaddy]

I watched the Phoenix vs Tulsa game and Goodrich is starting at PG. I always thought Goodrich was underrated in college. And I know that many thought Diggins was over rated.

She hasn't started in 8 games.

Her mpg as a starter was 28.8. As a bench player her minutes have been 19.1.

It's been a tough rookie season for Diggins.

 

[cferraro04]

I wonder if the camera man on her new team still does those cameo shots of Skylar's mothers that the ND camera man used to do. If they do, I'll bet there must be some interesting moments.

 

[EricLA]

I don't take any "joy" in seeing Diggins struggle. I do think it's a bit comical that the WNBA hyped the "3 to see" to high heaven, only to have EDD be spectacular (and a leading candidate for MVP), Griner have a really solid, but unspectacular season, and Diggins really struggle. Probably not what the WNBA marketing folks wanted.

A couple other changes I noticed - as was mentioned, Houston is starting ahead of Bonner. Good for Charde. And Tiff Jackson (i think she went to Texas?) is now starting ahead of Glory Johnson for Tulsa? And is seemingly more productive. I think Cambage coming back has really helped Tulsa get more size and not need their 5's to play the 5 spot. And now that Tiff is back, coming off the bench she out performs from a stats perspective Herrington AND Thomas combined. Not sure why Herrington starts over Tiff, but I love Tiff's game...

 

[caravaggio]

I think glory, who was having a fantastic breakout season, is out injured. This the stay for Tiffany Jackson.

 

[ThisJustIn]

Angel is a point guard, Diggins was a two converted to a point guard. We've seen that be a challenging transition her at UConn.

TJ was incredibly inconsistent with the Lib. She had more travels than shots. It's lovely to see her gather herself together.

 

[Icebear]

Angel is a point guard?

 

[HGN]

The WNBA was trying to booster marketing and appeal by hyping 'The 3 To See'. Didn't work out too well. Turned out to be more of a ' Come See Me ' .... Skylar has been grounded ; Griner is solid when not in pain ; And EDD is the one that reigns.

Goodrich is a solid point . The Shock will win more games with a distributor and facilitator at this time , than a shoot first ballhandler looking for the spotlight. Though Skylar will prove to be a good player.

 

[Fightin Choke]

The WNBA was trying to booster marketing and appeal by hyping 'The 3 To See'. Didn't work out too well. Turned out to be more of a ' Come See Me ' .... Skylar has been grounded ; Griner is solid when not in pain ; And EDD is the one that reigns.

Goodrich is a solid point . The Shock will win more games with a distributor and facilitator at this time , than a shoot first ballhandler looking for the spotlight. Though Skylar will prove to be a good player.

Skylar's rookie year has been far from successful, but this statement is simply inaccurate. Skylar's shooting has been very poor (35%), but she has hardly been a gunner, as she is averaging just under 6 shots/game. And she's actually been more of a distributor than Angel has, dishing out 103 assists in 644 minutes vs 69 ast/523 min. for Goodrich. As for the spotlight comment, I assume that was just some sort of an unsupported cut at Skylar, or is there evidence that Skylar is behaving like some sort of a diva for the Shock?

 

[Icebear]

Skylar never was a excellent or even good % shooter.

 

[Fightin Choke]

I think glory, who was having a fantastic breakout season, is out injured. This the stay for Tiffany Jackson.

Glory's first game back was last night's loss to the Mercury. Because she's just coming back from the head/neck injury, she came off the bench and only played 20 minutes. And yes, she's been having a great season and she certainly was not benched for poor play.

 

[Kibitzer]

I wonder if the camera man on her new team still does those cameo shots of Skylar's mothers that the ND camera man used to do. If they do, I'll bet there must be some interesting moments.

I don't think the mothers have much control over the cameramen; judgments made by the guy in the van (and subsequent instructions to cameramen) are often suspect. Or have you forgotten how much viewing time we were "treated" to by the extensive on-screen exposure granted to Sue Bird's mom?

 

[cferraro04]

I don't think the mothers have much control over the cameramen; judgments made by the guy in the van (and subsequent instructions to cameramen) are often suspect. Or have you forgotten how much viewing time we were "treated" to by the extensive on-screen exposure granted to Sue Bird's mom?

Uh, Kibitzer, I think you missed my point...I wasn't commenting on Skylar's mothers control over the cameraman...but rather, the candid shots of her facial expressions during the ups and downs of Skylar's career at ND...I was just commenting that there were some interesting moments.

 

[TheTruthBelow]

Also, Charde Houston is starting in place of Bonner. WOOHOO!!! I hated seeing Bonner run wild under Gaines and jacking up 25-foot shots with 20 seconds left on the shot clock. Houston can get to the basket, and the new coach seems to be looking to get more points in the paint.

Houston only started over Bonner because Bonner hurt her knee in the previous game. Bonner will move back into the starting lineup shortly, as she should.

 

[Scotter]

Diggins deserved to be in the 3 to see. The professional game is extremely hard on small guards, particularly small guards that get picked by bad teams with undevloped offensive systems. Succeeding at that height and size takes technical proficiency that must be learned. Anyone with any awareness of the difficulty of that transition would be expecting her to struggle as a rookie. Just look at the history of both the WNBA as well as the NBA.

 

[UCONNfan1]

Diggins deserved to be in the 3 to see. The professional game is extremely hard on small guards, particularly small guards that get picked by bad teams with undevloped offensive systems. Succeeding at that height and size takes technical proficiency that must be learned. Anyone with any awareness of the difficulty of that transition would be expecting her to struggle as a rookie. Just look at the history of both the WNBA as well as the NBA.

I'm not buying it. Neither Bird nor Whalen "struggled" in their rookie seasons and both are 5'9", same height as Diggins. Bird averaged 14+ PPG, about 6 APG, and started all 32 games, and Whalen averaged 8+ PPG and just about 5 APG. Her A/TO ratio was not great (5/3), but neither were ever benched like Diggins was.

Cappie Pondexter averaged over 19 PPG her rookie campaign and Piph Prince was almost 10 PPG her first year. Neither are true PG's, but with Skyler's supposed "scoring" acumen, she certainly could play the off guard spot if she were more effective on the court. And by the way Cappie is also 5'9" but Prince is listed at 5'7". And both Pondexter and Prince started every game their rookie year. So I don't get the "small guard" excuse, or that anyone really expected Diggins to struggle...

I don't know where any of those players went in the draft (Bird went #1, Pondexter went #2), but I'm not sure if any of them were hyped as much as Diggins was.

Lastly, Goodrich is also a rookie. and she's 5'4", yet she replaced Diggins in the starting lineup. Your logic makes no sense. I guess the game is less hard on her?

 

[doggydaddy]

Diggins deserved to be in the 3 to see. The professional game is extremely hard on small guards, particularly small guards that get picked by bad teams with undevloped offensive systems. Succeeding at that height and size takes technical proficiency that must be learned. Anyone with any awareness of the difficulty of that transition would be expecting her to struggle as a rookie. Just look at the history of both the WNBA as well as the NBA.

This rookie was exactly the same size as Diggins. Her team was 6-26 and 10-22 the two years before she was drafted.

She averaged 14 ppg and 6 apg her rookie season.

Sure it's hard. But I guess Diggins is no Sue Bird.

 

[UConnCat]

I watched the Lynx v Shock game last week and this is the first time I've watched a Shock game. Diggins came off the bench and played a terrible first half and a pretty good second half (i.e., she was at least able to make a few shots). What struck me most about her play, particularly in the first half, was her excessive and aimless dribbling. The Lynx announcer even mentioned it. She handled the ball with little purpose and little confidence. Maya actually guarded her for several possessions and Diggins was unable to get by Maya with the dribble, something few WNBA guards find that difficult.

I came away thinking Diggins is better than she's playing. Part of it is her team, but there's something else going on.

 

[DaddyChoc]

Diggins deserved to be in the 3 to see. The professional game is extremely hard on small guards, particularly small guards that get picked by bad teams with undevloped offensive systems. Succeeding at that height and size takes technical proficiency that must be learned. Anyone with any awareness of the difficulty of that transition would be expecting her to struggle as a rookie. Just look at the history of both the WNBA as well as the NBA.

Scotter well said, thanks! besides you know this board has issues with Diggins so some look for anything op to "take a shot"

 

[TheTruthBelow]

If Diggins is averaging 8.5 points, 2.2 assists and shooting 32.7% in her fifth season (like Renee Montgomery is), then she'll warrant more criticism. It will still be weird, though, that she's mentioned more on this board than most Huskies in the WNBA.

 

[doggydaddy]

Scotter well said, thanks! besides you know this board has issues with Diggins so some look for anything op to "take a shot"

I didn't know that a few now mean "this board".

At least if a poster takes a shot, it's way more likely to hit the target than when Diggins takes a shot.

 

[doggydaddy]

If Diggins is averaging 8.5 points, 2.2 assists and shooting 32.7% in her fifth season (like Renee Montgomery is), then she'll warrant more criticism. It will still be weird, though, that she's mentioned more on this board than most Huskies in the WNBA.

Wow, first you bring in Montgomery, who has had her worst season because of a terrible ankle sprain and other physical problems. How about her 2nd, 3rd and 4th seasons where she averaged 13,14 and 11 ppg?

And I don't believe Montgomery was ever one of the 3toC, or anything like that. Nor was she two time 1st team AA and 2 time BE player of the year"

And both you and DC might not like her being discussed to much, but there have been only on average one thread per month about Diggins in the WNBA. You both make it seem like it's weekly or even daily that its discussed here.

We all had her greatness shoved down our collective throats this year. Critiques about her performance on occasion is fair game.

Defend her, don't attack other players to try to make her look better.

 

[Justavisitor]

You can't compare this era of the WNBA to how things were when Sue Bird and Cappie joined the league. The quality of play is much improved and the talent level across the league is much better. Not to mention, Sue had Lauren Jackson and Cappie had Diana Taurasi. Teams could not key in on either of those guards.

Another point is that Skylar had a much more demanding senior season that Goodrich, who flew under the radar and didn't have high expectations, like trying to win a National title, along with the pressures of the media. Sylar pretty much carried ND, while playing a very demanding schedule and expectations to win. She's probably exhausted and is not used to this type of wear and tear on her body due to not having a break. If next season she returns to this type of play, then maybe she's over rated. For now, it's too soon to tell.

 

[EricLA]

You can't compare this era of the WNBA to how things were when Sue Bird and Cappie joined the league. The quality of play is much improved and the talent level across the league is much better. Not to mention, Sue had Lauren Jackson and Cappie had Diana Taurasi. Teams could not key in on either of those guards.

Another point is that Skylar had a much more demanding senior season that Goodrich, who flew under the radar and didn't have high expectations, like trying to win a National title, along with the pressures of the media. Sylar pretty much carried ND, while playing a very demanding schedule and expectations to win. She's probably exhausted and is not used to this type of wear and tear on her body due to not having a break. If next season she returns to this type of play, then maybe she's over rated. For now, it's too soon to tell.

But Elena, who was the only player on her team to average over 10 PPG, and was literally triple teamed almost every time she was on offense, should be even more exhausted than Skyler. And yet somehow Elena has persevered. Oh, and she's on the short list for MVP.

No one is saying Skyler is a has-been or is washed up. But they way they hyped the big 3, it seems totally fair to point out Skyler is no longer even starting, and given the lofty expectations, has been a disappointment to her fans, their team, and the league.

I'm sure there are numerous examples of players who struggled during their rookie seasons only to break out and become stars down the road. Glory comes to mind immediately. Tiff Hays to an extent as well. I'm sure you can think of many more.

And seriously? You can't compare 5-10 years ago to today? That's as crazy as saying Leslie's or Miller's accomplishments are tainted because "the league was not as good back then", or "the competition not as strong". Great players play great. Period.