Has the WNBA ever been this LOPSIDED?

[socal613ws]

There are only 3 teams over 500 out of 12... all 3 are obviously the best: phx/minny/atlanta.
8-17 shock were faves and won.

I haven't seen anything this bad, cant' help the league at all to have like 3-4 teams under 500 make the playoffs and one will be in the conference finals.

 

[pap49cba]

Beginning to resemble the NHL....

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Might be a one year phenomenon - no great shift in those teams remaining good, but -

- Chicago hurt by injuries should bounce back
- Lib and Mystics should be better than they are, I think
- Will Seattle bounce back if LJ returns?
- Tulsa looks very promising

Big question mark may be future success of Indiana, LA and Connecticut, just can't get a strong vibe and San Antonio is just consistently ok or so. Any surprises in next years draft could affect it.

So, while I expect Phx and Minny and Dream to be near the top next year, I just don't think they will be as dominant.

 

[phil sampieri]

There are only 3 teams over 500 out of 12... all 3 are obviously the best: phx/minny/atlanta.
8-17 shock were faves and won.

I haven't seen anything this bad, cant' help the league at all to have like 3-4 teams under 500 make the playoffs and one will be in the conference finals.

Yes, just like
Uconn's 90 game win streak

 

[Wbbfan1]

I think the problem with the WNBA is similar to what the College Women's Game faces. Not enough quality impact players that can take over a game. Very few players are able to score 10 points in one game and then in the next game score 30+ points to upset a more talented team. Thus teams like Minnesota and Phoenix who have impact players surrounded by talented players are able to dominate. There's not much separating the other teams in the WNBA so they end up beating up on each other while losing to Phoenix and Minnesota. Before their four game losing streak, I would have included Atlanta as one of the dominant teams, but had then ranked lower then Phoenix and Minnesota.

 

[ndmb]

There have been dominant teams in the WNBA before. What's setting this year apart is that there really aren't any truly awful teams. We don't have any teams that are going to have 5 wins on their record. Frankly, I think it's because of a dispersal of a wider array of talent: Look at Connecticut, sitting at the bottom of the east. They have Ogwumike, Douglass, Bentley, Bone, Thomas, and Montgomery, which I think easily outstrips the WNBA cellar-dwellers of previous years. Remember that a teams record only relates to their abilities compared to the rest of the league, and think the fact that we have a lot of parity after the top 3 is a good thing.

 

[JellyBean]

The league has always had moments where it looked lopsided. In 2000 the Eastern Conference had the Mystics making the playoffs at 14-18. The Orlando Miracle make the playoffs at .500. I think in 2005, the Detroit Shock made it to the playoffs and they were under .500. The bottom line, the league has had moments where it has been lopsided. This isn't anything new.

 

[iamcbs]

In The entire history of the WNBA only 7 teams have won the WNBA Championship. Houston Comets(4), LA Sparks(3), Sacramento Monarchs(2), Seattle Storm(2), San Antonio Silver Stars, Phoenix Mercury(2), Minnesota Lynx(3). So parity has never been an issue.

 

[easttexastrash]

This dominance is no more harmful to the leage than UCONN dominance is to WCBB. It is not bad for the game, it simply raises the standards for the other franchises to aspire to.

 

[WestTXFan]

There are only 3 teams over 500 out of 12... all 3 are obviously the best: phx/minny/atlanta.
8-17 shock were faves and won.

I haven't seen anything this bad, cant' help the league at all to have like 3-4 teams under 500 make the playoffs and one will be in the conference finals.

 

[Pete]

In The entire history of the WNBA only 7 teams have won the WNBA Championship. Houston Comets(4), LA Sparks(3), Sacramento Monarchs(2), Seattle Storm(2), San Antonio Silver Stars, Phoenix Mercury(2), Minnesota Lynx(3). So parity has never been an issue.

If you take a look at the NBA over the same time span you will see only about 5 or 6 teams have won a title

 

[WestTXFan]

I LOVE the WNBA, but the are constantly in flux. I remember when Rebecca Lobo, Cheryl Swoops, and Lisa Leslie were the original "3 to see." Come on though! L.A. Spark had to be bailed out by Magic at the beginning of the season. In its seventeen year history of champions, three cities (Houston Comets-4, Sacramento Monarchs-1, Detroit Shock-2) are no longer represented. Does anyone remember the Cleveland Rockers, or Charlotte Sting? Five of the current teams promote sponsors on their jersey rather than the team (Minnesota, Indiana, Phoenix, Tulsa, and Washington). They appear fledgling. Let's face it. Without the NBA, ESPN, and NASCAR-like sponsorship the WNBA would be PBA Bowling. I still love this game too.

 

[easttexastrash]

I really hope the WNBA survives. Even if it takes the NBA commish to make it happen, it is good for young players to have a career goal in the USA. And for fans of WBB it would be a shame to lose this league.

 

[easttexastrash]

If you take a look at the NBA over the same time span you will see only about 5 or 6 teams have won a title

Touchè

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

iamcbs- - - - Detroit beat the San Antonio Stars for a WNBA title?

Year Winner Result Loser Finals MVP

1997 Houston Comets [a] 65-51 New York Liberty Cynthia Cooper


1998 Houston Comets 2–1 Phoenix Mercuryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WNBA_Finals#cite_note-2 Cynthia Cooper





1999 Houston Comets 2–1 New York Liberty Cynthia Cooper


2000 Houston Comets 2–0 New York Liberty Cynthia Cooper


2001 Los Angeles Sparks 2–0 Charlotte Sting Lisa Leslie

2002 Los Angeles Sparks 2–0 New York Liberty Lisa Leslie
2003 Los Angeles Sparks 1–2 Detroit Shock Ruth Riley
2004 Seattle Storm 2–1 Connecticut Sun Betty Lennox
2005 Sacramento Monarchs 3–1 Connecticut Sun Yolanda Griffith
2006 Sacramento Monarchs 2–3 Detroit Shock Deanna Nolan
2007 Phoenix Mercury 3–2 Detroit Shock Cappie Pondexter
2008 San Antonio Silver Stars 0–3 Detroit Shock Katie Smith
2009 Phoenix Mercury 3–2 Indiana Fever Diana Taurasi
2010 Seattle Storm 3–0 Atlanta Dream Lauren Jackson
2011 Minnesota Lynx 3–0 Atlanta Dream Seimone Augustus
2012 Minnesota Lynx 1–3 Indiana Fever Tamika Catchings
2013 Minnesota Lynx 3–0 Atlanta Dream Maya Moore


Something I thought about this morning, WNBA watch out for the MN Linx! S. Augustus, R. Brunson, M. Wright, and a couple others have missed significant time to injuries and are now back full time! PHX has been the best team and all their players have been injury free so they've been taking quite a pounding over the 14 to 16 games so far! Meanwhile the 3+ girls on the Linx have NOT been taking a beating, they've been healing their injuries so they should be fresher down the stretch than PHX! Might not mean anything, then again it may give the Linx an advantage!

 

[Scotter]

One issue is the overall imbalance in talent between the Western & Eastern conferences which is connected to only the teams not making the playoffs being in the draft lottery. 2 western conference teams keep getting the lottery even if they're not one on of the 4 worst teams. The NBA has the same West-East talent imbalance, but is magnified in a 12 team league. I wish the WNBA would do away with the conferences, but that is unlikely to ever happen.

 

[Striper69]

The three teams at the top have veteran foundations and have added some talented rookies to complement them.

The rest of the teams have rebuilt their teams and are depending on new players/rookies but it will take more than this short season to jell (like Phoenix last year).

I should add that Indiana, Seattle and San Antonio don't fit into that description so much. Seattle's missing their key player and I guess Indy and SA are having off years.

At least it makes the rest of the season more interesting (unlike the NBA). I'll probably be watching every game until the end of the regular season with interest.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

The reality of the situation is whoever wins between MN & PHX in West finals will be the WNBA Champions as either team is far superior to East leader, Atlanta or anyone else that may come out of the East!
It's like in 2004 in MLB whoever won between the Red Sox & NYY was going to slaughter the Cardinals! Sox came back and then destroyed StL in 4!