Is Courtney Vandersloot the Greatest Point Guard of All Time? | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Is Courtney Vandersloot the Greatest Point Guard of All Time?

vowelguy said:
Refresh my memory, how many Olympic teams has Vandersloot been part of?
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Come on now, she had no chance of making any Olympic teams w/ Bird and Whalen firmly entrenched throughout her entire career.
 
Boy, this thread will be seen in a new light. :eek::eek::eek::oops::oops::oops:
 
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Whalen made her first USA Basketball WNT when she was 28 years old. Courtney Vandersloot chose to become a Hungarian citizen when she was 28 years old. Might Sloot have been in Tenerife last year had she not chosen Hungary (for financial reasons)? I guess we’ll never know.
 
Are Olympic gold medals better than WNBA Championships in this discussion? Just curious. Olympic golds would favor Bird, but WNBA Championships are in Whalen's favor.
 
Sloot made a nice play on defense late today and then made a really bad decision that set up incredible heroics by Dearica Hamby. Sloot had Stef open in the middle of the floor and tried to thread the pass down the crowded sidelines.
 
nwhoopfan said:
Are Olympic gold medals better than WNBA Championships in this discussion? Just curious. Olympic golds would favor Bird, but WNBA Championships are in Whalen's favor.
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I believe the count is 4-3 in favor of Whalen. Lauren Jackson kept getting hurt, whereas Maya Moore did not.
 
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Sue's accomplishments.

 
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UConnCat said:
Sue's accomplishments

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Apparently that's all invalidated by Sue's 0.1 WNBA block per game average so.....
 
Clearly Bird has accomplished more throughout her career than Vandersloot has. Just as clearly, Sue has had more overall talent around her during her career than Courtney has. Make of that whatever you will.


Just out of curiosity I took a look at turnovers for comparison. Seems like Sloot has a reputation of being more of a gambler and a bit careless with her passes. Stats are a bit surprising. Sue averages 2.5 TO/game during her career to Sloot's 2.7/game. I'd say that's pretty negligible.
 
Dokey said:
No, too many careless passes.
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Seriously, look at the post directly above yours. Sloot has averaged 0.2 more TOs per game over her career than Bird has. All of those alleged careless passes have led to about the same number of TOs as Sue. So......
 
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UConnCat said:
Sue's accomplishments

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That's a very nice mix of individual AND team accomplishments. The 11 All-Star selections are a record. Sloot has 2.

In addition, Sue is the most decorated player in USA Basketball and FIBA history. (Her lanky teammate in Seattle is on pace to match or surpass Sue's FIBA totals, but she is more than a decade behind.)

That last item--freaking Bronze medal--still motivates Sue. Sue does not like Bronze!
 
Orangutan said:
This thread is so depressing. Only one person here actually believes the answer to the thread's titular question could possibly be yes.

So it just serves as an opportunity for people to be negative about a great player.
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I like Sloot. She's an exciting player and an excellent passer. Her individual highs may be comparable to Sue's, and she passes Sue in assists per game for a season or two, but she needs to be excellent for another 6-8 years to have a comparable career.
 
MilfordHusky said:
That's a very nice mix of individual AND team accomplishments. The 11 All-Star selections are a record. Sloot has 2.

In addition, Sue is the most decorated player in USA Basketball and FIBA history. (Her lanky teammate in Seattle is on pace to match or surpass Sue's FIBA totals, but she is more than a decade behind.)

That last item--freaking Bronze medal--still motivates Sue. Sue does not like Bronze!
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After Seattle won its 2nd WNBA title in 2010 Sue Bird said: "I judge myself as a player based on winning. That's how I judge myself." Against that metric, she's pretty good.

Agler coached her. "Sue is one of the best players in the world," Seattle coach Brian Agler said. "She has this ability to rise up in big moments. When the team really needs big plays, she's extremely skilled. But her biggest attribute is her ability to make her team better. Every season, she just keeps amazing me with how smart she is and the decisions that she makes."

Sue hasn't only played with other great players. She has led those teams and made her teams better.
 
UConnCat said:
After Seattle won its 2nd WNBA title in 2010 Sue Bird said: "I judge myself as a player based on winning. That's how I judge myself." Against that metric, she's pretty good.

Agler coached her. "Sue is one of the best players in the world," Seattle coach Brian Agler said. "She has this ability to rise up in big moments. When the team really needs big plays, she's extremely skilled. But her biggest attribute is her ability to make her team better. Every season, she just keeps amazing me with how smart she is and the decisions that she makes."

Sue hasn't only played with other great players. She has led those teams and made her teams better.
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I believe she called out MVP Lauren Jackson for not running the play that was called. Sue is the E.F. Hutton of the WNBA.

 
eebmg said:
Funny how this could be posed after Sue Bird's heroics last year. :eek::eek::eek::confused::confused::confused:
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When you are playing against the GOAT, who is at the top of her game and has never lost a winner-take-all game, you have to be really good.

 
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Sloot is a better passer than Bird IMO but in terms of greatness Sue is far ahead. People point out that Sloot hasnt had the same caliber of teammates (Sue has won all titles alongside DT, Lauren Jackson and Breanna Stewart) but at the end of the day winning counts for a lot and Vandersloot hasn't won any major championships. I dont put much credence in World Championships or Olympic Golds since the USA is so far ahead of anyone else and it honestly comes down to if a player makes a team or not (which a lot of times comes down to politics), but Bird is far ahead in the WNBA and NCAA title department.

At the end of the day Sue usually wins games and elevates her game in the clutch. She always knows when to step up and take over. We've seen that many times throughout her career. We really havent seen that from Courtney. If a game is on the line and you have one possession left, which one do you want making the decision on what to do on the last play? I'd pick Sue every time over Sloot.
 
2019 WNBA.com GM Survey: Best Players and Coaches

Who is the best point guard in the WNBA?
1. Sue Bird, Seattle Storm – 67%
T-2. Diana Taurasi, Phoenix Mercury; Courtney Vandersloot, Chicago Sky – 17%

Which player is the best passer?
1. Courtney Vandersloot, Chicago Sky – 42%
2. Sue Bird, Seattle Storm – 33%
3. Chelsea Gray, Los Angeles Sparks – 17%
4. Candace Parker, Los Angeles Sparks – 8%

Which player is the best leader?
1. Sue Bird, Seattle Storm – 83%
2. Nneka Ogwumike, Los Angeles Sparks – 17%

Which player has the highest basketball I.Q.?
1. Sue Bird, Seattle Storm – 67%
2. Diana Taurasi, Phoenix Mercury – 17%
T-3. Candace Parker, Los Angeles Sparks; Elizabeth Williams, Atlanta Dream – 8%

Which player is the best at making her teammates better?
1. Sue Bird, Seattle Storm – 83%
T-2. Nneka Ogwumike, Los Angeles Sparks; Breanna Stewart, Seattle Storm – 8%


2019 WNBA.com GM Survey: Best Players and Coaches - WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA
 
I agree that this is kind of a silly thread, on a UConn board no less. However, I'm sure Dawn Staley would LOVE to have Courtney Vandersloot as an option at PG right now for team USA. Vandersloot, who is 7-8 years younger than Bird and Whalen, kind of got stuck behind them in a USA basketball sense, and then decided to become a Hungarian citizen to have a chance at becoming an Olympian. She is not the first great WNBA player (see: Becky Hammon, Kristi Toliver) to make this move, as USA basketball, for whatever reason, sometimes just misses on players who are very worthy of at least having tryouts (Katie Douglas and Vicki Johnson appear top of mind).
 
bbsamjj said:
I agree that this is kind of a silly thread, on a UConn board no less. However, I'm sure Dawn Staley would LOVE to have Courtney Vandersloot as an option at PG right now for team USA. Vandersloot, who is 7-8 years younger than Bird and Whalen, kind of got stuck behind them in a USA basketball sense, and then decided to become a Hungarian citizen to have a chance at becoming an Olympian. She is not the first great WNBA player (see: Becky Hammon, Kristi Toliver) to make this move, as USA basketball, for whatever reason, sometimes just misses on players who are very worthy of at least having tryouts (Katie Douglas and Vicki Johnson appear top of mind).
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Vandersloot did not become a Hungarian citizen so she could become an Olympian. Hungary's chances of making the Olympics is pretty close to zero with or without Sloot. Her decision was about making more money on her club team. I said at the time that I hoped she sat down with Carol Callan and USA Basketball before making that decision but I don't know if that ever happened.
 
UConnCat said:
Vandersloot did not become a Hungarian citizen so she could become an Olympian. Hungary's chances of making the Olympics is pretty close to zero with or without Sloot. Her decision was about making more money on her club team. I said at the time that I hoped she sat down with Carol Callan and USA Basketball before making that decision but I don't know if that ever happened.
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Ah, my bad on the facts then. either way, she's been on USA basketball's orbit, just never enough to make the push past bird or whalen.
 
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