Kiah Stokes Double - Double | The Boneyard

Kiah Stokes Double - Double

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I'd like to see this same type of performance Friday night against the Sun.
First time back to Ct in a Liberty uniform. I'll be there.
 
WestTXFan said:
Kiah Stokes: 13 points; 11 rebounds; 27 minutes. WNBA: New York Liberty versus Chicago Sky. Who is this Masked Woman?
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Another footnote is that Kiah played 28 minutes (per the box score on ESPN). More than any other Liberty player in this game in. I think the needle has moved just a bit for Kiah after 21 games into the season. She's obviously more comfortable now, than at the beginning of the season.

She now KNOWS that she CAN play at this level. It appears that the game has slowed down for her just a bit. The TV announcer said that Laimbeer feels that Kiah will be a journeyman WNBA player. Not necessarily a 20 point a game player, but she could easily average a double double in a couple of years. She was 6 0f 8 tonight in FG attempts.
 
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As of now, the best teams in the WNBA are Maya's team and Tina's team. They were pretty good when they played together.

BTW, Maya had 32 and 9 in a win over San Antonio tonight.
 
WestTXFan said:
Kiah Stokes: 13 points; 11 rebounds; 27 minutes. WNBA: New York Liberty versus Chicago Sky. Who is this Masked Woman?
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And 5 turnovers...I have seen every game of hers so far. Still gets lost sometimes in games, but I have noticed that recently teammates are looking for her especially on pick and rolls. They even ran a great out of bounds play for her where she dribbled around a player for a layup. Tonight she took and made a shot from the elbow as well as the worst looking hook shot you will ever see. I think she is making progress on the offensive end...slowly but surely. I don't know if she will be RoY, but she is a lock for the all rookie team. The interesting thing is there is some stats guy for Swish Appeal who says Kiah will be the RoY and the DPoY. I don't know about that, but I like his thinking.
 
bschwartz said:
And 5 turnovers...I have seen every game of hers so far. Still gets lost sometimes in games, but I have noticed that recently teammates are looking for her especially on pick and rolls. They even ran a great out of bounds play for her where she dribbled around a player for a layup. Tonight she took and made a shot from the elbow as well as the worst looking hook shot you will ever see. I think she is making progress on the offensive end...slowly but surely. I don't know if she will be RoY, but she is a lock for the all rookie team. The interesting thing is there is some stats guy for Swish Appeal who says Kiah will be the RoY and the DPoY. I don't know about that, but I like his thinking.
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I've always wondered if maybe she could help herself with a hook shot. More so for Griner. A Kareem-like sky hook and it would be Good Night Miami. Kiah's hands might not be big enough, but she's got the gracefulness for it.
 
As impossible as it might be turn off your UConn fan hat to answer this question

Half way through the WNBA season. If you had a do over and you're the CT Sun do you still draft Eliz Williams or draft Kiah Stokes? If not either player who would you draft?
 
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bschwartz said:
And 5 turnovers...I have seen every game of hers so far. Still gets lost sometimes in games, but I have noticed that recently teammates are looking for her especially on pick and rolls. They even ran a great out of bounds play for her where she dribbled around a player for a layup. Tonight she took and made a shot from the elbow as well as the worst looking hook shot you will ever see. I think she is making progress on the offensive end...slowly but surely. I don't know if she will be RoY, but she is a lock for the all rookie team. The interesting thing is there is some stats guy for Swish Appeal who says Kiah will be the RoY and the DPoY. I don't know about that, but I like his thinking.
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She is putting up some pretty heady stats in the overall evaluation categories along with plugging along at 3rd in blocks. Stokes has the highest Defensive Rating in the league by quite a bit at 88.3, and she's 4th in Defensive Win Shares and would be higher with more minutes. Win Shares Per 48 Minutes kind of describes how good you are when you're on the floor, and Kiah's at #9 in the WNBA (Maya's #2 behind EDD and Stef is at #5). If you look at Win Shares stats, Kiah is by far the best FOY candidate. Note that Kiah has a Win Share rating of 2.1, which is among the top 20 players, while the player drafted #2 is at 0.2 and the player drafted #1 is at 0.0.

Just saying.
 
DobbsRover2 said:
She is putting up some pretty heady stats in the overall evaluation categories along with plugging along at 3rd in blocks. Stokes has the highest Defensive Rating in the league by quite a bit at 88.3, and she's 4th in Defensive Win Shares and would be higher with more minutes. Win Shares Per 48 Minutes kind of describes how good you are when you're on the floor, and Kiah's at #9 in the WNBA (Maya's #2 behind EDD and Stef is at #5). If you look at Win Shares stats, Kiah is by far the best FOY candidate. Note that Kiah has a Win Share rating of 2.1, which is among the top 20 players, while the player drafted #2 is at 0.2 and the player drafted #1 is at 0.0.

Just saying.
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Just liking.
 
DobbsRover2 said:
She is putting up some pretty heady stats in the overall evaluation categories along with plugging along at 3rd in blocks. Stokes has the highest Defensive Rating in the league by quite a bit at 88.3, and she's 4th in Defensive Win Shares and would be higher with more minutes. Win Shares Per 48 Minutes kind of describes how good you are when you're on the floor, and Kiah's at #9 in the WNBA (Maya's #2 behind EDD and Stef is at #5). If you look at Win Shares stats, Kiah is by far the best FOY candidate. Note that Kiah has a Win Share rating of 2.1, which is among the top 20 players, while the player drafted #2 is at 0.2 and the player drafted #1 is at 0.0.

Just saying.
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It of course helps that she is on a very strong team in terms of the win shares.
 
Wbbfan1 said:
As impossible as it might be turn off your UConn fan hat to answer this question

Half way through the WNBA season. If you had a do over and you're the CT Sun do you still draft Eliz Williams or draft Kiah Stokes? If not either player who would you draft?
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Just my $.02 but... It's hard to say. IMHO Williams is more gifted from a purely basketball sense as an offensive force (more moves around the basket, more ways to score). But it seems like her effort comes and goes. I think Kiah is the better athlete and with her long arms, athleticism, and sense of timing, a more "elite" defender.

I think the jury is still out on this one - Williams reminds me of Kiah Vaughn. Great body and size, but possibly will never be an elite player for her own internal reasons. Kiah, on the other hand, is all effort, hustle, and determination. That "UCONN" attitude can make her better in the long run than either of those 2...
 
Wbbfan1 said:
As impossible as it might be turn off your UConn fan hat to answer this question

Half way through the WNBA season. If you had a do over and you're the CT Sun do you still draft Eliz Williams or draft Kiah Stokes? If not either player who would you draft?
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If I'm not mistaken, Lobo said during the college season that she thinks Stokes will be a better Pro and as early as it is, so far she is right. It's easy to see that Stokes is bound to have a long career in the WNBA as a highly serviceable Center. It sure helps Kiah to be on the Liberty which seems like the perfect team for her with Bill L. as the coach and Tina and Cash as teammates. Williams didn’t show much so far…
 
As much as I would like to have seen Kiah in a Sun uniform, I don't think she would have achieved as much as she has with the Liberty.
 
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I think Kiah is is the right situation. Laimbeer seems to be good for her, and Tina and Swin certainly are.
 
Prior to last nights game (5 TO's), Kiah had 19 TO's in 20 games. That's less
than 1 per game. It was uncharacteristic for her to have 5 in one game. I watched
the game and she had trouble hanging on to the ball last night.

They won the game, she had 13 pts and 11 rebounds. If she was going to mess up,
last night was the game to do it in. Tina had a bad shooting night and Kiah and
others picked her up. Teams are having trouble scoring inside when Kiah and
Tina are in the game. One thing I have noticed is the Kiah has to stay out of foul
trouble so she can be in the game in the forth quarter when they need her the most.

Having her come off the bench has been a good move by Laimbeer.
 
The most impressive thing about the Liberty is their chemistry. I think they are over-performing their raw talent level because everyone fits the scheme so well and buys into Laimbeer's concept. Kiah is a great example.

I think she would have a nice season on any team, but the Liberty suit her down to the ground. Perfect fit.
 
UcMiami said:
It of course helps that she is on a very strong team in terms of the win shares.
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I guess, but the Liberty is only a very strong team on defense, and she is the best defensive player in the league on the best defensive team by far. So I think she is earning her Win Shares, and it's more a case of the Liberty living off her prowess around the hoop. The Liberty is a poor 9th out of the 12 teams in offensive rating, but still have a +4.7 overall rating differential simply because the defense is so terrific.

If the Liberty win the WNBA championship this year, it will not be because they're great at putting the ball in the basket but rather because they're great at keeping the opponents from putting the ball in the basket, and their rookie center is the major part of the reason the balls are not going in for the teams the Liberty play.
 
DobbsRover2 said:
If the Liberty win the WNBA championship this year, it will not be because they're great at putting the ball in the basket but rather because they're great at keeping the opponents from putting the ball in the basket, and their rookie center is the major part of the reason the balls are not going in for the teams the Liberty play.
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One of the major reasons. Tina Charles is a pretty big one, as well.
 
Orangutan said:
One of the major reasons. Tina Charles is a pretty big one, as well.
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Tina is indeed solid on D at least this year, especially now that she can be basically the PF with Stokes and Swords taking care of the C spot. Sometimes a small geographical move (10-15 feet) can lead to a wonderful new change of perspective and great results.
 
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I read every comment on this this topic started by WestTxfan. Great comments by all, thanks.

I've seen most of her games on WNBA access. She's getting a lot of minutes. Laimbeer is depends on her. He's not just putting her out there to give her some pt. As another commenter said, they are starting to look for her, and she's beginning to look for the ball.

I saw that "ugly" shot she took from the top of the elbow that bounced around the basket before it went in. She had to take that shot, she was wide open. I'd like to see more of that. We know Laimbeer and his coaching staff all encourage her to shoot more.

Expect to see a new and improved Kiah Stokes next year. After playing a full WNBA season, and playing a full season in Korea, I'm guessing any confidence concerns she has now will be gone by then.

I've watched so many Liberty games, I've become a Liberty fan. Go figure. :eek:
 
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DobbsRover2 said:
I guess, but the Liberty is only a very strong team on defense, and she is the best defensive player in the league on the best defensive team by far. So I think she is earning her Win Shares, and it's more a case of the Liberty living off her prowess around the hoop. The Liberty is a poor 9th out of the 12 teams in offensive rating, but still have a +4.7 overall rating differential simply because the defense is so terrific.

If the Liberty win the WNBA championship this year, it will not be because they're great at putting the ball in the basket but rather because they're great at keeping the opponents from putting the ball in the basket, and their rookie center is the major part of the reason the balls are not going in for the teams the Liberty play.
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I mean it more as a comparison to the rookies on the Seattle team for example - they have so few wins that the 'win shares' are hard to come by on either end!

I still find it slightly amusing that everyone is touting this new version of Kiah when if you look at stats it is so similar to Kiah in a Uconn uniform. She is a defensive specialist who blocks shots, rebounds, and occasionally scores. She is playing really well and helping her team win games. Just a little comparison:
2014 Uconn - minutes per game 18.3, points 4.5, rebounds 6.8, blocks 3.8, shooting: .570/.500/.750
2015 Liberty- minutes per game 24.6, points 5.9, rebounds 6.3, blocks 2.1, shooting: .568/---/.651

She is playing 33% more minutes and scoring almost 33% more points while rebound and blocking shots at a slightly lower rate, and her shooting from the field is almost identical while she struggles a little more from the charity stripe.
She has certainly moved up in competition but that was never her issue at Uconn - she delivered some of her best games against the toughest front lines as a Uconn player (players she is now seeing in the WNBA) - she has always been a spectacular physical specimen so her physical traits are still exceptional even with that move up in class.
Bottom line is she is delivering what her team needs most this year as she did last year and that continues to be mostly defense and rebounding.
 
Every night, I am rooting for Kiah. And every game she does something that really shows her BB IQ, like running the break and being rewarded.

My biggest frustration with Kiah is her hands. Fielding passes, going for lobs into the post, and going for loose balls, she will fumble it seems five balls a game. I'm not saying she's costing the Liberty 10 points a night, but I have never had a close up of her hands. Does she have small hands for her stature?
 
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