LA Sparks @ Washington Mystics 8/23

[bballnut90]

Well of course they didn't play up to their talent. That's the point.

The 9th best team won 14 games and the 2nd best team won 23 games. That's not minuscule.

Beard isn’t the caliber of player she once was and Sims talent seemed to evade her. Not sure what happened. For as good as their big 3 is, their SG/SF combo just wasn’t this year. I’d take most other teams SG/SF combo and bench play over the Sparks.

And 2nd place vs 9th was only separated by 2-3 games most of the season. Sparks crumbled late without Nneka and fell from being a strong contender to take over 2nd place all the way down to 6th.

 

[bballnut90]

I have to wonder if Beard is done. Agler needs to get Wiese in the starting line up for more offense. Wiese came into the season this year with some type of injury that kept her off the court.

I don’t think Wiese is the answer here...I don’t see her as someone lasting in the league. Williams is a much better athlete and had some great stretches this year. A starting 5 of Candace, Nneka, Carson, Williams and Gray with Sims, Vadeeva and Lavender coming off the bench might be their best option IMO. They should also get a good player at #7 in the draft, it’s another deep class. One of Collier, Durr or Arike could fall their way.

 

[Justavisitor]

I don’t think Wiese is the answer here...I don’t see her as someone lasting in the league. Williams is a much better athlete and had some great stretches this year. A starting 5 of Candace, Nneka, Carson, Williams and Gray with Sims, Vadeeva and Lavender coming off the bench might be their best option IMO. They should also get a good player at #7 in the draft, it’s another deep class. One of Collier, Durr or Arike could fall their way.

I can agree with this. Williams has been great and had she been a starter from Day 1, I am betting their record would have been better. I just don't know what has happened with Sims offense. That #7 draft pick will allow them to get younger on the perimeter too. They are solid in the post, but they really need some better guards. The loss of Toliver has taken a toll that last 2 seasons, to be honest.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I like Wiese, but agree she hasn't shown herself to be a WNBA starter caliber player. She had a couple nice scoring games her rookie season, but this year she barely played and when she did get off the bench she didn't produce at all. I'm pretty sure she didn't score a single point this season. Hard to believe. But she mostly got DNPs and if she got in at all it was for a minute or two at the end of a game.

 

[Carnac]

I like Wiese, but agree she hasn't shown herself to be a WNBA starter caliber player. She had a couple nice scoring games her rookie season, but this year she barely played and when she did get off the bench she didn't produce at all. I'm pretty sure she didn't score a single point this season. Hard to believe. But she mostly got DNPs and if she got in at all it was for a minute or two at the end of a game.

All of those DNP's may translate into the team looking to replace her next season. LA should do no worse than the 8th pick in the first round. There will still be plenty of good quality players still on the board (the 2019 draft is projected to be deep) that can come in and earn HC Brian Agler's trust. [Sparks roster]

 

[nwhoopfan]

All of those DNP's translate into the team looking to replace her next season. LA should do no worse than the 8th pick in the first round. There will still be plenty of good quality players still on the board that can earn Agler's trust.

She did have an unspecified leg injury for a significant chunk of the season, so she was unavailable for some of those games.

Neither Wiese or Samuelson got enough minutes to gain or lose Agler's trust. They simply didn't get a chance. I could see a #8 or so draft pick coming in next year and also not getting many minutes.

It looks to me like some coaches in the WNBA just refuse to try to develop young players. They ride their veterans as far as they can go. It's win now and worry about the future later.

 

[bballnut90]

She did have an unspecified leg injury for a significant chunk of the season, so she was unavailable for some of those games.

Neither Wiese or Samuelson got enough minutes to gain or lose Agler's trust. They simply didn't get a chance. I could see a #8 or so draft pick coming in next year and also not getting many minutes.

It looks to me like some coaches in the WNBA just refuse to try to develop young players. They ride their veterans as far as they can go. It's win now and worry about the future later.

Who do you see refusing to develop young talent? Every team but Connecticut teams has rookies and 2nd year players making big contributions or are rotations players. And Connecticut has multiple 3rd year players playing massive roles.

For LA, Agler has worked Vadeeva in as a rotation player and worked Gray in as a 2nd year player in 2016 before giving her big minutes during their title run.

Samuelson went undrafted in one of the worst drafts in league history and doesn’t have the frame or skills to be a successful pro IMO. I’m shocked she was picked up by the Sparks this year tbh. Wiese as mentioned hasn’t been able to get off the bench...if she was good enough, she would have gotten a chance, especially since they really don’t have a suitable backup PG for Gray. Whoever LA gets in the first round next year will likely be a rotation player and make a much bigger impact than Wiese or Samuelson IMO.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Probably shouldn't pay any attention to anything I say about the WNBA, I don't follow it closely enough to really know what I'm talking about. I think Reeve in particular has done a poor job of developing young players to strengthen her bench behind her core group. 4 Championships speaks for itself but where do they go from here? Whalen retired, Augustus and Brunson can't be too far behind. There's 3 starters either gone or on their last legs. Obviously you still have Maya and Fowles, who else starts? Robinson was a de facto starter much of the season but wasn't very productive. Wright is also old. PG appears to be a problem for them. Zandalasini had her moments this year. Fagbenle had some moments as well. Not sure about them for next year, without some major roster overhaul I don't expect them to improve, could continue downtrending.

I thought Vadeeva should've gotten more minutes this year. Tons of potential. I thought it was a little surprising they actually got her to come here. Don't want to waste that. Lavender is a decent backup post player but has a fairly limited ceiling. With Parker and Ogwumike both in and out of the lineup this season, seems like it would've been smart to try to accelerate Vadeeva's development.

 

[bballnut90]

Probably shouldn't pay any attention to anything I say about the WNBA, I don't follow it closely enough to really know what I'm talking about. I think Reeve in particular has done a poor job of developing young players to strengthen her bench behind her core group. 4 Championships speaks for itself but where do they go from here? Whalen retired, Augustus and Brunson can't be too far behind. There's 3 starters either gone or on their last legs. Obviously you still have Maya and Fowles, who else starts? Robinson was a de facto starter much of the season but wasn't very productive. Wright is also old. PG appears to be a problem for them. Zandalasini had her moments this year. Fagbenle had some moments as well. Not sure about them for next year, without some major roster overhaul I don't expect them to improve, could continue downtrending.

I thought Vadeeva should've gotten more minutes this year. Tons of potential. I thought it was a little surprising they actually got her to come here. Don't want to waste that. Lavender is a decent backup post player but has a fairly limited ceiling. With Parker and Ogwumike both in and out of the lineup this season, seems like it would've been smart to try to accelerate Vadeeva's development.

Reeve’s biggest error was not keeping Howard, although I don’t think there was any way Brunson would’ve been benched in favor of Howard this year given her seniority and incredible success over her career. The problem for Minnesota is they haven’t had a decent draft pick since Maya in 2011...it’s pretty rare to nab a good player with the 11th or 12th pick. They’re not set up in an ideal spot going forward, but she was able to keep their core together for 7 years which is quite remarkable. She got 4 titles and 6 finals appearances out of them. Not sure she pulls that off if she focuses on incorporating young talent from 2015-2017. The 4 rings is worth a few potential down years ahead, bug they still have Maya and Syl who are playing well.

In Agler’s defense, Vadeeva is extremely young and came late. With the hectic schedule this year it would be hard to get her up to speed and incorporate her as a rotation player early on. He did play her more as the year went on but I would’ve rather seen her get minutes over Lavender. LA just seemed off most of the season.

 

[Carnac]

Also keep in mind that L.A. like Minnesota is a veteran laden team. The Lynx are not getting old, they ARE old!!! Because they won the championship last year, Cheryl Reeve (who also the GM) had to bring the team back to try and defend their championship. The team earned that right. But, because they only win the championship every other year, this was not their year, and it appeared that father time (who as we all know is undefeated) had indeed caught up with them.
They began the season with very uncharacteristic 4-6 start. In 2017 (a championship year) they began the season 9-1.

With retirement of Whalen, Starters Rebekkah Brunson who turns 37 in December, Siemone Augustus is 34, Cecilia Zandalasini is 22, and Maya Moore is 29 could use an infusion of youth in their starting lineup. The Lynx and the Sparks are the two hardest rosters for players coming out of college to make. The Lynx had no rookies on their roster this season. The Sparks had 2, Vadeeva and Samuelson. The winds of change will be blowing through the twin cities this winter.