Lou to Seattle Storm | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Lou to Seattle Storm

I knew it was very unlikely Seattle would be able to keep all 3 of Clark, Howard and Whitcomb. Losing all 3 though is fairly galling.
 
Pretty excited for Lou. I wish that there were more teams in the WNBA. But I understand the whole financial situation with teams. But with more teams, a lot of these talented ladies, like Lou, would not have to keep bouncing around every year or two. This move to Seattle, could be a huge game and career changing moment, for Lou. On paper, I love this move!!
 
It's been a strange career so far for Lou. She went from #4 overall pick to benchwarmer in Chicago to backup in Dallas to instant Euroleague star to...conceivably starting for the defending champs?

It will be interesting to see how much the European success translates to the W where she doesn't figure to have as large of an offensive role as she does overseas.
 
I just realized that the next 4 drafts are going to be interesting since college kids in 2021-2024 will all have the choice whether to go pro or stay for an additional year after the WNBA has already done most of their trades. Any player likely to be a lottery pick can see who has those picks and change their mind if they dislike the teams. And with a player like Paige who is likely destined to be the #1 pick and heavily coveted might she actually be able to force or trade of the #1 pick or decline to enter the draft?
 
baggerbob said:
J
Ezi will be as good as Howard or better in a couple of years. Lou fits well on this team, and will learn to be a good defender.
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I think we need to wait and actually see KLS play in Seattle before we declare it a good fit. Magbegor had her moments as a rookie but has a long way to go.


Again though, it's really about the defense. I'm gonna go ahead and go on the record saying those 2 will never be anywhere near as good on D as the departed pair.

Well, it's mostly about the D. Clark hit 48% and 52% behind the arc the last 2 years. She was 55% overall last year and is a 50% shooter for her career. When your 4th or 5th scoring option can average double figures and be nearly automatic behind the arc, that's pretty damn rare. KLS has a long, long, long way to go to have that kind of efficiency.
 
UcMiami said:
I just realized that the next 4 drafts are going to be interesting since college kids in 2021-2024 will all have the choice whether to go pro or stay for an additional year after the WNBA has already done most of their trades. Any player likely to be a lottery pick can see who has those picks and change their mind if they dislike the teams. And with a player like Paige who is likely destined to be the #1 pick and heavily coveted might she actually be able to force or trade of the #1 pick or decline to enter the draft?
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I wonder if kids who are WNBA-eligible and likely lottery picks will stay rather than leaving.
 
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nwhoopfan said:
I think we need to wait and actually see KLS play in Seattle before we declare it a good fit. Magbegor had her moments as a rookie but has a long way to go.


Again though, it's really about the defense. I'm gonna go ahead and go on the record saying those 2 will never be anywhere near as good on D as the departed pair.

Well, it's mostly about the D. Clark hit 48% and 52% behind the arc the last 2 years. She was 55% overall last year and is a 50% shooter for her career. When your 4th or 5th scoring option can average double figures and be nearly automatic behind the arc, that's pretty damn rare. KLS has a long, long, long way to go to have that kind of efficiency.
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Clark made herself into a good player. Part of the reason for her high shooting percentage is the post-up skills she learned in college. She has mede herself into a good 3-point shooter, making 48% and 52% the past 2 seasons. She's a littler under 40% for her career, though.

As I understand it, both AC and Howard wanted to be elsewhere. I would have liked for Seattle to keep them as well, but they couldn't for one reason or another. I'm not sure how the new players will do, but I'm optimistic. Dupree is a proven pro, though aging, and Lou and Kiki are young talents who are affordable.
 
Lou's Euroleague games can be watched here. It also has stats and box scores

www.fiba.basketball

EuroLeague Women | FIBA Basketball Events

Re-live the competition - EuroLeague Women. Explore all games & results, stats, highlights, participating players & teams.
www.fiba.basketball www.fiba.basketball

The best 3 games are the games on 1/22, 1/21, and 1/19.

The next round of the Euroleague games will be in mid March. Lou's team is playing another Spanish team, Spar Girona, in a home and home series.

Lou's team, Avenida, will post the game info, date time, which streaming site will have it on their Twitter site. These are for the Spanish League games. It usually is posted the day before the game, and then on game day.

If the games are on Canal Feb TV look at FEB These are free to watch.

If the games are on Teledeporte, you will need a VPN, switched to a Spain location, to watch the games. You can get the link here Estoy viendo el deporte en directo en +TDP con RTVE.es

There have some games streamed on one of the teams twitter sites too.

The game tomorrow, Thursday, 2/11, has been postponed as a member of the visiting team tested positive.
 
Someone told Geno about the trade sending Lou to Seattle for the overall #1 pick and Geno goes "Hmm... interesting". Sounds like he is surprised as well :)
 
nwhoopfan said:
Okay, who replaced Clark then? Nobody. They need a starting 3. I don't think KLS is it, but look at their roster and try to find a starting 3.
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For Sami’s three point shooting.
 
MilfordHusky said:
I wonder if kids who are WNBA-eligible and likely lottery picks will stay rather than leaving.
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I think a team like the Liberty during their 'tear down' would tempt a player like Sabrina (if she had a choice for a fifth college season) or Paige in 2024 to at least consider staying in school rather than get stuck in a dumpster fire. There might be another dumpster fire the next year, but at least it might be a better team. You know the order of the draft long before the WCBB players have to decide.
 
Lou is the best player on the best (undefeated) Spanish League team and undefeated in EuroLeague and has become a decent rebounder. Tiffany is also tearing it up, second only to Lou.
 
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The problem with Katie Lou is that no one has the confidence she can assert herself in the offense unless it’s bombing threes. I’m somewhat partial to agree. I think she could be good if she got the ball more but she’s def not a first option even though she was drafted so high. Her college tenure was somewhat underwhelming and she’s not getting moved all around for nothing. I’m glad to see her reunited with Stewie and hoping a change of scenery can turn her NBA career around, but I feel like it might be just more of the same. I’m always open to be proven wrong though
 
nwhoopfan said:
Yep. Hard to understand what they were thinking.

Although it wasn't a direct trade, they basically got KLS for Howard. Not even close to equal value.
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They got KLS/MHH and a throwaway 2nd round pick for Howard. I don't see either being a marquee player for Seattle....I think this was an awful trade for them.

Everything with KLS in the WNBA has been somewhat of a headscratcher...from being picked 4th overall ahead of Arike/Collier, to being traded for Stevens, to now being traded for the #1 overall pick after 2 disappointing seasons. I know this draft appears to be quite weak, but potentially passing up a player like Charli Collier in favor of KLS makes no sense to me.

MHH could be a decent backup post to Stewart/Ezi but she doesn't bring the same elements to the table that Howard did.

Dallas comes out as huge winners and now has the top 2 picks.
 
I think the Mercury made a great trade to give up picks for Walker/Nurse. In Nurse they get an unselfish player who is capable of knocking down shots but will be fine deflecting to the Big 3. Walker moves well off the ball and is a great catch and shoot player. The 6th pick in the 2021 draft is likely going to be a worse player than Walker/Nurse, and if Phoenix has a decent year they'll have a lower pick in 2022. Question is, will they have a good year? On paper they look like a massive title threat year in and year out but have consistently underachieved for a while now.
 
Dokey said:
For Sami’s three point shooting.
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Sami made 154 3's in 4 seasons w/ the Storm. Lou has made 27 3's in 2 seasons so far. I think they came up a bit short in that exchange. Sami shoots them at a higher clip too.
 
nwhoopfan said:
Yep. Hard to understand what they were thinking.

Although it wasn't a direct trade, they basically got KLS for Howard. Not even close to equal value.
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In Genos presser, they said Lou was traded to Seattle for #1 pick, his face had that subtle incredulous look followed by "hmm".
 
KLS was a very good college player and while she has been a very underwhelming pro I am not ready to throw the towel in on her yet. She's young and has shown she can knock down open shots but hasn't really developed any part of her game beyond distance shooter. When she utilized as a "stretch 4" it was a terrible fit because she isn't strong enough to rebound or defend most 4 players. Her confidence has likely taken a hit but she gets another shot to make a name for herself on a veteran team.

I don't get what Seattle is doing letting two starters get way in what was essentially two players who have yet to really develop plus add another veteran in her twilight years. Keeping Prince and Tuck (for the time being) is head scratching as well. I can't see the Storm getting another title out of this group though even with Stewie and Loyd.
 
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RPM101370 said:
Am I understanding correctly, they traded the #1 pick for Lou?
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At the end of the day, yes. To paraphrase, ESPNW's write-up:

The NY Liberty traded that No. 1 pick to the Seattle Storm in the Natasha Howard deal. Howard, 29, was a starter for the Storm's 2018 and 2020 WNBA championship teams.

Then Seattle flipped that No. 1 pick to Dallas in exchange for former UConn forward Katie Lou Samuelson and the Wings' 2022 second-round draft pick.
 
I enjoy the analysis of people who say Lou is the same player who got 4 minutes of game action in Chicago or had to stand on the perimeter in Dallas as Arike had the ball. It’s like you haven’t seen her play in the games in Spain. Or you think Seattle doesn’t have 2 incredibly unselfish players who draw attention and will give her the ability to use her full arsenal.

I look forward to being right on this: Lou is going to have a big year in Seattle.
 
nwhoopfan said:
Yep. Hard to understand what they were thinking.

Although it wasn't a direct trade, they basically got KLS for Howard. Not even close to equal value.
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Looking at the transaction by itself, it looks to me more like Lou for Charli Collier.

Based upon how Lou has been playing this year in Spain, I get it. She has been outplaying a lot of big names. I will admit to not knowing much about Collier, though. 2021 seems like an unusually weak draft.

I also know teams are limited by financial considerations. Hard to keep a veteran championship team together in the WNBA, NFL, NBA, etc. Things that may not make sense often become clearer in that light. Keeping money available for Stewie is undoubtedly a priority.
 
nwhoopfan said:
I think we need to wait and actually see KLS play in Seattle before we declare it a good fit. Magbegor had her moments as a rookie but has a long way to go.


Again though, it's really about the defense. I'm gonna go ahead and go on the record saying those 2 will never be anywhere near as good on D as the departed pair.

Well, it's mostly about the D. Clark hit 48% and 52% behind the arc the last 2 years. She was 55% overall last year and is a 50% shooter for her career. When your 4th or 5th scoring option can average double figures and be nearly automatic behind the arc, that's pretty damn rare. KLS has a long, long, long way to go to have that kind of efficiency.
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You seem pretty sure, If Ezi went to college at Uconn would be a junior. She is only 20, and has been on Australia's national team for 3 years. I firmly believe she will be a lot better then Howard. L Jackson seems to see her as the future of Australian basketball.
She knows a little more about talent then you or I.
 
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Waquoit said:
If she flops here too, will the Yarders here blame her teammates and coach like they did at the other places she's been?
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Howard wanted out of Seattle. Clark got a contract from Washington that the Storm were not willing to give her. Perhaps they should have received more for Howard but who knows what went on.

Losing Howard and Clark hurts defensively for sure. Howard was not great in the bubble.
 
Seattle is going to have to pay Stewart and Loyd both a truck load of their cap next year so signing Howard and/or Clark a boat load this year was not going to happen. Personally I think they will miss Clark more than Howard as she was so solid. They have Dupree and Magbegor to fill in for Howard (and Langhorne's retirement) and have also added Talbot and Young today to FA contracts so their forward position is getting pretty filled. MHH was drafted first round #6 by Reeves who generally does pretty well at evaluating talent. The one spot they haven't filled yet is Clark's defensive stopper and spot scorer at the guard/wing. Maybe they see Young or MHH filling that role?

I like the pickup of Lou - she has had a tough first couple of years as a pro, but I think Seattle is a great fit. Evaluators certainly seem to like her - drafted 4th, traded for the 6th pick from the year before, and then traded for this year's #1. Hard to succeed as a rookie through injury and a coach who didn't want you. But three different GM's have now evaluated her as a high first round draft value and the two GM's trading her also put a very high price on her.
 
nwhoopfan said:
Sami made 154 3's in 4 seasons w/ the Storm. Lou has made 27 3's in 2 seasons so far. I think they came up a bit short in that exchange. Sami shoots them at a higher clip too.
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This is where there are lies, damned lies, and statistics. The Sky had their 3 point specialist, the Wings had a ball hog in Arike. Lou will get her threes at Seattle.
 
UcMiami said:
Seattle is going to have to pay Stewart and Loyd both a truck load of their cap next year so signing Howard and/or Clark a boat load this year was not going to happen. Personally I think they will miss Clark more than Howard as she was so solid. They have Dupree and Magbegor to fill in for Howard (and Langhorne's retirement) and have also added Talbot and Young today to FA contracts so their forward position is getting pretty filled. MHH was drafted first round #6 by Reeves who generally does pretty well at evaluating talent. The one spot they haven't filled yet is Clark's defensive stopper and spot scorer at the guard/wing. Maybe they see Young or MHH filling that role?
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Which Young is on Seattle now?
 
MilfordHusky said:
Which Young is on Seattle now?
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Tamera. More warmed up leftovers. I'll try to contain my excitement. Didn't play last year and averaged 5 ppg in '19 for the Aces.


edit--and she's 34, so another move that flies in the face of trying to make the lineup younger
 
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