May 2024 WNBA Thread, part II

[bballnut90]

Fever game was a frustrating watch last night. The first half the Fever were just dreadful offensively. So many blown wide open looks (seriously Kelsey Mitchell had to be 0-5 or 0-6 on layups) and LA didn't look much better. Second half was far more entertaining. Clark had some nice moments but it still feels like she's figuring it out. Granted she put up 30 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks which is a career night for most. LA put a lot less energy into stopping her compared to other squads who double her constantly and her productivity was the result of that. Clark's defense is improving at a fast rate too as the season goes on. She looks more dialed in and is hustling and making plays. The negative is she got called for a bunch of ticky tack fouls and had a negative demeanor most of the night. Too many turnovers and just not much positive energy which spread to her teammates. Indiana looked off altogether though aside from a couple of hot stretches, particularly Mitchell who was excellent in the 3rd. Boston played well but also was getting frustrated by calls.

Definitely get the vibe there's some locker room issues in Indiana. Sides made comments postgame basically calling out Clark and teammates to stop complaining to the refs and said that she (Sides) would be the one getting technicals. Problem is, Sides isn't contesting calls or fighting for her players so it comes off as throwing her team under the bus. Also, the Nalyssa Smith situation is tough because right now Fagbenle is clearly more impactful on both ends. I think most of it just comes down to sheer focus and effort. Temi hustles after everything and brings energy where Smith looks lost at times on both ends and isn't running the floor as hard or making the hustle plays. I haven't followed the twitter drama but apparently Smith or her family is involved in some which never helps anything. I'm also surprised we're seeing so little from Berger who has looked solid in limited minutes.

For LA, Hamby looks great this year and Nurse torched Indiana in the second half. Happy to see Dearica thrive after her Vegas fiasco--I didn't expect her to develop into an All-WNBA caliber forward but she's been outstanding this year. Burrell and McDonald were also huge off the bench and I was happy to see Rickea Jackson start even though she wasn't as smooth as previous games.

 

[baggerbob]

Phoenix. They don't value defense anyway and any help scoring from the front line would be a bonus. The organization typically trades away all their draft picks but perhaps Indiana would be willing to bite on the Mercury first round picks from 2028 through 2038.

Smith matador defense would fit right into the installation the million dollar coach is struggling to affect in the dumpster fire that is Phoenix.

That said due to the incompetent malpractice is the front office I'm not sure that there's any salary cap room in the valley of the Sun not that the mark are getting their money's worth.

The Mercury will get healthy on offense in New York. Sandy doesn't seem to have any idea how to coach this year.
The Liberty have looked terrible the last 2 games.
Sabrina, Laney, and Jones have been really bad, and the bench is a disaster.

 

[nwhoopfan]

⬅️ Has no biases. Except for Chelsea Gray, Elizabeth Williams, Lexie Brown, Dearica Hamby, and Cheyenne Parker.

Well yeah, you're obviously a completely non biased sports fan.

 

[WBBTakeover]

It may be my Gamecock bias showing, but I feel like Boston is being unfairly treated by the refs. There have been a few questionable calls lately. Like, Jonquel Jones and AT get away with a lot more.

This entire post is 100% spot on. Aliyah gets an unfair whistle while the two players you named get to assault their opponents seemingly with impunity.

That said, I would expect Aliyah to get a more favorable whistle as she picks up more of the tricks of the trade.

 

[WBBTakeover]

The Mercury will get healthy on offense in New York. Sandy doesn't seem to have any idea how to coach this year.
The Liberty have looked terrible the last 2 games.
Sabrina, Laney, and Jones have been really bad, and the bench is a disaster.

It wouldn't surprise me to see the Mercury-Liberty game be closer than expected (they're not going to miss 26 of their 27 three-point shots tonight), but I would expect the Liberty to win.

That said, I have to agree that Sandy Brondello has done a poor job so far this year. Jonquel, unsurprisingly, has disappeared after a hot start. Sabrina is shooting 38% from the field and 27% from three (that's hideous shooting). Betnijah is struggling to find a consistent role offensively this year. I'll stand by my prediction that Brondello gets the axe if the Liberty don't win it all this year.

 

[WBBTakeover]

The game of the night should be Aces-Lynx, with the Lynx likely to prevail (Vegas is a 4.5-point favorite, but that PG position is a mess, the lack of playable depth is concerning, and the inability to defend the three-point line is infuriating). Hopefully a vet (Odyssey Sims?) gets signed before the Dallas game.

 

[omshanti]

Fever game was a frustrating watch last night. The first half the Fever were just dreadful offensively. So many blown wide open looks (seriously Kelsey Mitchell had to be 0-5 or 0-6 on layups) and LA didn't look much better. Second half was far more entertaining. Clark had some nice moments but it still feels like she's figuring it out. Granted she put up 30 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks which is a career night for most. LA put a lot less energy into stopping her compared to other squads who double her constantly and her productivity was the result of that. Clark's defense is improving at a fast rate too as the season goes on. She looks more dialed in and is hustling and making plays. The negative is she got called for a bunch of ticky tack fouls and had a negative demeanor most of the night. Too many turnovers and just not much positive energy which spread to her teammates. Indiana looked off altogether though aside from a couple of hot stretches, particularly Mitchell who was excellent in the 3rd. Boston played well but also was getting frustrated by calls.

Definitely get the vibe there's some locker room issues in Indiana. Sides made comments postgame basically calling out Clark and teammates to stop complaining to the refs and said that she (Sides) would be the one getting technicals. Problem is, Sides isn't contesting calls or fighting for her players so it comes off as throwing her team under the bus. Also, the Nalyssa Smith situation is tough because right now Fagbenle is clearly more impactful on both ends. I think most of it just comes down to sheer focus and effort. Temi hustles after everything and brings energy where Smith looks lost at times on both ends and isn't running the floor as hard or making the hustle plays. I haven't followed the twitter drama but apparently Smith or her family is involved in some which never helps anything. I'm also surprised we're seeing so little from Berger who has looked solid in limited minutes.

For LA, Hamby looks great this year and Nurse torched Indiana in the second half. Happy to see Dearica thrive after her Vegas fiasco--I didn't expect her to develop into an All-WNBA caliber forward but she's been outstanding this year. Burrell and McDonald were also huge off the bench and I was happy to see Rickea Jackson start even though she wasn't as smooth as previous games.

There is definitely a locker room issue. Clark has offensive prowess yet whines and complains non stop. She had a good offensive game yet her turnovers and technical clearly hurt the team’s chances to win. Will the Fever gel together soon? Boston is in her second year so she deserves some grace here.

 

[BlueSkyGLW]

Who among the WNBA coaches are doing best in turning their reconstructed roster into a smooth functioning team, even if it is not yet a finished product? My nominees:

Cheryl Reeve Minnesota Lynx
Stephanie White Connecticut Sun
Noelle Quinn Seattle Storm

But if you include the use of rookies, Los Angeles Sparks and Chicago Sky perhaps rise to the top

 

[nwhoopfan]

So...Vegas is averaging only a little more than 1 ppg less than last year. Young is averaging more assists than Gray did last season and an insane 5:1 A/TO. Plum is averaging a career high in assists w/ a 3:1 A/TO. Methinks someone doth protest too much. And Wilson is by far averaging a career high in points, so she certainly is getting plenty of touches.

 

[The deacon]

There is definitely a locker room issue. Clark has offensive prowess yet whines and complains non stop. She had a good offensive game yet her turnovers and technical clearly hurt the team’s chances to win. Will the Fever gel together soon? Boston is in her second year so she deserves some grace here.

And let's see, Caitlin is in, what, her sixth or seventh season... no wait, she's in her first month in the league. Perhaps grace for her?

 

[ochoopsfan]

 

[cancontent]

Dang it.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Ionescu w/ 10 points on 4-4 shooting and 5 assists in the first quarter. She's awful, they should bench her.

Mercury getting run off the court. Do they only try when they play against the Aces? I already said they should've petitioned the league to have all their games against Vegas.

 

[nwhoopfan]

And let's see, Caitlin is in, what, her sixth or seventh season... no wait, she's in her first month in the league. Perhaps grace for her?

I'm sensing a one way street. Boston cannot be criticized because she is a precious angel, but everybody else you can bash as much as you want.

 

[cancontent]

I'm sensing a one way street. Boston cannot be criticized because she is a precious angel, but everybody else you can bash as much as you want.

Nah....Boston has gotten her fair share of criticism here and some of it is warranted. Your point about it being a one way street is also fair however, as there definitely have been posts with skewed opinions due to fan biases towards quite a few different players.

 

[BigTenGuy]

There is definitely a locker room issue. Clark has offensive prowess yet whines and complains non stop. She had a good offensive game yet her turnovers and technical clearly hurt the team’s chances to win. Will the Fever gel together soon? Boston is in her second year so she deserves some grace here.

The Fever clearly have some on-the-floor chemistry issues, and Clark is a big part of that problem. But not sure they have locker room problems. Perhaps they do, but haven’t read (maybe I missed it) any player comments suggesting there are locker room problems among the players.

 

[Bigboote]

I haven’t seen this here, sorry if it’s been posted. Diamond Miller out “indefinitely” after knee aurgery. Evidently she’s had surgery on this knee before, and on the other knee during this past offseason.

Lynx's Miller has knee procedure, out indefinitely

Lynx forward Diamond Miller had a successful surgical procedure on her right knee and will be out indefinitely.

www.espn.com

 

[Geew1992]

Ionescu w/ 10 points on 4-4 shooting and 5 assists in the first quarter. She's awful, they should bench her.

Mercury getting run off the court. Do they only try when they play against the Aces? I already said they should've petitioned the league to have all their games against Vegas.

Looks like they came to play so far

 

[cancontent]

Looks like they came to play so far

Now. . Earlier, it looked like NY was going to run away with the game. Maybe @nwhoopfan's posting jinx spurred something there?

 

[nwhoopfan]

Looks like they came to play so far

My jinx strikes again!

 

[nwhoopfan]

NY started 7-11 from 3. Fool's gold. 2-17 since and they just keep jacking them up. Why does JJ have 6 attempts behind the arc? Stewie has had a smaller defender on her almost constantly and the Lib refuse to take advantage of it.

Kudos to the Merc for fighting back into this game. Cloud has been going off.

 

[baggerbob]

It wouldn't surprise me to see the Mercury-Liberty game be closer than expected (they're not going to miss 26 of their 27 three-point shots tonight), but I would expect the Liberty to win.

That said, I have to agree that Sandy Brondello has done a poor job so far this year. Jonquel, unsurprisingly, has disappeared after a hot start. Sabrina is shooting 38% from the field and 27% from three (that's hideous shooting). Betnijah is struggling to find a consistent role offensively this year. I'll stand by my prediction that Brondello gets the axe if the Liberty don't win it all this year.

If she doesn't get Sabrina in line, and fix the problems with Laney she might be gone before then. The bench is terrible, Sabally is wasted money. She might be athletic, but has no basketball IQ.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Brondello with a coaching clinic. Doing absolutely nothing as her team wastes one possession after another bricking 3's. Now on a 2-20 streak from deep.

 

[nwhoopfan]

If she doesn't get Sabrina in line

They'd be getting blown out this game if it wasn't for Ionescu.

 

[nwhoopfan]

JJ finally going to work in the paint and has 3 buckets down the stretch. Stewie not asserting herself at all.