Natalie Butler

[RockyMTblue2]

Russell, hands down.

Butler is not a WNBA caliber player. She never was able to become a force at UCONN when they badly needed height, and then she went on to dominate a very weak conferenceher senior year which led to gaudy numbers. She had a great collegiate career where she got the best of both worlds, playing on championship teams and also finding individual success at lesser programs. She's not a WNBA caliber player though. Doesn't have the quickness, athleticism, skill or ability.

I think she'll have a productive career overseas, and who knows, she could prove me wrong and find a career in the W like Quigley/Latoya Sanders(Pringle)/Erlana Larkins were able to do even after they struggled to find footing. She has an uphill battle though--currently we have a crop of young talented posts who are struggling to make an impact in the league (Russell, Mavunga, Vadeeva, Gulich, Billings, etc) and all of them bring more to the table than Butler. I'm guessing a couple of those players will not be in the league next year either with another strong rookie class on the horizon.

"In two regular season games with the Liberty, Russell averaged 2.5 points and 1.5 rebounds in 16.2 minutes a contest." Auspicious debute to be sure. According to her college coach “a point guard trapped in a post player’s body,” in college Russel was always drifting outside. Capable of dominating weaker opponents, with a nice touch, she too was the poster child for "soft." She's playing 5.5 minutes a game with Seattle and contributing 1.2 points a game with .4 OREBS and 1.3 DREBS.

She is not a WNBA center. Maybe she'll come along, but has yet to make a case.

 

[Reypl21]

"In two regular season games with the Liberty, Russell averaged 2.5 points and 1.5 rebounds in 16.2 minutes a contest." Auspicious debute to be sure. According to her college coach “a point guard trapped in a post player’s body,” in college Russel was always drifting outside. Capable of dominating weaker opponents, with a nice touch, she too was the poster child for "soft." She's playing 5.5 minutes a game with Seattle and contributing 1.2 points a game with .4 OREBS and 1.3 DREBS.

She is not a WNBA center. Maybe she'll come along, but has yet to make a case.

It just goes to show the development players go through at Tennessee. Why on earth are girls going there? They are going to leave TN either the same, or even worse. HW is getting recruits based off of the old glamour of TN, but she is a terrible coach. Russell probably was a red overrated coming out of HS, but if she went to an actual program she would have been good.

 

[SVCBeercats]

"Willie E.Gold, post: 2775348, member: 3875"]Just for fun ,who would you take; Natalie, Mercedes or Sword?

A small lineup!

 

[bballnut90]

"In two regular season games with the Liberty, Russell averaged 2.5 points and 1.5 rebounds in 16.2 minutes a contest." Auspicious debute to be sure. According to her college coach “a point guard trapped in a post player’s body,” in college Russel was always drifting outside. Capable of dominating weaker opponents, with a nice touch, she too was the poster child for "soft." She's playing 5.5 minutes a game with Seattle and contributing 1.2 points a game with .4 OREBS and 1.3 DREBS.

She is not a WNBA center. Maybe she'll come along, but has yet to make a case.

Never said she was a WNBA caliber center. She’s a much better prospect than Butler though with her size, frame and ability to finish inside against good opponents. At this point in time, Russell has more upside than either Butler or Swords, so that’s why I’d choose her. I agree that she isn’t a WNBA caliber center right now and has an uphill battle ahead of her.

 

[bballnut90]

It just goes to show the development players go through at Tennessee. Why on earth are girls going there? They are going to leave TN either the same, or even worse. HW is getting recruits based off of the old glamour of TN, but she is a terrible coach. Russell probably was a red overrated coming out of HS, but if she went to an actual program she would have been good.

I made a very long detailed post a couple of months ago detailing how poor of a job Holly has done developing talent at Tennessee. I agree though, why on earth would any top 10 kid want to play for her when the player development and team results are nonexistent? For a coach who has regularly landed top 10 kids the last 5 years, the best pros she’s had are Harrison and Deshields (who only played for 2 years before quitting).

The only saving grace I have for Holly with Russel is that the 2013 class was filled with top 10 players who never developed into the stars they were expected to become. 8 of the 10 were Russell, Taya Reimer, Kaela Davis, Deshields, Linnae Harper, Jannah Tucker, Rebecca Greenwell and Oderah Chidom. None of those players became stars in college. More of that probably has to do with coaching though than player talent, but it was either a poorly scouted class since there were several standouts who were ranked lower (Nina Davis, Lexie Brown, Kelsey Plum, Lindsey Allen, among others), or the top 10 players picked schools where they didn’t reach their potential.

 

[Vowelguy]

Say whatever you want about my mother but don’t knock GENO!

Au contraire.
The only folks (implicitly) knocking Geno are those who think Butler is the 2nd coming of Lisa Leslie.

I am not one of those people.

 

[shizam]

Au contraire.
The only folks (implicitly) knocking Geno are those who think Butler is the 2nd coming of Lisa Leslie.

I am not one of those people.

I should have noted I meant that in jest. Natalie Butler disappointed as a transfer as far as production and expectations when it was first announced she was transferring from Georgetown. I thought anyone who Geno goes after as a transfer is going to be a high impact player. Not so. She gave full effort and was a limited role player at UConn. No shame in that. She was much more suited for competition verse the likes of Rhode Island, VCU, LaSalle and UMass and she dominated. She returned to the conference she had success in as a Freshman.

 

[Zanzman]

I didn’t have any expectations when she transferred most know the difference in level of play between the big east UConn and the a10 which are 3 different levels

 

[shizam]

I didn’t have any expectations when she transferred most know the difference in level of play between the big east UConn and the a10 which are 3 different levels

I’ll admit you are more astute than I am. I figured if Geno went after a transfer they would be very good while at UConn.

 

[TitleTown]

Call it oxygen deprivation or senillity. I saw Natalie and thought BigMommaStef!

Dolson is/was a much better player than Butler! Dolson had great hands and feet and was an amazing passer. Butler struggled with her footwork and was constantly bobbling passes that hit her in the chest.

 

[DaddyChoc]

Yes, but also imo because she understood that her PT would be limited with Z eligible to play.

exactly... believe that masters crap if you want to

 

[donalddoowop]

I should have noted I meant that in jest. Natalie Butler disappointed as a transfer as far as production and expectations when it was first announced she was transferring from Georgetown. I thought anyone who Geno goes after as a transfer is going to be a high impact player. Not so. She gave full effort and was a limited role player at UConn. No shame in that. She was much more suited for competition verse the likes of Rhode Island, VCU, LaSalle and UMass and she dominated. She returned to the conference she had success in as a Freshman.

As a freshman she played in the Big East. Her senior year she played in the A10.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Dolson is/was a much better player than Butler! Dolson had great hands and feet and was an amazing passer. Butler struggled with her footwork and was constantly bobbling passes that hit her in the chest.

I agree. That is why I reacted against the notion of a back up role; back up role for a player who went to the All Star game??? I think, however, your critique of Natalie is a bit overblown.

 

[oldude]

exactly... believe that masters crap if you want to

While I believe that Z's eligibility was a key factor, I wouldn't go as far as to imply that Nat's Masters at GMU was also not important. Nat's father was Vernon Butler, a very talented teammate of David Robinson at the Naval Academy. After graduating and serving his tour in the Navy, Vernon Butler has established a successful consulting career in global business, security and defense.

Nat's interest in international business most certainly stems from her father. After earning her masters at GMU, Nat decided to play professionally in Belgium, where both NATO and the EU are headquartered. Beyond basketball, I suspect that Nat will be able to employ her masters degree and her father's contacts to begin her business career in Europe.

 

[HopJim]

I agree. That is why I reacted against the notion of a back up role; back up role for a player who went to the All Star game??? I think, however, your critique of Natalie is a bit overblown.

My memory of Nat's expectations must be a bit dimmed. She was a good, not great, A10 player prior to transfer. Not sure why some now comment on such high expectations. While we can all dream, there was not much to support us getting an All Star. If she had not had the severe thumb injury, suspect she would have done better. Overall, in looking back I am glad we had a good backup on a team with little height. Absolutely feel we would have lost a handful of mostly high profile games without Nat. Being one of UConn's top 6-7 players on a #1 ranked team is not a bad thing.

 

[JoePgh]

My memory of Nat's expectations must be a bit dimmed. She was a good, not great, A10 player prior to transfer. Not sure why some now comment on such high expectations. While we can all dream, there was not much to support us getting an All Star. If she had not had the severe thumb injury, suspect she would have done better. Overall, in looking back I am glad we had a good backup on a team with little height. Absolutely feel we would have lost a handful of mostly high profile games without Nat. Being one of UConn's top 6-7 players on a #1 ranked team is not a bad thing.

I agree with this, and I also think that if Natalie had stayed for her senior year, she would have expanded Geno's rotation in competitive games from 6 players to 7. That would have given more protection against Azura getting in foul trouble, for sure. It might have tipped the balance in the National Semifinal against Notre Dame.

The downside is that it might have given Z a license to play solely on the perimeter, so that she never would have developed the post skills that she did (somewhat) develop in the one year that she played.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

My memory of Nat's expectations must be a bit dimmed. She was a good, not great, A10 player prior to transfer. Not sure why some now comment on such high expectations. While we can all dream, there was not much to support us getting an All Star. If she had not had the severe thumb injury, suspect she would have done better. Overall, in looking back I am glad we had a good backup on a team with little height. Absolutely feel we would have lost a handful of mostly high profile games without Nat. Being one of UConn's top 6-7 players on a #1 ranked team is not a bad thing.

There were times when I would have liked to see Nat put in and still wonder what would have happened. Still, I'm not paid big bucks to lead theHuskies.

 

[Vowelguy]

My memory of Nat's expectations must be a bit dimmed. She was a good, not great, A10 player prior to transfer. Not sure why some now comment on such high expectations.

She was BE frosh of the year. And I think 1st teamer as well. This had some on this board convinced that she was going to be an All-American.

Then when Geno said she had potential to be great, folks really went into overdrive (forgetting that he said something similar about Heather Buck.)

So, yes, among many on the BY, expectations were very high.

I expect her minutes to have gone down not up this year thanks to Stevens.

 

[bballnut90]

Dolson is/was a much better player than Butler! Dolson had great hands and feet and was an amazing passer. Butler struggled with her footwork and was constantly bobbling passes that hit her in the chest.

I never understood the comparison other than they’re both 6-5 girls with a wide frame, and physically look somewhat similar. Dolson is far and away a better player and always was. Great passer, good finisher inside, can hit from deep, sets massive picks, could orchestrate the offense from high post, plays with a swagger/attitude....never saw any of that from Butler.

 

[oldude]

I never understood the comparison other than they’re both 6-5 girls with a wide frame, and physically look somewhat similar. Dolson is far and away a better player and always was. Great passer, good finisher inside, can hit from deep, sets massive picks, could orchestrate the offense from high post, plays with a swagger/attitude....never saw any of that from Butler.

The comparisons between Nat & Steph started the day Nat’s transfer to UConn was announced. As you and others point out, they had similar builds. Nat was the BE FOY. UConn had whiffed on Wilson, Cox and several other BIGs. There was great hope that Nat would fill the glaring hole at center the Huskies would face once Stewie graduated.

Of course Nat was not Steph. She was a great kid who worked hard and contributed as a reserve. I don’t know that anyone on the BY had ever seen Nat play. As a result, the collective hope for Nat at UConn far exceeded reality.