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Again huh? I'm starting to get tired of this song.
She should be a star. With her shooting ability. And it would be such a boon to her team if she would just start acting like herself. You see her missing open looks and it is incomprehensible. It probably has a lot to do with the coaching. And the expectations (from people who don't really know her) when they see her body type. She doesn't look athletic, so maybe they just assume she can't make it. Then maybe that gets in her head and she starts believing it. She seemed to do well in France. Her team featured her picture on their website and they went pretty far in their playoffs.Again huh? I'm starting to get tired of this song.
Beyond KML, that team consistently underachieves given their talent. Maybe they are going for 3 #1 picks in a row.
Beyond KML, that team consistently underachieves given their talent. Maybe they are going for 3 #1 picks in a row.
Last year, I posted a comment about Storm head coach Jenny Boucek's minimal use of KML, and how odd it seemed, given that first round draft picks usually get more than an occasional brief insert during games.
If you remember, Kaleena got very little playing time during the first 2/3 of the season. After the Storm had been officially eliminated from post season consideration, her minutes increased. I suggested at that time that perhaps it was a mistake for Seattle to have drafted her, and perhaps she would do better with another franchise. That observation was met with several opposing comments and counter takes.
The Boneyard consensus at that time was that her weight (which was never an issue at UConn, or here in the yard) and her inability to play defense at an acceptable level, were thought to be the main stumbling blocks to her getting more floor minutes.
Fast forward to today. After spending a season overseas, and having time to condition her body for the rigors of professional play, one would think season two would be radically different. Not so. Through 10 games this season (following stats were taken from the official Storm web site), Mosqueda-Lewis has appeared (through yesterday) in 10 games off the bench, averaging 11.2 minutes, shooting 33% from the floor, 20.8% from beyond the arc, 71.4 % in free throws.
Kaleena has been, and remains a developing roll player to this point. Whereas other first round draft picks Jewel Loyd and Breanna Stewart have established themselves as frontline players, and moved into the starting lineup. Why has KML not flourished at the next level as many of her "first round draft pick" contemporaries? Did the Storm make a mistake in their assessment of her? Is the coaching staff ill prepared/equipped to develop her, and bring her along? Are they misusing her? Has she not being given a fair chance of getting more floor time? Is she a bust? On draft day a year ago, she burst onto the scene with lots of media fanfare and rousing cheers from their fan base. Bringing her and Loyd into the program gave Storm fans a sense of hope, pride and a wealth of unbridled optimism. Fade to black. What happened? What's going on here? Will she forever be relegated to an off the bench "support" roll?, or do her potential fortunes lay with another team?
I start from a couple of assumptions:
1) If you are proving yourself in practice and/or games the coach will play you. The coach has every incentive to put the people on the floor who will help the team win.
2) College and the WNABA are two very different animals and the jump is much like the one from high school to college. The players are bigger, faster, stronger, more physical, smarter and more skilled. Because you were a star at one level does not necessarily portend success at the next level.
There are elite athletes who possess the superior physical and mental gifts to make the jump seamlessly. The star of stars. In my view KML was not one of them in college. Her game was somewhat dependent on her teammates setting her up. She couldn't just take someone off the dribble (Jewel Loyd), or have the ball thrown to her in the post (Stewie). She needed screens, inattentive opponents and a point guard who is looking for her. That gets much harder at the WNBA level where almost every player is more gifted than the best player you faced on your opponents in college. In the WNBA she will not get 6-8 open uncontested looks a game like she did at UConn. The defenders stick closer and fly at her faster. Opposing coaches can scheme to take that away.
I think KML can be a good pro IF she works her game to come closer to the superior physical shape of the WNBA players and continues to develop moves with the ball in her hands. That takes work and time.
I start from a couple of assumptions:
1) If you are proving yourself in practice and/or games the coach will play you. The coach has every incentive to put the people on the floor who will help the team win.
2) College and the WNABA are two very different animals and the jump is much like the one from high school to college. The players are bigger, faster, stronger, more physical, smarter and more skilled. Because you were a star at one level does not necessarily portend success at the next level.
There are elite athletes who possess the superior physical and mental gifts to make the jump seamlessly. The star of stars. In my view KML was not one of them in college. Her game was somewhat dependent on her teammates setting her up. She couldn't just take someone off the dribble (Jewel Loyd), or have the ball thrown to her in the post (Stewie). She needed screens, inattentive opponents and a point guard who is looking for her. That gets much harder at the WNBA level where almost every player is more gifted than the best player you faced on your opponents in college. In the WNBA she will not get 6-8 open uncontested looks a game like she did at UConn. The defenders stick closer and fly at her faster. Opposing coaches can scheme to take that away.
I think KML can be a good pro IF she works her game to come closer to the superior physical shape of the WNBA players and continues to develop moves with the ball in her hands. That takes work and time.
But you're making assertions that you don't know to be true. You're simply assuming that she's not good enough; that she is bound to under-perform' and that she needs picks in order to put up threes. Well, I've been watching the WNBA for some time, and you can't go more than a minute or two before a player sets a pick to get a player an open three.
Sorry, but she is an elite athlete whom the Seattle team picked way before anyone else. Either they were lousy at scouting, or else they don't know how to use her. KML has proved herself in Europe, and at the top level of the college game. Let's recall that other players have blossomed after a change of scenery. Coaches are fired for not getting the most out of their players. And I think that's what's happening here.
The coach was involved with the KML draft pick. If she was such a bad judge of talent then, then get a new coach. Or else give KML a real chance to show her stuff. Again, she's right up there in scoring per 40 minutes. So it's not as if she is just standing around when she gets in the game.
Sorry, but the claim that KML just isn't good enough for the professional game is nonsense.
She played strong defense at UConn.
KML does have a heftier body style for sure. But she proved in college that she has good foot work, strength and balance to get the shots she wanted. Her ball handling skills also helped and she really didn't need anyone to set her up. Of coarse everyone needs an occasional screen to work themselves through the obstacles. Maybe she could use a change of environment.