Paige Doing Paige Stuff | The Boneyard

Paige Doing Paige Stuff

Not sure why they need to sort of down play Clark - I think there is room for many "faces" of the league. The more stars, with different play styles, personalities, etc. the league has, the more interest IMHO. I wish Pheesa were more "outgoing". She's so nice and has an engaging personality, but she's not a cultural "phenom" like Clark is. She just goes about her business doing all the right things, being a great player, making great basketball decisions (starting Unrivaled with Stewie), etc.

Clark is great and should be celebrated. Paige is not as flashy and has less IG followers (over 3M for Clark, 2.6M for Paige, 1.4M for Sabrina and 4.9M for Reese). Not that IG is the end-all for WNBA popularity, or putting fans in the seats, etc. and I think Juju will be the next "big one".

For some reason I don't see Paige as being nearly as popular as Clark. Not sure why, but she doesn't seem to have the hype to "sell out" venues like Clark does whenever the Fever visit a city. And for all her IG followers and social media presence, I don't think Reese puts ANY extra fannies in the seats who aren't hard core fans of hers.
 
EricLA said:
Not sure why they need to sort of down play Clark - I think there is room for many "faces" of the league. The more stars, with different play styles, personalities, etc. the league has, the more interest IMHO. I wish Pheesa were more "outgoing". She's so nice and has an engaging personality, but she's not a cultural "phenom" like Clark is. She just goes about her business doing all the right things, being a great player, making great basketball decisions (starting Unrivaled with Stewie), etc.

Clark is great and should be celebrated. Paige is not as flashy and has less IG followers (over 3M for Clark, 2.6M for Paige, 1.4M for Sabrina and 4.9M for Reese). Not that IG is the end-all for WNBA popularity, or putting fans in the seats, etc. and I think Juju will be the next "big one".

For some reason I don't see Paige as being nearly as popular as Clark. Not sure why, but she doesn't seem to have the hype to "sell out" venues like Clark does whenever the Fever visit a city. And for all her IG followers and social media presence, I don't think Reese puts ANY extra fannies in the seats who aren't hard core fans of hers.
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I didn't even read the caption of the post before putting it here. If I had, I would not have posted it and would not object at all if someone wants to remove it.
 
Paige may not end up being as popular as Caitlin, but she's the better player. Few are as good as making her teammates and team better. Plays both ends and is the most efficient guard I've ever seen play. As good as she is, her greatness is still undervalued.
 
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Dallas should tank for Betts and dump Arike. Or if they lose the lottery they could get Fudd
 
Vowelguy said:
Dallas should tank for Betts and dump Arike. Or if they lose the lottery they could get FWB Fudd
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There's another big coming out next year who is seen as a potential lottery pick—Serah Williams:

"Williams has been under the radar for three seasons with the Wisconsin Badgers, who haven't had a winning record since 2011. Her profile should change dramatically if she transfers to one of the country's top programs as expected. Williams was the Big Ten's defensive player of the year in 2024 and named to the All-Big Ten first team the past two seasons."

www.espn.com

From Lauren Betts to Olivia Miles: Ranking the top 15 prospects for the 2026 WNBA draft

Center Lauren Betts starts out as the front-runner to be the No. 1 pick in the 2026 WNBA draft class.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
 
A "Big" is what Dallas and Paige need, and Betts would fit the bill.
 
EricLA said:
I would think they would pick Betts over Fudd... much as I'd like to see the BFF's reunited...
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Might be. Azzi will have to be the Azzi we saw Feb. to Championship next season to make it a tight question.
 
EricLA said:
Not sure why they need to sort of down play Clark - I think there is room for many "faces" of the league. The more stars, with different play styles, personalities, etc. the league has, the more interest IMHO. I wish Pheesa were more "outgoing". She's so nice and has an engaging personality, but she's not a cultural "phenom" like Clark is. She just goes about her business doing all the right things, being a great player, making great basketball decisions (starting Unrivaled with Stewie), etc.

Clark is great and should be celebrated. Paige is not as flashy and has less IG followers (over 3M for Clark, 2.6M for Paige, 1.4M for Sabrina and 4.9M for Reese). Not that IG is the end-all for WNBA popularity, or putting fans in the seats, etc. and I think Juju will be the next "big one".

For some reason I don't see Paige as being nearly as popular as Clark. Not sure why, but she doesn't seem to have the hype to "sell out" venues like Clark does whenever the Fever visit a city. And for all her IG followers and social media presence, I don't think Reese puts ANY extra fannies in the seats who aren't hard core fans of hers.
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Agree. For some reason, people think you have to downplay someone else's success to celebrate your own (or in this in this case Paige).

For whatever reason, I find Clark vaguely unlikable. I don't know if that's fair or not, but I do. Still, she has been an absolute phenomenon and the impact she has had on women's basketball, and especially women's pro basketball has been, if you'll excuse the pun, game changing.

Paige is not Clark. I don't know if she's less flashy, but she's "differently flashy". I think her innate likability, deferential demeanor, and empathy will make her more well liked among the veterans in the league. To a certain extent, I think it is fair to say that they both will be "faces" of the league. I think the WNBA is going through a "growth spurt" of a sort. Paige, Clark, Reese, are all, for better or worse, the "new faces" of the sport in that they are all talked about. That's a good thing for the sport.
 
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Re Paige and Caitlin: I was curious (while also going through Paige-withdrawal as she's been out and on the mend) as to how Paige and Caitlin stacked up through the first 6 games if their rookie seasons. So, I checked through stats on the ESPN app and discovered...
Points per game: Paige 14.7, Caitlin 16.7
Rebounds: Paige 4.7, Caitlin 5.5
Assists: Paige 6.7, Caitlin 6.2
Steals: Paige 2.0, Caitlin 1.2
Blocks: Paige 1.0, Caitlin 1.0
Turnovers: Paige 2.3, Caitlin 5.2
FG%: Paige 43.7, Caitlin 38.3
3 Pt%: Paige 33.3, Caitlin 30.8
FT%: Paige 80.8, Caitlin 88.0
PF: Paige 3.5, Caitlin 3.2
FG attempts: Paige 11.8, Caitlin 13.5
3 pt attempts: Paige 2.5, Caitlin 8.7
Assists/Turnovers: Paige 2.9, Caitlin 1.2

In all, very comparable, with the differences being Caitlin's higher PPG (but higher FG & 3pt attempts) & FT %, but Paige's big advantage in steals and assist to turnover ratio.

Here's to a great balance of the season!
 
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Basingstoke said:
And Paige set a new WNBA high for points with 22...in the first half!!!
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The coach and GM need to have a talk with Arike and have her sit a couple of games along with Hines Allen, and start the 2 subs in their place. Let them both come off the bench, they are both hurting the teams chances to win.
 
Yeah, I thought that Paige might come out swinging after missing 4 games in a row. She looked great, making her first 7 shots to keep the Wings in the game at that point. This team stinks, and they will stay that way until they can get players in there that play Paiges game, the same way that the coach apparently wants to play. Paige will not have a very good assist total (6.3) at this point unless these players start making shots. The second team that they put out there play a better game, the kind of game Paige can live with. The Wings have to play the youngsters more because I think they would be more receptive than the veterans, although Paige seemed to get the ball back to her more often than the previous games. Think they are finally realizing that Paige is better than all of them and their only chance of winning is by following her? We will see, and as I mentioned in an earlier post, the team should be looking at other players that might want to play with Paige as the total free agent market will be open next year. The Fever did it, next the Wings should be looking for the same, not to mention they should be in line for another lottery pick next year.
 
Paige was clearly more assertive on offense last night, and that was a very good thing. As for the rest of her teammates…ugh…. Dallas needs a lot of help. The good news is that just about everyone in the W will be a free agent after this season.
 
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EricLA said:
I would think they would pick Betts over Fudd... much as I'd like to see the BFF's reunited...
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I’m not as high on Betts when I think about her current game will translate versus bigger and more experienced WNBA bigs. I was half joking about Azzi joining Paige because I don’t see her as the number 1 overall pick next year unless she is Final Four Azzi all year.
 
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DemonDeac22 said:
I’m not as high on Betts when I think about her current game will translate versus bigger and more experienced WNBA bigs. I was half joking about Azzi joining Paige because I don’t see her as the number 1 overall pick next year unless she is Final Four Azzi all year.
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I’ve thought about Azzi and Paige matching up in Dallas. It’s not that far fetched. If the Wings can sign a decent free agent Big, let Arike go and then draft Azzi to match up with her BFF in the backcourt, that’s a big step forward for a struggling franchise.
 
oldude said:
Paige was clearly more assertive on offense last night, and that was a very good thing. As for the rest of her teammates…ugh…. Dallas needs a lot of help. The good news is that just about everyone in the W will be a free agent after this season.
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Hope she gets some help sooner than later
She was pretty dispirited in the post game media interview
 
Ron and Vida said:
Hope she gets some help sooner than later
She was pretty dispirited in the post game media interview
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I'm so sorry to hear that. She has the most "team first" mentality of any extraordinarily gifted player that i can think of, and the lack of being able to truly collaborate with the majority of the team has to be a disheartening thing.
 
Basingstoke said:
I'm so sorry to hear that. She has the most "team first" mentality of any extraordinarily gifted player that i can think of, and the lack of being able to truly collaborate with the majority of the team has to be a disheartening thing.
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The Dallas Wings roster has one franchise player (Paige), a supposed WNBA star (Arike) who’s having maybe the worst season of her career and a bunch of role players, none of whom would start on just about any other team in the league.

While Paige is not used to losing like this, she’ll be fine. She is an incredibly strong-minded individual grounded in her faith that everything happens for a purpose. She persevered to win a national championship and she will persevere with this miserable team she’s on to eventually find success in the W and the Olympics as well.
 
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I don't want to be critical of Arike, though I don't generally care for ball-dominant players. This season has to be hard on her, a tough pill to swallow, and she's been quite gracious about it, as far as I can tell. And I think she's made quite an effort to support Paige as the future of the franchise even as it means allowing herself to be eclipsed. It would have been difficult to imagine this only a couple years ago.

Bald Husky said:
Paige seemed to get the ball back to her more often than the previous games
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This seems about right. Paige can't facilitate much if every pass is a one-and-done. They have to make more passes, and passing back to Paige is key to this. I also agree with your sense that Dallas needs a youth movement. Unfortunately, if they go beyond Siegrist and Carrington, they become a very small not very quick team. James and Quinnerly at 5'9 are not really built for this league if either one is paired with Arike at 5'8. And unless McCowan can up her game, they're stuck with Smith and Hines-Allen as their small frontline and will be out rebounded by their own guards, not to mention the other team's guards.

CL82 said:
For whatever reason, I find Clark vaguely unlikable. I don't know if that's fair or not, but I do. Still, she has been an absolute phenomenon and the impact she has had on women's basketball, and especially women's pro basketball has been, if you'll excuse the pun, game changing.

Paige is not Clark. I don't know if she's less flashy, but she's "differently flashy". I think her innate liability, differential demeanor, and empathy will make her more well liked among the veterans in the league. To a certain extent, I think it is fair to say that they both will be "faces" of the league. I think the WNBA is going through a "growth spurt" of a sort. Paige, Clark, Reese, are all, for better or worse, the "new faces" of the sport in that they are all talked about. That's a good thing for the sport.
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This about catches my sentiments too. Caitlin does not have Paige's charisma, but she is an amazing talent. In the long run, I suspect Paige will far outshine every other player in the league, including and perhaps especially Caitlin. It's not fair to her to constantly be compared to Paige, but she also benefitted from Paige's absence. The renaissance Paige triggered in the sport as a freshman is one of the factors that launched Caitlin when Paige was injured. I expect a similar pattern to emerge in the W, now reversed: Caitlin triggered huge new interest in the sport and Paige will benefit from it.

And one last thought about Betts. She'd be a good addition, though her game is limited in the way college bigs often are. She has no perimeter game, or even much of a midrange game, and doesn't move her feet or dribble well enough to initiate offense beyond the low post. On the other hand, her low post moves and strength are significant as is her defense and rebounding. One thing this means is she is very dependent on the guards getting her the ball, perhaps more so than any other bigs in D1 currently. Pair her with a passer like Paige at Dallas and it will probably feel like a revelation to her. But even with this, she will not be a top big in the W unless she can expand her game -- and this is unlikely to happen at UCLA under coach Close. Still, teams will still probably feel obliged to draft her at or near the top of the lottery even though she will be more or less of a project. I'm tempted to compare Betts to Wilson or Stewie or even Boston, but this isn't really fair. The better comparison is Jonquel who entered the league with a limited game and then expanded it. If Bettts can do that, she can become a top player. And this, but the way, is the challenge still facing Cardoso.
 
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as bad as the Wings were on offense (aside than Paige who was amazing), they were even worse on defense...it is actually insulting to call what they did, defense...it seems they believe that if you look at a player shooting a 3 or streaking to the basket, it's called defense..
 
Dallas is a team that management put together as a support group around Paige. I always thought that Dallas was a very poor run franchise, and that thought was supported when everyone left. Paige is a finesse player, the team around her, except for a couple of players, are physical players that enjoy the one on one game.

Hines-Allen, Carrington, Smith, Maddy seem to be comfortable in the leadership of Paige, but unfortunately none of these players can consistently shoot at a decent percentage. It is evident that the team needs a Big girl in the middle, which I think Betts can solve, or another veteran can solve.

They also need someone, anyone who can hit an outside shot. If you watched the Mercury game, you saw just about every 3 point attempt was a brick, not even close to going in. Arike is trying, but her shooting is the worst of her career according to records.

One player that isn't always mentioned is Ty Harris. She has been a favorite of mine since she came to the Sun, and as the only other point guard on the team she is able to give Paige a small blow.

But, best of all, she allows Paige to play off the ball as Geno liked to do, and if Paige is going to take over the scoring, Ty is one of the best to help her out. Unfortunately, Ty is out for the year with knee problems, so Paige will be playing a lot of minutes, and somehow, she must navigate the process with the players that are left.

Paige gets them the ball, but the season does not depend on the ability of Paige, but the ability for the rest to make shots. Tough situation for Paige, but we know that her faith and natural ability will get her through the season, hopefully the rest of the team will totally buy in and improve by the end of the year.
 
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Bald Husky said:
Dallas is a team that management put together as a support group around Paige. I always thought that Dallas was a very poor run franchise, and that thought was supported when everyone left. Paige is a finesse player, the team around her, except for a couple of players, are physical players that enjoy the one on one game.

Hines-Allen, Carrington, Smith, Maddy seem to be comfortable in the leadership of Paige, but unfortunately none of these players can consistently shoot at a decent percentage. It is evident that the team needs a Big girl in the middle, which I think Betts can solve, or another veteran can solve.

They also need someone, anyone who can hit an outside shot. If you watched the Mercury game, you saw just about every 3 point attempt was a brick, not even close to going in. Arike is trying, but her shooting is the worst of her career according to records.

One player that isn't always mentioned is Ty Harris. She has been a favorite of mine since she came to the Sun, and as the only other point guard on the team she is able to give Paige a small blow.

But, best of all, she allows Paige to play off the ball as Geno liked to do, and if Paige is going to take over the scoring, Ty is one of the best to help her out. Unfortunately, Ty is out for the year with knee problems, so Paige will be playing a lot of minutes, and somehow, she must navigate the process with the players that are left.

Paige gets them the ball, but the season does not depend on the ability of Paige, but the ability for the rest to make shots. Tough situation for Paige, but we know that her faith and natural ability will get her through the season, hopefully the rest of the team will totally buy in and improve by the end of the year.
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The lack of shooters on the Wings along with Arike’s terrible shooting slump is painful to watch. In the game vs Phoenix, Paige might have had a double-double if her teammates had made a reasonable percentage of open shots off of nice feeds from Paige.

At the same time I watched journeymen players like Laksa & Held light it up from the arc for the Mercury, begging the question, “Why don’t the Wings have a couple of comparable shooters on their roster?”
 
oldude said:
The lack of shooters on the Wings along with Arike’s terrible shooting slump is painful to watch. In the game vs Phoenix, Paige might have had a double-double if her teammates had made a reasonable percentage of open shots off of nice feeds from Paige.

At the same time I watched journeymen players like Laksa & Held light it up from the arc for the Mercury, begging the question, “Why don’t the Wings have a couple of comparable shooters on their roster?”
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The only possible shooting support for Paige on the Wings (other than Arike turning it around) might be Geiselsoder and James. Lou Lopez-Senechal would have helped if she wasn't sitting out this season.
It is curious that they've constructed a roster with so few long-range threats.
 
oldude said:
The lack of shooters on the Wings along with Arike’s terrible shooting slump is painful to watch. In the game vs Phoenix, Paige might have had a double-double if her teammates had made a reasonable percentage of open shots off of nice feeds from Paige.

At the same time I watched journeymen players like Laksa & Held light it up from the arc for the Mercury, begging the question, “Why don’t the Wings have a couple of comparable shooters on their roster?”
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Tanking Maybe?
 
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