Staley talks Pheesa:
“Any time you can be around these players, it's going to benefit you,” national team coach Dawn Staley, also South Carolina’s coach, said after a Team USA workout at the Knicks practice facility. “I don’t think the pace of the game bothers her. I think just being able to play with other players and seeing how your game fits in [is important]. With Napheesa, she plays hard all the time. There's no big transition there. She understands the game, so there really isn't any transition there. What's missing is just her being out here, experience. Which she's getting.”
Mike Anthony: Napheesa Collier Gaining Wealth Of Experience With Team USA
As does Jen:
“It's about the subtleties,” said former Hartford and now George Washington coach Jen Rizzotti, a Team USA assistant. “There are not a lot of players who outwork her. She's a UConn kid. She knows when to cut. She knows when to stop and post up. She knows when to screen. She knows when to attack. The intelligence and effort and work ethic are there. But some of these guys, the subtleties of how they make a 1-on-1 move — you have to be able to put the ball in the hole at the end of the shot clock. Some of the ways they move or come off a screen, or attack a handoff, or force a switch, those are things the college kids don't understand yet. It’s less scripted and more instinctive. You have to challenge yourself, like, 'I've been able to do it this way all the time but now I'm going to have to be more flexible.’”
