Pope Cut by Chicago | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Pope Cut by Chicago

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I think Lauren and Michaela are perfect examples of leaving a situation that wasn't working for them, but with class. They probably did have a great experience, just not one with a lot of playing time. Why do we really want to hear them say, "It sucked sitting on the end of the bench?" Well, duh. What are we going to get out of that? I find Pope's comments very telling about the chemistry problems that were evident this season with the Baylor team, but I didn't need her to say those things to realize that. Nor is it my business.
 
There are a lot of good points in this thread. I don't want to think that the quotes "define" Brooklyn, and I don't think they are a basis for a comprehensive discussion of Baylor's team chemistry.

What can be said is that her style of play at Rutgers was indicative of a player that didn't want to be a roll player. Known especially for wild dribbling drives to the basket that excited the fans but were bad ideas. At the time, RU fans discussed whether she was being selfish or just didn't know the play book and couldn't figure out what else to do. Technically, we don't know the answer to that either, but the weight of evidence is pointing one way.
 
KnightBridgeAZ said:
There are a lot of good points in this thread. I don't want to think that the quotes "define" Brooklyn, and I don't think they are a basis for a comprehensive discussion of Baylor's team chemistry.

What can be said is that her style of play at Rutgers was indicative of a player that didn't want to be a roll player. Known especially for wild dribbling drives to the basket that excited the fans but were bad ideas. At the time, RU fans discussed whether she was being selfish or just didn't know the play book and couldn't figure out what else to do. Technically, we don't know the answer to that either, but the weight of evidence is pointing one way.
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Rutger's has a playbook?!? I had no idea.
 
ChicagoGG said:
Watch Real Housewives or Big Brother or some show like that to satisfy your supposed "need to know".
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What can be said is that her style of play at Rutgers was indicative of a player that didn't want to be a roll player. Known especially for wild dribbling drives to the basket that excited the fans but were bad ideas. At the time, RU fans discussed whether she was being selfish or just didn't know the play book and couldn't figure out what else to do. Technically, we don't know the answer to that either, but the weight of evidence is pointing one way.


I don't recall paying attention to Pope at Rutgers, bur she certainly didn't play as described above this season. If anything, she was an extremely disciplined position player; perhaps better coaching, perhaps some coaching period.

I never watch reality TV, hate the stuff.
But I also hate the stream of politically correct blabberings that we regularly hear from athletes, even coaches of all sports at all levels.
If you think about it, nothing much is ever learned from these pronouncements.
They were speaking of it on ESPN radio (thoughtfully beamed by Sirius Sat, down to my corner of Guatemala).
NBA coaches speak of "them wanting it more than us." Poppycock!

And then every once in a while, someone says something that is truly informative and gives one insight into what (in this case), the young ladies actually feel.

And I'm really interested in developing some understanding into the nitty-gritty of how these superb athletes think and relate (well short of any over the top silliness).

Every once in a while, we get some interesting bits to chew on…the video of some of the girls taking on a bunch of male music-biz types comes to mind; Stewie's admission that she had to keep moving around and stop thinking.
But for the few honest moments, there are the endless platitudes.

I worried most of the season about Morgan and her relationship to the staff; never really heard a word, except for the Geno quote about why she wasn't playing like she did in early practice as the best post player on the team.

And then when she almost won the overtime ND game by herself, I thought for sure she would be more counted on but she wasn't…until the NCAA's. I don't think any of us know what was going on and never will.

So here's a kid who says that her life at Baylor was less than a dream and that she never really had a chance at Chicago.

She can be a fine basketballer, but not quite up to the level required…most likely.

But her mini tantrum brings us closer to the reality of the game, gives us some insights and I for one appreciate that.
 
But her mini tantrum brings us closer to the reality of the game, gives us some insights and I for one appreciate that.


Actually, I brings us closer to her reality, which may or may not reflect actual reality.
 
msf22b said:
I don't recall paying attention to Pope at Rutgers, bur she certainly didn't play as described above this season. If anything, she was an extremely disciplined position player; perhaps better coaching, perhaps some coaching period.

She can be a fine basketballer, but not quite up to the level required…most likely.

But her mini tantrum brings us closer to the reality of the game, gives us some insights and I for one appreciate that.
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As to the first point, I will grant she seemed to play better positional BB this season, I think she saw a chance to contribute and knew that was the only way she was going to do it. Her first 2 seasons at Baylor, and sporadically this season, she would exhibit similar undisciplined behaviors as were noted at Rutgers and they were commented on the RU board every time someone would bring up her departure as a black mark against Viv.

I agree that she can be a contributor on a basketball team, but she hasn't shown herself as a star thus far.

As to her tantrum, I agree with the comment above, it is her view of things. Not necessarily the reality.

I think you need to recognize your talents. Simmons that left RU wanted more minutes and to be a starter. She achieved her wish and had a decent season - at Alabama, which didn't make their conference tournament and lost their coach at the end of the season. Perhaps in the A10 or a non-power conference she might have been a star. But you need to be realistic to achieve your dream, I believe, and in Simmons' case I truly hope she is happy, and feel bad that she lost her coach.
 
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So here's a kid who says that her life at Baylor was less than a dream and that she never really had a chance at Chicago.

And here is a kid that also called other players she was competing against and potential teammates “pampered.”
 
reno tony said:
I don't know what it would be like to work hard for so many years to achieve something and then have that taken away from me in a matter of days.
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Huh? What'd I miss?
 
HuskyNan said:
Please, everyone, try to stick with known facts. Speculating on a player's motivation/feelings for the last four years based on one Facebook post is just wrong.
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If this is indeed a Facebook post, then I wonder if we should even be discussing. Kids definitely need to learn that what they post can come back to bite them, but I think of Facebook as closer to private than, say, twitter, which clearly is public.
 
Her Facebook page might be public, or it could be her "official" page for her fans. Regardless, posting something like that on social media makes it more public then, say, a private email.
 
I stumbled upon this by accident. It's pretty hilarious watching the internet psychologists.

God forbid someone is honest... And good job by the posters helping to ensure players aren't honest in the future by condemning someone for pretty innocuous comments.
 
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And good job by the posters helping to ensure players aren't honest in the future by condemning someone for pretty innocuous comments.

So this thread is going to ensure players aren’t honest in the future?
I think it’s hilarious that some of you try to invent things just to be different. Just like the poster that said Pope was reaching her potential. Crazy.
 
hoophuskee said:
And good job by the posters helping to ensure players aren't honest in the future by condemning someone for pretty innocuous comments.

So this thread is going to ensure players aren’t honest in the future?
I think it’s hilarious that some of you try to invent things just to be different. Just like the poster that said Pope was reaching her potential. Crazy.
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Note the word 'help'. Obviously one dumb thread on a message board doesn't have an impact.
However it's part of a culture that drives players and coaches to not say anything remotely honest or interesting.
 
Neither Twitter nor Facebook is private. Realistically, email though ostensibly private, is also dangerous. When you write something, the whole world may eventually read it.

We have had no shortage of poor social media decisions by public figures. I'm inclined to believe it's not going to stop just because it keeps happening and people keep talking about it,

Some people will speak their mind. Geno is one of them, even if he doesn't satisfy msf's (somewhat creepy and obsessive) desire to explain his gameplan for Morgan Tuck on a game-by-game basis. Some people, meanwhile, are inclined to be boring. Just how it is.

In this case, I found Pope's post neither interesting nor refreshing. Instead, she let a setback in her first foray in the professional world result in taking shots at we would-be future employer and her college employer. One could call it honest/interesting, but more than anything, it was stupid.
 
HuskyNan said:
Yes, it's muffled Geno - and JC - for years.
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Yes there are a handful that are outspoken. For every Calhoun there are 150 Randy Edsalls and Derek Jeters whose interesting comments arrive as often as Halley's comet.
 
alexrgct said:
Some people will speak their mind. Geno is one of them, even if he doesn't satisfy msf's (somewhat creepy and obsessive) desire to explain his gameplan for Morgan Tuck on a game-by-game basis. Some people, meanwhile, are inclined to be boring. Just how it is.
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pleassssssssssssssssssssse dont talk him up :(
 
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Bottom line at UConn. Its discipline, and earn your playtime. Its about team ball. Reading and listening to what is being said I guess some teams don't choose to follow what has been successful for Geno. When you find someone who has won 7 of 14 NCs and you think you have a better way well that's your choice. When you find someone who has done it..imo it only makes sense to copy them. Some will argue that Geno gets the best players. Well copy how he recruits. Some will say well UConn wins every year. Well look back to 80's when UConn couldn't win. Bottom line is Im sure Pope isn't the only one that feels this way. Im sure there are players on other teams that feel similar. Its all about being developed, being disiciplined and being a team player. The ole saying there is no "I" in T.E.A.M. (Together Everyone Achieves More)
 
DaddyChoc said:
glad UConn backed away from her :rolleyes:
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We're just so full of ourselves we might speculate it would have turned out differently, if she had. :) But I guess we'll never know.
 
vowelguy said:
Huh? What'd I miss?
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She was upset because her basketball career may have come to an end when she was cut so she was letting off a little steam. Unfortunately she did it in writing for the whole world to see and not with some of her friends elsewhere. I am not of the opinion someone should be judged by what they do when they are very upset. And I know I have been a lot more pi$$ed off over something more trivial..... say a flat tire when I am in a hurry to get somewhere. That was just my opinion about her reaction.
 
Note the word 'help'. Obviously one dumb thread on a message board doesn't have an impact.
However it's part of a culture that drives players and coaches to not say anything remotely honest or interesting.
Gotta love the over-dramatic posts from some of you. The word “help” makes a difference? LOL.
Posters on a site that basically means little and some of you go off the deep-end.

Posters offer an opinion from a player that has been cut. So the teams were wrong for only one team drafted her late, no other team has picked her up, and the coach was wrong, but let’s not criticize the player, instead let’s criticize the system and the culture? LOL
While some of you might find it comical that some of us are criticizing Pope, I for one find it comical that some of you are more critical of the posters than the player that was top ten that never lived up her to expectations. “The culture” of that seems by some of you to not take responsibility for your own shortcomings. Instead Pope chose to criticize other players by calling all of them “pampered” and basically saying everyone from the coach and the WNBA is wrong. It’s okay for her to criticize all of that but a poster can’t criticize her?
 
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sarals24 said:
Her Facebook page might be public, or it could be her "official" page for her fans. Regardless, posting something like that on social media makes it more public then, say, a private email.
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The best advice when encountering strong feelings is this write your words down on a separate format and then put them away for a day or two... then after you cool off go in and look at what you wrote Revise/Edit/Delete if necessary and then post. Raw emotion usually ellicits negative responses... Tis usually best to wait

Sent from my SGH-T769 using Tapatalk 2
 
I did not watch Pope enough to feel entitled to an opinion on her play, so generally in that case I just look at the stats. And in this case you can see some evidence for a) a player who could work hard in the paint, especially grabbing offensive rebounds and putting them back in the basket at a high efficiency rate (54.6%), b) a player who appears to have very poor ball-handling/control skills (team leading 79 TOs as a forward at a dismal rate of 1 TO 9 per min.), c) a player who never learned how to shoot FTs in a way that would help the team (58%) when she collected her frequent fouls on the put backs, d) a player who collected a lot of foul calls on her in the limited minutes she played in games (18 mpg), though this could mean she was either a defensive stalwart or had poor coordination. All in all, a player who lived in BG's shadow but also benefited quite a bit by it for her points and clean-up opportunities on the rebounds. Any sniping at BG is kind of biting the hand that feeds you (and with pun intended, Griner had a great A\TO rate while Pope's was the worst on the team and was horrible).

Every player is free to talk and be "refreshing," but they have to know that the other players are likely going to snigger when a player tries to talk big and plays kind of small. Too often, big dreams vaporize into delusions.
 
Pope is more than a little disappointed , but I think it had more to do with numbers at her position than lack of talent........ Her attitude obviously didn't help her in Chicago. Nor will it with any other team.

All of a sudden she has to fight for a position on a team and fight for minutes. Something she has to get use to. Position and minutes are now based on grit , hustle , and productivity. And not on a guaranteed scholarship. That's why UConn grads do so well in the WNBA , they learn early at UConn that you have to produce ; have a positive attitude ; practice hard ; and be supportive of your teammates to get on the floor. From her article , Pope didn't do that at BU. And it shows.
 
Pope didn't start until her senior year and she replaced a darn good player in Destiny Williams. To say that she never had to fight for minutes is inaccurate. She did fight for minutes and won a starting position at Baylor only after making major improvements in her play.
 
What no one has mentioned in this entire thread is that the Sun have a significant need for a player just like Brooklyn Pope -- a backup 4 who can rebound and score.

Nor did anyone mention that she really was the difference in the UConn - Baylor game this past season. Griner was good, but KML was great in that game (even led BG in blocked shots!!). They basically matched each other's stats. Sims was not a major factor, so almost all the secondary scoring for Baylor came from Pope. As I recall, she had 18 points. At that point in the season, Breanna was not in a position to guard her or match her scoring, and that is the one-sentence explanation for Baylor's victory.

If I were Anne Donovan (or maybe a Sun assistant after having a discussion with her), I would be placing a call right now to Brooklyn Pope. My intention would be to offer her a training-camp contract, depending on how the conversation went. My message would be something like this: "We're interested in your skills, but you need to understand that if you make this team, you will be a backup 4 -- a role player. You need to be prepared to accept (even embrace) that role, or you're going to be gone before you get over the jet lag from the flight to get here. We saw your Facebook posting and we didn't like it one bit. You need to keep that attitude completely zipped up if you're going to succeed here or even stay here."

And if she expresses contriteness, and a willingness to play on those terms, I would follow through and offer her a training camp contract, but she would be on a short leash.
 
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