Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="TheFarmFan, post: 5138063, member: 9403"] Valks founding season ticket holder here, and watched the expansion draft at a bar with my season ticketholder group of friends, so couldn't post here real time. I'm mixed here - it's of course confounding that we can't see who the teams protected, and therefore have a complete picture of what was possible. We also don't know whether any of the other teams were willing to offer trades, etc. So there's a LOT we don't know. That said, here's my take on everyone: [B]Love: -Temi Fagbenle:[/B] Can't believe Indy let her go ([URL='https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/basketball/wnba/fever/2024/12/06/indiana-fever-fans-react-temi-fagbenle-wnba-expansion-draft-golden-state-valkyries/76831906007/']apparently I'm not alone[/URL]). I was sure they were going to leave KLS unprotected and hope the Valks would take a chance on her and eat her salary (if KLS were dropped by the Valks, she'd be guaranteed her salary regardless, so a win/win/win all the way around.) I thought Fagbenle was a much better fit with Clark than Smith, and to the extent Nakase wants to play an up tempo offense, Fagbenle runs the floor well and has great vision, so I'm super psyched about this. [B]-Cecilia Zandalasini:[/B] I'm assuming this means the Lynx (wisely) protected Dorka, and so the choice was her, Pili, or Miller. I am uncertain about Miller's long term trajectory - it seems like Cheryl Reeve lost some faith in her, and I trust Cheryl a lot - and I've always been skeptical about Pili's pro prospects because her size and skill set is such a weird thing to try to translate to the pro game, even though I loved her in college. So assuming Zandalsini [I]does[/I] play, she's got a killer outside shot, runs the floor well, has great length, and is one hell of a 3 and D player. [B]-Kate Martin:[/B] Not a ton of options from the Aces, and she'll be a high energy fan favorite. She's also on a rookie deal, so she'll be cheap to keep for a few years. [B]-Kayla Thornton:[/B] It was just a question of whether the Lib would protect her or Nyara, and after Nyara's killer role in the finals, it was pretty clear they'd have to protect Nyara. While I would have LOVED to get Nyara, I'm thrilled to have a Vet who does so many things well, is extremely likable, and will be a great locker room presence. [B]-Victoria Burton:[/B] As with the Lib, just a question of whether it would be her or ONO, and given that all ALL of the Sun's bigs are free agents this off-season, I'm not at all surprised they retained ONO. Burton still needs to work on her scoring ability, but she will give us speed, defense, tenacity, and glue player skills. Let's hope she's taking 100 three pointers daily in the off-season. She's also been posting stuff on social media suggesting she's psyched to come, which is also good to see. [B]Like: -Julie Van Loo:[/B] Despite only having one season in the W under her belt, she's a vet who's a solid point guard with a ton of experience. I was a little uncertain how eager she'd be to be so far from home, but she posted a video the Valks retweeted saying how excited she is to come, so that's a great sign. While I'm happy to have her, the "like" is only because I would have been more excited to have either Karlie Samuelson or Emily Engstler, and if my math is right, they couldn't have protected both of them. [B]-Stephanie Talbot:[/B] Another solid vet, who I thought played really well for LA, though her three point shooting kind of slumped last year, and she's most obvious as a 3 and D type player. [B]-Monique Billings:[/B] Again, not a lot of options for Phoenix. The only thing I'm skeptical of is that she's on a relatively expensive contract that we'll have to match, but she's a solid vet and a Cali homegirl, so I think this could be a good fit. She's also posted positive stuff on socials that makes me think she's eager to be here. [B]Who?[/B] -Iliana Rupert: I'll confess, my friends and I follow the W pretty closely, and we were all like, "Who?!" And I'm super salty because I would be shocked if Atlanta protected Haley Jones, and I think she would have benefited from a change of locations and a return to the Bay. But alas. -Maria Conde: Same. Who? Did the Sky really protect Lindsay Allen? -Carle Leite: Same. Feel like we could have gotten Kalani Brown or Awak Kuier. I guess the question is whether any of these three has any interest in playing in the W. What I like about this is it gives us plenty of cap space to sign three free agents (I'm focusing on Jewell Loyd, Nneka, and Kelsey Plum - two of whom have reason to want to be back in Cali), and also to pick up a few rookies in the draft. If we get three free agents and hold onto our #5 pick, then we can drop a few of the international players and round out a solid 11 person roster. All in all, I'd grade this a B/B+, if only because we have enough solid vets, we have room for three free agents, and I think it was inevitable we'd need to plan for a lot of roster turnover over the next 48 months. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach

Forum statistics

Threads: 164,432

Messages: 4,396,112

Members: 10,209

Latest member: gemini*trvl