Stars @ Wings - 6/21/17

[FanFromMaine]

It's hard to point to anything spectacular. She had a nice 3-pointer during the run and a timely rebound. All her little things add up to really good team play. Nice to see her at +11, best on the team (again). But when MoJeff blew by her for an easy lay-up is when she got yanked.

Saniya is trying to play team defense on a team which doesn't do that well. She gets caught watching the ball and gets beat when her player slips behind her. No one covers for her. Erin commented on the defensive play of the game by the Wings which really was just Saniya covering for someone else.

Right after Saniya was pulled for letting Mo go by, Skylar got beaten even worse by a Mo move. She is just eating people up now.

 

[Roger G]

This is partly repetitive, but ...

Saniya was +11 (the best on either team) in only 14 minutes. She had 6 points and 2 rebounds, though 0 steals today. No steals is unusual for her, but she was playing against Moriah.

Saniya is averaging 4.5 ppg in 15.1 mpg. Her shooting stats: .422/.250/.882. A/TO = 20/13

Mo had 16 points, 6 assists, and 3 steals. She's the best player on her team.

She almost had one steal.

 

[Roger G]

Well over the course of the season, I would say that Gray was the major steal of the draft and for all accounts she is the rookie of the year up to this point by a landslide. Let's just all be happy and root for all three of these rookies.

They took Gray out of that game, but she has been very good in just about every other game.

 

[EricLA]

Well over the course of the season, I would say that Gray was the major steal of the draft and for all accounts she is the rookie of the year up to this point by a landslide. Let's just all be happy and root for all three of these rookies.

Um... Gray was drafted 4th. In the first round. She was expected to be one of the best players of all the rookies based on a number of things, but not limited to her draft position. She was drafted behind Plum, Coates, and Ahkator.

But my point is a player drafted 4th in the entire draft is hardly a "steal". A steal is Saniya being drafted in the 3rd round as the 26th overall pick, making a pro team when at least 10-15 people drafted ahead of her did not, and performing as one of the top 6 rookies in the league.

 

[Monte]

I don't understand why SA doesn't want Plum and MoJeff to play together.
DAL has Diggins and Chong both in the court and it works great.

Well, they are both point guards, but you are right; what do they have to lose(they have NO wins)?....I was not impressed by either one of them yesterday.

 

[Bigboote]

Saniya is trying to play team defense on a team which doesn't do that well. She gets caught watching the ball and gets beat when her player slips behind her. No one covers for her. Erin commented on the defensive play of the game by the Wings which really was just Saniya covering for someone else.

Right after Saniya was pulled for letting Mo go by, Skylar got beaten even worse by a Mo move. She is just eating people up now.

I noticed the same thing. Seemed to me that she contained Moriah as well or better than the others guarding her. Saniya consistently got through screens that would flummox most defenders.

 

[Trappa]

Well, they are both point guards, but you are right; what do they have to lose(they have NO wins)?....I was not impressed by either one of them yesterday.

Is Plum really a PG though? She played SG her freshman through junior years, and her handles are pretty shaky at this point.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Did anyone pick Whitcomb to be the best rookie from UW in the WNBA this year?

 

[nwhoopfan]

She played SG her freshman through junior years

Hmm, not really. Jazmine Davis was another high scoring guard (was the leading scorer in UW history until Plum shattered her record) that played in the backcourt alongside Plum for 2 years. Davis was no more of a PG than Plum. And if Plum wasn't the PG her Jr. year, then who was? Brianna Ruiz was a starter most of the year until she got hurt, she was simply a spot up 3 point shooter. Former walk on Alexus Atchley took over her starting spot for the stretch run, and she certainly wasn't the PG either. Nor was combo forward Talia Walton. Osahor was a starter that year, and I think Collier was as well, the same 4 and 5 as the last season. Plum absolutely had to be the PG her Jr. year, because no one else that saw minutes was even close to being that.

 

[Trappa]

Hmm, not really. Jazmine Davis was another high scoring guard (was the leading scorer in UW history until Plum shattered her record) that played in the backcourt alongside Plum for 2 years. Davis was no more of a PG than Plum. And if Plum wasn't the PG her Jr. year, then who was? Brianna Ruiz was a starter most of the year until she got hurt, she was simply a spot up 3 point shooter. Former walk on Alexus Atchley took over her starting spot for the stretch run, and she certainly wasn't the PG either. Nor was combo forward Talia Walton. Osahor was a starter that year, and I think Collier was as well, the same 4 and 5 as the last season. Plum absolutely had to be the PG her Jr. year, because no one else that saw minutes was even close to being that.

I'll defer to you, as you have NW in your username so you follow her more closely than I do.

But in this case I'm going to be retroactively annoyed that the talking-point on ESPN so often was how well Plum made the transition to PG from the shooting spot.

 

[Shades]

I would say Plum was a PG starting her junior year, but not that good of one with an ato of 154:159. Her senior year she ratcheted up basically everything and cut her turnovers nearly in half to end up with a respectable ato of nearly 2:1. I believe it was understood that because of her size, she needed to represent herself as a PG to maximize her potential at the next level.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I'll concede Plum has pretty much been a combo guard her whole career. Her first 2 years she and Davis were pretty interchangeable at the 1 and 2 and her Jr. year she was the PG pretty much by default. As a Sr. she actually did look like a PG to me. She was pretty good at playmaking, despite her knack for scoring.

I'm not going to make any predictions on her WNBA career. I'm pretty dumbfounded by how much she's been struggling. Seems like a bad situation in SA for her, Jefferson, a possible lame duck 1 year coach, a front office that can't decide what they are trying to do...anything else I'm missing?

 

[Fightin Choke]

I agree with Shades. Plum was a combo guard who needed to play PG in the W because she was too small to defend 2-guards. But her stats show that she's more of a combo guard than a true PG.

Freshman: 93 assists: 98 turnovers, 3rd on the team in assists behind Mercedes Wetmore (144) and Jasmine Davis (109).
Sophomore: 108 ast: 91 to, second on team in assists behind Jasmine Davis (143).
Junior: 154 ast: 159 to, led team in assists ahead of Chantel Osafor (127).
Senior: 168 ast: 88 to, led team in assists ahead of Chantel Osafor (140).

So for her career, Plum had 523 assists to 436 turnovers for a ratio of 1.2 assists/turnover. Plum's strength in college was scoring. She was very efficient (53% FG, 43% 3FG her senior year) considering how many shots she took and the fact that she was the focus of the opposing team's defense. Her FG% her first 3 years was not particularly impressive (Freshman 39%, Sophomore 43%, Junior 41%).