So you are saying swap anyone else from last year's roster to PG for Nika and they get 284 assists, 200 assists, 150 assists....? Seriously, give her her due. With her court vision she consistently got herself in great position to make passes to teammates right where they needed it. Paige is the only proven player on the current roster that can make a lot of those passes and no-one on last year's was even close. Do you think Nika would have set the Uconn record for minutes/game if Geno felt anyone else on the roster can do what she did? She has never claimed to be a star player and yet critiques of her often contrast her against a player that is. She is not a big time scorer which has never been her intent, her emphasis and value is in making her team much better with her than without her. As Geno has said, 'he's only had a handful of players like her', 'you want her on the floor because she makes her team better', 'she is unique', .....
As you say 'there's more to the game than defense because a team needs to score points to win', and yet you follow that with discounting Nika's (record setting) assist ability, why not throw in her leadership skills, her constant chatter positioning her teammates, her ability to push pace, her tenacity, drive and stamina and the fact she actually had the highest percentage of point production shares (combining assists and point totals) of anyone on the roster last season? Just a thought, maybe if we add in those we get a better picture of who she is as an all around player. Forget about comparisons to Hailey or anyone else, the real question should be the value she has to her team. IMO, last season, she was as valuable to her team as any player was to there's in wcbb. This season her minutes will certainly drop but I expect her to remain a significant piece of a (hopefully) championship roster.