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USA 9 Player Rotation

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Geno prefers a set rotation, he just won a National Championship with a 6 player rotation, but with the plethora of great players available, I think he will go with a rotation of 9. For this exercise limit the rotation to 9 or less with no need to name the remaining 3 ( there is a thread for a the twelve player team).

G: Taurasi, Bird, Whalen
F: Augustus, Moore, Delle Donne
C: Griner, Fowles, Charles(pf)

You can assume that Delle Donne is healthy, iffy, or will not be chosen (I'm choosing healthy). I chose Fowles for height reasons to help guard against Cambage. I am going to assume the three bench players will be young (in 2020 Bird will be 40, Taurasi & Whalen 38, Augustus 36 and Fowles 35) to start the transition early or a situational player (as was Jones in 2012). In their prime in 2020 will be Charles at 32, Delle Donne & Moore at 31 and Griner at 30. There will be plenty of room for new blood in 2018. Thoughts on the rotation?
 
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Geno prefers a set rotation, he just won a National Championship with a 6 player rotation, but with the plethora of great players available, I think he will go with a rotation of 9. For this exercise limit the rotation to 9 or less with no need to name the remaining 3 ( there is a thread for a the twelve player team).

G: Taurasi, Bird, Whalen
F: Augustus, Moore, Delle Donne
C: Griner, Fowles, Charles(pf)

You can assume that Delle Donne is healthy, iffy, or will not be chosen (I'm choosing healthy). I chose Fowles for height reasons to help guard against Cambage. I am going to assume the three bench players will be young (in 2020 Bird will be 40, Taurasi & Whalen 38, Augustus 36 and Fowles 35) to start the transition early or a situational player (as was Jones in 2012). In their prime in 2020 will be Charles at 32, Delle Donne & Moore at 31 and Griner at 30. There will be plenty of room for new blood in 2018. Thoughts on the rotation?
I think that top nine players include Fowles or Charles, but not both.
 

JoePgh

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I think that top nine players include Fowles or Charles, but not both.
Tina now has an effective mid-range jump shot, and can guard fast players away from the basket. Fowles has neither of those skills. Fowles is an excellent backup 5 (better than Tina for that), but is not suitable as a 4. So I think both will be in the top 9.

I gave my nominations for the 12-person roster in the other thread. Of those, I would think all but "young PG" and "Stewart-or-Dupree" would get significant minutes even in competitive games (if there are any!). So I would foresee a 10-person rotation in competitive situations.

I also suggested a starting lineup of Griner / Charles / Moore / Taurasi / Bird. Note that 4 out of 5 are UConn alumnae. I can imagine the reaction that will get in Orange circles if it comes to pass (and probably other schools won't be too happy about it either).

It is very likely that the game we saw on Friday evening between the Red and White USA teams (is it entirely a coincidence that Blue was the one flag color that was omitted in those uniforms?) will have been the most competitive game of the next several weeks, and also will have provided fans with the best display of offensive basketball. It is too bad that so few fans saw it.
 

UcMiami

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Interesting looking back at the 2012 Olympic team - minutes wise:
21-24 minutes/game Bird, DT, and Charles
17-20 minutes/game Moore, Catch, Parker, Augustus, Whalen
15 minutes/game Angel
Jones 7 games at 10.3, Cash 7 games 8.3, and Fowles 5 games 9.6 (Had forgotten but I assume Fowles must have been hurting?)

But the top scorers were DT 12.9, Angel 10.9, Parker/Charles 10.5 with the rest between 6 and 9 ppg except for Jones and Cash at 3.1 and 3.3

So Angel played the least minutes of the players that played all 8 games but was the second leading scorer, second leading shot blocker, 5th leading rebounder, lead the team with 20 steals (next closest was Catch with 13 and Moore with 12, no others in double figures) and lead the team in field goal percentage.
Somehow I think she makes it into Geno's rotation somewhere.

On Edit - Angel was also the second leading scorer in 2010 WC (the third leading scorer on that team was Dupree by the way shooting .750 to lead the team) And in the 2010 WC there was really an 11 player rotation with the only player getting under twelve minutes per game was Appel at 7.4 in 8 of nine games.
 

VAMike23

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I think that while practicable, having Tina in the lineup as a 4 alongside Fowles or BG at the 5 is not really the best way to deploy her. I guess I'm splitting hairs here, but I think Tina at the 5 complemented by a strong 4 like Asjha is a better set. Obviously AJ is not in the pool, but I'm just sayin.

We will play 9 games, not just the 1 against AUS, and in a lot of those games Tina could well be the best 5 on the floor. She brings a lot to the table. OTOH, against AUS, it could be a tough matchup sizewise against Big Liz as we have seen in the past. To combat this, you could put either Fowles or BG on the floor , but you don't need both on the 12-player roster unless you're carrying one as insurance for just that particular game (AUS). I think Fowles is very good but I would take BG and Tina as my 5s and leave Fowles off. Just make sure you are carrying at least one PF with some length and strength, which should always be a priority anyway. If needed, Tina could absolutely fill that role defensively, even if it's not her ideal spot for extended minutes IMO, hence the need for a PF with length as well. Otherwise I think you can safely play Stewie with her length and wingspan against most any 4 that the other squads can throw at us. Nneka though shorter at 6'2" should really get a look as well, though. Ideally both make it, with Fowles left off. Dupree is excellent but I think we need to make an investment with Stewie and Nneka for the future.
 
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I would take the Big 9.

Bird, Whelan
DT, Augustus
Maya, Angel
Tina, Griner, Fowles

DT can play 1-3.
Augustus can play 2/3
Maya and Angel can play 3/4
Tina can play 4/5
And possibly Griner can play 4 with Fowles at center
 

Orangutan

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I only recently started following women's basketball closely and so haven't seen Charles play all that much...don't catch a lot of Liberty games.

That said, if you look at their respective basketball reference pages, statistically Fowles is the better player. Syl had a down year this year because she was coming off of hip surgery. She still had a higher block%, higher steal%, higher rebound% and was a much more efficient shooter.

Tina has a better assist rate (by FAR) and a lower turnover rate. She's a better team offensive player whereas Syl does her thing one-on-one. So they're different types of offensive players, but Syl is better on D and a marginally better rebounder, so I would think that would settle it for Syl.

So...unless Tina Charles brings something to the table that doesn't show up on the stat sheet, I think Charles is the odd one out if you can only take one of her and Fowles.

Potential X-factor: What is Fowles condition like after this playoff run?

http://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/players/c/charlti01w.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/players/f/fowlesy01w.html
 
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Tina imo is more valued. Fowles can't pass. There are a lot of good players to pass to on this team which put Fowles slightly behind the curve. Ball movement is a valued commodity especially with Geno. And it should be especially with this type of team.
 

ThisJustIn

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One thing that surprised me about Fowles during the playoffs - how Rebecca kept on talking about how tired she was... wasn't sure if this was a fitness issue because of the hip or a general comment on her "will" to dominate...
 

psconn

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One thing that surprised me about Fowles during the playoffs - how Rebecca kept on talking about how tired she was... wasn't sure if this was a fitness issue because of the hip or a general comment on her "will" to dominate...

After Rebecca started "coaching" Fowles to go to the rim ("forget the pick, go to the rim") I started watching her in isolation. I was amazed at how little aggression she showed to get the ball and take it to the hoop. A powerful 6'6" player who is in a win or go home situation... did not make sense. I have seen her (against Tina at times) be super aggressive and dominant so I know she can be that kind of a player. I do wonder what the issue was... injury? Just a bad mindset after being dominated for two games?
 
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