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This is contrary to everything Geno has preached for his entire career and part of his criteria for whether to even recruit a player! He doesn't want a kid that puts themselves before the team and you do a great disservice to Paige to even suggest that she would consider putting or asking that he put her future interests above the teams best interests. She never has and never will.I think that it's important to consider what Paige wants & what Paige thinks is best for her future in the WNBA.
Geno must give that some consideration in his mind too.
Perhaps similar to Hailey Van Lith, Paige wants the opportunity to be the primary PG so that she can prove that she can run an WNBA team as the primary ball handler.
That could increase her value, her visibility, her PG skills & maybe even her career longevity.
Maybe someday she'll be in the Oympics & sees herself as being the PG.
I remember when she said that she dreamed of passing the ball to Azzi to make the winning shot for a NC.
She had also bragged to Geno as a freshman about how she was best offensive player in the nation.
She's an alpha female on the court & Geno knows it.
She'll do anything for the team but if she wants to be the PG then I don't believe that Geno would want to deny her, especially if that's one of the reasons that she chose to attend UConn when she was recruited.
Sure she can play more than one position but she would still need to learn how to play PG well enough to lead her college team to a NC victory if that's what it takes to win it for herself, her teammates, Geno & her future.
Geno won't be able to say no, at least not for the majority of the time.
Geno will start whomever he starts at PG this season because that player, from his prospective will best serve, at that position, the ends of making the team the best they can be. Chemistry, personality and skill sets will all play a part in his decision but in no way will the future interests of one player be part of that equation. Never has been and never will be.
If healthy, no one should worry about Paige's future, what she does on the court has and will speak for itself. There won't be a WNBA GM who is going to pass on Paige because they have a player on their roster, even a star, that plays at whatever position she has played in college. They know as many of us has pointed out that she is a generational talent with tremendous varied skillsets that allow her to play any guard position and believe me they will find a place for her in their starting five.
The basic disagreement in this thread is that some feel Paige needs, or even in a few poster's opinion, as reflected in your post, deserves to play the PG this upcoming season and others feel she can be every bit as effective, perhaps even more so playing off the ball. It's has been Geno's prime deciding factor that the goal in who is included in the starting five will be determined by which five players will be most effective together on both the offensive and defense ends of the court, coupled with who on the roster will be most effective in coming in and immediately impacting the game as rotation players.
I've made it no secret, that I believe, in the motion offense and pressure defense many of us feel will be the goal this season, going with three guards and two bigs (1-2-2-4-4 (if no-one proves to be a true 5) or 1-2-2-4-5) will be our most effective lineup. Going into offensive sets we will either look to get a quick transition basket with a long outlet pass to a streaking player for a layup or bring the ball up quickly with a first pass to another crossing guard with everyone else and the ball in motion to exploit what the defense gives us. The ball is not going to be sitting in the PG or anyone else's hands for long. On defense we are going to want to continually pressure the ball handler, at times pressing full court and if they are in a half court offense always have well orchestrated switching.
IMO, our best use of the roster to accomplish this motion offense and pressure defense, based on what they have shown individually and in combinations, up to this moment in time (with some conjecture at the five as we have no obvious proven player at that position), would be Nika at the one, Paige and Azzi at the twos, Aaliyah at the four and either Jana or Ice at the five. With both Aubrey and Caroline coming in to immediately impact the game and disrupt the opponents game planning. IMO, that lineup from the start gives us three very capable ball handlers, two excellent passers with great court vision, atleast two or three exceptional scorers, an aggressive defense, good balance inside and out on both ends of the court and excellent chemistry and flow (my hopes are that both Ice and Jana being with the team last season even without playing in a game can fall right into a good rhythm). IMO, both Aubrey and Caroline can seamlessly blend into the mix with that group, adding different options on both offense and defense while taking away nothing. At this time, I see these seven being our core players and I would fully expect that as the season progresses others on this really talented roster will find their minutes!