WNBA -- 2023 Season

[JellyBean]

I tried to stay up to watch the games last night but I failed. My beloved Minnesota Lynx. It is a whole team concern. The 3rd loss in a row and it wasn't like a bad quarter here or there. It was the whole game of being bad. The Lynx’s starting lineup lacks much in the way of firepower as rookie Diamond Miller continues to find her footing and Napheesa Collier tallied just eight points on nine shots. Minnesota (0-3) doesn’t seem to possess a No. 1 scorer on its current roster, which doesn’t have to be a death sentence if a team can defend at a high level. The Lynx just aren’t doing that consistently enough at the moment to win games.

 

[Tangential]

Is there anybody that is part of more collisions than Hayes? Magnet to them.

 

[SCspur]

Terrible game management by Stephanie White. I hope she doesn’t revert back to her Vandy days.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I turned it on mid Q3. Pretty much all Liberty from that point. Stewie got going, but I'm giving the game ball to Sloot. An extremely efficient 18 points to go along w/ 10 assists. Just doing Sloot things.

 

[baggerbob]

I turned it on mid Q3. Pretty much all Liberty from that point. Stewie got going, but I'm giving the game ball to Sloot. An extremely efficient 18 points to go along w/ 10 assists. Just doing Sloot things.

And they pickup Johannes in the next couple of days. Defense is starting to come together.
When JJ gets healthy, bone spurs, this team will be very good.

 

[ochoopsfan]

I thought you needed 8 players in the WNBA to dress or game is forfeited.

 

[ochoopsfan]

I thought you needed 8 players in the WNBA to dress or game is forfeited.

Now the Sparks have 8

https://twitter.com/LASparksPR/status/1662571798700097537

 

[Tangential]

I thought you needed 8 players in the WNBA to dress or game is forfeited.

Nneka coming back from flu on Thursday, Nia's 1st playing time of the season after just joining team, Rae waived during camp and hasn't been with the team in 2 weeks, Dearica's playing (in her return to LV) after recently giving birth, Joyner not really accustomed to playing that much during her journeywoman career, Zia a rookie early in the year, and Karlie & Lexie both have been waived multiple times throughout their careers vs. a healthy LV power team on ring night and Becky's return. Aces could probably name the score.

 

[ochoopsfan]

Nneka coming back from flu on Thursday, Nia's 1st playing time of the season after just joining team, Rae waived during camp and hasn't been with the team in 2 weeks, Dearica's playing (in her return to LV) after recently giving birth, Joyner not really accustomed to playing that much during her journeywoman career, Zia a rookie early in the year, and Karlie & Lexie both have been waived multiple times throughout their careers vs. a healthy LV power team on ring night and Becky's return. Aces could probably name the score.

Vegas still has the game at Aces -15 points (a 15 point favorite).
I wouldnt be surprised with a 95-65 final.

 

[Tangential]

Vegas still has the game at Aces -15 points (a 15 point favorite).
I wouldnt be surprised with a 95-65 final.

Absolutely. If it gets really out-of-hand, Hammon will probably give a lot minutes to George, Colson, and Bell

 

[GamecockFam]

Vegas still has the game at Aces -15 points (a 15 point favorite).
I wouldnt be surprised with a 95-65 final.

Dang. So close! 93-65 final score.

 

[Tangential]

The player for whom I was most impressed relative to my expectations, was Lexie Brown. Her shot was so pure in the 1st half that it was barely moving the net and she had a few really nice pick and roll dimes (threaded needle on the bounce and the lob numerous times) and would have had even more but Chiney (who played well) and Dearica (who made some nice passes of her own) missed a few bunnies. She also looked better defensively than I have seen throughout her career.

When healthy, the frontcourt rotation of Nneka, Chiney, Azurá, Dearica, and Karlie will be very solid.

I completely concur that these 2 deserve to be on a roster permanently. In addition to Karlie's shooting and court awareness, she is a very determined defensive rebounder. I admire Lexie's game, but if she doesn't have a premier point guard to properly feed her, she will be very inconsistent. The point I was making, given the circumstances, that their gameday roster yesterday didn't stand a chance to make the game even competitive, and the score was only as close as it was because Vegas didn't play their starters in the 4th.

"Aces ochoopsfan could probably name the score."

 

[GoldenGophs]

Lynx are probably looking at starting 0-4 today. Tough game tonight against Vegas.

 

[Tangential]

Finally saw the Fever in action this year (had to explain to others at the barbecue). I agree with others that said Boston will be a great pro. The biggest reason why I previously claimed against the grain that Smith would have a more productive year than Boston in '23 is that it is a grind for physical frontcourt players to go from a long college season to a long professional season with only a short break. It looked like it wore Lyss down last year and this year she should be more refreshed. When Mitchell is off, it is tough to see all of the shots she takes away from the developing younger players.

Howard looks really good at times, but I think that she is Atlanta's 3rd best player at this point.

 

[hoopsnloops32]

Finally saw the Fever in action this year (had to explain to others at the barbecue). I agree with others that said Boston will be a great pro. The biggest reason why I previously claimed against the grain that Smith would have a more productive year than Boston in '23 is that it is a grind for physical frontcourt players to go from a long college season to a long professional season with only a short break. It looked like it wore Lyss down last year and this year she should be more refreshed. When Mitchell is off, it is tough to see all of the shots she takes away from the developing younger players.

Howard looks really good at times, but I think that she is Atlanta's 3rd best player at this point.

Smith is also a three level score and Boston is maybe 1.5. Boston is shooting incredibly efficiently so far but she’s not able to get very many shots off in this offense.

 

[baggerbob]

Finally saw the Fever in action this year (had to explain to others at the barbecue). I agree with others that said Boston will be a great pro. The biggest reason why I previously claimed against the grain that Smith would have a more productive year than Boston in '23 is that it is a grind for physical frontcourt players to go from a long college season to a long professional season with only a short break. It looked like it wore Lyss down last year and this year she should be more refreshed. When Mitchell is off, it is tough to see all of the shots she takes away from the developing younger players.

Howard looks really good at times, but I think that she is Atlanta's 3rd best player at this point.

Mitchell has always shot too much, has one good season pct wise. As long as she is on the team they will always have problems.

 

[Tangential]

Mitchell has always shot too much, has one good season pct wise. As long as she is on the team they will always have problems.

It's making it difficult for some to evolve and others to be evaluated. This is not the Fever's year to contend, which is why I thought VV should go, but she is getting less PT, not shooting as frequently, and becoming a defensive specialist, so that isn't hindering growth of others.

 

[GCKSFN4L]

Smith is also a three level score and Boston is maybe 1.5. Boston is shooting incredibly efficiently so far but she’s not able to get very many shots off in this offense.

So far she has shown to be quite solid in both the mid range and down low. Her issues lies in that her game is dependent on her teammates giving her the ball. Unfortunately they rarely look out for her and when they do it's extremely poor passes. Too many players on that squad, looking to throw up a shot early in shot clock over over looking for a higher percentage shot from a teammate.

 

[hoopsnloops32]

So far she has shown to be quite solid in both the mid range and down low. Her issues lies in that her game is dependent on her teammates giving her the ball. Unfortunately they rarely look out for her and when they do it's extremely poor passes. Too many players on that squad, looking to throw up a shot early in shot clock over over looking for a higher percentage shot from a teammate.

Like I said 1.5 level scorer. She certainly isn’t creating her own midrange jump shot but she can hit it if she’s open if it’s a catch and shoot situation from 10-12 feet out.

The fever guards don’t see to have the same issues getting it to Egbo or Smith when they are posting down though. Not sure what the deal is with that.

 

[GCKSFN4L]

Like I said 1.5 level scorer. She certainly isn’t creating her own midrange jump shot but she can hit it if she’s open if it’s a catch and shoot situation from 10-12 feet out.

The fever guards don’t see to have the same issues getting it to Egbo or Smith when they are posting down though. Not sure what the deal is with that.

They actually do though. Queen and Aliyah are fighting down low for position and they don't pass them the ball. Nalyssa plays a lot on the wing and sometimes bring the ball down the floor so she don't have that problem because she's more ball dominant. Although Smith is guilty of herself of overlooking her fellow post players as well too.

 

[JellyBean]

Lynx are probably looking at starting 0-4 today. Tough game tonight against Vegas.

Possible. But knowing our beloved Minnesota Lynx, the one game you would think they would get blown out, they would play well and get a win. I am still not counting them tonight. I say Minnesota shocks the world and knock off one of the Super Teams.

 

[hoopsnloops32]

They actually do though. Queen and Aliyah are fighting down low for position and they don't pass them the ball. Nalyssa plays a lot on the wing and sometimes bring the ball down the floor so she don't have that problem because she's more ball dominant. Although Smith is guilty of herself of overlooking her fellow post players as well too.

Maybe we watch different games but Egbo gets it quite a bit down low. The fact that she gets the same amount of shots up in significantly less playing time is telling of this. It’s not s knock of Boston- it might just be a chemistry thing that needs to develop between Boston and the guards.

 

[GCKSFN4L]

Maybe we watch different games but Egbo gets it quite a bit down low. The fact that she gets the same amount of shots up in significantly less playing time is telling of this. It’s not s knock of Boston- it might just be a chemistry thing that needs to develop between Boston and the guards.

Eh, I disagree. I see Queen get more of her touches off of rebounds and I do think Nalyssa looks more for Queen than Boston. But the guards on this year's squad can't make good post entry passes. Honestly a rookie Berger has done a better job than the vets in her limited minutes with looking for the bigs. But the guards on this team + Smith often rather attempt tough contested shots rather than look for an open player or one that has the mismatch. Some of it is chemistry issues, but I do believe selfish play is a factor as well along with no pass first point guards.