WNBA 2024 May 2024 | Page 8 | The Boneyard

WNBA 2024 May 2024

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hoopsnloops32 said:
She was great until August and the her performance fell off a cliff and has shown no signs of returning. I don’t think it will, this happens to some players. 4 points last night against the Sun isn’t promising either. She’ll struggle to average double figures this year it seems.
She wasn’t more dependable than Sabrina or JJ during the end of the season or the playoffs.
This is the reality of getting older, some may not like it but Stewie is washed. The Liberty are lucky they only have her signed for this season at her salary.
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3-9, 8pts, 8 rebounds in 32 minutes. Just saying, if this turns out to be right it's one of the great bball analysis I've been a witness to. And Golden State needs your consultation.
 
darkstar1 said:
And Phoenix w/out Griner. Perhaps a bigger difference, literally.
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On the road a gutsy performance that reveals the depths of the Mercury's problems. With the goat draining threes and the back court playing well Phoenix was able to hang with the Aces for three quarters. Acrs lacking their star guard and inexplicably cold from the perimeter did as much as the Mercury to make this a game.


The fourth quarter really showed the issues with the Mercury as they repeatedly fouled Young and the GOAT's defensive decline became clear. Mercury commit 23 fouls led by DT and Cooper with five each. They also turned the ball over 23 times. This is progress by the new administration and the million dollar coach?

With Chelsea Gray unavailable, the GOAT hitting 7 threes, the Aces ice cold from three land - the Aces win by 9. The rematch will clearly demonstrate regression to the mean with a 20 plus point Ace win.

Like the second day at Gettysburg this will be the high water mark for Phoenix as they end the year 15 games underwater.
 
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The deacon said:
Noteworthy that Stewie's strange slump continued with a 3 of 9 for 8 points performance. She lost her offensive game during the playoffs last season and hasn't found it since...
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Have her mechanics changed or is it that her shots just aren't falling? This is a pretty long time just to be a slump.
 
The deacon said:
Noteworthy that Stewie's strange slump continued with a 3 of 9 for 8 points performance. She lost her offensive game during the playoffs last season and hasn't found it since...
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I was watching her play defense. That's slumping too.
 
jdote33 said:
3-9, 8pts, 8 rebounds in 32 minutes. Just saying, if this turns out to be right it's one of the great bball analysis I've been a witness to. And Golden State needs your consultation.
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I told y’all.
visitingcock said:
Have her mechanics changed or is it that her shots just aren't falling? This is a pretty long time just to be a slump.
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It’s not a shooting slump and I watched her skills decline in real time last August through September. I thought it was just fatigue heading into the playoffs but her inability to muster any efficiency during the play offs and then again during USA basketball confirmed to me she’s likely lost a step athletically for good. Stewie’s game can’t afford that so I think she’s done for real. I thought she might have a chance if she got stronger during the off-season but she’s to have not done any weight lifting so my guess is last night will be an average game for her.
 
oldude said:
So I’m watching the Storm/Lynx game and the announcer just indicated that Nika can’t play tonight because of “visa issues?” I knew there was an issue in the preseason game in Canada, but Nika played in the 2nd preseason game in the US. Whatever the issue is, it’s hard for me to believe that the Storm haven’t taken care of the situation.
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It could be more complicated than we think. Talked about it with a friend last night and it also could be due to US immigration rules/policies with respect to her home country. Every country is different . Canadians have a simple form to complete to get their work visa. Other countries, not so much as lotteries could be a factor.
 
It was a fun night, but you can't put any evaluation or expectations on any one player after one game. Well, except for Caitlin. I thought she would be the second coming but I cannot believe what a complete bust her pro career has turned out to be. Record for turnovers and a 20 point beat down. Well the hype was fun while it lasted through all of 2 pre-season games.
 
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I have no doubt Caitlin will be an offensive force once she settles in and cuts down the TOS, assuming the coach continues to giver all that time on the floor. It didn’t look like she deserved it this game considering they have an all star guard on the bench in Kelsey Mitchell. But Caitlin sure looks like a defensive liability to me. I don’t see that changing.
 
hoopsnloops32 said:
I told y’all.


It’s not a shooting slump and I watched her skills decline in real time last August through September. I thought it was just fatigue heading into the playoffs but her inability to muster any efficiency during the play offs and then again during USA basketball confirmed to me she’s likely lost a step athletically for good. Stewie’s game can’t afford that so I think she’s done for real. I thought she might have a chance if she got stronger during the off-season but she’s to have not done any weight lifting so my guess is last night will be an average game for her.
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Losing a step is understandable as she’s almost 30. But calling her washed still seems pretty premature. She was literally just mvp, no one can decline that rapidly seemingly out of nowhere. Whatever her struggles she just needs to figure it out. Being washed is like Dirk’s last season in the nba, Stewie is def not there. Not saying you’re wrong that we may be seeing a decline, but it’s hard to imagine she played well all season and then lost a step while the playoffs happened and now she’s got no game left. If she sucks all season I’ll agree but I’ll wait and see how things play out before I declare something so bold
 
Blacketh’D said:
Losing a step is understandable as she’s almost 30. But calling her washed still seems pretty premature. She was literally just mvp, no one can decline that rapidly seemingly out of nowhere. Whatever her struggles she just needs to figure it out. Being washed is like Dirk’s last season in the nba, Stewie is def not there. Not saying you’re wrong that we may be seeing a decline, but it’s hard to imagine she played well all season and then lost a step while the playoffs happened and now she’s got no game left. If she sucks all season I’ll agree but I’ll wait and see how things play out before I declare something so bold
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Players certainly decline that rapidly out of no where. It’s rare but certainly not impossible. I made the same argument heading into the playoffs last season and no one believed me. 7 months later Stewie hasn’t done a thing to prove me wrong.

I’d be surprised if her stats this year are much better than Dirks final season but while getting a lot more minutes. It’s unfortunate and sad but I think the games passed her buy physically and mentally. I think she’s at her ceiling right now and will only continue go down without any real accents moving forward.

I’d love to be wrong though.
 
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After Q1, Chicago looks surprisingly good, and Dallas misses Satou. Lou came in and got a steal.
 
Dallas is starting an undrafted rookie guard from Turkey, Sevgi Uzun. Who? They traded Crystal to make room for her?

Angel is 0-2 from the floor and 0-4 from the line.

Dallas is playing Soares with TMac. That's 13' of height.
 
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hoopsnloops32 said:
Players certainly decline that rapidly out of no where. It’s rare but certainly not impossible. I made the same argument heading into the playoffs last season and no one believed me. 7 months later Stewie hasn’t done a thing to prove me wrong.

I’d be surprised if her stats this year are much better than Dirks final season but while getting a lot more minutes. It’s unfortunate and sad but I think the games passed her buy physically and mentally. I think she’s at her ceiling right now and will only continue go down without any real accents moving forward.

I’d love to be wrong though.
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Who does it in the middle of the season?

Could she be hurt?
 
Gamecockfan77 said:
Who does it in the middle of the season?

Could she be hurt?
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Don’t think so. When your body goes, your body goes. It doesn’t care if it’s during a season or not. It is what it is. It was nice watching her while she was good though.
 
Kalani Brown has done an amazing job remaking herself. I barely recognize her. If McCowan wasn’t having such a great game, I’m sure we’d be seeing more of her.

Dallas spending some time rocking the twin towers with McCowan and Soares both in.
 
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Was scanning the game last night. Quick observations:

Seattle's super team-to-be showed too much individual play; it will take more time to gel.....the disadvantage of having such a short training camp and preseason. A bit disappointed because Lloyd and Diggins-Smith were teammates in college.

On the other hand, there are only four holdovers for the Lynx playing last night - the absent Dorka will make it five. But the team had better movement and passing - thanks largely to Napheesa. I miss watching Dorka delivering passes from anywhere on the court, especially from the high post. The Lynx may turn out better than it first appears, despite missing Shepard for the whole year. Alana Smith did creditable job but doesn't playmake with her passes as well as Dorka.

The Fever's coach has a lot of work to do to make that collection of players function the way a good team should. Guards dominating play, not involving the front court players as much.....missing (or ignoring) to make passes when teammates are open and forcing some to Boston when she can easily be surrounded by the defense (3 on her quickly developed in a few instances last night). With her high usage, CC needs to decide to forget habits formed from being the dominant scorer at Iowa to learn how and when to involve her teammates early on as players move and the ball along with it. As it looked last night, Boston and Katie Lou were so underutilized, even when the latter was so wide open - the guards tended to ignore the optimal time to give them the ball because they are set on scoring and then they give up the ball when running into trouble. Or, the frontcourters did not move enough to get open. That happened too often.

The Sun looked good, though - the holdovers are showing the way but even some of the newcomers are in-step into the team ethos....of course, last night's starters are all holdovers. Little Mo is just returning from injury, so seeing short action in her first stint......but Banham looked fine.....even Olivia.

I don't know why all the gloom and doom about Stewie, with such impatience about her form. Let's see: Stewie, Vandersloot and Ionescu all shot 33% from the field last night. Stewie was the top rebounder with Jones for the Liberty. Of course, the energy level she played with was far below her usual high standard. Those three are veterans, so they should bounce back sooner than later, unless some kind of physical or mental issue is hampering Stewie.

Stewie, Jonquel and Courtney have played together a few years overseas, including Russia. There is no reason the three shouldn't be playing well together.....and they have had last year playing with Sabrina and Betnijah, so I can't explain a few moments of apparent disconnect when one may expect them to be a well-oiled machine. OTOH, that starting backcourt will likely have the same problems on defense against elite guards that they did against Las Vegas last year, so their offense had better function like the machine they should be.

Aaliyah is going to be fine.
 
Bigboote said:
Kalani Brown has done an amazing job remaking herself. I barely recognize her. If McCowan wasn’t having such a great game, I’m sure we’d be seeing more of her.

Dallas spending some time rocking the twin towers with McCowan and Soares both in.
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TMac and Kalani are a nice 1-2 punch. Kalani has indeed trimmed down and made a very nice pass tonight.
 
hoopsnloops32 said:
I told y’all.


It’s not a shooting slump and I watched her skills decline in real time last August through September. I thought it was just fatigue heading into the playoffs but her inability to muster any efficiency during the play offs and then again during USA basketball confirmed to me she’s likely lost a step athletically for good. Stewie’s game can’t afford that so I think she’s done for real. I thought she might have a chance if she got stronger during the off-season but she’s to have not done any weight lifting so my guess is last night will be an average game for her.
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I gotta admit, you were on to something. I had my Stewie rose colored glasses on. We will see if this trend continues with Stewie. I think that she will bounce back from whatever is going on.
 
nwhoopfan said:
Dangerfield is like Jefferson--on a new team almost every year. There must be a reason why?
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Crystal can be a defensive liability because of her height. She needs to offset that with offensive aggressiveness and efficient shooting.
 
Dallas vs Chicago was kinda fun. Arike went off in the 4th. Maddy looked good when she got minutes and wasn't randomly taken out. Jacy Sheldon looked good defensively as well, especially when she wasn't randomly benched. For Chicago, Mabrey is one of my all-time favorites, she's a dawg/crazy competitor. I think the team is full of them. But I thought they were a little selfish, and tried to do too much by themselves. Dana Evans took some awful shots, Mabrey took some awful shots, even Elizabeth Williams had some bad ones. Reese did too but kinda looked like I expected. Had some really good moments, and was versatile but struggled a bit posting up. Good first game for her, as she got into double figures despite not shooting well from the field and the line.

One thing I wanted to add about Mabrey. She's their primary scorer and they were asking her to basically defend Arike by herself all 4th quarter. Like I doubt it went well at the rec center in ND, Arike is much quicker and the better athlete. But Marina was trying.
 
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