WNBA draft, April 17

[donalddoowop]

I think that willtalk has been trying to use the term "ball dominant" when he consistently writes "ball dominate" in his posts. I have seen him spar with posters on other boards about how Slocum and Pivec played this past season. Slocum shot 45% from the field and Pivec shot 50% from the field during '19-'20. Both of those shooting percentages are quality marks for guards. Slocum shot 37% from distance and Pivec was 36% from beyond the arc this past season. Acceptable percentages, but not elite numbers.

Usually a player's usage percentage can go a long way in determining whether a player is "ball dominant" for his/her team. I would suggest that willtalk compare the player usage percentages of Slocum and of Pivec to other top guards to determine how "ball dominant" they really were last season. If he does his research, he will conclude that those two Beavers really weren't as ball dominant as his memory seems to recall. However, that would require some research and may result in a finding contrary to what he writes above.

He is not the only one who uses the word dominate when the word dominant should be used. Also, there are posters on here who use the word loose when the word lose should be used.

 

[Husky fanatic]

Most watched Draft in 16 years. Wonder why?

 

[j66kicker]

Most watched Draft in 16 years. Wonder why?

Same reason Episodes 1 & 2 of "The Last Dance" got higher ratings than any NBA game all year except the Christmas Day games.

 

[eebmg]

Most watched Draft in 16 years. Wonder why?

on ESPN helps a bit.

 

[mbr33ct]

Most watched Draft in 16 years. Wonder why?

No ND presence?

 

[willtalk]

I think that willtalk has been trying to use the term "ball dominant" when he consistently writes "ball dominate" in his posts. I have seen him spar with posters on other boards about how Slocum and Pivec played this past season. Slocum shot 45% from the field and Pivec shot 50% from the field during '19-'20. Both of those shooting percentages are quality marks for guards. Slocum shot 37% from distance and Pivec was 36% from beyond the arc this past season. Acceptable percentages, but not elite numbers.

Will talk wrote:
This poster, I believe is the same one that was pushed out of shape when I stated that the PG play was Oregons St. weakness during Pivecs soph season. Well, it was until the end of the year. Almost everyone stated that Pivec was playing out of position and still learning how to play PG. So how would saying that the position was the weakest part of the team be wrong? So Pac 12 followed me around on different sites claiming I didn't know diddly about Oregon St siting silly things like my using Maria instead of Marie for Gulish's first name. So true to form they bring up my use of "Dominate" instead of the correct "dominant". The reality is that I just recently discovered that the "spell check" on Google has sort of upgraded itself and is now changing words on me even as I write. My eyes are not that good so if it is at night I might miss that fact. I now have to re-read all of my sentences.

The 50% and 45% might be quality marks for guards if most of those shots were from the perimeter and they were not shooting to play in the WNBA. Pivec's 36% was what hurt her draft status. She shot .417 last season compared to .361 this season. That is quite a drop and the lack of perimeter ball movement and too much trying to create shots off the dribble that ran down clock was certainly a factor in that drop. Pivec was a pretty good catch and shoot 3pt shooter last season and that is what disappeared from the team this season due to lack of ball movement.


Usually a player's usage percentage can go a long way in determining whether a player is "ball dominant" for his/her team. I would suggest that willtalk compare the player usage percentages of Slocum and of Pivec to other top guards to determine how "ball dominant" they really were last season. If he does his research, he will conclude that those two Beavers really weren't as ball dominant as his memory seems to recall. However, that would require some research and may result in a finding contrary to what he writes above.

Willtalk wrote:
Usually, but not in this case. I doubt there is a stat that measures the time a player controls the ball dribbling and its effectiveness in getting higher percentage shots. What is a better measure of that is the effectiveness of the other players on the team. And as I stated all of Pivecs shooting % stats dropped especially her 3's. That doesn't even include the effectiveness of the other guards on the roster. Goodman had a real subpar season and last season McWilliams effectiveness totally tanked. The eye test is much more effective than some stats. Often one players numbers are gotten at the expense of other players effectiveness. But the fans of those players who get the numbers do not care. Alan ( what Practice ) Iverson is the perfect example of a great one on one player who did not help his team as much as his stats gave the impression. This was revealed when he was traded twice and released once and each time the teams did better without him.

You will have to click EXPAND to see my reply,because I wrote it within Pac 12 post.

 

[PAC-12HoopFan]

You will have to click EXPAND to see my reply,because I wrote it within Pac 12 post.

Katie McWilliams was a senior for Oregon State during '18-'19 and played professionally in Germany last season. McWilliams did not play for the Beavers "last season." Goodman did struggle with her shot during the middle of the season and scored less in '19-'20 than she did the prior year. However, she shot 44% from beyond the arc in '19-'20, most of which came off quality passes from either Slocum or Pivec on wide-open looks. Goodman wasn't beating her defender off the bounce for her shots. Goodman's shots typically were created by penetration and kicks from Slocum and Pivec.

The world according to willtalk is a world in which a 5'10" two guard who shoots 50% from the field and averages 9.3 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game is a detriment to her team. Pivec's field goal percentage went from 53% in '18-'19 to 50% in '19-'20. I believe that Louisville's Jazmine Jones and Pivec are the only D1 starting guards from a P5 conference who shot over 50% from the field in each of the past two seasons. Shooting 50% from the field for a guard is very difficult to do. Not many players accomplish that for a variety of reasons. It is true that Pivec's decrease in three-point accuracy from 42% in '18-'19 to 36% (on only 62 attempts) this past season contributed to her slide to #25 in the draft last week. To survive in the WNBA, Pivec will have to play the 2, demonstrate quickly that she can shoot consistently from deep, and provide great rebounding from the guard position.

Willtalk also has articulated a dislike for how Slocum plays because she will look for her own shot on occasion as a point guard. You can bet that Slocum will have a green light to do so at Arkansas next season and will likely thrive with the increased flexibility to be creative in the Arkansas system. Slocum should have shot more often at Oregon State. Both Slocum and Pivec made their teammates more effective at Oregon State by driving and kicking to get those teammates open shots. Watch replays on the PAC-12 Network of the team's games this past season and you will see numerous times when both Slocum and Pivec passed up quality looks to create better shots for their teammates. Guards who shoot 45% (Slocum) and 50% (Pivec) from the floor and average 4.5+ assists per game are typically taking quality shots and are distributing regularly to their teammates. Willtalk has been complaining about and critiquing Oregon State point guards on message boards across the country since the Sydney Wiese era. He rarely lets actual stats get in the way of his observations.