WNBA Draft Thread | Page 6 | The Boneyard

WNBA Draft Thread

willtalk said:
Which is another reason why they should have given second and third rounders at least the airtime it takes to announce them as picks. I didn't switch to ESPNU to listen to their fill time blather. These people are so full of themselves. Makes me start to dislike them more and more.
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It is not ESPN's job to give the picks a participation trophy. ESPN's job is to create interesting television, and given that they've been doing this a while and billions of dollars depend on them doing it right, I'm gonna guess they know a few things.
 
baggerbob said:
Seattle went from a playoff team to being in the lottery next year. Can't score if you can't rebound, and nothing was done to remedy that fact.
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They signed Courtney Paris, that should help w/ rebounding. Thought they signed another free agent but can't seem to find out who.
 
vowelguy said:
It is not ESPN's job to give the picks a participation trophy. ESPN's job is to create interesting television, and given that they've been doing this a while and billions of dollars depend on them doing it right, I'm gonna guess they know a few things.
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It's debatable that what they ended up w/ was interesting television during the 2nd and 3rd round. I'd go more w/ "not interesting."
 
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vowelguy said:
Not to be Debby Downer, but worth noting that in previous years almost no one drafted below 18 survived cuts.
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True, but there are always exceptions to the rule. Erica Wheeler was not drafted coming out of college. I'm not sure if she even got an invitation to a training camp that season. So, she played overseas, worked hard and has been a valuable member of the Indiana Fever for the past few seasons.
 
vowelguy said:
Not to be Debby Downer, but worth noting that in previous years almost no one drafted below 18 survived cuts.
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With Saniya Chong as a notable exception.
 
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nwhoopfan said:
They signed Courtney Paris, that should help w/ rebounding. Thought they signed another free agent but can't seem to find out who.
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Paris can't play more then 20 minutes, and is slow getting up and down the floor, will be a limited player.
 
baggerbob said:
Paris can't play more then 20 minutes, and is slow getting up and down the floor, will be a limited player.
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Okay. Well it's something anyway. The previous year they brought in Carolyn Swords but she was not productive at all for the Storm. I swear during the draft broadcast they highlighted 2 post player FA signings by Seattle this off season, but I couldn't find anything online about the second player. I think it was a recognizable name, but I don't remember who.
 
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vowelguy said:
Not to be Debby Downer, but worth noting that in previous years almost no one drafted below 18 survived cuts.
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Wasn't Chung a third round pick last year?
 
EricLA said:
Sadly, she won't get to learn and improve as rapidly in the WNBA as she would have at a full season of UCONN coaching, so we'll never really know...
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Eric-I always appreciate you passion for UConn and all things Geno but this comment is speculative at best and arrogant at worst. Z will be playing against better athletes who are old and stronger so she will have to learn fast plus she can devote the bulk of her day and time film study and working out, which the 20hour a week limit severely hampers. I think the onus is squarely on Z to self manage her development and there are some pretty good pro coaches.
 
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Husky pride said:
I think you’re seriously underestimating Kia. She’s developed into a serious offensive threat and is one of the best defenders UConn has had. She’ll make NY proud the picked her!!!
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Yes, Kia is good as evidenced by 4 years of starting and being a Canadian Olympian but you are seriously underestimating how good Lexi is. She IS BETTER THAN KIA.

Why is it that many on this thread can’t give credit to other good players and take everything as a slight against a UCONN player if a name is referenced ahead of them? Kia is good but many, many basketball writers and coaches think both Jordin and Lexi are better than Kia and that’s ok. Kia still went in the first round and was taken right after Lexi.
 
vowelguy said:
It is not ESPN's job to give the picks a participation trophy. ESPN's job is to create interesting television, and given that they've been doing this a while and billions of dollars depend on them doing it right, I'm gonna guess they know a few things.
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ESPN is full of it. They have not done that well in respect to the WNBA. The program was listed as the WNBA draft and if I am not mistaken the draft lasts 3 round. The first round was on ESPN2 and then was shifted over to ESPNU basically because common sense told them that the second and third rounds are not as interesting as the first. The NBA draft certainly gives less time to the latter rounds but then the later round go much quicker. I would not have switched over if I had expected that they would waste my time with talking heads engaged in non related blather. They did the same crap during some games as well. Just because ESPN basically has a sports monopoly they think they can supply us with garbage and we have to put up with it.

It's not like we expect the same sort of coverage for the later rounds as the first, but at least we expect them to announce the picks as they happen. If they call it coverage of the draft then that is what we have a right to expect. If this is what they intended of doing they should just have quit coverage after the first round was over and not tease us into thinking they were going to cover the other two rounds as they had them listed on their board.
 
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DefenseBB said:
Eric-I always appreciate you passion for UConn and all things Geno but this comment is speculative at best and arrogant at worst. Z will be playing against better athletes who are old and stronger so she will have to learn fast plus she can devote the bulk of her day and time film study and working out, which the 20hour a week limit severely hampers. I think the onus is squarely on Z to self manage her development and there are some pretty good pro coaches.
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Certainly speculative. Arrogant? I disagree. Listen to what non-UCONN players say when they get a chance to learn from Geno - mainly players who were on the Olympic and World Championship USA teams. Most of them offered up not only how great it was to play for Geno, but how much they learned from him. That is not to say they didn't improve or learn things from their WNBA teams, but there is no better teacher of women's basketball out there than Geno and the UCONN staff.

Moreover, the WNBA goes from April 29 thru the end of August. That's 4 months. The UCONN "experience" usually starts in the summer, and goes all the way to April. Moreover, the season starts in October-ish and goes thru mid-April. 4 months in the W vs. 6 months at UCONN. The experiences are nothing alike. At UCONN the team lives together, hangs out together, studies together,eats together, practices together, works out together, and plays games together. It's almost 24/7 UCONN basketball.

In the pros, it's not even close to that. They get their own places, maybe live with a teammate or 2, maybe not. Some get married, some have kids, and "real life" has way more prevalent and distracting. I firmly believe another 6 months with Geno, and a year with the UCONN program would have improved Z more than whatever improvement she shows this year as a pro.

My point was that given we were expecting a "sophomore leap" for Stevens, as well as another whole year being involved with UCONN basketball and being coached by the best, and also being PUSHED more to be great - I just don't believe she will get that in the pros. My bet is they let Azura play where she wants - some in the post, but if she prefers, more roaming around the perimeter. But we will see soon enough!
 
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