I’m so glad Berger has been picked up by a team that might know how to use her. She had a decent rookie year for the Fever, but Sides totally ignored her once the Caitlin Clark Show arrived. She has a good skill set — does everything well, nothing spectacular.
I love this pick up for my Minnesota Lynx. I am a huge Grace Berger fan. I hated that she would torch my Minnesota Gophers while playing for Indiana, but Grace is a gamer! I am happy that she is on the roster for the Lynx. Grace just has one of the sweetest mid-range shots in the game! Well done, Coach Reeve!! Now I just hope that we keep Grace on the roster.
Can you quote from the tweets what the "nasty things her agent has said about Clark"? I've read a few of the tweets but wonder what you're seeing as "nasty."
I could see Courtney Williams taking Berger under her wing as her backup. I feel like that is a good pairing of styles and the Lynx won't have to change much on the court to accommodate Berger's style of PG play.
As a homer Domer, my gut: If the Irish get to the Final Four this year (knock on plate gold), Olivia will go pro for sure.
I'm with you and @Bigboote on hoping Berger gets a chance to shine here. She has a great role model to learn from with Carleton on the roster. Things didn't work out at the Sun, but over the last few years, Carleton has turned into a key part of the Lynx's roster as we all saw this season.
Is Berger a PG though? That's not how I felt she played while at Indiana. I see her style of play being similar to Carleton.
Lots of superb role models on that team about people that have persevered: Williams, Alanna Smith, Carleton among them.
I think she's a combo guard, whereas Carleton is more of a 2-combination. Berger is very comfortable leading breaks and can run sets, but she's best when read/reacting her mid-range game.
I’ve never been afraid to be weird, but I see Berger as almost a combo point guard/small forward. So I see the remarks that she’ll have good role models in Williams and Carleton as quite sensible. Grace has great court vision and is deceptively strong. I know she’s been working on her outside shot, but I don’t know how well it’s developing.
She was the backup PG to Wheeler in year 1 with the Fever. I may be a little bias though, because Williams is probably my favorite non-Gamecock player in the W. I just love her game and would love to see more players like her in the league.
I think the Aces were almost doomed to take at least somewhat of a step backwards, mostly because of the cap. Lloyd vs Plum might be close to a wash as players but Plum took less salary and the Aces were in a situation where they couldn't really pay market value to retain key players from last year.
Along those lines, maybe they want to fill out the roster and needed to find the room to get the necessary cap space.
It was a contract divorce so the Fever still have to take a loss. It's been reported they agreed to 106k. So at best they have enough for 1 vet and a mid-season cheap 12 player. Or they can go after in on the 11th player for around 115k.Along those lines, maybe they want to fill out the roster and needed to find the room to get the necessary cap space.
Cutting a deal with KLS allows them to do so...
Why? Perhaps there's another trade coming up that sends out yet another Fever small forward (among Cunningham, Hull, Wallace) or draft choice. A trade that specifically brings in Marina Mabrey.
Mabrey collects more than $200,000 and Indiana is finding the (financial) space. KLS makes $180K. While Mabrey played just the end part and playoffs for her, Stephanie White liked what Mabrey brought to the court with her shooting, flexibility of positions and moxie. Indy could send a small forward and/or draft choice to Connecticut, while the Fever get a wing who can shift over to off guard when Indy wants to go big.
The timing on KLS got me thinking on this....
Stay tuned.
I would not be shocked if the Aces showed an interest, now that her overvalued salary is not an issue.
Or trade someone?
