WNBA Off-Season | Page 29 | The Boneyard

WNBA Off-Season

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cancontent said:
I think so. Championship experience too.
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@nwhoopfan

I think you have a trade that reflects where both teams currently are in the short and long of it:
- It benefits the Liberty for next year. Cloud, like so many vets, is a UFA after this season, so this is only a certain deal for this season.
Good 'enuff if a repeat is what you're after.
- The Sun are obviously rebuilding and got first round picks in two drafts, which will be on rookie contracts for a few years (probably).
In the medium- and long-term, this will help them.
That said...
  • That sound you heard was Marina Mabrey throwing yet another skillet in her kitchen.
  • And the cellphone buzz was Lindsay Allen, her former ND and Sky teammate who is now also a Sun, calling to tell her to get off the ledge and reassure her: I got you....we're in this together. ;)

www.espn.com

Liberty add Natasha Cloud from Sun for two first-round picks

The Liberty are acquiring guard Natasha Cloud from the Sun for the No. 7 pick in this year's draft and a 2026 first-round pick.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
 
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Dillon77 said:
@nwhoopfan

I think you have a trade that reflects where both teams currently are in the short and long of it:
- It benefits the Liberty for next year. Cloud, like so many vets, is a UFA after this season, so this is only a certain deal for this season.
Good 'enuff if a repeat is what you're after.
- The Sun are obviously rebuilding and got first round picks in two drafts, which will be on rookie contracts for a few years (probably).
In the medium- and long-term, this will help them.
That said...
  • That sound you heard was Marina Mabrey throwing yet another skillet in her kitchen.
  • And the cellphone buzz was Lindsay Allen, her former ND and Sky teammate, calling to reassure her, I got you....we're in this together. ;)

www.espn.com

Liberty add Natasha Cloud from Sun for two first-round picks

The Liberty are acquiring guard Natasha Cloud from the Sun for the No. 7 pick in this year's draft and a 2026 first-round pick.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
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Yeah I keep forgetting the whole league is gonna be free agents in '26. That won't be a crazy off season. I just look at it as NY wasn't likely to get anyone at #7 pick as good as Cloud. Yeah only 1 year but the entire league is gonna be musical chairs, so who cares about the future?

This is basically Sloot aged out so they brought in a younger replacement, better on D and better 3 point shooter. They look like the team to beat until someone proves otherwise. Minny gave them a good run in the Finals but Lib should definitely be the favorite.
 
nwhoopfan said:
Yeah I keep forgetting the whole league is gonna be free agents in '26. That won't be a crazy off season. I just look at it as NY wasn't likely to get anyone at #7 pick as good as Cloud. Yeah only 1 year but the entire league is gonna be musical chairs, so who cares about the future?

This is basically Sloot aged out so they brought in a younger replacement, better on D and better 3 point shooter. They look like the team to beat until someone proves otherwise. Minny gave them a good run in the Finals but Lib should definitely be the favorite.
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True. But there's a lot of basketball left to play.... all of it, in facts. ;) (Plus Stewwie had her knee scoped, so who even knows how healthy everyone will be.)
 
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nwhoopfan said:
Are you getting in early on predicting the Valkyries are gonna shock the world?
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By winning more than 4 games?! ;)

I'm actually feeling pretty good about how Nyanin is putting the team together. We have a lot of very young overseas talent, and while we're going to be on like a half dozen 7-day hardship contracts during Eurobasket, I think we'll have a gritty, high effort team that will make the top half of the league work hard to get a W. I think we were absolutely royally screwed with the timing of the CBA (what established pros want to come for a complete build only to leave in a year?), but I think Nyanin and Nakase are putting together a foundational core of young players on the cheap and then they can use all their cap space post-CBA renegotation to go after some bigger fish.
 
nwhoopfan said:
Yeah I keep forgetting the whole league is gonna be free agents in '26. That won't be a crazy off season. I just look at it as NY wasn't likely to get anyone at #7 pick as good as Cloud. Yeah only 1 year but the entire league is gonna be musical chairs, so who cares about the future?

This is basically Sloot aged out so they brought in a younger replacement, better on D and better 3 point shooter. They look like the team to beat until someone proves otherwise. Minny gave them a good run in the Finals but Lib should definitely be the favorite.
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You pretty much gave the details to my overall topic sentence: Liberty are making a move for this year and made a decision that this veteran was the way to go.

And the Sun correctly figured "We're probably not doing much this season, so why not get two first rounders in consecutive years?"

Could be a win-win...we'll see. Now about Mabey's kitchen...:rolleyes: (Heck, she's basically being invited to shoot her arm off -- to use Deb Antonelli';s favorite phrase -- for the season, then see where that bring her as UFA.)
 
With all of the trades of draft picks, only 8 of 13 WNBA teams are picking in the first round.
 


While I understand why the Fever will get a large portion of their games on ESPN and ABC, I have a hard time believing they couldn't find a way to provide other teams at least one game during the season. Washington not havingone game seems unfair/unbalanced.
 
cancontent said:


While I understand why the Fever will get a large portion of their games on ESPN and ABC, I have a hard time believing they couldn't find a way to provide other teams at least one game during the season. Washington not havingone game seems unfair/unbalanced.
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Maybe a good decision for a bit, but a bad idea in the long term. I’d been thinking of canceling my league pass subscription after last year turned into Caitlin and her supporting cast. But they’ve doubled down, so I’m for sure canceling now.

No games for the Mystics is just silly. Say what you want about getting rid of the Thibeaux and rebuilding, but don’t pretend they don’t exist. Washington is a top-ten market in the US, best not to ignore them.
 
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With Connecticut Sun management spending tons of time in Boston I wonder when the relocation will take place. But, the Celtics are being sold. Curious to know if the new owners would want to buy the team from the tribe. They would need a sports team to fill in dates though. Major League Lacrosse didn’t work out. Maybe indoor football or one of the new volleyball leagues.
 
CamrnCrz1974 said:
With all of the trades of draft picks, only 8 of 13 WNBA teams are picking in the first round.
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With the upcoming new contract, huge increases in attendance and TV ratings, there is a logical reason for that. Players with the option to declare or wait, have never had a greater incentive to wait. A player coming out this year will be stuck with a rookie contract scale for several years that is likely much lower than what it will be next year. Quite possibly a player that waits might make more in 3 years than in 4 if they came out this year.

The NIL opportunities affect decisions too, and Paige appears to be an exception, but there is good reason to believe that a lower percentage of players who have the option of this year or next will wait, making a pick in this year's draft a little less valuable than it might be otherwise.
 
Bigboote said:
Maybe a good decision for a bit, but a bad idea in the long term. I’d been thinking of canceling my league pass subscription after last year turned into Caitlin and her supporting cast. But they’ve doubled down, so I’m for sure canceling now.

No Mystics games for the Mystics is just silly. Say what you want about getting rid of the Thibeaux and rebuilding, but don’t pretend they don’t exist. Washington is a top-ten market in the US, best not to ignore them.
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All leagues skew their TV schedules to their more popular teams to an extent. This is to another level. All of the teams deserve at least one game on ESPN/ABC. How else do you help these other teams get exposure in their market, especially one the size of DC? And if they can find a slot for the Valkyries, you can't say it wasn't possible for the Mystics.
 
cancontent said:
All leagues skew their TV schedules to their more popular teams to an extent. This is to another level. All of the teams deserve at least one game on ESPN/ABC. How else do you help these other teams get exposure in their market, especially one the size of DC? And if they can find a slot for the Valkyries, you can't say it wasn't possible for the Mystics.
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Seems "Monumental Sports Network" [owned by the owner of the Mystics] will be providing Regional Coverage of 40 Mystics games this season and I think it's available on YoutubeTV, Hulu+ Live TV, and potentially available through DC Regional TV Providers. Obviously, tbha doesn't help national viewers or fans outside the regional area but they will at least still have local eyes. Chrsity winters-Scott and Meghan McPeak will be in the Broadcast Booth. They play one game against the Fever on ION.

Last year the Mystics had one game on ESPN vs the Aces and one on CBS vs the Lynx, then five games on ION. I do think of the teams, they had the fewest on ESPN/CBS last year.

The year Indiana drafted Boston they had one game on ESPN, when they played New York. They did have a few on ION, which has been pretty good about showing a lot of games.

They need to get the Unrivaled team in the National Broadcast negotiations instead of Kathy.
 
CBus13 said:
Seems "Monumental Sports Network" [owned by the owner of the Mystics] will be providing Regional Coverage of 40 Mystics games this season and I think it's available on YoutubeTV, Hulu+ Live TV, and potentially available through DC Regional TV Providers. Obviously, tbha doesn't help national viewers or fans outside the regional area but they will at least still have local eyes. Chrsity winters-Scott and Meghan McPeak will be in the Broadcast Booth. They play one game against the Fever on ION.

Last year the Mystics had one game on ESPN vs the Aces and one on CBS vs the Lynx, then five games on ION. I do think of the teams, they had the fewest on ESPN/CBS last year.

The year Indiana drafted Boston they had one game on ESPN, when they played New York. They did have a few on ION, which has been pretty good about showing a lot of games.

They need to get the Unrivaled team in the National Broadcast negotiations instead of Kathy.
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And there's the rub as the regional coverage sucks, from a Canadian perspective. Monumental Sports Network isn't something I can subscribe to. I have to use the WNBA app for that. Thing is I'm not a casual fan and this is the perspective I'm viewing this from.

However regardless of the fact that they get regional coverage, it shouldn't have to be like that. All of the teams should get at least one national broadcast during the season.
 
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cancontent said:
And there's the rub as the regional coverage sucks, from a Canadian perspective. Monumental Sports Network isn't something I can subscribe to. I have to use the WNBA app for that. Thing is I'm not a casual fan and this is the perspective I'm viewing this from.

However regardless of the fact that they get regional coverage, it shouldn't have to be like that. All of the teams should get at least one national broadcast during the season.
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Totally agree. I won't be able to watch any Washington games until they are on ION, which, is a bummer since Washington will have three draft picks in the top 6.

Sorry, I only quoted you because you mentioned other teams getting exposure in the large DC market. I definitely commiserate with you on being able to watch these teams without trying to bend over backwards or plan your summer in advance to TV times. Hard to gain friends if it's not readily accessible for casuals.
 
CBus13 said:
Totally agree. I won't be able to watch any Washington games until they are on ION, which, is a bummer since Washington will have three draft picks in the top 6.

Sorry, I only quoted you because you mentioned other teams getting exposure in the large DC market. I definitely commiserate with you on being able to watch these teams without trying to bend over backwards or plan your summer in advance to TV times. Hard to gain friends if it's not readily accessible for casuals.
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No apologies needed. Thanks to my time on this board I've learned that the TV broadcasting landscape in the US, while robust with more options, is just as frustrating. I was under the assumption that things were a lot easier and less expensive than they really are. It's been a good education for me.
 
CBus13 said:
Seems "Monumental Sports Network" [owned by the owner of the Mystics] will be providing Regional Coverage of 40 Mystics games this season and I think it's available on YoutubeTV, Hulu+ Live TV, and potentially available through DC Regional TV Providers. Obviously, tbha doesn't help national viewers or fans outside the regional area but they will at least still have local eyes. Chrsity winters-Scott and Meghan McPeak will be in the Broadcast Booth. They play one game against the Fever on ION.

Last year the Mystics had one game on ESPN vs the Aces and one on CBS vs the Lynx, then five games on ION. I do think of the teams, they had the fewest on ESPN/CBS last year.

The year Indiana drafted Boston they had one game on ESPN, when they played New York. They did have a few on ION, which has been pretty good about showing a lot of games.

They need to get the Unrivaled team in the National Broadcast negotiations instead of Kathy.
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Monumental has its issues. Many of the games aren't shown live because of blackouts. I've never been able to correlate those with national broadcasts, no idea what the deal is there. Christy and Meghan are pretty good broadcasters, though.
 
Bigboote said:
Monumental has its issues. Many of the games aren't shown live because of blackouts. I've never been able to correlate those with national broadcasts, no idea what the deal is there. Christy and Meghan are pretty good broadcasters, though.
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Gotta give a shout out to Meghan McPeak, a great Canadian broadcasting talent doing her thing in DC. It's unfortunate we don't get to see her cover NCAAW like Christy does because she also works the Wizards' games. I think she would be a great addition to the number of play-by-play announcers out there.
 
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cancontent said:
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Their roster is getting stacked. Not sure if anyone isn't expected to return or if there are trades/cuts coming. As is one of Laney-Hamilton, Fiebich or Cloud will be coming off the bench. I think Johannes will have less of a role than she did before.
 
nwhoopfan said:
Their roster is getting stacked. Not sure if anyone isn't expected to return or if there are trades/cuts coming. As is one of Laney-Hamilton, Fiebich or Cloud will be coming off the bench. I think Johannes will have less of a role than she did before.
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Basically I'm in the same room...or set of rooms in thinking: how is time going to be allotted? Adding Cloud and Johannes in one week (no wonder they didn't care about the draft choice that went to the Sun :rolleyes: ) will drive Sandy Brondello nuts. Maybe there's an app...;)
 
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I think the wnba is smart with their scheduling. I really was only interested in watching the Fever last year. I don’t need to miss a Fever game so they can throw Connecticut versus Washington a bone.
 
Stagnant said:
I think the wnba is smart with their scheduling. I really was only interested in watching the Fever last year. I don’t need to miss a Fever game so they can throw Connecticut versus Washington a bone.
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We're talking ESPN/ABC broadcasts specifically. The Fever are getting 40% of it. I think the remaining 60% can afford a game or two for everyone else.
 
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