The WNBA: Thread II
- Thread starter Phil Plantier
- Start date
We won’t be seeing JuJu Watkins in the W anytime soon. Shams reporting she just signed a shoe contract with Nike that will give her one of the richest shoe deals in women’s basketball. Happy for her but it’s tough for the W to compete when there’s not a real financial incentive to leave school.
https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/41684352/sources-usc-juju-watkins-nike-reach-lucrative-extension
https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/41684352/sources-usc-juju-watkins-nike-reach-lucrative-extension
WNBA requires domestic players to either have graduated or turn 22 in the same calendar year as the draft so the Nike deal won't change anything with her leaving. That could change with the new cba, but even then she'd still have 2 more years minimum at USC
Alyssa Thomas got absolutely abused on defense tonight, from what I saw. Moments where she wasn't giving the effort to bother contesting a shot, failed switches, a step slow on a drive. It wasn't just her, but she seemed to get picked on.
She's a power player. Really interesting but odd skill set. Incredibly strong but not quick, that's not odd. But poor shooter with great passing skills. A lot of her passing is her understanding and feel for the game. I really like her toughness. I thought she physically and mentally dominated the Fever forwards. I am partial to tough smart forwards so if I was a GM in the WNBA I would probably giver her too much money, despite the last game.
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I did not know that. Not sure the thinking there, although I’m sure the NCAA will fight changing the rule.
Thought folks might be interested in this article on the possibility of a Boston WNBA team - Boston.com Article
There's some really good stuff there about touching on why we don't already have one, how one might be "owned" and who might "own" a team, and more.
Huh. I assumed that the Sun arena's capacity would force the Sun to move to a bigger venue with the league's surge in popularity. I was surprised that it's actually 10k. I thought it was 6k or so. At least get them a real practice facility!
It wasn't about common sense...it was about $$. They ran the series schedule the way they did because it was more cost effective. Now that Clark has brought in tons of $$ to the W, they have the money, finally, to do it the correct way.
All-WNBA selections announced.
First Team:
Caitlin Clark (IND)
Napheesa Collier (MIN)
Alyssa Thomas (CON)
A'ja Wilson (LVA)
Breanna Stewart (NYL)
Clark is only the 5th rookie, and the first since Candace Parker in 2008, to be named to the all-league first team. Wilson and Collier were unanimous selections to the first team. Clark got 52 of 67 first-team votes and was on 66 of 67 ballots.
Second Team:
Sabrina Ionescu (NYL)
Arike Ogunbowale (DAL)
Nneka Ogwumike (SEA)
Kahleah Copper (PHX)
Jonquel Jones (NYL)
If you've got 3 of the 10 best players in a 12-team league, I guess you better win the title.
First Team:
Caitlin Clark (IND)
Napheesa Collier (MIN)
Alyssa Thomas (CON)
A'ja Wilson (LVA)
Breanna Stewart (NYL)
Clark is only the 5th rookie, and the first since Candace Parker in 2008, to be named to the all-league first team. Wilson and Collier were unanimous selections to the first team. Clark got 52 of 67 first-team votes and was on 66 of 67 ballots.
Second Team:
Sabrina Ionescu (NYL)
Arike Ogunbowale (DAL)
Nneka Ogwumike (SEA)
Kahleah Copper (PHX)
Jonquel Jones (NYL)
If you've got 3 of the 10 best players in a 12-team league, I guess you better win the title.
One of those five is not like the others. Clark, Collier, Wilson, and Stewart all are dominant scorers in addition to being good/great in other aspects of the game. Thomas isn't, and it's one reason why the Sun aren't a championship team.
A bit surprising since they played so well after the Olympics, But, in the playoffs they were not together. Maybe it is easier to get new coach than trade NaLyssa Smith. I expect a hard nosed coach to emphasize toughness because they played soft in the playoffs, and watched Clark get hammered on all year.
Rumours, from many source think Stephanie White is coming back to the Fever.
https://nypost.com/2024/10/27/sports/stephanie-white-could-become-caitlin-clarks-next-coach-after-christie-sides-firing/
Yup, she gone: https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/42057067/stephanie-white-sun-head-coach-two-seasons
That sucks, and based on Jen Rizzotti's comments I'm getting the vibe of a teardown and rebuild with a probably inexperienced or non-sought after coach who has the appetite to stick around through some losing seasons. It would be a bummer to have the first non-competitive team in around a decade next season, still without a title to show for their sustained run.
Always really, really good, just never quite good enough. Feels like the Jim Kelly era Buffalo Bills.
I'm definitely seeing a teardown and rebuild, but the issue is, they don't have the draft picks to do it. So it's going to be some real lean years here at first. I fully expect a last-place finish in 2025 unless they re-sign AT, Bonner, and Brionna.
AT will be 33 next season with some chronic and some nagging injuries, so I would not blame her for not sticking it out for a rebuild. I'll cheer her on to get a 'ship wherever she goes, though.
As expected, White returns to Indiana.
https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/42131275/sources-wnba-fever-hire-stephanie-white-new-head-coach
https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/42131275/sources-wnba-fever-hire-stephanie-white-new-head-coach
It is like the Bulls hiring Chuck Daly.
I expect Fever players will do more than help Caitlin up when she gets a cheap shot next year.
The Wings win the draft lottery and gets to select #1 in April.
Paige Bueckers, welcome to Dallas!
Paige Bueckers, welcome to Dallas!
Baller move for Paige would be to announce that she’s staying another year because of the draconian laws in TX regarding women’s health care.
It’s close I would bet. She’s not going to get the big endorsement money immediately, like Caitlin did.
Yes, this will be interesting to see how it plays out. She's easy to support, love her game.
She could totally pull an Eli Manning, except while Eli's family wealth was good he wasn't personally wealthy (above board, at least). Paige knows she has a backstop the next season for sure. Of course if Dallas can't select Paige, do they just wind up missing the playoffs then getting the first pick again next year and we're in the same place.
This is interesting. I assume her idea would be, make it clear that if they draft her, she's not going to sign, so they'd be wasting it. Hope they pass on her as a result, and she goes to a different team. Los Angeles has the second pick, and I think she'd be great there.
Or, as a fallback, make that clear enough such that Dallas takes trade calls for her, and land some other assets in exchange for her post-draft - and she'd only sign if there were a promise to immediately trade her to a team she wants.
She definitely has more power here than a top draft pick in nearly any other sport. Baseball and gridiron football players can't make comparable money, so there's no real threat for a tip-top draft pick to go back to college. Basketball players in a position to get drafted top-5 can probably make decent money staying in college another year, but getting the clock ticking on their NBA rookie extensions is a massive opportunity cost if they defer it a year (plus injury risk, etc). Hockey, I don't know how it works, and there's really no meaningful draft for top prospects in soccer (including women's, as the NWSL got rid of theirs a few months ago). So Paige is in a pretty unique situation here where she has a credible BATNA, has real power and could use it.
Or, as a fallback, make that clear enough such that Dallas takes trade calls for her, and land some other assets in exchange for her post-draft - and she'd only sign if there were a promise to immediately trade her to a team she wants.
She definitely has more power here than a top draft pick in nearly any other sport. Baseball and gridiron football players can't make comparable money, so there's no real threat for a tip-top draft pick to go back to college. Basketball players in a position to get drafted top-5 can probably make decent money staying in college another year, but getting the clock ticking on their NBA rookie extensions is a massive opportunity cost if they defer it a year (plus injury risk, etc). Hockey, I don't know how it works, and there's really no meaningful draft for top prospects in soccer (including women's, as the NWSL got rid of theirs a few months ago). So Paige is in a pretty unique situation here where she has a credible BATNA, has real power and could use it.
A star player forcing themselves onto the LA team would mean the WNBA is really becoming the NBA!