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myrtle · Posted: 05/27/17 3:29 pm :::

Whalen has never been much of a shooter but everyone thinks she is a good PG. DRob is even less of a shooter and she is generally considered to be a good PG. Boyd is not a shooter but some people think that's ok. Clarendon seems to be making a niche for herself and she is not a shooter. Yeah, it's nice to have a PG who can also shoot but they don't seem to grow on trees. There is Bird...and then there are the rest. It's maybe become more important to be a decent defender. [?] Or you can say there are three main qualifications:
1)seeing the floor and distributing
2)shooting
3)defending

Most successful PGs do 2 of the 3, but very, very few can do all three. I personally think that's where January shines. She's not the best at any of them but she's quite good at all of them.

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Michelle89 · Posted: 05/27/17 5:09 pm :::

NYL_WNBA_FAN · Posted: 05/27/17 6:11 pm :::

Both Whalen and Robinson are excellent (or Robinson was at least) midrange shooters. Boyd showed some willingness to do the midrange thing in the game she got hurt. Don't know if she could ever have been consistent with it, but with her speed that shot was always available if she wanted it.

January has the intangibles of toughness, leadership and clutch play. Also Catch did a lot of the distributing for their team. Might have lowered her assist numbers a bit though I wouldn't characterize her vision as anything exceptional. I'd take her on this team right away though.

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tfan · Posted: 05/27/17 6:53 pm :::

cappa23MVP · Posted: 05/27/17 8:06 pm :::

mugsyt · Posted: 05/27/17 9:29 pm :::

32 free throw attempts for Seattle vs. 14 for NY.

caune · Posted: 05/27/17 11:28 pm :::

J-Spoon · Posted: 05/27/17 11:34 pm :::

root_thing · Posted: 05/28/17 1:14 am :::

NYL_WNBA_FAN · Posted: 05/28/17 9:15 am :::

So I'm guessing from what has been said that we lose Piph and Kia after the LA game. LA is a differently constructed team this year and they've lost 2 straight on the road. So perhaps we can steal a win over them. After that it is 5 of 7 at home. Two against Dallas, who appears to be cooling off, and 2 against CT who has not won a game.

Mind you, I am taking NO team for granted. Out of the next 8, I'd say if we can win 4-5 of them, I think in general we can probably be ok later on. By then Kiah will probably be in shape and Zahui will have gotten some significant minutes with the absence of Vaughn, which may push her game along.

I wouldn't be surprised if they bring in 2 PGs with the two open spots, being that both Burdick and Nayo can play some 4 spot and the PG situation is such a need. Plus none of those available posts are going to make much of an impact.

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zune69 · Posted: 05/28/17 10:39 am :::

toad455 · Posted: 05/28/17 10:50 am :::

Completely agree about Zahui B. This is her last shot. Has a huge opportunity to play some significant minutes when Vaughn leaves. Otherwise I can see Laimbeer dumping her once Vaughn returns.

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myrtle · Posted: 05/28/17 11:35 am :::

If Kai James 'got it' at all, then I think she's back. That was the whole point of spending so much time with her in preseason [I'm guessing] and Tina seemed to really take her under wing.

_________________
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If only we’re brave enough to be it.
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root_thing · Posted: 05/28/17 12:25 pm :::

I don't see Charles and Stokes logging 66-70 mpg. Laimbeer has said he wants to reduce the minutes for Tina. He even apologized after the last game for using her so much. Bill also doesn't want to put her back at center. As for Stokes, she usually gets into foul trouble at this level and can't play that many minutes. I also think she's tired. It amuses me that Laimbeer makes one off the cuff remark about Stokes being out of shape and now it's treated as gospel. You're talking about a player who was a career backup at UConn and has played 24-25 mpg for NY. All of a sudden she's playing 36.3 mpg in Turkey. There was no break between Turkey and her arrival in NY. Are those factors more likely to produce an out of shape player or someone who is tired? Does Kiah look out of shape? Camille Little looks 50% bigger and I haven't seen any comments about her being out of shape. Anyway, Zahui absolutely has to play. Burdick and NRE are undersized at PF much less at C. And once again, I have to point out that Allen has never played PF as far as I know. Bec actually has some emergency PG experience if they get truly desperate. More likely, you'll see her play some SG if Hartley totally bombs as lead guard and Bill ends up using Sugar or Zellous at the point. I think it's meaningful that Allen finished the Minnesota game at SG.

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Bob Lamm · Posted: 05/28/17 12:50 pm :::

No way will Charles and Stokes play 66-70 minutes together, game after game.

And as for "dumping" Zahui B, wow, people here are in such a rush to dump this player or that one. Zahui B didn't play all that much as a rookie. She came to a new team last season and did decently. She's very young. She's off to a disappointing start, no question. Suppose she plays more minutes in June and doesn't do well. Give up on her already? In favor of Kai James, Avery Warley-Talbert, or 10 other post players who've been mentioned? I think that would be crazy.

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NYL_WNBA_FAN · Posted: 05/28/17 12:54 pm :::

Kiah looks awful to me. Laimbeer said it twice. After the Columbia game he said that they would see what type of shape she was in, as if he already knew. And he said it again after game 1. I think you're seeing it as profoundly on the offensive end as the defensive end. She averaged 7 ppg on 64% shooting last year in 25 mpg. This year she is at 3.3 ppg on 31.3 % at 20 mpg. Her elevation is lousy. She is terribly off-balance even on layups and short turnarounds she would normally make with ease. At least being a high % scorer on layups made her a threat in certain offensive sets. Now she's not. And her help defense isn't there. I don't think it's fatigue. Fatigue wouldn't affect the height of her jump and wouldn't affect her balance to the extent that it has when she catches the ball in the paint and has little coordination. I think it's clear that she's not in condition to play. And if anything, I think we had an expectation that she would break out, not completely regress. She should be a 28-30 mpg player now.

Our team defense, once a staple, is also at the league average in points per possession, another indicator that our formerly best defensive player isn't having the impact she used to. Our rebound percentage is up to 3rd in the league but I think that also needs to be better. In spite of Kiah's rebounds on Friday, she could have and should have had 3 or 4 more that went through her hands. To me, balance and coordination are issues there too.

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Bob Lamm · Posted: 05/28/17 12:58 pm :::

NYL_WNBA_FAN · Posted: 05/28/17 1:01 pm :::

I'm not writing her off either though I don't anticipate a quick turnaround. But why is it in dispute that she's out of shape when the coach himself has said it twice? It's not like I'm speculating. If I was, then I could understand.

Maybe fatigue is ALSO a factor, but her balance, coordination, timing and jumping also have to be affected by other factors. Fatigue alone wouldn't cause such extreme adjustments in performance and ability.

And since it's been documented, I think it's pretty fair to question and be upset and disappointed. She has the tools to be a force, yet I'm not sure we've really seen the desire to improve her game. If you remember, after her first overseas season Laimbeer remarked that she had done nearly nothing to work on her offensive game in South Korea, though some of that may have been coaching and not her fault. Still, repeated documented instances by the coach of a lack of readiness to be at her best are a disappointment and well within our right to question.

And if we were going to take a step forward without Wright, Swords and Cash providing intangibles and physicality, I think we'd agree Kiah was the number one player we needed to step up.

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NYL_WNBA_FAN · Posted: 05/28/17 1:09 pm :::

I agree with not giving up on Zahui though. And yes, she has to play. Perhaps she is not healthy.

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zune69 · Posted: 05/28/17 1:43 pm :::

Just because Laimbeer said he wants to reduce Charles' minutes,doesn't mean it's going to happen.Tina has a career minute avg of 32.5,and averaged a career high of 33.7 last season.Back to Zahui b.....Vaughn is leaving in a matter of days.Zahui b. played "0" minutes against seattle.Not much of a vote of confidence by coach Laimbeer.I've been a big Zahui b supporter,but at some point she needs to woman up,and give the liberty 15-22 quality minutes per game.Liberty fans had high hopes for Zahui in 2017.But yet,after 4 games...1.3p/1r/40%/1 dnp in 5 mpg....Again,Laimbeer will not play Zahui b if she's not giving him quality minutes.And they don't call him trader bill for nothing.

J-Spoon · Posted: 05/28/17 5:17 pm :::

I'm sort of in the middle on the Zahui B discussion. Zahui B will get more minutes when Vaughn is gone, she is likely to get in the 15-20 minute range. This might be good for her, more minutes is more opportunity to get in the flow, less back up options means being allowed to play through some mistakes as opposed to being yanked. This is definitely her chance to step up and shine, she will have to for NY to be successful. But I agree that if she doesn't rise to the challenge, we'll see some undersized line ups, and when Vaughn returns Zahui B might find herself glued to the bench for the rest of the season. If she does step up she gives us a very different look than Stokes or Vaughn so it is only going to make NY a better team, fingers crossed.

I also hope we get to see more Raincock-Ekunwe and Burdick. Slide zellous and maybe even R. Allen to the SG spot and let the scrappy players get some minutes at the 3 and 4 when we can afford to go small.

Bob Lamm · Posted: 05/28/17 5:23 pm :::

tfan · Posted: 05/28/17 8:53 pm :::

Sami Whitcomb leads second-half rally as Seattle Storm upends New York Liberty

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