RebKell's Junkie Boards

[root_thing]

Hopkins has already made two major changes to his plan from April – or at least what we thought was the plan based on his statements and Kolb’s:

1) The team rarely plays small ball. For the vast majority of time, NY has used two conventional post players.

2) There seems to be more commitment to veterans. All four (Zahui, Stokes, Nurse, Clarendon) have started since game one, and it looks like Walt has used them more in the last couple of games – definitely against Washington.

The one thing that remains constant is New York attempts a lot of 3’s. I don’t expect Zahui to keep shooting this well from distance. Nor do I expect Nurse (21.9/22.2) and Walker (26.5/5.3) to keep shooting this badly overall or for Willoughby to continue finishing inside the paint at 14.3%. There should be some reversion to the mean as the season moves along. It will also be interesting to see if Kea receives significant minutes. If so, who loses PT? Because of Walt's ability to shuffle players around, we’d be looking at all the perimeter players. Based on Net Rating (on court and off), the best by far right now are Clarendon (+39.5) and Odom (+27.9). The worst are Walker (-36.5), Willoughby (-26.7), and Jones (-21.4). However, all the caveats about small sample size, new players, new coaches, new systems, and rookies clearly applies.

_________________
You can always do something else.

[ClayK]

Any player who is a credible threat from three distorts the defense and opens up space near the basket. It doesn't really matter if Zahui or Stokes make or take any threes in a game -- if their defenders are outside the paint when they're on the weakside wing, then New York's guards can attack the basket much more effectively.

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Oṃ Tāre Tuttāre Ture Svāhā

[Richyyy]

[myrtle]

[Bob Lamm]

[Bob Lamm]

Kia Nurse has played in seven of New York's eight games. If my count is correct, she's 15-73 in field goal attempts (20.5%). She's 9-42 in three-pointers (21.4%). She's averaging 9.1 points per game. With Sabrina gone, with six rookies on the team, the Liberty desperately need more from Nurse to at least make a respectable showing.

_________________
Remember Roe v. Wade. Work for and support legal abortion all over the world and full reproductive rights for everyone.

[bluedevilaztecfan5]

[root_thing]

Post Game Press Conference 8/11: Hopkins, Clarendon, Jones.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RQLWEkzKCvg" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The two most basic things you have to do in basketball are maintain possessions and make shots. New York couldn't do either in the 1st Quarter. This roster is constructed with an assumption that 3 players will be effective scorers: Nurse, Walker, and Willoughby. Right now, Nurse can't make a basket to save her life. She missed 5 or 6 open shots in the first half. Meanwhile, LA made 6 of 7 3s. That was a huge swing in momentum right there. As for Willoughby, it looks like her confidence is gone. After playing well to start the season, Jocelyn now looks really tentative. She's on a downward trend. Walker hasn't found her footing since joining the team late. At least and Nurse and Willoughby still look solid on defense. Walker is struggling on both ends. These players need to turn it around if this team wants to have any chance of being respectable. Right now, NY is starting two non-scorers in Stokes and Odom, as well as a 20% shooter in Nurse. There's no way you can compete with just Zahui and Clarendon spearheading a two-person offense. If this continues, Walt should consider starting Jones and Shook instead of Nurse and Stokes. At some point, he needs to shake things up.

Hopkins confirmed something I noted in an earlier post. Between injuries and having no male practice players, it's very hard to simulate game conditions during practice. On top of that, fatigue is a concern because the team plays every other day. That means most of the teaching has to be done through watching film rather than on the court. It makes the learning process a lot more difficult. People may understand the concepts mentally, but it's hard to execute them in actual games without prior physical practice.

_________________
You can always do something else.

[Bob Lamm]

Social justice statement for the Nets, the Liberty, and the Barclay's Center posted on the Liberty website (and presumably elsewhere) by Clara Wu Tsai and Joe Tsai:

https://liberty.wnba.com/social-justice-commitment-statement/?fbclid=IwAR3uoe8idTG28V4DhEOsLSGPNTm7qqqsHyHUpAQgVhU7ERmLTjFuCFPZZWg

Bravo!

_________________
Remember Roe v. Wade. Work for and support legal abortion all over the world and full reproductive rights for everyone.

[bluedevilaztecfan5]

[Bob Lamm]

How great to see a Liberty victory--and over a good team. To see terrific games from Amanda Zahui B. and Jocelyn Willoughby and a strong 4th quarter from Layshia Clarendon. I was especially impressed that in a crucial stretch late in the game Hopkins had only one starter on the floor (Zahui B.) along with Shook, Willoughby, Kea, and Jones.

Finally, it was the kind of game we've seen the Liberty lose SO many times over the last 2 1/2 seasons: they've got a good lead, the opposing team inevitably comes back, time doesn't expire fast enough, and sure enough the Liberty collapse right at the end. Except this time they DIDN'T collapse! They made a couple of bad plays in the final two minutes, but made enough good plays to win the game.

_________________
Remember Roe v. Wade. Work for and support legal abortion all over the world and full reproductive rights for everyone.

[bluedevilaztecfan5]

This is the AZB I hoped to see this season!

22 points, 12 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks and 0 turnovers! Only 2 fouls. 9-14 (4-7 from distance).
Some points in the paint off drives, just wish she would post up more and go at posts rather than fade-away.

[Stormeo]

Soooo... are we gonna talk about what, if anything, the team should do at Friday's trade deadline? I spat out an idea earlier here, but all in all I'm pro-trading Kiah Stokes either now or during free agency next season. Tonight's win notwithstanding, she & the post play generally speaking have been treacherous on both ends of the floor. The team also still has an absolute logjam of wing players (aka 3/4s in Hopkins' system) both active & inactive, so that aspect of their personnel could start getting addressed now.

[Bob Lamm]

Just watched a short clip on Facebook of postgame comments from Walt Hopkins, Amanda Zahui B., and Layshia Clarendon. Zahui B. spoke of Jocelyn Willoughby's toughness, determination, and commitment. Clarendon mentioned something about Zahui B. that doesn't show up in the box scores: how much she talks on defense, giving her teammates instructions and encouragement.

_________________
Remember Roe v. Wade. Work for and support legal abortion all over the world and full reproductive rights for everyone.

[bluedevilaztecfan5]

[bluedevilaztecfan5]

[Stormeo]

[root_thing]

I attended Hopkins’s “chalk talk” on Monday, and they actually asked the question I submitted. Essentially, it was this: given that the Liberty have primarily played conventional 2-post basketball this season, will they revisit the idea of small-ball next year or have they given up on that idea? Walt answered, “No, we haven’t given up on anything.” Then he launched into a long explanation about how he had spoken to coaches and executives of other teams and they all advised him to focus on implementing his long-term systems rather than worrying about wins and losses. He then talked about how the presence of Johannes, Durr, and Allen would have taken pressure off this year’s rookies and made their lives a lot easier. Walt spent the most time talking about Johannes. Notably, he also threw Talbot into the mix. My point is that Hopkins made it sound like everything is tied together and part of the same process. He is relentlessly positive about everyone and how they can contribute in the future. I wouldn’t expect him to behave any other way, but realistically this can’t happen unless the league expands rosters to 18 players. Some people have to go, and by default it will affect your style of play. Maybe on the offensive end Walt can use the same system whether the players are big or small as long as they have the skills. However, on defense size does matter. Having taller players allows you to defend straight-up against opposing post players. We’ve seen a little bit of small-ball defense this year. Willoughby is supposed to be New York’s best defender among the rookies. When she tried to guard Stewart, we saw Breanna rain 3s over her. We also saw Sabally take advantage of Jocelyn by posting-up. Alyssa Thomas killed every Liberty defender big and small, but at least Stokes was able to keep her 10-12 feet away from the basket before Alyssa sunk those ugly hook-floater things that she tosses up with either hand. Against smaller defenders like Nurse and Willoughby, Thomas simply muscled them to within 3-5 feet of the basket for easy lay-ups. There’s no way to pretend that using small defenders is the same as using big defenders.

To get a true understanding of what’s going on, you have to look at what Hopkins does rather than what he says. The simple fact is Kiah Stokes plays more minutes than anyone else on the team. To me, that’s the best measure of how a coach feels about a player. Who does the coach trust? Look at the minutes. Now, Walt did say he intends to use the veterans less for the rest of the season. As he reiterated in the post-game press conference, he sees a lot of injuries around the league so he wants to protect his veterans. He’s afraid of running people into the ground so he plans to limit their minutes. Expect to see more of the younger players, but note that the rationale is health concerns – not performance or player development.

_________________
You can always do something else.

[bluedevilaztecfan5]

[bluedevilaztecfan5]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CEXLLddhPid/?igshid=3zqw50ceztmy

In honor of our UNITY game, Liberty #BlackLivesMatter and #BlackTransLivesMatter shooting shirts are ON SALE NOW!

All proceeds will go towards the #BreonnaTaylor Foundation.

SHOP NOW: https://netsstore.com/collections/new-york-liberty

[Skyfan22]

[bluedevilaztecfan5]

[Skyfan22]

[bluedevilaztecfan5]

[Skyfan22]