RebKell's Junkie Boards

[J-Spoon]

After reading the free agent list if NY wants to go from improving from bottom of the pack to marginal playoff team to competive closing in on contending team I would consider offering Boner the max and Dolson a decent contract

Ionescu/Johannes/Boyd
Nurse/Durr
Bonner/Allen
Charles/Zahui B/Gray or #13
Dolson/Stokes

I am not completely advocating this but it is realistic and doable.

[root_thing]

I got my tickets on Tuesday, but I was going to attend anyway to "test drive" the view. However, I wimped out because of the weather. If I had known Big Walt was going to be there, I would have made the effort.

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You can always do something else.

[NYL_WNBA_FAN]

I love the arena and couldn't be happier with my seats. I think it's going to be pretty amazing after the last two lean years that we as fans and the team and organization have this opportunity. If there was any doubt that Ionescu was the runaway #1 pick in draft to go along with that, I'd say Thursday put any small doubts to rest. More on that later.

The event was indeed poorly organized and I feel bad for the reps who were there. Asking a handful of them to handle this large a group was just too much to ask of people. They were doing the best they could do and speaking from my own personal experience, Justine is the best rep I've ever had. So it's not on them as individuals for sure, but yeah, it was definitely not well organized. Exacerbated by the Nets having a scheduled game at 6 and arena prep taking place...there was a lot going on. But it was awesome to sit down in my seat, taking in a view that cost $400 for the Nets tonight on StubHub and knowing that the team is on the way up...it's impossible to be anything other than super excited.

Regarding Sabrina, I think she worked on whatever weak points she had last year for the most part. The ESPN article was telling in two places, I thought. First off, I mentioned after the USA game that man, Ionescu is strong. Much stronger than last year, I thought. She pushed Allisha Gray off her like a fly and wasn't bother by the defense of Collier when they were matched 1-on-1. So I was pleased to see her mention that she added 15 pounds of muscle in the offseason. So, for the Bird and Taurasi comparisons and those of you who think she is notches below both those players, hey man, everyone's entitled to their opinion. But just understand, Ionescu is 5'11" and probably pushing 170. She's going to function in a very different way than either of those two players, and she's going to cause matchup nightmares for teams who have to decide how to defend her. I agree that she will have a slight learning curve, and yes she will be more of a bring-it-up PG in the W, but she's already the team's de facto PG. 100% agree that there will be things to learn, particularly in pick and roll, but WNBA spacing is going to favor what she does well. Particularly using her size and strength to penetrate either for herself or others. Also, the article mentions one scout saying there's not a player like her in our league. I agree with that. I see elements of Bird, Slooty, DT and Chelsea Gray. Even if foot speed is a weakness, she's no slower than Slooty and she's got a significant height, strength and hops advantage. It's kind of odd to flash back to 2017 and consider we won ten straight to end the season with a top 4 seed. Somehow 3 years later we've added Nurse, Durr, Johannes and likely Ionescu. I tend to agree with Walt Hopkins. The team is indeed pretty loaded. It's young and everything is new so it might be a year away from doing more serious winning, but this is an awful lot of talent.

Can't wait for the season to start. Will I make my way up to Connecticut for opening night? At this point I think I'm probably going to. My one disappointment with the schedule is the August portion. 5 road games to exit the All-Star break is disappointing but there is even a positive in that. The games post-break are extremely spread out. Then the season ends with 4 of 6 at home with two road games against quite possibly the two worst teams in the league. If they come out of the Olympic break in the 14-11 area, that probably bodes well for how they can end the season. Anything much less than that is gonna be tough with that 5-game road trip.

The start of the schedule has the first 9 games pretty spread out other than the opening weekend B2B, with 6 at home. It'll be interesting to see how a new coaching staff with a new PG handles the early-season portion of the schedule. If they come out of it in the 6-3 area, I think they're probably going to be on their way to a pretty solid season. If they come out of it 4-5 or 3-6, then they're going to have to make up ground in the grind portion of the schedule, a task that will not be easy. Schedules in a condensed number of days often eventually mean breakdowns in quality of play due to fatigue. If I remember correctly, I believe the Libs played a game in LA during midseason of 2016. It was a part of a very condensed stretch like 7 games in 11 days or something...at the end of whatever that stretch was. The Libs won a game that was like high 50s or low 60s. The schedule adds another layer of uncertainty on top of all the newness we have.

One more positive though. Home games will actually feel like home games to the players. No more commute from Westchester to NYC (or last year's vice versa BK to Westchester). They'll be housed close to where they are playing, and they will be playing in a legit facility. That's gotta help in terms of home-court advantage. The Libs were never super-dominant at MSG for the most part. In the Laimbeer years they were just about as good on the road as at home.

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The poster formerly known as LibWNBAFan.

[NYL_WNBA_FAN]

[toad455]

Bonner seems like a long-shot. I'm all for Dolson. Solid post who can bang inside and hit from 3. Have Zahui B. cover Charles at PF. Heck, let's go big at times with Zahui B at SF in certain defensive set-ups. FYI, Charles is going to get the max, multi-year. Guarantee it. If Han is willing to show up, Joe Tsai will make sure there's a roster spot for her. Boyd can be dumped on someone needing a back-up PG(Vegas? LA?). And Hartley sticks as our veteran guard.

PG: Ionescu/Johannes
SG: Durr/Hartley
SF: Nurse/Allen/#13 pick
PF: Charles/Zahui B.
C: Dolson/Stokes/Han

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LET'S GO LIBERTY!!!!!!

Twitter: @TBRBWAY

[pilight]

I find it amusing that y'all are all about Bonner when you were so opposed to signing a much better player from the same draft class.

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The truth is like poetry

Most people hate poetry

[toad455]

[J-Spoon]

I love Angel I would take McCoughtry for free in a second. I just don't see that as an option. If healthy Angel added to what the Liberty would have in 20 would be great.

Yeah she would slow the development of Durr as I think she would be sent to the bench with nurse at the sag spot but Ionescu, Nurse , McCoughtry, Charles and center by committee. Would be a strong set of starters and with a bench of Johannes, Durr Allen Zahui or Stokes is a very competitive squad.

[Randy]

[NYL_WNBA_FAN]

[J-Spoon]

For what it is worth I am on board with building a young exciting team around ionescu., Durr, Nurse, while developing around our veteran star Charles.

But I could see the new Gm and owner in a new arena being tempted to bring in some more star power

Also with the new CBA teams especially in 20/21 will have real opportunity to poach both UfA and rfas because with some player still on old contracts you can risk over paying someone if you think they can help your team



Players Luke DOlson , Copper, ISM stricken, tiff Mitchell, T. young, Rodgers, Clarendon and otthers might not get big offers or matched by their current teams if someone else is willing to over pay them. I definitely think we will see more players switch teams then we are used to at least for a couple of years

[Bob Lamm]

[NYL_WNBA_FAN]

What all this discussion shows is that the Liberty are pretty much at the exact definition of a crossroads. Most people here seem to view them as being a .500 type of team. Me being the optimist sees the talent as above average and thinks the coaching is going to be a really nice mix with it. But even with that being said, we have Olympic uncertainty, the uncertainty of newness all around and the scheduling craziness. Not only is it a potential crossroads season in terms of being around .500, but you also have the crossroads of youth along with the crossroads of Tina clearly moving to her post-prime seasons. I don't think many people here would be shocked if the Libs finished 16-20 or 15-21 (except maybe me ). I also don't think 20-16 or 21-15 would be anymore surprising. It's pretty unpredictable because of the variables and unknowns.

As such, it's understandable why people want this move or that move. However, can you add too much talent in given areas? As presently constituted, the Libs DO need a legit SF, but I also feel Nurse will be a fixture at the position down the road. My view, and I'm wondering people's takes on this...is that you can have TOO much talent at given positions. Nurse and Durr is pretty high young talent. Johannes is also at least in the mix. Do you guys think there's a danger in adding too many wing players? People are human. Durr playing 15 minutes a night isn't going to be a happy camper. Johannes coming over from France to barely play isn't going to be a happy camper. If vets don't integrate well with Sabrina's game because they require shots outside of a Sabrina-oriented system, a lot of people are going to be unhappy campers. And trading young, unhappy players is not maximizing their long-term value. In my view at least. Thoughts on that?

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The poster formerly known as LibWNBAFan.

[Bob Lamm]

[root_thing]

All Hopkins talks about is creating a culture where players care about each other and put the team first. When Kolb speaks, he often mentions "building the right culture" so he seems to be on the same page. My guess is that anyone who isn't a happy camper will quickly be sent to camp somewhere else.

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You can always do something else.

[J-Spoon]

I don't disagree with anything being said but I still think gm and owners sometimes are motivated by winning, contending and being as relevant and exciting as possible to a point where they may see things differently.

An example from the NBA that actually makes both sides point in this discussion is the other Barclay's team the Nets

Last year the Nets were the surprise feel good team in the east with a lot of young players coming together, having break out seasons and really building towards the future. But that didn't stop the Nets breaking up that positive story so they could bring in super stars Irving and Durant. To this point it hasn't worked out and the current Nets culture sucks, but I am sure ownership would still make those moves.

The Liberty wouldn't being doing anything nearly as extreme if they tried to bring in a free agent veteran star level player.

So again I am all for developing the youth but I am sure the gm and owner will at least be considering bringing some more star or veteran players if they think it will help with wins or sales.

[root_thing]

I advocated for signing McCoughtry a couple of months ago, but now with Hopkins in charge everyone is expected to be well behaved. Coaches with Lynx pedigree won't accept anything other than dogged determination and positive vibes. Just like Lindsay Whalen suspended Destiny Pitts for "body language," I think Walt would end up suspending Angel for "facial expression."

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You can always do something else.

[NYL_WNBA_FAN]

I’d additionally question how a blunt person like Ionescu would handle Angel’s occasional me-first displays. I’d guess extremely not well.

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The poster formerly known as LibWNBAFan.

[Bob Lamm]

[Shades]

[root_thing]

Let's not go crazy with the Sabrina leadership stuff. If you watched the Oregon-Stanford game, the announcers mentioned that Kelly Graves's explanation for the Ducks' losses to Louisville and Arizona State is that his team doesn't always play hard. That makes Ionescu the leader of a college team that tends to slack off. If she can't always motivate college kids who should be deferential to their senior star, how can we expect Sabrina to push around veterans? Leadership has its limits. I think this idea that Ionescu is going to join the team and quickly get into people's faces is unrealistic. If anything, she'll end up alienating people.

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You can always do something else.

[NYL_WNBA_FAN]

I don't foresee her getting into people's faces so much. I see more her unwillingness to accept losing as changing the culture of a team that has come to accept losing as a way of life the last couple of seasons. Tina has a reputation as being a hard worker herself. Having your two best players be the hardest workers on the team is probably likely to rub off on the others. Nobody's leadership is going to motivate every single person in every single moment. Nurse and Durr also come across as playing hard, particularly Nurse, who willingly draws charges when the team is down by 25. I don't think getting this group to play hard will be a problem. I'm looking for a different kind of intangible that involves hating losing and using that along with your talent to create a winning culture.

The big factor to me is still making sure we have someone inside who can protect the rim. Maybe Stokes will be that player, maybe she won't. I don't want maybes in that area. I don't want Tina having to defend her man and the rim and being the team's top rebounder. She can't handle all those roles especially at this stage of her career. I'm confident that good coaching will clean up most of the other defensive issues, but there's no substitute for protecting the rim. If you have nobody to do it, your defense will probably be limited.

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The poster formerly known as LibWNBAFan.

[NYL_WNBA_FAN]

[PUmatty]

[NYL_WNBA_FAN]

Lots of factors there. With NY, Tina has had probably even less secondary support than Angel did in Atlanta's finals appearances. Also, perimeter players are in a better position to singularly drive their teams' success because they dictate where the ball goes and when.

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The poster formerly known as LibWNBAFan.