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Richyyy
Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 24364 Location: London
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Posted: 05/21/21 10:11 am ::: WNBA Dissected - Finals analysis |
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Yes, W Dozen is back, just with a new name (and no pressure to always find 12 things to talk about). Welcome to WNBA Dissected.
Week 1 covers the Liberty's hot start, the Commissioner's 'Cup', new unis, old age, highlight reel plays, lineup minutiae and more. As usual, if you like my stuff you'll probably vaguely enjoy it, if you don't you probably won't. You probably know your side of the fence by now.
Bonus points to anyone who understands the sub-heading to #6.
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She's given the team a focus and leader that they didn't have last year when all their other kids were left trying to swim in the scary ocean of the WNBA without their superstar life preserver. |
https://herhoopstats.substack.com/p/wnba-dissected-2021-week1-liberty
Last edited by Richyyy on 10/15/21 8:52 am; edited 15 times in total |
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myrtle
Joined: 02 May 2008 Posts: 32336
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Posted: 05/21/21 10:27 am ::: |
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love your stuff. thanks.
I thought the most hilarious thing about the commissioner's cup was the response from Ionescu and (separately) from Onyenwere in their pressers when both of them said they really didn't know anything about it.
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Richyyy
Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 24364 Location: London
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Posted: 05/21/21 8:54 pm ::: |
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Thanks, yeah, I did think about including some of those comments, but I can't really blame them for not knowing. It makes no difference to them. Like the fans, they'll start paying attention once everyone's played maybe 8 ComCup games if they're in with a chance of actually making the final. |
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Milks26
Joined: 25 Mar 2021 Posts: 830
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Posted: 05/21/21 9:53 pm ::: |
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@Richyyy I have a question and you seem to be in the "know"
Which of the jerseys are the rebel design (are they the ones you posted in the article) and when are they supposed to be worn?
For example in the Sparks home opener they wore the blk & yellow jerseys and the Indiana Fever wore the Stranger Things tonight. I thought those were their rebel designs and not home jerseys?
_________________ ~College WBB & the "W' need other tv networks covering the important stuff...Espn is beyond tired~
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Richyyy
Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 24364 Location: London
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Posted: 05/21/21 11:08 pm ::: |
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Yes, the Rebel ones are the (mostly) strangest ones, all in that image in the article. I don't think there's any set pattern to when they're 'supposed' to be worn. Each team has three, and we'll see them all throughout the season. I know the NBA has a centralised computer system where teams have to enter which jersey they intend to play in on any given night, so that the other team can pick something that won't clash. I haven't asked whether the WNBA introduced something similar (I doubt it's that organised). |
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Milks26
Joined: 25 Mar 2021 Posts: 830
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Posted: 05/22/21 12:59 am ::: |
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Ok thanks.
Anyway, from the games I've seen from Dallas, NY & LA - the whites appear to be their away design.
_________________ ~College WBB & the "W' need other tv networks covering the important stuff...Espn is beyond tired~
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myrtle
Joined: 02 May 2008 Posts: 32336
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Posted: 05/22/21 11:51 am ::: |
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with so many jerseys, I'm waiting for a player to end up with the wrong one for an away game. In the w, I kinda assume its up to the equipment manager rather than the individual players...but
I remember that happened to my brother in HS. Pretty embarrassing. In his case they gave him the jersey of one of the bench sitters...who was definitely not happy about it. Bad karma.
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undersized_post
Joined: 01 Mar 2021 Posts: 2864
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myrtle
Joined: 02 May 2008 Posts: 32336
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Richyyy
Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 24364 Location: London
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Posted: 05/22/21 3:59 pm ::: |
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I've gotten used to the colours and light/dark meaning absolutely nothing from the men's games. When I was a kid you could instantly tell who the home team was, because unless they were the Lakers in yellow, it was the team in white. These days they could basically be anything.
For the sake of some vastly more interesting uniforms, I'm happy for the WNBA to follow suit. |
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Milks26
Joined: 25 Mar 2021 Posts: 830
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Posted: 05/22/21 7:42 pm ::: |
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Alright, now I'm really confused. Dallas is wearing their white jerseys tonight for a home game. They just wore those at LA
_________________ ~College WBB & the "W' need other tv networks covering the important stuff...Espn is beyond tired~
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Richyyy
Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 24364 Location: London
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Richyyy
Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 24364 Location: London
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Richyyy
Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 24364 Location: London
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ClayK
Joined: 11 Oct 2005 Posts: 11157
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Posted: 06/11/21 12:09 pm ::: |
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Great stuff as usual, Richyyy ...
But tossing the ball is really, really hard. I was a ref for a long time, and it's really difficult to do.
First, you seldom do it so it's hard to practice.
Second, and more important, you don't have room to do it right. The players are close together and so you can't really start the ball at your waist and toss it up straight. And you can't really use the shooting motion because you can't go straight vertical if you arms are by your shoulders.
There's just no good way to do it -- except when I worked with a 6-10 guy in an eighth grade game. He just held the ball over his head and dropped it.
Third, you've got to protect yourself. When those players go up, with elbows and knees flying, they don't care about you. You can get clipped on the chin, kneed in various parts of your body, or knocked around when they turn to go downcourt. You want to toss the ball and move as quickly as possible, which further reduces accuracy.
All that said, you're right -- the ball tosses are terrible. But having been in that scrum, I don't see an obvious fix.
_________________ Oṃ Tāre Tuttāre Ture Svāhā
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Richyyy
Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 24364 Location: London
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Posted: 06/11/21 12:53 pm ::: |
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Yeah, I might've been a bit unfair there. Given how bad so many refs are at doing it, it must be reasonably difficult. And like I said in the article, part of my problem is with the reluctance to say "I screwed that up, let's go again". Especially when the toss is really bad, and especially when it's a crucial one like the clip in the article, just admit it and start over. That was a one-point game with 16 seconds left and Brewton might as well have just walked over tossed it towards the Lynx bench.
I've never liked the possession arrow, but jump balls are such a mess in the NBA/WNBA that I've softened towards the arrow. It's not just the tosses - it also takes them a ridiculous amount of time to line everyone up. Everything grinds to a halt for far too long. |
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myrtle
Joined: 02 May 2008 Posts: 32336
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Posted: 06/11/21 7:23 pm ::: |
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when I ref, I use the one hand on top and one hand underneath technique so it's basically a str8 up push with the underneath hand. It rarely fails.
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Richyyy
Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 24364 Location: London
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Posted: 06/18/21 11:50 am ::: |
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Week 5 is out.
WNBA Dissected: Stars growing through efficiency and more from 2021 Week 5: https://herhoopstats.substack.com/p/wnba-dissected-week5-charles-williams-allstar
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She can be a glorious player to witness in action, leaping out of the gym to grab rebounds, rising like a salmon to knock down jumpers from above the fray. But then we came back to that awkward 'efficiency' concept. |
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myrtle
Joined: 02 May 2008 Posts: 32336
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Posted: 06/18/21 12:16 pm ::: |
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You definitely hit the bell with the part about 'blow the whistle'...and also the conundrum. The problem is always the player who acts like she's been killed several times a game - and unfortunately there are a number of them in the league. But as you say, that can be offset by wise choice of when to blow that whistle.
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Mixolydian
Joined: 07 Sep 2017 Posts: 153 Location: Alaska
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Posted: 06/18/21 2:00 pm ::: |
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They left Sami off the Australian Olympic team? What?!
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Richyyy
Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 24364 Location: London
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Richyyy
Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 24364 Location: London
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Posted: 07/01/21 11:55 am ::: |
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Week 7 now available: WNBA Dissected: Special Kaylas (and Kailas) and more from 2021 Week 7: https://herhoopstats.substack.com/p/wnba-dissected-week7-kayla-eurobasket-cuts
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Sometimes, when you're the sort of person who takes notes on WNBA games, you notice patterns emerging within those notes. Maybe you have an unnatural obsession with erroneous graphics, or you spot that LA has started 12 different people already this season. Or maybe, one week, you notice that the people that have drawn your attention all seem to have (almost) the same name. So on that tenuous basis, welcome to the Kayla (and Kaila) special! |
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myrtle
Joined: 02 May 2008 Posts: 32336
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Posted: 07/02/21 10:27 am ::: |
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Richyyy wrote: |
Week 7 now available: WNBA Dissected: Special Kaylas (and Kailas) and more from 2021 Week 7: https://herhoopstats.substack.com/p/wnba-dissected-week7-kayla-eurobasket-cuts
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Sometimes, when you're the sort of person who takes notes on WNBA games, you notice patterns emerging within those notes. Maybe you have an unnatural obsession with erroneous graphics, or you spot that LA has started 12 different people already this season. Or maybe, one week, you notice that the people that have drawn your attention all seem to have (almost) the same name. So on that tenuous basis, welcome to the Kayla (and Kaila) special! |
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thanks for the shout out to Thornton, one of my favorite players from the first time I saw her play. And Bradford is becoming another!
McBride. Well she's McBride. She can go off in a big way once in awhile, but watching her a bit in Vegas I thought there was a lot of me, me, me there. Not my favorite attitude.
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Richyyy
Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 24364 Location: London
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Posted: 07/08/21 1:24 pm ::: |
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Week 8 out today - WNBA Dissected: Divorces, drama and more from 2021 Week 8: https://herhoopstats.substack.com/p/wnba-dissected-week8-carter-dupree-ionescu
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However, I've been somewhat mystified by the amount of discussion I've seen of her potential new destination, or confidence about how she'll walk into a spot somewhere else. A team trying to win back-to-back titles, who desperately need a backup post, just paid her $142,000 to go away. Other teams are going to come running to add that player? Her on-court/off-court numbers in Seattle were ugly, with a -4.5 net rating on the floor (for a team that regularly blows opponents out), and a +19.3 when she was on the bench. She hasn't had a positive +/- for a season since leaving Phoenix after 2016 (and has the third-worst cumulative career +/- in league history, if we really want to pluck out the negative numbers). |
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Bob Lamm
Joined: 11 Apr 2010 Posts: 5065 Location: New York City
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Posted: 07/08/21 2:13 pm ::: |
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I love your inclusion of Sabrina Ionescu's three touchdown passes. I commented on that on the Liberty page. Really remarkable to go three-for-three like that in a game. I could post a very long list of former quarterbacks for the New York Jets who could never do that!
As a Liberty fan who's never warmed to Jazmine Jones, I am beginning to come around and have to agree with your view of her. But one thing that must be noted: as you've said, Jones is terrific at slashing to the rim. She's also awful at converting layups, even open layups. But hopefully she can sort that out over time.
_________________ Remember Roe v. Wade. Work for and support legal abortion all over the world and full reproductive rights for everyone.
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