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| Who will win this game? |
| Liberty |
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8% |
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| Sun |
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91% |
[ 11 ] |
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| Total Votes : 12 |
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NYL_WNBA_FAN
Joined: 28 May 2007
Posts: 14097
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 Posted: 06/06/21 6:59 am ::: |
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Regarding Laney, besides the 20 point streak, she’s ALSO guarding the opponents’ best perimeter player and at times the best post player too. Now when she posts up she’s seeing doubles a significant portion of the time.
Teams are starting to take their favorite offensive stuff away. It’s difficult with a non-scorer out there at the 5 spot right now. That’s another part of disproportionately needing Howard. The balance the team would have otherwise gets radically changed on both ends. It’s a major team weakness. Luckily next years draft is loaded with post players as well as bigger wing players who fit the versatility mold. They’ll add another helpful piece regardless of where they draft.
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Iluvacc
Joined: 11 Jun 2005
Posts: 4167
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| Posted: 06/06/21 11:11 am ::: |
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| Luuuc wrote: |
I think after 60,000+ posts, people should be familiar enough with pilight's body of work to know that he frequently posts facts without judgement.
If you want the equivalent of praise from him, refer to the poll where he listed Laney as an MVP candidate. In the WNBA, praise doesn't come much higher than that. |
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myrtle
Joined: 02 May 2008
Posts: 32335
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| Posted: 06/06/21 11:48 am ::: |
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| NYL_WNBA_FAN wrote: |
| Plus Onyenwere will add some physical strength in the off-season and be better able to play post defense without getting whistled for a foul every time she tries to do it like she does now. |
Onyenwere is maybe 6' when she stretches. No matter how much strength she adds, she really will never be able to adequately defend a 6'6" Jonquel Jones. Having her try to do so was probably demoralizing to her, and a bit crazy on Walt's part. Against teams with 6'2" PF she can compete but really she should be playing SF.
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pilight
Joined: 23 Sep 2004
Posts: 66900
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| Posted: 06/06/21 12:01 pm ::: |
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| Bob Lamm wrote: |
| pilight wrote: |
| Laney's string of 20 point games ended with a thud |
It was a great streak for a player who in 2019, her FOURTH year in the WNBA, averaged a career high of 5.6 points per game. Why look at the negative? I applaud Betnijah Lacey for her dramatic improvement since then and for having one of the best 20-point-per-game streaks in the 25 years of the WNBA. |
It's a great streak for anybody. Every other player with a streak that long or longer has been first team All WNBA in their career. Five of the six have been MVPs and the other one is only 24 years old.
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Bob Lamm
Joined: 11 Apr 2010
Posts: 5065
Location: New York City
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| Posted: 06/06/21 12:26 pm ::: |
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| pilight wrote: |
| Bob Lamm wrote: |
| pilight wrote: |
| Laney's string of 20 point games ended with a thud |
It was a great streak for a player who in 2019, her FOURTH year in the WNBA, averaged a career high of 5.6 points per game. Why look at the negative? I applaud Betnijah Lacey for her dramatic improvement since then and for having one of the best 20-point-per-game streaks in the 25 years of the WNBA. |
It's a great streak for anybody. Every other player with a streak that long or longer has been first team All WNBA in their career. Five of the six have been MVPs and the other one is only 24 years old. |
Thank you for adding this.
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NYL_WNBA_FAN
Joined: 28 May 2007
Posts: 14097
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| Posted: 06/06/21 2:19 pm ::: |
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| myrtle wrote: |
| NYL_WNBA_FAN wrote: |
| Plus Onyenwere will add some physical strength in the off-season and be better able to play post defense without getting whistled for a foul every time she tries to do it like she does now. |
Onyenwere is maybe 6' when she stretches. No matter how much strength she adds, she really will never be able to adequately defend a 6'6" Jonquel Jones. Having her try to do so was probably demoralizing to her, and a bit crazy on Walt's part. Against teams with 6'2" PF she can compete but really she should be playing SF. |
I’m not sure I’d say “never”. Nneka is 6’2” at most. She routinely guards players way taller with success. She’s also significantly stronger than she was as a rookie. This is also one of the least ideal teams for the Liberty to guard, so it’s more of an extreme example. McCarville was pretty short too without long arms. She was a starting C/PF for Minnesota before they got Fowles and they were still really good defensively. Yes they had Brunson. But NY has Howard...
Keep in mind they also probably planned on using Willoughby quite a bit. I’m not using injuries as an excuse. I’m just saying that on draft night, their “plan A” wasn’t to start Onyenwere and Shook, with Stokes and Allen as primary backups. If it was their “plan A” taking them to task for it makes a lot more sense.
But when it’s their “plan C” and they have no other choice, it’s not really proof that the system/philosophy can’t work. Also, is there a better alternative on the team right now? It’s not like they’re loaded with choices.
Not to mention in the second half they extensively played Bec, Shook and Stokes together and JJ killed them anyway. If you have Howard/Stokes out there together it’s a TOTALLY different thing. Clearly they’re not averse to bigger lineups if they need them. It’s just not an option to put a skilled big lineup out there now.
OTOH, why Shook is on the team and not a Natasha Mack is a whole other question. But none of us were present at the interview, and none of us knows why Mack lasted so long in the draft. Other than Mack, I’m not sure where you would have found a player who could answer to their current deficiencies anyway.
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