Tag Archives: Chicago Sky

2013 WNBA Draft Preview, Part 1

Welcome back, everybody! As always, it’s been a long offseason for the WNBA, and WNBAlien took a similarly lengthy hiatus to recharge the batteries. But Monday night sees one of the most highly anticipated drafts in the league’s history, so it’s time to take a look at what might happen. Below is a reminder of the important moves each team has made in the offseason, a look at the remaining holes in each roster, and a guess or two at where the GMs might be leaning with their picks. Not so much a mock draft as a reintroduction to the world of the WNBA.

So here we go, in draft order from the top on down.


Phoenix Mercury

Gains: Very little so far, but an awful lot after Monday night. And they’re likely to be less ‘injured’ this year.

Losses: Also nothing much.

Picks: #1 and #26

 
This has been rehashed countless times in every outlet that pays any attention to the WNBA at all. They tanked, we all know they tanked, but it’s over and it worked. There’s no debate about the pick, with 6-8 Baylor behemoth Brittney Griner the first choice of absolutely everybody. Even Mercury head coach Corey Gaines should be able to improve his defense simply by sticking Griner in the middle of it and letting her play. She won’t hurt on offense, either.

The #26 pick could be anything and is unlikely to stick on the roster through training camp (as is the case with most players taken after the first round in WNBA drafts).

The Mercury have also re-signed DeWanna Bonner and have Penny Taylor returning from a serious knee injury. Plus this season they might actually give a crap about winning basketball games. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/23/2012 & 09/24/2012: Final weekend wraps up regular season

You can look at this article two ways. Either it’s a bumper edition to celebrate the conclusion to the 2012 WNBA season, covering a whole weekend of action all in one go. Or the games were so meaningless and such a constant procession of tedious basketball that I’m getting them all out of the way in the most expedient way possible. It depends on whether you’re a glass-half-full or a glass-half-empty kind of person. Either way, below you’ll find (mercifully brief) coverage of all six games played on Saturday and Sunday this weekend, bringing the regular season to a close.

Check back over the next few days for WNBAlien’s postseason awards, and in-depth previews of all four first-round playoff series. Plus, of course, there’ll be the usual analysis of every playoff game once the postseason begins on Thursday night, right through to the WNBA Finals.

 

Tulsa Shock 74 @ New York Liberty 91

  • Plenette Pierson was back in New York’s starting lineup, after the one-game absence where she was replaced by DeMya Walker. The Liberty’s crack broadcasting crew provided no information on why she was benched, or showed any awareness that it had even occurred. Tulsa were unchanged again.
  • Based on their rotation, New York took this game surprisingly seriously. Head coach John Whisenant was essentially treating it like any other regular season game. Based on how they played for most of the first half, the players couldn’t have cared less. Their rotations were slow, they were beaten down the floor in transition, and the offense looked half-hearted. Tulsa were both 7-15 from three-point range in the first half, and leading in points in the paint. The Shock led 50-40 at halftime, but New York’s performance barely merited even that.
  • And then in the second half, the Liberty decided to play. There was much better defensive pressure on the ball, that led to some transition opportunities, and finally they were awake. New York also showed more willingness to play inside-out in this game than we’ve seen in several recent contests. They were channeling some offense through Pierson and Kia Vaughn, rather than constantly relying on Cappie Pondexter and Essence Carson to do everything from the perimeter. They won’t have a prayer against Connecticut in the first round without at least making the Sun’s posts work on the defensive end, so that needs to continue next week. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/21/2012: Playoff ‘race’ concludes with a whimper

So last night brought the 2012 WNBA playoff chase to a conclusion in an entirely appropriate way, considering how the final two contenders have played for most of the year. Not with a bang or an explosive victory, but with the faint whistle of the air finally being sucked out of a wrinkled balloon. Or, if you prefer less flowery language, someone had to fill the spot, and finally a team was shoved over the line.

There was also a nightcap game between the teams which may well contest the Western Conference Finals, but unless you’re an optimistic Los Angeles Sparks fan, that was equally uninspiring.

 

New York Liberty 66 @ Tulsa Shock 78

  • New York had their destiny in their own hands. A victory over Tulsa would’ve stamped their ticket to the postseason. After missing the final 7 minutes of their previous game for no obvious reason, Plenette Pierson began this one on the bench, with DeMya Walker starting in her place. With Tulsa providing the broadcast, there was no information as to why, but presumably Pierson’s either carrying an injury or there was some kind of disciplinary reason. She was in the game after less than five minutes. Tulsa’s starting lineup was unchanged.
  • New York didn’t look much like a team fighting to confirm their playoff spot in the first half. In fact, most of their play looked half-hearted and aimless, with plenty of sloppy turnovers and a host of jacked up jump shots. The only effective offense was when they found Kara Braxton in the post, who took advantage of Tulsa’s lack of interior presence to provide some buckets.
  • Meanwhile, Tulsa fired away from long range and sank a host of threes, often left wide open by the lackadaisical Liberty defense. There was the occasional drive from the likes of Ivory Latta, but the perimeter bombing made up the bulk of Tulsa’s offense, and carried them to a 45-30 halftime lead. Temeka Johnson was 5-6 overall, 3-4 from beyond the arc, for 15 points in the opening 20 minutes. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/19/2012: Playoff Picture continues to clear, as Sky fade meekly away

Most of the important issues in the WNBA playoff race (and a lot of the unimportant ones) were decided a long time ago, which has made it a struggle to retain interest in the closing weeks of the regular season. However, technically, last night’s three games all still had some relevance to either playoff qualification or home court advantage in the postseason. Which isn’t bad with only six days left. On to the Bullet Point Breakdowns.

 

New York Liberty 66 @ San Antonio Silver Stars 77

  • The night kicked off with the only game where both teams had something to play for. Mathematically, at least. New York were the team who needed it more, with a ‘magic number’ of two heading into the night. They still needed a combination of two more Liberty wins or Chicago Sky losses just to sneak into the playoffs. San Antonio still had faint hopes of stealing home court advantage away from Los Angeles in the first round, but it was going to take wins in their last three games, and LA losing their last two, to get there.
  • Throughout the contest, San Antonio’s best player was second-year point guard Danielle Robinson, who’s had a very impressive season. She’s lightning quick, which both helps her get to the rim and pester opponents defensively. It also means that if she pokes away a steal or breaks out in transition, no one’s catching her. She’s also worked hard on her mid-range jumper, which has been falling consistently all season long. You can’t just leave her open to take that shot any more, because she’s shooting 55% from the field and it’s not just layups. In fact, she’s shooting 47% from both 11-15 and 16-20 feet, way above the league averages. Her control of the team as a point guard has improved as well. Since being drafted she’s benefitted from playing alongside Becky Hammon, who takes on a lot of the creative responsibilities, but she’s not just standing on the wing and watching Becky work any more. She’s legitimately the point guard on significantly more possessions, and has increased her assists while lowering her turnovers this season. The PG spot in San Antonio should be in good hands for years to come.
  • Robinson’s primary partner in crime early in the game was Shameka Christon, who seems to have rediscovered her three-point shooting touch recently. Which is a good thing, because she doesn’t do much else. The Silver Stars run plays designed purely to get her open from her favourite spots for three (diagonal from the rim out on the wing, on either side), and she was converting. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/17/2012: Sunday, bloody awful Sunday

Welcome to the new, little-publicised WNBA event: Unwatchable Sundays! Oh alright, that’s a touch harsh. We had an impressive upset to start, and an exciting finish to close, but wow was there a load of dross in the middle. The 2012 WNBA regular season isn’t so much limping to its conclusion as it’s crawling there on its hands and knees, begging for mercy. The playoffs are now only 10 days away, thankfully.

 

Tulsa Shock 80 @ San Antonio Silver Stars 70

  • San Antonio came into this game with lingering hopes of catching the Los Angeles Sparks for 2nd spot in the West and home court advantage in the first-round (although those hopes have been fading since LA started winning a few games). Tulsa have been playing for nothing but pride for quite some time now, but some decent performances have illustrated that they’re still fighting for wins, not ping-pong balls.
  • The central issue in this game all afternoon came down to our old favourite cliché: “it’s a make or miss league”. Tulsa shot well from outside, racking up threes consistently; San Antonio fired away just as often, and kept missing. Sometimes it’s as simple as that.
  • I had the benefit of watching this game via archive rather than live, so having already seen the boxscore and noticed the significant discrepancy in three-point shooting, I kept a close eye on that aspect of the game. There really wasn’t one particular way that Tulsa created their three-point shots. There were a few on drive-and-kicks, which you’re always going to give up occasionally in San Antonio’s typical defensive schemes, where the wing defender is expected to shade in and help protect the lane if necessary. There were a few where defenders went under ball-screens, and the Tulsa shooter simply fired away with the space that created (arguably preventable by the defense if the post shows harder or if you fight over the screen, but they were hardly major breakdowns). And there were a couple which just came off solid ball movement or players moving well off the ball and finding space. There wasn’t one horrible, noticeable failing in the Silver Stars’ defense. They just got lit up.
  • Although this game did send me off looking for team stats on opponents’ three-point shooting percentage, and San Antonio are the worst team in the league in that category. So maybe there is a more systemic issue – all the help necessary to contain opponents in the paint and somewhat fix their rebounding issues may have led to too much room on the perimeter. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/14/2012: Led by stud rookie, Sparks slip by the Sky

Just the one WNBA game last night, but it was an intriguing encounter. Chicago had the most to play for, coming into Thursday half-a-game behind New York for the final Eastern playoff spot. With the season series between the Sky and Liberty tied at 2-2, if they finished with the same record it would go to conference record to decide. New York were at 9-12 (with one Eastern game left in Washington on Sunday) and Chicago at 7-13 (two Eastern games left, against Atlanta and Washington), giving the Liberty the upper hand. An upset win in Los Angeles to pull them level in the standings would’ve been huge for their postseason push.

However, LA had their own reasons to fight for the victory. 1.5 games clear of San Antonio in second place in the West, they still need wins to make sure of home-court advantage in their first-round playoff series against the Silver Stars. But more importantly, the Sparks had lost 4 of their last 5 games, several of them with fairly pitiful performances. This was the start of a four-game home stand for LA to close out the regular season, and they needed to start finding some form before we hit the postseason.

The Sky were still without star center Sylvia Fowles and veteran point guard Ticha Penicheiro, but having broken Minnesota’s 11-game winning streak on Tuesday night without either of those players, they should’ve been confident that they could survive without them. Courtney Vandersloot continued at the point, with Carolyn Swords in the paint.

As we saw when these teams played each other a couple of weeks ago, the way each team tries to set up their perimeter defense creates immediate interest. Both teams want their defensive stopper on the other side’s most dangerous perimeter scorer, which means Tamera Young guards Kristi Toliver for Chicago, and Alana Beard tracks Epiphanny Prince for LA. That’s fine for the Sparks, because the shooting guard is simply taking the shooting guard, allowing Toliver to defend Vandersloot, and DeLisha Milton-Jones to cover Young. But for Chicago, their small forward is sliding over to cover LA’s point guard. It leaves the Sky’s small backcourt of Vandersloot and Prince to cover Beard and Milton-Jones. Even on the official rosters (which tend to be generous), Chicago’s starting guards are listed at 5’8” and 5’9”. Beard and Milton-Jones are officially 5’11” and 6’1”. Basic size was going to be an issue for Chicago all night.

However, defense wasn’t the Sky’s main problem early on. Rather than just switching on practically every screen, which tends to be LA’s modus operandi defensively, they were trapping Prince and Vandersloot off ball screens with hard, active double-teams. And Chicago were absolutely atrocious at handling it. Multiple times they simply gave away the ball under LA’s pressure, unable or unwilling to make the pass out of the trap. It’s a pretty basic defensive tactic, which can be negated by quick ball movement, setting screens off the ball instead of on, or simply breaking down your defender without bringing a screen over to begin with. But Chicago didn’t manage any of that for much of the game – certainly not in the opening quarter. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/12/2012: Dream stomp Storm yet again, while Sky excel to leash Lynx

Sometimes, history can be a wonderful indicator of upcoming basketball results. Sometimes, paying too much attention to the past leaves you looking like an idiot. Last night’s two WNBA games helped illustrate that nicely.

The first game was in Atlanta, where Seattle were the visitors. Since being swept by the Storm in the 2010 WNBA Finals, Atlanta have absolutely dominated this matchup, winning the previous three clashes by a combined 57 points. The Dream’s speed and athleticism on the perimeter, combined with their endless driving to the rim, has consistently proven too much for Seattle to handle. That said, this was the first time since those 2010 Finals that Lauren Jackson had been in uniform against Atlanta. This was Seattle’s chance to show that the two comfortable wins over Tulsa last week were down to their own development, not just the Shock’s weaknesses.

Both teams stood by their regular starting lineups, with the league’s leading per-game scorer Angel McCoughtry continuing to come off the bench for Atlanta. However, the two sides set up their defensive matchups differently from the start. The Dream were using Armintie Price on Sue Bird, while sliding point guard Lindsey Harding over onto Katie Smith. That allowed them to keep the pressure up on Bird, without tiring out Harding too much. Inside, Sancho Lyttle was on Lauren Jackson, while Erika de Souza started on Camille Little – Atlanta wanting their more mobile post defender on the player who’s more likely to shoot from anywhere. At the other end, Seattle were far more standard, with Bird on Harding, Smith on Price, Little on Lyttle and Jackson on de Souza. Both teams, as is their standard style, were perfectly willing to switch assignments when it made sense.

It’s interesting that Seattle rarely try to hide Bird on a lesser offensive threat. She has a reputation as a weak defender – and it’s pretty well-earned – but she’s gotten smarter over the years, and at least knows how to funnel opponents towards her help. Maybe they’d be more worried by what Price’s speed could do against her than Harding’s driving and distribution.

The early stages of the game were reasonably tight. Seattle were looking to Little and Jackson inside, and after firing an ugly three as her opening effort of the game, Jackson made sure her following efforts were from much closer. Without too many early turnovers or long misses from the Storm, Atlanta’s running game was being kept in check, and most of their scoring was coming from de Souza in the low post. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/10/2012: Sunday afternoon’s for basketball too

Paying no heed to the opening Sunday of the NFL season, there were five WNBA games on the slate yesterday. But we’ll get to those in a moment – unusually, there’s been some moderately worthwhile news emerging from our league over the last 24 hours.

Firstly, as announced by Cindy Brunson at the WNBA’s Inspiring Women Luncheon (and then first reported by Mel Greenberg via @womhoopsguru), the WNBA draft lottery will be televised by ESPN for the first time on September 26th. That’s much earlier than they’ve held the lottery before, but it should help build some buzz for the league heading into the playoffs. The extra interest this year obviously surrounds the 2013 graduating class that’s led by Baylor center Brittney Griner, with Elena Delle Donne and Skylar Diggins considered pretty nice consolation prizes. It’s good to see both the League and ESPN showing that they’re invested in coming up with new ways to draw people into the WNBA, and get them talking about its potential.

The WNBA also announced today that they’re bringing back the concept of involving fans in the Most Valuable Player Award voting. It’s something they tried in 2008 when Candace Parker won the award, but there’s been a little more thought (and significantly more sense) put into the idea this time. Four years ago the fan voting was weighted as 25% of the overall vote, with the media balloting accounting for the remaining 75%. This time, the entire fan vote will count equal to one media member, with the results sliding in alongside the 41 individual voters. So rather than 25%, the fans’ opinions will be worth about 2.4% this time around. That’s a much better idea, if they really want to give the great unwashed a hand in the MVP award. Many of the media who are given a voice may not actually watch enough games for my taste, but the MVP shouldn’t be allowed to become just a popularity contest. Even I will take the media over the general populace in a vote like this. If you want to join in, you can vote daily here.

In less pleasing news for the WNBA, Mechelle Voepel at ESPN.com published a piece last night revealing that Kayla Pedersen and Temeka Johnson have both missed games recently due to yet another staph infection hitting the Tulsa Shock. It’s the third time in three years that Tulsa players have suffered from staph issues, and it’s not something that paints the franchise or the league in a nice light. It’s also slightly disappointing in the way it highlights the obvious lies that get spouted by teams and the league in relation to injuries. Pedersen was out with ‘flu-like symptoms’, and then just out with no explanation; Johnson had an ‘ankle/abdominal injury’. All of that might be true, but it’s also obviously an attempt to fudge reality.

While Voepel was revealing that unsavoury news on ESPN’s online portal, the TV branch was messing around with their schedules. In case you were expecting to see the Seattle @ Indiana game on ESPN2 on Wednesday night, be aware that you’ll now need either NBA TV or LiveAccess to see that game. Instead, ESPN2 will now be showing the far less interesting Connecticut @ Phoenix game several hours later. The Sun have also already stated that star center Tina Charles will be staying home from that game to rest hip and groin injuries, and recover from general fatigue.

And having got all that out of the way, let’s take a look at the basketball that was actually played yesterday.

 

Minnesota Lynx 81 @ San Antonio Silver Stars 62

  • While San Antonio are back in one piece after center Jayne Appel returned on Friday, Minnesota began this game with star guard and leading scorer Seimone Augustus in street clothes. She was out due to a sprained foot suffered against Atlanta a couple of days ago (although she had been ready to go back into that game, so it’s unlikely that it’s particularly serious). Monica Wright replaced her in the starting lineup. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/08/2012 (Part Two): East meets West, while the Sky keep hope alive

So while we’ve already looked at the standout game from Friday night, there were four other games of varying levels of interest as well. Three were cross-conference matchups, which are always more intriguing purely because the teams play each other far less frequently. The squads don’t know each other quite as well, and players clash with different opponents for a change. The fourth was the vital matchup between the two teams still squabbling over the only playoff spot yet to be decided. So let’s get to it.

 

Los Angeles Sparks 96 @ Washington Mystics 68

  • We’re getting this one out of the way as quickly as possible, rather than giving it pride of place at the top of the column because it deserves it. The starting fives were the same again for both teams.
  • There were actually a few positive signs for Washington early on. They were creating points by being aggressive off the dribble, and exploiting the flaws in LA’s pick-and-roll defense (which had been highlighted for them in several recent LA losses to better opponents).
  • Unfortunately for the Mystics, Candace Parker opened the game actually scoring in the paint. Yes, Parker was posting up, looking for feeds down low, and running for finishes in transition as well. That’s what we’ve needed to see from her for a while.
  • LA started to take control towards the end of the first quarter, when Alana Beard was on the floor with a bunch of Sparks backups. It was Jenna O’Hea’s second straight impressive outing, and her arrival looks to have given the LA bench the shot in the arm they were hoping for. She knows her role, she can consistently hit that corner three, and she doesn’t try to do too much in other aspects of the game. So kind of like what Marissa Coleman was supposed to be offering all year, but has largely failed miserably to provide. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/03/2012: Atlanta’s conquering heroine returns, while Sparks are exposed again

Maybe the USA should have more public holidays. Two WNBA games yesterday, and anyone who took the time to catch them during Labor Day weekend saw some decidedly entertaining basketball. Or for those of us in different countries, it was just a nice Sunday.

The games began with what hopefully was also a conclusion. Atlanta were hosting Connecticut, and Angel McCoughtry was in uniform and ready to play. She’d missed two games prior to Marynell Meadors’s departure as Dream head coach and general manager, then missed two more while ‘indefinitely suspended’ by Meadors’s replacement, Fred Williams. On Wednesday, he’d reportedly presented her with a written list of requirements that she needed to sign and comply with before being reinstated to the team. Presumably, she’d agreed to his terms, because Angel was back.

Not back in the starting lineup just yet, however. Rookie guard Tiffany Hayes continued to start, and the only change for Atlanta was Cathrine Kraayeveld beginning the game ahead of Armintie Price (possibly because Price missed a practice to attend a funeral, rather than a strange coach’s decision). Connecticut once again had Kelsey Griffin starting at power forward, with Asjha Jones and Mistie Mims still out due to injury. The Sun post corps is scraping by with about two-and-a-half options at the moment.

Besides the inevitable McCoughtry drama, the post is where much of the interest lies in this matchup. Connecticut were a better team than Atlanta for much of last season, and finished ahead of them in the standings, earning home-court advantage for their first-round playoff series. But largely because of the job that Erika de Souza did on Sun star center Tina Charles, Atlanta swept Connecticut out of the postseason. With Erika having skipped the first half of the 2012 WNBA season to prepare for the Olympics with Brazil, this was their first encounter since that playoff series (meaningless USA-Brazil international friendlies don’t count).

The big centers started going at each other from the opening possessions. Charles wasn’t backing down, but as always the physicality of de Souza was making things difficult for her. Erika forces Charles to work hard for everything she gets, including the initial post position she can set up in. While many of the efforts were moves and shots that she typically takes against everyone, it was noticeable that every attempt Charles took in the early stages – and for most of the rest of the game – was either a face-up jump shot, or a post move that took her away from the basket. Practically nothing was with Charles moving towards the rim. Continue reading →