Tag Archives: San Antonio Stars

WNBA Today, 07/25/2011: Where Trade Winds Might Blow, Western Edition

Before we get to the Western Conference half of the trade possibilities feature, first let’s round up the signing news from around the league. Chicago filled their empty spot by signing Eshaya Murphy to a seven-day contract (which makes my reminder that they still held her rights a couple of days ago look surprisingly prescient). After four seasons in the WNBA spread across six different cities, Murphy’s yet to shoot over 38% in any of them. So don’t expect her to set the World on fire. She will at least give them another option on the wing though, which is better than nothing. And nothing is about what they were getting from Angie Bjorklund.

No news yet out of New York on their 11th roster spot, but there was more movement in Washington today. DeMya Walker was officially acquired, but slipped into the release was the news that Karima Christmas wasn’t the only player who’d been waived – Ta’Shia Phillips is gone too. Taken by Atlanta with the 8th pick in this year’s draft, presumably on instructions from Washington who acquired her as part of the Lindsey Harding trade later the same day, it’s shocking to see the Mystics quit on Phillips so quickly. She hasn’t looked great in the brief glimpses we’ve seen of her on WNBA floors by any means, but this is a 6-6 center. And the team is terrible. These are the kids you should be building with, not discarding at the first opportunity in favour of journeymen like Walker whose careers are nearly over. It’s a bizarre move from Washington.

How do you decide that Phillips is worth the #8 pick, work with her for barely a couple of months, and then throw her away when your season’s already heading down the toilet? Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 07/22/2011: Cuts and Blowouts

Before we tackle last night’s game, first let’s take a look at all the roster movement that’s been going on today. As I mentioned here a couple of times this week, any non-guaranteed contract that is still on a team’s roster at the mid-point of the WNBA season automatically becomes guaranteed for the rest of the season. We hit that mid-point today, so several teams waived players late last night and the names have been trickling out all day long. In alphabetical team order:

 

Chicago

Angie Bjorklund was waived by the Sky, which wouldn’t have been a huge surprise even if it wasn’t the day before deals became guaranteed. Rookie wing Bjorklund really hasn’t done much all year, and has barely played. On the rare occasions she’s appeared, she’s looked like the old version of Erin Thorn – the one who couldn’t do anything except stand around and shoot – only with less talent. That’s a fringe WNBA player at best.

There’s been no sign yet as to who the Sky will fill the roster spot with. It’s quite possible it’ll simply be Bjorklund returning, because the mid-point of the season is also when seven-day contracts become an option. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 07/19/2011: They call it La-La Land for a reason

Mondays are usually a nice relaxing day off for the WNBA (which then gives me a nice relaxing Tuesday). Not this week. Instead the games just kept right on coming yesterday, with the Los Angeles Sparks playing for the second night running at the Staples Center, this time against the San Antonio Silver Stars. After a pathetic collapse against Washington on Sunday night turned a 24-point third-quarter lead into an overtime loss, the Sparks had a chance to turn things around quickly against a Western Conference rival. Having broken a three-game losing streak on Thursday against Seattle, the Silver Stars had an opportunity to build some momentum and inflict more pain and suffering on LA. Most teams tend to enjoy doing that regardless of their own situation.

Los Angeles went with the same starting five that Joe Bryant had used in each of his three games since taking over as head coach, including the victory in San Antonio a week earlier. The Silver Stars stuck with Scholanda Robinson ahead of Jia Perkins as their third perimeter starter, after that switch worked against Seattle in their last game. If I’m honest, I can’t reprint here most of the notes I took in the first quarter, because it was largely just expletives about how awful LA were. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 07/15/2011: Sometimes, defenses win

ESPN2 had the WNBA schedule all to themselves last night, with just one game on the slate. Let’s be generous and call it a defensive struggle, shall we? The less complimentary description of Seattle’s trip to San Antonio would involve pointing out that neither side could’ve hit water shooting off the side of a boat for most of the evening. Yesterday’s column centered on the highest-scoring game in WNBA history – this one’s going to be a little different.

San Antonio made a predictable change to their starting lineup for this game. Swin Cash’s versatile offensive game would’ve made her a very difficult matchup for Jia Perkins, recently shifted from San Antonio’s high-scoring bench into the starting lineup as a theoretical ‘small forward’ (despite being a listed 5-8). So Perkins went back to the bench, and Scholanda Robinson resumed her position among the starters. Seattle went with the usual five (or ‘usual’ since Lauren Jackson went down, anyway).

These teams know each other very, very well. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 07/13/2011: Sparking a Turnaround?

So I honestly had every intention of making this completely confusing. I was going to cover yesterday’s LA-San Antonio game, and two of today’s four camp day games in this column, while saving the other two games from today for tomorrow. Then I decided to simplify matters (or I remembered that I’m one of the World’s greatest procrastinators. Maybe a little of both). So all you get today is the late game from last night, Jellybean Bryant’s first game since replacing Jennifer Gillom as LA’s head coach. All four of today’s ridiculously early contests will be discussed in tomorrow’s piece, which I promise to try to post earlier than I usually manage. Let’s say you should be able to read them over dinner on the US East Coast, instead of having to wait until bedtime.

On to that game in San Antonio. LA had lost five in a row coming in – hence Gillom’s removal – but a team with a new person in charge is always dangerous. Everyone’s trying to make a good impression on the new boss, and if nothing else, the mood’s been lightened by getting rid of the person who led them to all those losses. The Silver Stars weren’t exactly on a high themselves, having lost twice to New York since their last victory two weeks ago.

My prediction in yesterday’s column about the LA lineup was half-right: Tina Thompson was back as a starter, but Ticha Penicheiro’s demotion from Gillom’s last game remained in place, sticking with the Noelle Quinn/Kristi Toliver backcourt. San Antonio continued with Jia Perkins as their third perimeter starter, alongside Becky Hammon and Tully Bevilaqua, which immediately creates all kind of mismatches between these two teams. In theory, at least. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 07/08/2011: Bringing Liberty to Texas

Ludicrously little has happened in the WNBA this week. Including very little basketball being played. I got tired of coming up with random things to talk about, so decided to simply wait until some actual games had been played before writing today’s update. Hence here we have analysis of the game that finished a couple of hours ago between New York and San Antonio. I’ll get to the No-Defense Bowl between Phoenix and Tulsa in tomorrow’s column.

The Liberty’s last game before heading out to Texas was a win over this same Silver Stars team last Friday. If you remember, I mentioned then that San Antonio were a good matchup for this squad, and that they’d be looking to take advantage of that in their second and final meeting with them this week. San Antonio move the ball well and have good spacing but their lack of size inside means they have trouble offering a threat in the paint, where several teams have gone to town on the Liberty this year. Their best interior scorers are Sophia Young and rookie Danielle Adams, both of whom are barely 6-1 on a good day, and neither of whom exactly posts up much. That makes things easier for the Libs with their fronting, over-playing, desperately-bringing-help-over-once-you-get-beat defense to work. They might’ve had the best record in the WNBA through the first month, but Liberty head coach John Whisenant would probably be happy to play San Antonio every week.

Of course, the Silver Stars are still a very good team, with a lot of talented scorers, so this game was hardly a foregone conclusion. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 07/02/2011: Whistles, whistles everywhere

You know how some nights the games just don’t seem to want to end? Yeah, last night was a long one in the WNBA, even though we only had three games. Maybe a directive went out from the head office that they hadn’t heard enough whistles in the first month of the season, because we sure got plenty of them to kick off July. Sometimes it really feels like they want us to watch the three people out there in those ugly beige-and-orange shirts more than the ten wearing the basketball uniforms.

The first game to tip off at least had a modicum of flow to it, with New York and San Antonio battling it out in the wilds of New Jersey. The sparse crowds at the Liberty’s adopted home (where they’re intending to play for the next three seasons) aren’t providing much of a home court advantage so far, and there was more bad news for New York before the tip. Essence Carson, one of their bright spots this season, suffered an eye injury in warmups and couldn’t play, not even appearing on the bench through the course of the game.

The first half was pretty painful for us neutrals. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 06/29/2011: Pain and suffering. Plus some basketball.

Okay, I’ll get to last night’s games in a minute, but first the really important news – all the freaking injuries. This is just depressing. As reported yesterday, Candace Parker was already gone for six weeks with her knee injury. Then last night Indiana starting point guard Briann January crashed into Penny Taylor, twisting her own right knee before collapsing to the ground in agony. An MRI today confirmed everyone’s worst fears, and January’s done for the 2011 WNBA season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Meanwhile, the Seattle Storm were at the White House, visiting the President as part of their reward for winning last year’s championship. During the visit, head coach Brian Agler dropped the bombshell that Lauren Jackson will be having surgery on her hip tomorrow, not waiting three weeks and hoping that rest would be enough as originally planned. The surgery has an estimated recovery time of 8-12 weeks, which is going to leave the tantalising possibility of an LJ return hanging over Seattle’s season. Eight weeks would give her six regular season games to play, 10 weeks only two, and 12 weeks would bring her back right around the Conference Finals. Regardless of how that plays out, the Storm are going to spend the vast majority of the season without their best player.

I’m so tired of losing so many important players every single year. The women’s game doesn’t have the depth of talent to cope, and because most of these ladies play practically 12 months a year the injuries become all the more inevitable. It’s hard to blame the players that decide to skip the WNBA when you see what can happen to those who never take a break. Until we reach some distant mystical wonderland where the women’s game is popular enough for players to make the bulk of their earnings in the WNBA, I don’t know that there is any solution to the global women’s basketball calendar. But it’s just so sad that so much talent ends up on treatment tables instead of the hardwood every damn season.

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Anyway, back to the games. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 06/27/2011: Deep Thinking

Three WNBA games yester… oh no, wait, four WNBA games yesterday. Almost forgot the gripping Tulsa-Washington matchup. Safe to say that we won’t be spending very long on that one. The most important event in Sunday’s games might well turn out to be the injury suffered by yet another key player, but before we get to the disappointing news let’s worry about the game of the day. Minnesota, coming off that disappointing loss in Seattle where the Storm held them to 55 points, welcomed the Eastern Conference-leading Indiana Fever to the Frozen North for their yearly visit. Two teams that had shown some form in the early stages of the season, and the first matchup between Tamika Catchings and Maya Moore – this one had all the signs of being interesting and entertaining, and it didn’t disappoint.

Indiana stuck with their new starting unit featuring Jessica Davenport at center, while the Lynx starting five was the same as it’s been all year. Part of the intrigue with this game was how the rest of the rosters would produce. Minnesota went into the year with everyone talking about how much talent they had, and whether there were enough minutes to go around. As it’s turned out, head coach Cheryl Reeve has ended up relying heavily on her starting five, while her bench players have struggled to produce, especially at the offensive end. Indiana, on the other end, have recently discovered some depth, with Erin Phillips, Jeanette Pohlen, Shavonte Zellous and even the recently demoted Tammy Sutton-Brown all offering important support from the pine. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 06/25/2011: Storm -1 Still Blow a Gale

Sometimes, basketball games are about more than just winning and losing. Sometimes, even just three weeks into a season, a team has to go out on the floor and prove that they still belong. That they’re still the champs, and that the route to this year’s title still goes through them. That without their star player they can still compete with the best teams in this league. And that however horrific their offense might be, you’re still going to have trouble scoring points against them. Ladies and gentlemen, your Seattle Storm!

For anyone who caught yesterday’s article before the late update (or the few of you with the temerity to not even read it at all), Lauren Jackson has been ruled out for ‘a minimum of three weeks’ with ‘a labral injury in her left hip’. They’re going to let her rest, then try physical therapy, and if she doesn’t respond well enough only then will they resort to surgery. So the Storm went into last night’s game at home to Minnesota not just smarting from the ass-kicking they took from the Lynx two weeks ago, but shorn of last year’s WNBA MVP. However, as we all know, in life and in sports – beware of the wounded animal.

Continue reading →