I was so thrilled and relieved to see Jewell shooting the ball well again. 6-9 on 3-pointers is phenomenal and 10-15 overall is great, too, along with 8-8 on free throws. I think our Jewell might really be back. That would be so wonderful. Ezi scored well, too, but she didn't rebound the ball at all in this game. I've never seen a game where Ezi only had 2 rebounds. That doesn't even seem possible as quick and tall as she is. Nneka picked up some of the slack, but we were badly outrebounded as you pointed out. It's good that we really dominated in the turnover department or we might have lost. Are we going to have 3 players on the U.S. Olympic team or just 2? Of course Ezi will be on the Aussie's team probably with the one that we got rid of for essentially nothing in return: Jade Melbourne and possibly Sami Whitcomb? That should be interesting.
I was shocked to see Ezi only had two rebounds as well. Jewell is the only Storm Olympian on Team USA. Ezi, Sami, Jade, and Lauren Jackson are all on the initial Australian Olympic roster, however, from what I've searched, they have not announced the FINAL 12 players on their roster yet. I would have to believe Ezi and LJ will make the final roster for certain.
Jeff: Another strong perforrmance last night. Really enjoying the defensive effort as of late.
I've been thinking lately - and having big leads in the fourth quarter triggers it - about whether the Storm might be planning to make a move with the backup PG position? It's hard to know *exactly* what could be done around contracts and cap space, but it seems Quinn doesn't have much confidence, at this point, in Muhl or Williams. I wonder if someone like Dana Evans, who seems to have fallen out of favor in Chicago, or even Crystal Dangerfield (I'm sure her overnight travel bag is always packed) might have more utility for a team in "win now" mode. Thoughts?
That's a good point. I'd really like to see Nika Muhl get a chance to show what she can do - preferably with about 10 minutes of P.T. per game, or even 5+ minutes as long as it was consistent. I think she deserves that. I hope that we don't have to wait for a big blowout game to see her for more than a minute per game.
Also, we had a really good backup point guard in Jade Melbourne and then traded her away in a terrible deal for a 3rd rounder when we could have gotten a lot more for her - definitely a 2nd rounder and maybe better than that. I don't know what Talisa Rhea was thinking when she made that trade. It defies logic.
I don't think they could afford Dana Evans and I'm not sure what I would trade for her. I wouldn't trade a first round pick for her. With Crystal Dangerfield, I think she's just too small on defense. She's a reasonably talented offensive player, so I don't imagine it's her offense that is the reason why she's been cut from so many teams. But she's just so short she's a defensive liability. Dangerfield isn't capable of defending players like Jackie Young or Jordan Horston. Jordin Canada is probably the best small defensive guard in the league but she's still on the smaller end too.
Right now Sami Whitcomb is clearly the team's backup PG. That's how they're finding minutes for Sami when both Jewell and Skylar are going to take up so many of the guard minutes. Sami Whitcomb is definitely a better player than Nika Muhl or Kiana Williams. So I think that might just be how they handle it. I thought for certain once Nika made the team, that they would have her run the backup PG. But either A) They're not confident in her ability to take on that role or B) They prefer to find minutes for Sami and her playing backup PG is the best solution for that.
I was so thrilled and relieved to see Jewell shooting the ball well again. 6-9 on 3-pointers is phenomenal and 10-15 overall is great, too, along with 8-8 on free throws. I think our Jewell might really be back. That would be so wonderful. Ezi scored well, too, but she didn't rebound the ball at all in this game. I've never seen a game where Ezi only had 2 rebounds. That doesn't even seem possible as quick and tall as she is. Nneka picked up some of the slack, but we were badly outrebounded as you pointed out. It's good that we really dominated in the turnover department or we might have lost. Are we going to have 3 players on the U.S. Olympic team or just 2? Of course Ezi will be on the Aussie's team probably with the one that we got rid of for essentially nothing in return: Jade Melbourne and possibly Sami Whitcomb? That should be interesting.
I was shocked to see Ezi only had two rebounds as well. Jewell is the only Storm Olympian on Team USA. Ezi, Sami, Jade, and Lauren Jackson are all on the initial Australian Olympic roster, however, from what I've searched, they have not announced the FINAL 12 players on their roster yet. I would have to believe Ezi and LJ will make the final roster for certain.
Jeff: Another strong perforrmance last night. Really enjoying the defensive effort as of late.
I've been thinking lately - and having big leads in the fourth quarter triggers it - about whether the Storm might be planning to make a move with the backup PG position? It's hard to know *exactly* what could be done around contracts and cap space, but it seems Quinn doesn't have much confidence, at this point, in Muhl or Williams. I wonder if someone like Dana Evans, who seems to have fallen out of favor in Chicago, or even Crystal Dangerfield (I'm sure her overnight travel bag is always packed) might have more utility for a team in "win now" mode. Thoughts?
That's a good point. I'd really like to see Nika Muhl get a chance to show what she can do - preferably with about 10 minutes of P.T. per game, or even 5+ minutes as long as it was consistent. I think she deserves that. I hope that we don't have to wait for a big blowout game to see her for more than a minute per game.
Also, we had a really good backup point guard in Jade Melbourne and then traded her away in a terrible deal for a 3rd rounder when we could have gotten a lot more for her - definitely a 2nd rounder and maybe better than that. I don't know what Talisa Rhea was thinking when she made that trade. It defies logic.
I don't think they could afford Dana Evans and I'm not sure what I would trade for her. I wouldn't trade a first round pick for her. With Crystal Dangerfield, I think she's just too small on defense. She's a reasonably talented offensive player, so I don't imagine it's her offense that is the reason why she's been cut from so many teams. But she's just so short she's a defensive liability. Dangerfield isn't capable of defending players like Jackie Young or Jordan Horston. Jordin Canada is probably the best small defensive guard in the league but she's still on the smaller end too.
Right now Sami Whitcomb is clearly the team's backup PG. That's how they're finding minutes for Sami when both Jewell and Skylar are going to take up so many of the guard minutes. Sami Whitcomb is definitely a better player than Nika Muhl or Kiana Williams. So I think that might just be how they handle it. I thought for certain once Nika made the team, that they would have her run the backup PG. But either A) They're not confident in her ability to take on that role or B) They prefer to find minutes for Sami and her playing backup PG is the best solution for that.