I was at the game last night. Besides their terrible defense in the first half, the glaring problem is that the Storm shoot so few threes and their 3 pt FG% is consistently in the low 20's. There is no way in the modern WNBA that they can be a top tier team and win a championship with that type of roster. I really question the GM and front office. Sammy didn't even attempt one three pointer last night. There is no drive and kick out to corner threes . The Aces killed them with that in the first half. If you do the math, there is no way the Storm could have won. What do you think of the roster building and this deficiency? Also, I was taken by Nneka saying she saw herself as a facilitator. To me, she should be a top scorer. Thoughts on how she is being used? Thanks
I agree with you in that there is no way in the modern WNBA that they can be a top tier team and win a championship while not shooting very many threes and shooting such a low percentage. I wrote about that awhile back and how the Bill Laimbeer's Las Vegas Aces teams weren't able to win a championship despite having a ton of talent, having a dominant low post player, and drawing tons of fouls per game. They didn't shoot threes and in the 2020 WNBA Finals that's where Seattle killed them.
Regarding roster building and deficiency I have a real hard time being too critical there when they added two major All-Stars in Skylar Diggins-Smith and Nneka Ogwumike in the off-season. Then added Gabby Williams after the Olympics, basically as soon as they could.
Is it the General Manager's fault that Sami Whitcomb is having the worst three-point shooting season of her career? Sami shot nearly 40% from three in 2023 but is shooting less than 30% this year. Is it their fault, that this is the second-worst shooting season from three for Jewell Loyd (only better than her rookie season)?
Very rarely can a team add as much as Seattle did this off-season. I think maybe the New York Liberty power moves may skew some viewpoints but that is not the norm. New York capitalized by making Seattle, Chicago, and Connecticut all significantly weaker. They took star players from each of those teams. This year Seattle took away LA's top star and the Sparks are now the worst team in the WNBA.
I also went back and looked at the WNBA Draft to see if there were any excellent three-point shooters that have had an immediate impact in the WNBA that were selected after Nika Mühl and I didn't see any.
No matter what the Storm do this season, it's already been a pretty huge success considering they won 11 games last year and this season they'll finish with either 24 or 25 wins, more than doubling their win total from a year ago. In theory, this next off-season if they're able to re-sign Nneka and Gabby, they'll probably focus more of their efforts on adding players that have better three-point shooters. Maybe they replace Vivians, Holmes, or even Whitcomb with better three-point specialists. Or maybe they hope Sami can turn things around next season.
The Storm are set to select 9th overall in the 2025 WNBA Draft. Maybe they look to draft a three-point specialist with that pick (although I'd go Best Player Available).
Real quick regarding Nneka, I wasn't surprised to hear her say that. And I don't think she was saying the Storm want her to be a facilitator. Actually it was the complete opposite of that. Nneka was saying, by her own nature, she doesn't take enough shots and wants to help get others involved. And that she only wants to take super high percentage shots. Basically, the opposite of a Jewell or Arike mentality. And her teammates and the coaches keep reminding her to take more shots. Ogwumike has played with a lot of great players over the years. Candace Parker, Chelsea Gray, Kristi Toliver, etc.
Thanks for your thoughtful comments. I understand Nneka was saying she sees herself as a facilitator. But, isn't it the front office and coaching staff's job to define her role in the beginning of the season, run the offense more through her, and coach her accordingly? The most successful part of Tuesday's game was the two man action between Skylar and her. It is a little late in the season to be realizing that Nneka needs take more shots and score more. For me, it is the GM and owners fault for positioning Jewell as the number one option. She has always been a very streaking shooter and not efficient. Remember, Dan Hughes had to bench her in the 4th quarter of the 2018 semi finals against the Mercury. It shouldn't be a surprise that her 3 pt shooting is down. She shoots the threes best when her feet are planted, catch and shoot corner threes. There is very little of that this year. Do you know the break down of her 3FG% on catch and shoot threes versus others? Would be interesting to see that data
Hello, so I didn't have an immediate answer on your question about Jewell's catch and shoot 3's versus other attempts. I reached out to their PR staff if they had that data or could dig it up. That took a few days but they were able to provide this information.
"Our analytics coach sent me this for Jewell:
On catch and shoot 3PT FGs (not counting end of period heaves), Jewell is 35-of-110 (31.8%).
All other 3PT FGs (not including end of period heaves), Jewell is 24-of-104 (23.1%)."
I was at the game last night. Besides their terrible defense in the first half, the glaring problem is that the Storm shoot so few threes and their 3 pt FG% is consistently in the low 20's. There is no way in the modern WNBA that they can be a top tier team and win a championship with that type of roster. I really question the GM and front office. Sammy didn't even attempt one three pointer last night. There is no drive and kick out to corner threes . The Aces killed them with that in the first half. If you do the math, there is no way the Storm could have won. What do you think of the roster building and this deficiency? Also, I was taken by Nneka saying she saw herself as a facilitator. To me, she should be a top scorer. Thoughts on how she is being used? Thanks
I agree with you in that there is no way in the modern WNBA that they can be a top tier team and win a championship while not shooting very many threes and shooting such a low percentage. I wrote about that awhile back and how the Bill Laimbeer's Las Vegas Aces teams weren't able to win a championship despite having a ton of talent, having a dominant low post player, and drawing tons of fouls per game. They didn't shoot threes and in the 2020 WNBA Finals that's where Seattle killed them.
Regarding roster building and deficiency I have a real hard time being too critical there when they added two major All-Stars in Skylar Diggins-Smith and Nneka Ogwumike in the off-season. Then added Gabby Williams after the Olympics, basically as soon as they could.
Is it the General Manager's fault that Sami Whitcomb is having the worst three-point shooting season of her career? Sami shot nearly 40% from three in 2023 but is shooting less than 30% this year. Is it their fault, that this is the second-worst shooting season from three for Jewell Loyd (only better than her rookie season)?
Very rarely can a team add as much as Seattle did this off-season. I think maybe the New York Liberty power moves may skew some viewpoints but that is not the norm. New York capitalized by making Seattle, Chicago, and Connecticut all significantly weaker. They took star players from each of those teams. This year Seattle took away LA's top star and the Sparks are now the worst team in the WNBA.
I also went back and looked at the WNBA Draft to see if there were any excellent three-point shooters that have had an immediate impact in the WNBA that were selected after Nika Mühl and I didn't see any.
No matter what the Storm do this season, it's already been a pretty huge success considering they won 11 games last year and this season they'll finish with either 24 or 25 wins, more than doubling their win total from a year ago. In theory, this next off-season if they're able to re-sign Nneka and Gabby, they'll probably focus more of their efforts on adding players that have better three-point shooters. Maybe they replace Vivians, Holmes, or even Whitcomb with better three-point specialists. Or maybe they hope Sami can turn things around next season.
The Storm are set to select 9th overall in the 2025 WNBA Draft. Maybe they look to draft a three-point specialist with that pick (although I'd go Best Player Available).
Real quick regarding Nneka, I wasn't surprised to hear her say that. And I don't think she was saying the Storm want her to be a facilitator. Actually it was the complete opposite of that. Nneka was saying, by her own nature, she doesn't take enough shots and wants to help get others involved. And that she only wants to take super high percentage shots. Basically, the opposite of a Jewell or Arike mentality. And her teammates and the coaches keep reminding her to take more shots. Ogwumike has played with a lot of great players over the years. Candace Parker, Chelsea Gray, Kristi Toliver, etc.
Thanks for your thoughtful comments. I understand Nneka was saying she sees herself as a facilitator. But, isn't it the front office and coaching staff's job to define her role in the beginning of the season, run the offense more through her, and coach her accordingly? The most successful part of Tuesday's game was the two man action between Skylar and her. It is a little late in the season to be realizing that Nneka needs take more shots and score more. For me, it is the GM and owners fault for positioning Jewell as the number one option. She has always been a very streaking shooter and not efficient. Remember, Dan Hughes had to bench her in the 4th quarter of the 2018 semi finals against the Mercury. It shouldn't be a surprise that her 3 pt shooting is down. She shoots the threes best when her feet are planted, catch and shoot corner threes. There is very little of that this year. Do you know the break down of her 3FG% on catch and shoot threes versus others? Would be interesting to see that data
Hello, so I didn't have an immediate answer on your question about Jewell's catch and shoot 3's versus other attempts. I reached out to their PR staff if they had that data or could dig it up. That took a few days but they were able to provide this information.
"Our analytics coach sent me this for Jewell:
On catch and shoot 3PT FGs (not counting end of period heaves), Jewell is 35-of-110 (31.8%).
All other 3PT FGs (not including end of period heaves), Jewell is 24-of-104 (23.1%)."
Thank you for finding this info. It backs up what thought.