I've been beyond thrilled with the second year leap Horston has made. Playing her with the second unit looks like the perfect call. She is finishing in ways that were impossible last year, and her handle is greatly improved. The perimeter shot still induces occasional indigestion, but I've always viewed that as being the easiest part of the game to work on. She looks much more like the player I had expected to see here.
Thank you for pointing out half time adjustments. This is something I haven’t (consistently if at all) seen the results for in Noey’s tenure until these last few games. Her time outs have been times better too. I am a bit cautious on the positives as you e pointed out—4 of those wins came against bottom teams. I too tho see the growth.
Indiana? They are defensively abysmal. The only guard I saw playing defense was Grace Berger who was the only Fever player @ + before garbage time. Our defense is picking up too.
Side note, I still think it’s CT and LVA (who only got EVEN BETTER with Tiph Hayes signing-sheesh) that are really gonna give everyone fits…I really don’t see the dominance of NYL. …Even when we played them. Yes, they won, but we were down Nneka AND in the middle of a crazy road trip—held them to below 80…I don’t see the elite. Maybe it will come because there is obvious talent there, but I think they took a pretty big hit losing Johannes….even Dolson. NYL should have been sleuthing to snag Tiph.
With 4 of Seattle's wins coming against Indiana and Washington, that's why I really felt the game at Chicago was the best actual barometer of this Seattle Storm team so far. They were up 19 points in the 4th quarter against what appears to be a pretty quality team. A lot of season left to play but through 6 games, I feel the Chicago Sky will probably make the playoffs. They're certainly playing better than Indiana, Washington, and Los Angeles at least.
But the real test for Seattle comes during these next 5 Commissioner's Cup games. They will hopefully find a way to go at least 3-2. But that means they're going to have to take care of home court and then steal a game on the road against either Las Vegas, Minnesota, or Dallas. Certainly possible but not easy.
I do feel that if Seattle is playing their very best, they have as much talent as the Aces, Sun, or Liberty. Or at least in that same ballpark. But they're going to have to prove that. Their first game against New York was not good but it was also the second game of a back-to-back and they were without Nneka Ogwumike who is honestly probably Seattle's best overall player.
One month in, if I had to predict the WNBA Finals, I'm thinking it'll be Las Vegas versus New York again. But it's more possible this year that we could see Connecticut, Seattle, or possibly Minnesota sneak their way into that conversation.
I put CT over NYL simply in the point that team has had so many iterations in the past 5-6 years and have consistently been good/great. There is clearly leadership in Bonner/Thomas that does not (to my knowledge) get discussed because they’ve done so through two coaching staffs. They also have terrible INJ history that derails them from being truly in the talks of #1.
NYL just feels like a failed chemistry experiment if championship is your goal—that final last year should have been a win for them easily quite frankly without Chelsea or Stokes, but nope-no ‘ship. Butts in seats? For sure. NP. Nailed it, but to me, there’s just something missing (aside from perimeter defense beyond Laney) in that team. Maybe all of them more interested in ego over team? I’m also wayyyyy team Laney over Ionescu, but Ionescu gets the fanfare. NYL also had a tough go against Mystics last year. I don’t know, but LVA has it and NYL doesn’t to me…not to say CT has what LVA has either, but they’ve managed to build chemistry with a rotating guard class for years now. But this is just my opinion.
Great observations, as always. It's impossible to know what is going on with Indiana, but with three of the top six picks over the last three drafts, they don't have much in the way of results to show for it.
Yeah. I’m curious about this as well. I do feel for these young players coming in with all of the social media fools barking. That’s a distraction that I’m certain ways on these young players. I will say, I think Angel is handling the transition so well because she already went through the social media ringer in college.
As a surly old geezer Luddite, I'm fortunate not to do social media, so I don't hear the barking fools :-). I will say that while I've never been a fan of Angel Reese (or the concept of player "brands" in general), she has been far better than I expected of her. I appreciate that she's been able to eschew the histrionics and stay task oriented.
I absolutely agree that the young Fever team is feeling some of that added pressure that comes with the Caitlin Clark circus. And I wrote previously that Aliyah Boston even had to delete some social media apps off of her phone because people were verbally attacking her for her slow start to the season and saying nasty negative things at her behind their keyboards. I don't think that's the main reason they're losing, but it hasn't helped things. As a few other people have written, "The Indiana Fever didn't get back-to-back #1 overall picks by being a good team." There is definitely truth to that. But eventually, they need to turn things around. You shouldn't have this many lottery picks and still be one of the worst teams in the WNBA. That now falls on coaches and General Managers.
Lastly, Angel Reese has really been fantastic so far. And despite the "Bayou Barbie" nickname. She has been hard-working and earning everything she's gotten. She is definitely not just a pretty face. I believe I wrote about that too, in that, Angel Reese has heart and a strong work ethic. And those can be harder to quantify compared to whether or not she can shoot outside of 15 feet.
1) Seems like Nika Muhl is playing in Turkey during the WNBA offseason. But how will that work with the WNBA's prioritization clause? Will she stop playing in Europe in time to make it back to Seattle, or is she going to be lost to the Storm in 2025?
2) Some current WNBA players were announced as investors in a new 3 on 3 circuit. Will the Storm investor's group Force 10 have any involvement?
1) Nika Mühl won't be affected by Prioritization for a little while since it doesn't have an impact players that have less than 3 years of WNBA experience. This way, rookies that are paid the lowest amount can still go overseas to earn more money. This won't be an issue of Nika until she is close to being done with her rookie contract.
2) I know that the Unrivaled basketball league was the idea of Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier and then they've got other financial backers behind them. I'm not sure if Force 10 will have any involvement with it. If I recall correctly, they had already been supporting another 3x3 basketball setup. I will try to inquire about this though and see if I can report back any info directly from the team.
I believe that is most likely the case. It's something I wrote might happen just because of how well Joyner had played in the preseason and she was getting good run with the 2nd unit in practices. But we knew they couldn't cut Dulcy or Jade and keep both Joyner Holmes and Victoria Vivians. And they have been very set on keeping Vivians, which I do understand because the team really does lack depth at the Small Forward position if they got rid of Vivians.
I do remember writing that I could see them waiting a couple of weeks and then cutting Dulcy to bring Joyner back. I'd say that's more likely than anything else right now. If they were looking to bring in a guard, I would think they'd be more likely to cut Kiana Williams if that was the case. Since they cut Dulcy I have to believe it's a Forward or Center they are looking to bring in. It's too bad the Wings picked up Monique Billings for their Hardship contract. Otherwise, I feel she'd be a great pick up for Seattle.
I know some people are hoping for Gabby Williams but I still think that gets tricky with her and the French National Olympic team. I suppose they could try to bring Gabby back now, as long as it was approved by her French Olympic team and then just lose her for a week or two before the Olympic break. However, my initial reaction was that if Gabby were to return this year, it would be after the Olympics are over.
I'm pretty sure Seattle will have to add someone before Tuesday's game against Phoenix as they are supposed to carry 11 of their roster at all times.
I think Vivians has been quietly solid. I was 💯 on them snatching her once the Fever dropped her but was team Joyner at the first round of cuts. I was scratching my head on that one…but I get it now that she’s developing chemistry. I didn’t even think Gabby was even thinking W this year…
Do you really think indiana's schedule is due to some intentional agenda from the league? There must be so many factors in building a schedule, I disagree with feeding that narrative.
Craig, I may not be clear on what you're asking, but I don't think the league was purposefully out to get Indiana or screw them over or anything like that. I just had a lengthy response on the Storm Crazies Facebook group so I'll reiterate my thoughts from there regarding the Fever and their schedule....
"Regarding Indiana, if I had to guess, I think the reason they have played so many games early on is because the league wanted to bring in big viewers and increased viewership numbers due to the draw of Caitlin Clark. That way they could tout early on in the season all the improved numbers they're doing. We also have to be aware they are either currently or going to very soon be negotiating new TV/Media rights deals and the bigger TV/Viewership numbers they can do, the more money they're going to be able to get. This is why they've played 9 games and you have other teams like Atlanta who have only played 5.
I think it's also possible, the league thought the Fever would be significantly better than they have been. Despite missing the playoffs last season, the Fever were better and had a chance to make the playoffs until late in the season. They probably figured adding Caitlin Clark would turn them into a playoff team. Honestly, that's what I expected, even if that meant they were a 7th or 8th seed. I mention this, because when making their schedule, if they thought Indiana was better than they are, it may not look as tough as it ended up being for them. But at the same time, their first four games were two games against the New York Liberty and Connecticut Sun and that seems kind of cruel."
I also mentioned this, acknowledging that the schedule will be crazy for all WNBA teams at certain points this season.
"Every WNBA team is going to have a pretty hectic schedule this year. That is because this is the first year they've ever done a 40-game WNBA season while also playing in the Olympics where the whole league has to shut down for a complete month. That's why we're seeing a lot more back-to-backs or at least games every other day.
We've seen that with the Storm already this season when they played 4 games in 4 different cities in 6 days!!!"
Sorry I didn't word my question very clearly, but what you're saying is that you do think it's a deliberate decision by the league to bring in viewership numbers early in the season.
Yes, I think the reason the Indiana Fever have played more games than any other team up to this point and why they're playing 11 games in the first 20 days was a deliberate decision by the WNBA in order to boost TV ratings and build media hype for the WNBA season. Otherwise, we're just saying that conveniently the team that drafted Caitlin Clark is being featured the most on television and is having to play more games early on and that's all just a coincidence.
With that said, I certainly don't believe the league tried to screw over the Fever. Or make things extra difficult. I think it was more about featuring Caitlin Clark and the Fever and building viewership.
I've been beyond thrilled with the second year leap Horston has made. Playing her with the second unit looks like the perfect call. She is finishing in ways that were impossible last year, and her handle is greatly improved. The perimeter shot still induces occasional indigestion, but I've always viewed that as being the easiest part of the game to work on. She looks much more like the player I had expected to see here.
Thank you for pointing out half time adjustments. This is something I haven’t (consistently if at all) seen the results for in Noey’s tenure until these last few games. Her time outs have been times better too. I am a bit cautious on the positives as you e pointed out—4 of those wins came against bottom teams. I too tho see the growth.
Indiana? They are defensively abysmal. The only guard I saw playing defense was Grace Berger who was the only Fever player @ + before garbage time. Our defense is picking up too.
Side note, I still think it’s CT and LVA (who only got EVEN BETTER with Tiph Hayes signing-sheesh) that are really gonna give everyone fits…I really don’t see the dominance of NYL. …Even when we played them. Yes, they won, but we were down Nneka AND in the middle of a crazy road trip—held them to below 80…I don’t see the elite. Maybe it will come because there is obvious talent there, but I think they took a pretty big hit losing Johannes….even Dolson. NYL should have been sleuthing to snag Tiph.
With 4 of Seattle's wins coming against Indiana and Washington, that's why I really felt the game at Chicago was the best actual barometer of this Seattle Storm team so far. They were up 19 points in the 4th quarter against what appears to be a pretty quality team. A lot of season left to play but through 6 games, I feel the Chicago Sky will probably make the playoffs. They're certainly playing better than Indiana, Washington, and Los Angeles at least.
But the real test for Seattle comes during these next 5 Commissioner's Cup games. They will hopefully find a way to go at least 3-2. But that means they're going to have to take care of home court and then steal a game on the road against either Las Vegas, Minnesota, or Dallas. Certainly possible but not easy.
I do feel that if Seattle is playing their very best, they have as much talent as the Aces, Sun, or Liberty. Or at least in that same ballpark. But they're going to have to prove that. Their first game against New York was not good but it was also the second game of a back-to-back and they were without Nneka Ogwumike who is honestly probably Seattle's best overall player.
One month in, if I had to predict the WNBA Finals, I'm thinking it'll be Las Vegas versus New York again. But it's more possible this year that we could see Connecticut, Seattle, or possibly Minnesota sneak their way into that conversation.
I put CT over NYL simply in the point that team has had so many iterations in the past 5-6 years and have consistently been good/great. There is clearly leadership in Bonner/Thomas that does not (to my knowledge) get discussed because they’ve done so through two coaching staffs. They also have terrible INJ history that derails them from being truly in the talks of #1.
NYL just feels like a failed chemistry experiment if championship is your goal—that final last year should have been a win for them easily quite frankly without Chelsea or Stokes, but nope-no ‘ship. Butts in seats? For sure. NP. Nailed it, but to me, there’s just something missing (aside from perimeter defense beyond Laney) in that team. Maybe all of them more interested in ego over team? I’m also wayyyyy team Laney over Ionescu, but Ionescu gets the fanfare. NYL also had a tough go against Mystics last year. I don’t know, but LVA has it and NYL doesn’t to me…not to say CT has what LVA has either, but they’ve managed to build chemistry with a rotating guard class for years now. But this is just my opinion.
Great observations, as always. It's impossible to know what is going on with Indiana, but with three of the top six picks over the last three drafts, they don't have much in the way of results to show for it.
Yeah. I’m curious about this as well. I do feel for these young players coming in with all of the social media fools barking. That’s a distraction that I’m certain ways on these young players. I will say, I think Angel is handling the transition so well because she already went through the social media ringer in college.
As a surly old geezer Luddite, I'm fortunate not to do social media, so I don't hear the barking fools :-). I will say that while I've never been a fan of Angel Reese (or the concept of player "brands" in general), she has been far better than I expected of her. I appreciate that she's been able to eschew the histrionics and stay task oriented.
Reese is impressing me with her game and maturity. I too didn’t know what to expect but I did give her the benefit of doubt.
I absolutely agree that the young Fever team is feeling some of that added pressure that comes with the Caitlin Clark circus. And I wrote previously that Aliyah Boston even had to delete some social media apps off of her phone because people were verbally attacking her for her slow start to the season and saying nasty negative things at her behind their keyboards. I don't think that's the main reason they're losing, but it hasn't helped things. As a few other people have written, "The Indiana Fever didn't get back-to-back #1 overall picks by being a good team." There is definitely truth to that. But eventually, they need to turn things around. You shouldn't have this many lottery picks and still be one of the worst teams in the WNBA. That now falls on coaches and General Managers.
Lastly, Angel Reese has really been fantastic so far. And despite the "Bayou Barbie" nickname. She has been hard-working and earning everything she's gotten. She is definitely not just a pretty face. I believe I wrote about that too, in that, Angel Reese has heart and a strong work ethic. And those can be harder to quantify compared to whether or not she can shoot outside of 15 feet.
Couldn’t agree with you more. Thanks for the input!
Safe to say SDS has figured it out
I have two questions.
1) Seems like Nika Muhl is playing in Turkey during the WNBA offseason. But how will that work with the WNBA's prioritization clause? Will she stop playing in Europe in time to make it back to Seattle, or is she going to be lost to the Storm in 2025?
2) Some current WNBA players were announced as investors in a new 3 on 3 circuit. Will the Storm investor's group Force 10 have any involvement?
1) Nika Mühl won't be affected by Prioritization for a little while since it doesn't have an impact players that have less than 3 years of WNBA experience. This way, rookies that are paid the lowest amount can still go overseas to earn more money. This won't be an issue of Nika until she is close to being done with her rookie contract.
2) I know that the Unrivaled basketball league was the idea of Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier and then they've got other financial backers behind them. I'm not sure if Force 10 will have any involvement with it. If I recall correctly, they had already been supporting another 3x3 basketball setup. I will try to inquire about this though and see if I can report back any info directly from the team.
Side note: do you think they waived Dulcy to sign Joyner back?
I believe that is most likely the case. It's something I wrote might happen just because of how well Joyner had played in the preseason and she was getting good run with the 2nd unit in practices. But we knew they couldn't cut Dulcy or Jade and keep both Joyner Holmes and Victoria Vivians. And they have been very set on keeping Vivians, which I do understand because the team really does lack depth at the Small Forward position if they got rid of Vivians.
I do remember writing that I could see them waiting a couple of weeks and then cutting Dulcy to bring Joyner back. I'd say that's more likely than anything else right now. If they were looking to bring in a guard, I would think they'd be more likely to cut Kiana Williams if that was the case. Since they cut Dulcy I have to believe it's a Forward or Center they are looking to bring in. It's too bad the Wings picked up Monique Billings for their Hardship contract. Otherwise, I feel she'd be a great pick up for Seattle.
I know some people are hoping for Gabby Williams but I still think that gets tricky with her and the French National Olympic team. I suppose they could try to bring Gabby back now, as long as it was approved by her French Olympic team and then just lose her for a week or two before the Olympic break. However, my initial reaction was that if Gabby were to return this year, it would be after the Olympics are over.
I'm pretty sure Seattle will have to add someone before Tuesday's game against Phoenix as they are supposed to carry 11 of their roster at all times.
I think Vivians has been quietly solid. I was 💯 on them snatching her once the Fever dropped her but was team Joyner at the first round of cuts. I was scratching my head on that one…but I get it now that she’s developing chemistry. I didn’t even think Gabby was even thinking W this year…
I know we all love Gabby, but we already have Vivians and Horston (and sometimes Sami) at the 3, so somebody would be redundant there.
Do you really think indiana's schedule is due to some intentional agenda from the league? There must be so many factors in building a schedule, I disagree with feeding that narrative.
Craig, I may not be clear on what you're asking, but I don't think the league was purposefully out to get Indiana or screw them over or anything like that. I just had a lengthy response on the Storm Crazies Facebook group so I'll reiterate my thoughts from there regarding the Fever and their schedule....
"Regarding Indiana, if I had to guess, I think the reason they have played so many games early on is because the league wanted to bring in big viewers and increased viewership numbers due to the draw of Caitlin Clark. That way they could tout early on in the season all the improved numbers they're doing. We also have to be aware they are either currently or going to very soon be negotiating new TV/Media rights deals and the bigger TV/Viewership numbers they can do, the more money they're going to be able to get. This is why they've played 9 games and you have other teams like Atlanta who have only played 5.
I think it's also possible, the league thought the Fever would be significantly better than they have been. Despite missing the playoffs last season, the Fever were better and had a chance to make the playoffs until late in the season. They probably figured adding Caitlin Clark would turn them into a playoff team. Honestly, that's what I expected, even if that meant they were a 7th or 8th seed. I mention this, because when making their schedule, if they thought Indiana was better than they are, it may not look as tough as it ended up being for them. But at the same time, their first four games were two games against the New York Liberty and Connecticut Sun and that seems kind of cruel."
I also mentioned this, acknowledging that the schedule will be crazy for all WNBA teams at certain points this season.
"Every WNBA team is going to have a pretty hectic schedule this year. That is because this is the first year they've ever done a 40-game WNBA season while also playing in the Olympics where the whole league has to shut down for a complete month. That's why we're seeing a lot more back-to-backs or at least games every other day.
We've seen that with the Storm already this season when they played 4 games in 4 different cities in 6 days!!!"
Sorry I didn't word my question very clearly, but what you're saying is that you do think it's a deliberate decision by the league to bring in viewership numbers early in the season.
Yes, I think the reason the Indiana Fever have played more games than any other team up to this point and why they're playing 11 games in the first 20 days was a deliberate decision by the WNBA in order to boost TV ratings and build media hype for the WNBA season. Otherwise, we're just saying that conveniently the team that drafted Caitlin Clark is being featured the most on television and is having to play more games early on and that's all just a coincidence.
With that said, I certainly don't believe the league tried to screw over the Fever. Or make things extra difficult. I think it was more about featuring Caitlin Clark and the Fever and building viewership.