Maybe Dom should start and pull Clark off the bench. Move Nneke to a 3. Nneke is draining the 3 at a pretty high Clip. Takes some pressure off Ezi guarding bigs and getting into foul trouble.
I do hope that over time, they occasionally play lineups with Dom, Ezi, and Nneka. I feel either Nneka or Dom could play the 3. They need Ezi down low because she is still their best shot blocker.
I was watching Alysha Clark yesterday, and I'm still amazed at how fundamentally sound she is defensively. I really enjoyed watching her defend and how she often gets her hand right in the defender's face as they're trying to shoot. Sometimes they still make it, but her defense is how I would teach young players how to play. I was amazed and how she was defending the Aces' talented guards and also occasionally having to go against A'ja Wilson. She never fouled their shooters once, and she consistently had a hand in their faces.
Whether AC is starting or not, she is currently averaging around 25 MPG, and I think that's about perfect. They don't need to be playing her 32-35 MPG at this point in her career. It would be nice to see Dom play 15-20 MPG sooner rather than later.
I also agree that AC should probably be getting only 25 minutes per game or maybe even 20-25 minutes to let her operate at peak efficiency over a long 44 game season with less of a risk of her being injured. That also could allow Dom to get a few more minutes per game.
Image what having Ezi and Dom to start the game will do for shot blocking? I love AC but she just seems like the perfect 6th women off the bench..And I'm liking what Zia is bringing..
You make a good point that either Dom or Nneka could play the 3 with the other being the 4 and Ezi remaining as the 5. Dom made a lot of 3-pointers in practice and I believe in France also, and she should be given a chance to shoot the 3 in the W. No one's going to guard her out there. At least not until she starts making a bunch of them and even then they can't get in her face!!
I completely agree with this and I hope that they will try that lineup at some point. We are barely scratching the surface on what Dominique Malonga can provide for this team.
Once again, I think everyone needs to be patient with Malonga's development. Most WNBA rookies are 22 or 23 years old. She is 19. She is also playing for a team that won 25 (of 40) games last season and wants to compete for a WNBA Championship this season with a roster that has two former All-Stars who are post players (one a former league MVP). On top of that, Li Yueru is probably the team's 2nd or 3rd best bench player behind Erica Wheeler (and probably Malonga), who also deserves some playing time too.
The team has played 7 games. If we are into game 20-25 and Malonga is still averaging less than 10 MPG (she's currently at 8.6 MPG), then I think it's fair for the fans to ask for more. But give her and the team time to develop, learn the coach's systems, learn her Storm teammates, and learn how to play in the WNBA. If all goes well, she should be on the team for the next 10+ years.
One thing I wanted to point out is an error in the transcription when you asked Coach Quinn about 3 wins in a row followed by 3 losses in a row and she was pointing out some positives that they could take from it, the transcript reads "again, normal victories ... " which made no sense. What Coach actually said was "again, no moral victories ... " which makes complete sense.
What's funny about that is when I read your comment, I thought, "No, I changed that" because I had remembered fixing that. But it turns out, it was quoted in TWO of her answers, and I missed the 2nd one. I also missed italicizing one of the quotes, which is something I like to do so that the quotes stand out. Those mistakes are bound to happen from time to time when I'm working on articles in the late, late AM hours.
Curious to hear your thoughts on the offense to this point from an X’s and O’s standpoint. I feel like having a more cohesive system beyond “Nneka and Skylar go to work” or relying on just Gabby when they’re missing would go a long way for us. Was a little concerning to see us not hitting our shots and making no adjustments to attack the zone. Makes it really easy to game plan against us if they know they can take away one element and not see any changes. Fortunate that we’re as strong as we are defensively but that isn’t a long term solution for the offense either.
The Storm run a variation of the 'Read and React' offense. It's a more complicated offense because it can be a free-for-all. It's complicated to learn, and probably with so many brand-new players (they only returned 4 of their 10 active), there can be a steep learning curve because a lot of it is playing off one another. The more you know your teammates, teammates' tendencies, etc., the better the offense can flow. If players aren't sure what to do, it can lead to confusion, or as you put it, "Nneka and Skylar go to work".
The 'Read and React' implements several elements. Motion offense, 5-out, 4-out and 1-in, pick-and-roll, etc.
I would love to take some time to watch and really analyze Seattle's offense more. That's difficult to do when I'm covering every single game and they play Friday, Sunday, Tuesday, etc. They have a few days off after this game, so I might be able to do some of that on Thursday or Friday.
Maybe Dom should start and pull Clark off the bench. Move Nneke to a 3. Nneke is draining the 3 at a pretty high Clip. Takes some pressure off Ezi guarding bigs and getting into foul trouble.
I do hope that over time, they occasionally play lineups with Dom, Ezi, and Nneka. I feel either Nneka or Dom could play the 3. They need Ezi down low because she is still their best shot blocker.
I was watching Alysha Clark yesterday, and I'm still amazed at how fundamentally sound she is defensively. I really enjoyed watching her defend and how she often gets her hand right in the defender's face as they're trying to shoot. Sometimes they still make it, but her defense is how I would teach young players how to play. I was amazed and how she was defending the Aces' talented guards and also occasionally having to go against A'ja Wilson. She never fouled their shooters once, and she consistently had a hand in their faces.
Whether AC is starting or not, she is currently averaging around 25 MPG, and I think that's about perfect. They don't need to be playing her 32-35 MPG at this point in her career. It would be nice to see Dom play 15-20 MPG sooner rather than later.
I also agree that AC should probably be getting only 25 minutes per game or maybe even 20-25 minutes to let her operate at peak efficiency over a long 44 game season with less of a risk of her being injured. That also could allow Dom to get a few more minutes per game.
Image what having Ezi and Dom to start the game will do for shot blocking? I love AC but she just seems like the perfect 6th women off the bench..And I'm liking what Zia is bringing..
You make a good point that either Dom or Nneka could play the 3 with the other being the 4 and Ezi remaining as the 5. Dom made a lot of 3-pointers in practice and I believe in France also, and she should be given a chance to shoot the 3 in the W. No one's going to guard her out there. At least not until she starts making a bunch of them and even then they can't get in her face!!
I completely agree with this and I hope that they will try that lineup at some point. We are barely scratching the surface on what Dominique Malonga can provide for this team.
Once again, I think everyone needs to be patient with Malonga's development. Most WNBA rookies are 22 or 23 years old. She is 19. She is also playing for a team that won 25 (of 40) games last season and wants to compete for a WNBA Championship this season with a roster that has two former All-Stars who are post players (one a former league MVP). On top of that, Li Yueru is probably the team's 2nd or 3rd best bench player behind Erica Wheeler (and probably Malonga), who also deserves some playing time too.
The team has played 7 games. If we are into game 20-25 and Malonga is still averaging less than 10 MPG (she's currently at 8.6 MPG), then I think it's fair for the fans to ask for more. But give her and the team time to develop, learn the coach's systems, learn her Storm teammates, and learn how to play in the WNBA. If all goes well, she should be on the team for the next 10+ years.
One thing I wanted to point out is an error in the transcription when you asked Coach Quinn about 3 wins in a row followed by 3 losses in a row and she was pointing out some positives that they could take from it, the transcript reads "again, normal victories ... " which made no sense. What Coach actually said was "again, no moral victories ... " which makes complete sense.
What's funny about that is when I read your comment, I thought, "No, I changed that" because I had remembered fixing that. But it turns out, it was quoted in TWO of her answers, and I missed the 2nd one. I also missed italicizing one of the quotes, which is something I like to do so that the quotes stand out. Those mistakes are bound to happen from time to time when I'm working on articles in the late, late AM hours.
Curious to hear your thoughts on the offense to this point from an X’s and O’s standpoint. I feel like having a more cohesive system beyond “Nneka and Skylar go to work” or relying on just Gabby when they’re missing would go a long way for us. Was a little concerning to see us not hitting our shots and making no adjustments to attack the zone. Makes it really easy to game plan against us if they know they can take away one element and not see any changes. Fortunate that we’re as strong as we are defensively but that isn’t a long term solution for the offense either.
The Storm run a variation of the 'Read and React' offense. It's a more complicated offense because it can be a free-for-all. It's complicated to learn, and probably with so many brand-new players (they only returned 4 of their 10 active), there can be a steep learning curve because a lot of it is playing off one another. The more you know your teammates, teammates' tendencies, etc., the better the offense can flow. If players aren't sure what to do, it can lead to confusion, or as you put it, "Nneka and Skylar go to work".
The 'Read and React' implements several elements. Motion offense, 5-out, 4-out and 1-in, pick-and-roll, etc.
I would love to take some time to watch and really analyze Seattle's offense more. That's difficult to do when I'm covering every single game and they play Friday, Sunday, Tuesday, etc. They have a few days off after this game, so I might be able to do some of that on Thursday or Friday.
You make some really good points, Sam. I'll be interested to hear or see Jeff's response.