I feel like you can tangibly see flaujae improving. She still makes a few "what're you doing?" plays, but her processing and shot selection have looked much better, and she has been more efficient as a result
For the life of me I don’t understand why the Storm are such a crappy rebounding team. With their overall height and wingspan they ought to dominate the boards. Yet they don’t. So is that crappy coaching? Or are the players just unwilling to do what it takes? I did note that one of the league’s highest paid players pulled down one (1) rebound in 18 ½ minutes of playing time. Where is the effort? I’m also starting to to suspect that the coaches have designed an offensive built around the 3-pt line when we have sub-caliber shooters. This off-season should be wild.
I think two things can be true here. Last night, the Storm were badly out-rebounded, especially in the first half. They did a poor job of boxing out and Toronto was out-hustling them through the first 20 minutes. With that said, Seattle actually hasn't been a bad rebounding team this year. From my overall viewpoint, I haven't felt they are constantly getting killed on the board game after game. The stats back up my overall feelings on the rebounding. The Storm are actually 6th-best in the WNBA and average 33.8 RPG. They're better than 9 other teams including Las Vegas, Indiana, and Golden State. The Portland Fire are the worst rebounding team in the league at 30.3 RPG.
Ezi has to be better. Only one rebound in 22 minutes isn't going to cut it. Especially when Jade had 6 rebounds in the game! I do wonder if Magbegor's rebounding is lower than expected because if she is the primary rim protector, it is difficult to go up to block the shot, and then be in position to rebound the ball. The rebounding responsibility has to fall on someone else. Maybe that's why Jade had so many. That's definitely something I would consider as a reason why Ezi's rebounding isn't as good, but it should be better than one.
In last night's game, the team needed to do a better job of boxing out. Sometimes, they were also over-helping on defense which put them out of position for the rebounds. If two players go to stop a Toronto player, that leaves an opening for a Tempo player that isn't being guarded to get the offensive rebound, and that is what I saw last night.
Those are good points Jeff. However, the rebounding stats that you mention include uncontested rebounds which I would call “right place - right time” rebounds. A couple of Jade’s fell into that category last night where she was standing ten feet away and the ball essentially “found” her. I would maintain that the Storm are underperforming in the contested rebound category - if there actually was one. I would also say the Storm (with the exception of Jade, Flau’jae and Zia) are abysmal in the loose ball category.
Yes, I definitely noticed that our highest paid player only pulled off one rebound and didn't score many baskets either. Awa, who has been consigned to the bench, scored better. Ezi didn't live up to our expectations last year either. If we're going to take heed of this, we'd better do it before her stock goes down. Sad. I love Ezi. Why did we keep her and not Gabby, for example, if our goal was to build a new team?
I don't understand why we don't shoot better. Surely this is emphasized in practice session. Dom is one of our better scorers but not in terms of the no. of times she shoots.
Yes, to Christopher's point, a lot of quality free agents changed teams last season. Well, we had several quality free agents (Nneka, Gabby, Sky and maybe Sykes) that we dismissed.
I like Hiedeman, but I admit she's not the quality point guard we need. However she brings a lot of energy to the team and, for a while, she was the only one putting up numbers.
Talisa Rhea did pull off a good trade to get us Fla Jae.
I appreciate and share your perspective, Norm! We need to part ways with Ezi (trade her for players, draft picks, whatever). Let her thrive elsewhere.
While I've heard some people talk about coaching, I think that Talisa Rhea is not nearly receiving the attention/scrutiny that she deserves. A lot of quality Free Agents did change teams last season (Natasha Howard, Jess Shepherd, Satou Sabally, Odyssey Sims, Alanna Smith), and the best that we could get is Natisha Hideman. She hasn't been a flop, of course, but she has been inconsistent and unable to take on the leadership that a PG in this WNBA increasingly demands. These elements have largely contributed to the horrendous season. If this indeed a rebuild, it is off to a terrible beginning even as rebuilds go.
So yes, Norm, on principle it should be a wild offseason with significant changes. Just my thoughts!
I feel like you can tangibly see flaujae improving. She still makes a few "what're you doing?" plays, but her processing and shot selection have looked much better, and she has been more efficient as a result
For the life of me I don’t understand why the Storm are such a crappy rebounding team. With their overall height and wingspan they ought to dominate the boards. Yet they don’t. So is that crappy coaching? Or are the players just unwilling to do what it takes? I did note that one of the league’s highest paid players pulled down one (1) rebound in 18 ½ minutes of playing time. Where is the effort? I’m also starting to to suspect that the coaches have designed an offensive built around the 3-pt line when we have sub-caliber shooters. This off-season should be wild.
I think two things can be true here. Last night, the Storm were badly out-rebounded, especially in the first half. They did a poor job of boxing out and Toronto was out-hustling them through the first 20 minutes. With that said, Seattle actually hasn't been a bad rebounding team this year. From my overall viewpoint, I haven't felt they are constantly getting killed on the board game after game. The stats back up my overall feelings on the rebounding. The Storm are actually 6th-best in the WNBA and average 33.8 RPG. They're better than 9 other teams including Las Vegas, Indiana, and Golden State. The Portland Fire are the worst rebounding team in the league at 30.3 RPG.
Ezi has to be better. Only one rebound in 22 minutes isn't going to cut it. Especially when Jade had 6 rebounds in the game! I do wonder if Magbegor's rebounding is lower than expected because if she is the primary rim protector, it is difficult to go up to block the shot, and then be in position to rebound the ball. The rebounding responsibility has to fall on someone else. Maybe that's why Jade had so many. That's definitely something I would consider as a reason why Ezi's rebounding isn't as good, but it should be better than one.
In last night's game, the team needed to do a better job of boxing out. Sometimes, they were also over-helping on defense which put them out of position for the rebounds. If two players go to stop a Toronto player, that leaves an opening for a Tempo player that isn't being guarded to get the offensive rebound, and that is what I saw last night.
Those are good points Jeff. However, the rebounding stats that you mention include uncontested rebounds which I would call “right place - right time” rebounds. A couple of Jade’s fell into that category last night where she was standing ten feet away and the ball essentially “found” her. I would maintain that the Storm are underperforming in the contested rebound category - if there actually was one. I would also say the Storm (with the exception of Jade, Flau’jae and Zia) are abysmal in the loose ball category.
Yes, I definitely noticed that our highest paid player only pulled off one rebound and didn't score many baskets either. Awa, who has been consigned to the bench, scored better. Ezi didn't live up to our expectations last year either. If we're going to take heed of this, we'd better do it before her stock goes down. Sad. I love Ezi. Why did we keep her and not Gabby, for example, if our goal was to build a new team?
I don't understand why we don't shoot better. Surely this is emphasized in practice session. Dom is one of our better scorers but not in terms of the no. of times she shoots.
Yes, to Christopher's point, a lot of quality free agents changed teams last season. Well, we had several quality free agents (Nneka, Gabby, Sky and maybe Sykes) that we dismissed.
I like Hiedeman, but I admit she's not the quality point guard we need. However she brings a lot of energy to the team and, for a while, she was the only one putting up numbers.
Talisa Rhea did pull off a good trade to get us Fla Jae.
I appreciate and share your perspective, Norm! We need to part ways with Ezi (trade her for players, draft picks, whatever). Let her thrive elsewhere.
While I've heard some people talk about coaching, I think that Talisa Rhea is not nearly receiving the attention/scrutiny that she deserves. A lot of quality Free Agents did change teams last season (Natasha Howard, Jess Shepherd, Satou Sabally, Odyssey Sims, Alanna Smith), and the best that we could get is Natisha Hideman. She hasn't been a flop, of course, but she has been inconsistent and unable to take on the leadership that a PG in this WNBA increasingly demands. These elements have largely contributed to the horrendous season. If this indeed a rebuild, it is off to a terrible beginning even as rebuilds go.
So yes, Norm, on principle it should be a wild offseason with significant changes. Just my thoughts!