The rumor mill online is saying Nneka and Sky are moving on from Seattle. That, to me, has also been reflected in who the Storm have been highlighting in the off-season.
I’m not too surprised they cored Ezi. I’m sure Sandy was interested. I hope Raman uses Ezi offensively because I feel like she was put in a “defensive player” box especially this last year.
I think we’re prioritizing Gabby & Ezi—-as we should IMO. I’m guessing they will put an offer out to EW because she seemed to be well liked and was a spark plug. I have no read on Sykes and her tenure with the Storm as it was all kind of messy at the end and she might want nothing to do with it.
We’ll probably offer something to KLS. But I’d like to see us take a look at Marine and or Alanna Smith…excellent players that would likely not be max?
To your point, I would love to see Jackie Young…but I wonder if getting an earful from Jewell would impact her opinion of us…or is that gone with the coaching shift?
I always found it funny when people questioned me when I said the team needed to put the core tag on Ezi. By doing so, it accomplishes multiple things. It now keeps Ezi here for at least one more season, possibly more than one more season. She is a strong replacement if the team is going younger and doesn't bring Nneka back. That allows the Storm to focus their #3 overall pick on a guard or wing. And if Magbegor does want a change in scenery, it now means the Storm will get something in return. Maybe it's a player, maybe it's a first-round draft pick, but either way, it's better than letting her leave for absolutely nothing.
I agree on Katie Lou Samuelson. I think the team tries to bring her back if she's ready to play. If there is any chance the Storm can recruit Jackie Young, they have to do it. We don't really know what the team, front office, or new Coach Sonia Raman wants. Fortunately, it won't be long before we know!
As one of the loudest people saying they should not core Ezi, I want to point out in my defense that I was also saying/expecting they would bring back Nneka and Sky. In that scenario they couldn't afford Ezi. In the rebuild scenario I 100% agree we want Ezi if she'll have us (and want to extract trade value if she doesn't). The "risk" of her accepting the supermax is not really a risk in the rebuild scenario because our Cap has room to pay her.
Thanks! I was starting to type out the same thing. I saw your comment-- saved me the effort :) It feels like coring Ezi is a likely signal that they're moving on from Nneka and Sky - of course it could be a sign in trade. But I still think they're moving on. If I'm a new coach with a solid group of exemplary/promising young players that's where I'm putting my focus.
More money for individual players; same old cap problems for teams. I’m mostly excited about the developmental spots. It was nice that the WNBA finally took my free advice 🤣. That should mitigate some of the disgrace of hardship contract churn.
Preaching to the choir! I've been begging the WNBA to have development spots or allow young players out of college to join the practice squad, since they hire male practice players. Teams can now actually develop their 2nd and 3rd round draft picks.
I’ll be very interested to see how the Storm (and other teams) use the developmental slots. Will they draft for those spots? Will they sign young players who couldn’t stick in the league in previous years, but were fairly well-regarded? It’ll be great to fill injury replacements with players who know teams’ systems and are actually playable.
Given how many rookies we will have on our roster, I think we could get away with Super-maxing both Gabby and Ezi next year, though I agree with you about the general case. I bet teams wind up with something like 3 millionaires, but 0-1 of them on the full super-max. I don't know who our 3rd millionaire would be so 2 super-maxes and then no one else over 500k-700k would still leave plenty of room for flexibility.
I don't think you should lump in Wheeler with Nneka and Sky. That is, we should move on from our expensive vets and pivot to a rebuild, but Wheeler still fits that version of the team just fine as a veteran presence and crowd favorite that will only cost us the minimum.
I suspect we even have enough money to splash around a bit in free agency, though strategically it seems like we would only want talent that is young/on our new timeline (which likely includes drafting in the lottery at least once).
EW might cost more than the minimum after the year she had last year. I would honestly expect her cost to be higher (not saying max). But I do agree that she could be a good veteran player, even if the overall vision of the team is to go younger without Nneka or Skylar.
Sure, if someone wants to pay her 500k+, let them. I'd be ok paying her like 400k (so slightly more than the vet min), but I suspect these cap rules are going to result in a very small middle class. I think there's going to be million dollar players and vet min players and not very many in between. Like you acknowledged, if she's near the min, she's a good fit even for the young-and-rebuilding version of the team. Also, did you know she played with Mack in China? Apparently the two of them combined to help a Chinese team earn promotion to the top division in the playoffs that just ended over there.
I did see that, and they got a nice payout, or so it seemed. I'm happy for them.
I am also fascinated by the new "middle class" with WNBA contracts. Is it a bunch of $1 million and $300K on teams? Or do some teams have multiple players around $500-750K?
The rumor mill online is saying Nneka and Sky are moving on from Seattle. That, to me, has also been reflected in who the Storm have been highlighting in the off-season.
I’m not too surprised they cored Ezi. I’m sure Sandy was interested. I hope Raman uses Ezi offensively because I feel like she was put in a “defensive player” box especially this last year.
I think we’re prioritizing Gabby & Ezi—-as we should IMO. I’m guessing they will put an offer out to EW because she seemed to be well liked and was a spark plug. I have no read on Sykes and her tenure with the Storm as it was all kind of messy at the end and she might want nothing to do with it.
We’ll probably offer something to KLS. But I’d like to see us take a look at Marine and or Alanna Smith…excellent players that would likely not be max?
To your point, I would love to see Jackie Young…but I wonder if getting an earful from Jewell would impact her opinion of us…or is that gone with the coaching shift?
I always found it funny when people questioned me when I said the team needed to put the core tag on Ezi. By doing so, it accomplishes multiple things. It now keeps Ezi here for at least one more season, possibly more than one more season. She is a strong replacement if the team is going younger and doesn't bring Nneka back. That allows the Storm to focus their #3 overall pick on a guard or wing. And if Magbegor does want a change in scenery, it now means the Storm will get something in return. Maybe it's a player, maybe it's a first-round draft pick, but either way, it's better than letting her leave for absolutely nothing.
I agree on Katie Lou Samuelson. I think the team tries to bring her back if she's ready to play. If there is any chance the Storm can recruit Jackie Young, they have to do it. We don't really know what the team, front office, or new Coach Sonia Raman wants. Fortunately, it won't be long before we know!
As one of the loudest people saying they should not core Ezi, I want to point out in my defense that I was also saying/expecting they would bring back Nneka and Sky. In that scenario they couldn't afford Ezi. In the rebuild scenario I 100% agree we want Ezi if she'll have us (and want to extract trade value if she doesn't). The "risk" of her accepting the supermax is not really a risk in the rebuild scenario because our Cap has room to pay her.
Thanks! I was starting to type out the same thing. I saw your comment-- saved me the effort :) It feels like coring Ezi is a likely signal that they're moving on from Nneka and Sky - of course it could be a sign in trade. But I still think they're moving on. If I'm a new coach with a solid group of exemplary/promising young players that's where I'm putting my focus.
More money for individual players; same old cap problems for teams. I’m mostly excited about the developmental spots. It was nice that the WNBA finally took my free advice 🤣. That should mitigate some of the disgrace of hardship contract churn.
Preaching to the choir! I've been begging the WNBA to have development spots or allow young players out of college to join the practice squad, since they hire male practice players. Teams can now actually develop their 2nd and 3rd round draft picks.
I’ll be very interested to see how the Storm (and other teams) use the developmental slots. Will they draft for those spots? Will they sign young players who couldn’t stick in the league in previous years, but were fairly well-regarded? It’ll be great to fill injury replacements with players who know teams’ systems and are actually playable.
I still say a team can only afford 1 supermax and 1 max. If you have 1 supermax and 2 maxes that's half the cap for 3 players.
A lot of players considered top-tier are not going to be in the supermax and max category any more.
Money-wise I'd go Supermax Ezi and Max Gabby.
Given how many rookies we will have on our roster, I think we could get away with Super-maxing both Gabby and Ezi next year, though I agree with you about the general case. I bet teams wind up with something like 3 millionaires, but 0-1 of them on the full super-max. I don't know who our 3rd millionaire would be so 2 super-maxes and then no one else over 500k-700k would still leave plenty of room for flexibility.
I don't think the developmental players count against the cap.
That is correct. But the team will probably need to save a little extra money for other options like they always do.
That’s my understanding, as well.
I don't think you should lump in Wheeler with Nneka and Sky. That is, we should move on from our expensive vets and pivot to a rebuild, but Wheeler still fits that version of the team just fine as a veteran presence and crowd favorite that will only cost us the minimum.
My 12-person roster now would be something like:
Dom
Ezi
Gabby
Jordan
Mack
#3 Pick
#14 Pick
#16 Pick or Free Agent Guard TBD
Wheeler
KLS
Lexie
Zia Cooke or Free Agent Guard TBD
I suspect we even have enough money to splash around a bit in free agency, though strategically it seems like we would only want talent that is young/on our new timeline (which likely includes drafting in the lottery at least once).
EW might cost more than the minimum after the year she had last year. I would honestly expect her cost to be higher (not saying max). But I do agree that she could be a good veteran player, even if the overall vision of the team is to go younger without Nneka or Skylar.
Sure, if someone wants to pay her 500k+, let them. I'd be ok paying her like 400k (so slightly more than the vet min), but I suspect these cap rules are going to result in a very small middle class. I think there's going to be million dollar players and vet min players and not very many in between. Like you acknowledged, if she's near the min, she's a good fit even for the young-and-rebuilding version of the team. Also, did you know she played with Mack in China? Apparently the two of them combined to help a Chinese team earn promotion to the top division in the playoffs that just ended over there.
I did see that, and they got a nice payout, or so it seemed. I'm happy for them.
I am also fascinated by the new "middle class" with WNBA contracts. Is it a bunch of $1 million and $300K on teams? Or do some teams have multiple players around $500-750K?