The Mystics fall into a very depressing category: An aging team that is already mediocre.
You can argue that if Shakira Austin is healthy, the Mystics might be in the Finals, but if Austin is playing, Myisha Hines-Allen probably isn't -- and she played very well. And this team will likely never be healthy, given its roster and age.
Run it back? Who's going to be better next year than they were this year? Austin, maybe. And then ...
You could hope for EDD to have one last great season, Natasha Cloud to shoot well for an entire summer and everyone else to be their best selves, but you'd have to show me the wizard and the magic wand first.
Blow it up? The No. 6 pick will be someone who has a chance to be a starter but consider that Jasmine Dickey and Michaela Onyenwere came from that spot. The free agent market just keeps you being old.
The synopsis is more accurate than the comment. This team is FAR from being "mediocre." Without their young center, this team took superteam New York to overtime. That is the opposite of "mediocre." If Shakira plays, then Myisha Hines-Allen shares time at power forward with EDD. EDD is more effective when she plays fewer minutes. That puts Shakira on JJ and Myisha or EDD on Breanna.
Unfortunately for everyone but especially for Elena, injuries and illness have taken their toll and she is no longer an elite player. A very good player, certainly but not a supermax player. Tasha's worth is as much intangible as it is stats based. She and Slim held this team together with bailing wire and scotch tape as the only two starters on the floor most of the season and the two starters back on the floor not playing at pre-injury level. Tasha should be cored and supermaxed. EDD should consider herself well compensated for playing just over 50 games in 4 years while earning a $million$.
Queen has acknowledged what I thought was happening - that she was not close to 100% since her mid season ankle injury. Prior to that, she was doing a fine job of giving Shakira breathers.
All good points. Depends on whether you believe the glass is half full ...
Stats are pretty clear that athletes peak at age 27. Only Shakira Austin will be younger than 27 next year, which means the odds of players like Brittany Sykes and Ariel Atkins declining in productivity are greater than the odds of them improving. Of course they could all defy the stats, and get even better.
Natasha Cloud will be 32 and Sykes will be 30. EDD is, sadly, pretty much done (loved her in her prime).
Equally sadly, you are what your record is, and Washington was 19-21 (19-23 if you count the playoffs). Hard to spin that as much more than mediocre.
First of all i am a big mystics fan, i like the moves they have made thus far and yes they need a face lift.
starting with the draft they have to get this right. I am dreaming of Cordso from South Carolina, but she may be gone with the uconn guard not coming out R. Jackson would be my next pick and some how get maddy westbelt i would be satisfied, height is what cant be taught and thats what i am after.
Absolutely the team needs to add some younger players - especially with height. 6'2 should never guard 6'6 in the playoffs. But referring to this team as "mediocre" when the team that was put together was decimated by injury is not fair. They took a superteam to overtime in the playoffs, even while still hobbled by injury. EDD & Atkins were not the players they were early in the season. Queen was never the same (not as mobile) after her injury. Obviously, the tallest player - and starting center - Shakira was not on the floor. That's an "injury riddled" team, not a "mediocre" team.
Injuries are part of the game, for sure, but sometimes they are so extreme, they become the thing that keeps a decent team from being able to achieve.
Yes, it is sad that EDD has not been able to return to being the superstar, two time MVP, she was. Fortunately she's been well compensated for her past performance despite no longer being able to play at the level the team needed. The Mystics have a ring and the Liberty are still trying.
The Mystics fall into a very depressing category: An aging team that is already mediocre.
You can argue that if Shakira Austin is healthy, the Mystics might be in the Finals, but if Austin is playing, Myisha Hines-Allen probably isn't -- and she played very well. And this team will likely never be healthy, given its roster and age.
Run it back? Who's going to be better next year than they were this year? Austin, maybe. And then ...
You could hope for EDD to have one last great season, Natasha Cloud to shoot well for an entire summer and everyone else to be their best selves, but you'd have to show me the wizard and the magic wand first.
Blow it up? The No. 6 pick will be someone who has a chance to be a starter but consider that Jasmine Dickey and Michaela Onyenwere came from that spot. The free agent market just keeps you being old.
This is not a pretty picture.
The synopsis is more accurate than the comment. This team is FAR from being "mediocre." Without their young center, this team took superteam New York to overtime. That is the opposite of "mediocre." If Shakira plays, then Myisha Hines-Allen shares time at power forward with EDD. EDD is more effective when she plays fewer minutes. That puts Shakira on JJ and Myisha or EDD on Breanna.
Unfortunately for everyone but especially for Elena, injuries and illness have taken their toll and she is no longer an elite player. A very good player, certainly but not a supermax player. Tasha's worth is as much intangible as it is stats based. She and Slim held this team together with bailing wire and scotch tape as the only two starters on the floor most of the season and the two starters back on the floor not playing at pre-injury level. Tasha should be cored and supermaxed. EDD should consider herself well compensated for playing just over 50 games in 4 years while earning a $million$.
Queen has acknowledged what I thought was happening - that she was not close to 100% since her mid season ankle injury. Prior to that, she was doing a fine job of giving Shakira breathers.
All good points. Depends on whether you believe the glass is half full ...
Stats are pretty clear that athletes peak at age 27. Only Shakira Austin will be younger than 27 next year, which means the odds of players like Brittany Sykes and Ariel Atkins declining in productivity are greater than the odds of them improving. Of course they could all defy the stats, and get even better.
Natasha Cloud will be 32 and Sykes will be 30. EDD is, sadly, pretty much done (loved her in her prime).
Equally sadly, you are what your record is, and Washington was 19-21 (19-23 if you count the playoffs). Hard to spin that as much more than mediocre.
First of all i am a big mystics fan, i like the moves they have made thus far and yes they need a face lift.
starting with the draft they have to get this right. I am dreaming of Cordso from South Carolina, but she may be gone with the uconn guard not coming out R. Jackson would be my next pick and some how get maddy westbelt i would be satisfied, height is what cant be taught and thats what i am after.
Absolutely the team needs to add some younger players - especially with height. 6'2 should never guard 6'6 in the playoffs. But referring to this team as "mediocre" when the team that was put together was decimated by injury is not fair. They took a superteam to overtime in the playoffs, even while still hobbled by injury. EDD & Atkins were not the players they were early in the season. Queen was never the same (not as mobile) after her injury. Obviously, the tallest player - and starting center - Shakira was not on the floor. That's an "injury riddled" team, not a "mediocre" team.
Injuries are part of the game, for sure, but sometimes they are so extreme, they become the thing that keeps a decent team from being able to achieve.
Yes, it is sad that EDD has not been able to return to being the superstar, two time MVP, she was. Fortunately she's been well compensated for her past performance despite no longer being able to play at the level the team needed. The Mystics have a ring and the Liberty are still trying.