Dallas Wings Check-In: Teaira McCowan’s Return
With Teaira McCowan back, the Wings are playing competitive basketball.
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When Teaira McCowan was overseas for EuroBasket, it was obvious how much the Wings missed their center.
Two weeks ago, when I last wrote about the Wings, I attempted to diagnose the problems with the team, as Dallas had just lost three straight games. There were problems on both ends, especially on defense, and I had this to say about what the team needed to turn things around:
Dallas has two big problems. One is that the lack of depth has hurt them on both ends, but particularly on defense. The other is that they don’t have the ability to withstand a bad game from Ogunbowale and Sabally.
Both of those have the same solution, and it’s called “getting healthy.” Teaira McCowan will be back after EuroBasket, and the gravity she creates inside should make for easier attempts for the rest of the Wings players. It’s a small sample, but per PBP Stats, the Wings had a +53.68 net rating in the 16 minutes she’s played this season. Of course, a better sample would be last year’s numbers—per WNBA.com, the Wings had a +5.9 net rating last year with McCowan on the floor and a -3.3 net rating with her off the floor. Different teammates and all that in 2023 so it’s also not a perfect indicator of her importance this season, but all signs point to her making a pretty significant impact.
Well, McCowan happened to return to the floor hours after I published that. The Wings are 2-2 since getting McCowan back into the lineup. Defensively, Dallas allowed two teams to score 100-plus points in the three games before McCowan returned; in four games since, they’ve only allowed an average of 76 points. That’d be the best mark in the WNBA if extrapolated over a full season, though it’s worth noting that three of the four games were against the Sparks and Mercury, who are 10th and 12th in the WNBA in points per game, respectively.
Still, despite the relative weakness of their opponents, getting McCowan back into the fold has undoubtedly been good for the Wings. The sample size is still small, but McCowan’s up to 138 minutes played this year and the Wings have a defensive rating of 85.09 in those 138 minutes per PBP Stats.
Per Her Hoop Stats, there have been 23 seasons in league history where a team had a defensive rating under 90. Eleven of those seasons came in the league’s first three years, which makes sense—with a new league and teams still learning to play together, offenses weren’t as effective as they are today, plus many of the top players were still in the ABL. In fact, all but one of the 23 seasons came in 2007 or earlier; the only time since that a team has had a defensive rating under 90 for a full year was in 2015, when the Liberty allowed 89.6 points per 100 possessions.
The Wings aren’t going to break that trend. There were too many non-McCowan minutes while she was out, and the team has a 105.8 defensive rating in the 502 minutes McCowan’s off the floor. The McCowan minutes are also misleading because you don’t get to play the Sparks and Mercury every night. Still, the stark difference between what this Wings defense has done with and without McCowan is notable.
Offensively, McCowan hasn’t made the same kind of difference, but she doesn’t really have to. The Wings rank fourth in the WNBA in points per game this season, fueled by the combination of Arike Ogunbowale and Satou Sabally. The offense has been 4.45 points per 100 possessions better with McCowan on the floor this season, so she has raised the ceiling on the offense, but the fact that Dallas was already doing well offensively without her means that her impact isn’t felt as strongly on that end.
As for “why” the Wings play better with McCowan on the floor, I think there’s a pretty easy explanation for that: McCowan’s a 6-foot-7 center who has led the WNBA in rebound percentage three times in her first four full seasons, plus is 10th among active players in career true shooting percentage.
The lineups that the Wings have used her in have also played to the team’s strengths. Being able to pair her with Natasha Howard and Sabally gives the Wings some really good defensive size, and the most-used lineup when McCowan’s been active has been those three plus Ogunbowale and Crystal Dangerfield, a lineup that’s averaged 12.3 minutes per game per the WNBA website. That lineup has had some issues offensively, but the 85.2 defensive rating from that unit is impressive. Among all lineups this season to play at least 50 minutes, that quintet has the third-best defensive rating. McCowan just really brings things together for the team.
Odyssey Sims has had an impact too
Teaira McCowan’s return isn’t the only thing that’s different for the Wings. Dallas recently waived Jasmine Dickey and Ashley Joens, opening up a place to sign Odyssey Sims to a rest-of-season contract. She’s previously spent part of June with the team via a hardship deal.
Sims, who has appeared in five games for the Wings this season, hasn’t particularly shined on the stat sheet, averaging 4.8 points and 1.4 rebounds per game so far. But one thing she has brought to the floor: passing. The veteran point guard has averaged 5.2 assists per game despite playing just 19.9 minutes per contest. Her 10.5 assists per 40 minutes rank second in the WNBA, behind only Courtney Vandersloot’s 11.1.
Point guard has been a pretty big concern all season for the Wings. Dangerfield’s given the team good minutes as the starter, but Veronica Burton’s shooting struggles have been an issue—the second-year guard has shot 25.5% from the floor this season. Sure, Sims has been a below-average shooter as well, but her veteran leadership has been key. It’s a small sample size, but in the 99 minutes that Sims has played this season, the Wings have a net rating of 13.01 per PBP Stats.
Post Aces game addendum
The Wings lost 89-82 to the Las Vegas Aces on Wednesday. They led 51-42 at the half, but Sabally missed the second half due to a non-COVID illness and the Aces were able to capitalize, coming back for the win. I wish I had more time to break that game down, but overall it was a strong showing from the Wings, who looked like a team capable of beating the W’s best squad.
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