The W Dozen, 2020 Week 3: Fever torching opponents but still getting burned
Two faces of Fever, flagrant violations, crazy coaches and more from around the WNBA this week
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1. Indiana Fever: Hot or not?
A few years ago, the Indiana Fever had a problem. The greatest player in the history of the WNBA, Tamika Catchings (yeah I said it - come at me, Taurasi fans), retired. Largely due to her, the franchise hadn't missed the playoffs for 12 consecutive seasons. When that happens, you don't get any high draft picks, and the cupboard can end up looking pretty bare. In the three years following Catchings's retirement Indiana won a total of 28 games, and as a result head coach Pokey Chatman found herself out of a job at the end of last season.
They hired Marianne Stanley to take over, a former head coach and successful assistant coming off a title win in Washington, but expectations remained fairly low. While teams across the league were making splashy moves, Indiana made very few player additions in the offseason and it looked like being yet another year of youth development. But were we underestimating them?
Maybe so. Eight games into the WNBA season, every reasonable statistical measure rates Indiana as one of the top-three offensive teams in the league. Despite both their starting point guard and highly-rated lottery pick rookie missing the opening weeks of the season due to positive Covid-19 tests, the inconsistent performance of last year's rookie phenom Teaira McCowan, and some injuries along the way, Indiana has been scoring at will. Stanley has them playing fluid, effective offense and it's been impressive.
All of this with a rookie at the helm. Well, a 'rookie'. 24 year-old Julie Allemand has been a pro for years, and some of us knew how good she was before she ever set foot in the US.
That was sent from Tenerife during the 2018 FIBA Women's World Cup, where Allemand and Emma Meesseman led Belgium to a fourth-place finish. The illness of Erica Wheeler and injury to Kathleen Doyle left Stanley with little option but to let Allemand play, but it's worked out very nicely for the Fever. She's run the offense smoothly, hit threes at an outstanding (although unsustainable) rate, and even come up with a couple of highlight-reel blocks:
Importantly, the Fever have managed to find a nice balance in their backcourt with Allemand and Kelsey Mitchell, who invariably wants the ball in her hands and likes to shoot. A lot. Also 24, Mitchell’s still improving, but knowing when to try to take over a game and when to keep the offense moving has sometimes been difficult for her to judge. So far this season, the balance has been better even though she's taking even more shots than ever. The looks for her and teammates like Allemand, Tiffany Mitchell and Candice Dupree have come within the flow of the offense, rather than everyone standing around and watching Kelsey try to come up with something.
The enigmatic element has come from McCowan, who's still finding her footing at the WNBA level. One moment she looks like an unstoppable force, Godzilla stomping over all who dare get in her way; the next she's Frankenstein's monster, still large and hard to stop, but barely in control of her own limbs or able to react and move when necessary. Her average numbers look decent, but mask wild fluctuation from game to game. She’s scored anywhere from one point to twenty this season and had anywhere from one to thirteen rebounds. Defensively, players are more often streaking right by her rather than seeing her block their way to the rim.
And defense is the issue in general for Indiana. The reason there hasn't been a raft of articles like this expounding on how well the Fever are playing is that where their offense has been great, their defense has been miserable. So they haven't won that many games. Even with a new head coach, the continuity on the roster ought to have helped their cohesion defensively, but it hasn't mattered. Where statistical measures may debate over whether Indiana are first, second or third offensively, they're prettymuchunanimous that they're last on defense (even including the Liberty). They're small and porous on the perimeter (K. Mitchell has always struggled defensively, and Allemand, to be kind, is still acclimating to the demands of WNBA defense); and have either been passive (if Dupree's playing) or slow (if McCowan is) in the middle. Defensively, Stanley still has a lot to work on.
But regardless, there's been progress! No one expected Indiana to explode like this offensively, and with Cox settling in, Natalie Achonwa returning from injury and Wheeler expected to join soon they’ll have extra tools to work with. It's still going to take a leap from someone like McCowan, Cox or Victoria Vivians for this team to become genuinely good, or even an actual contender, but they're at least heading in the right direction.
2. Liberty freed from our screens
Talking of teams that might be a little better than we thought they were - the New York Liberty. ESPN took the unusual step of rearranging their WNBA TV schedule in the last week, understandably replacing various Liberty games now that star attraction Sabrina Ionescu was unlikely to be participating. Given how they'd played in their opening games, and that the former Oregon star was no longer there to sell the product, it made sense. New York responded by producing far and away their best performances of the season in beating Washington for Walt Hopkins's first win as a head coach, and then narrowly losing a game they should have won against Las Vegas.
No one's expecting this to be a good team. Too much youth, too much talent sat at home, and the chasm from what we saw in the first few games to 'good' is far too wide. But at least their fans have been given a little hope. When Amanda Zahui B has her good days, and one or two of the rookies perform, they can compete. Even if they're mostly only doing it on League Pass.
3. First World Problems
Speaking of League Pass, let's step it up a little, WNBA. You do have fans outside the US, and we appreciate that all the games are available to us via League Pass even if viewers in America also have to shell out for ESPN, ESPN2, CBS Sports Net and NBA TV to see them all. But several games lately have glitched, sticking for the same thirty seconds of video however many times you hit refresh. And they've virtually always been ESPN/ESPN2 games. There are teenagers who could happily re-stream ESPN from their bedrooms without a glitch in sight. This shouldn't be that hard.
Also, if you're going to loop the same video in every single break, could it be more than three short items long? Even making significant use of the mute button, I think I can recite those opening day speeches from Layshia Clarendon and Breanna Stewart from memory, and there's only so much Sue and Dee GOATChat we can take.
4. Flagrantly Wrong
While I'm whining, this is a flagrant foul. I'm not even arguing, I'm just telling.
The whole point of flagrant fouls, and the reason they've been applied as they have in recent times, is to protect players. You dissuade dangerous play by punishing fouls like that with flagrants, thereby trying to take them out of the game. It's the same thing we've seen in soccer over the last 25 years or so. There are lots of tackles that you could make when I was growing up that you just can't make any more, purely because they have the potential to seriously injure your opponent. So 'tackles' like that have been punished with red cards in order to try to legislate them out of the game. Players have to think twice about what they're doing because of the potential consequences.
Basketball's version is less punitive, because unless there's an actual brawl it's damn hard to get a Flagrant 2 and be immediately ejected. But Flagrant 1s are called relatively frequently, especially when contact is made with players in midair who are unable to protect themselves. A different set of WNBA officials made that call only 24 hours earlier:
It's a pretty standard call, and the swipe down with the arm from Jazmine Jones in the first clip made it even easier. The refs blew the call.
Also, just for the record, 'making a play on the ball' is not a primary criteria for judging flagrants, however many times you hear announcers say it. The rules basically just say 'unnecessary' contact for Flagrant 1s, and 'unnecessary and excessive' contact for Flagrant 2s - which has always been a pretty pathetic rule, lacking in meaningful definition. But regardless, whether you were vaguely aiming for the ball doesn't matter if you clatter an opponent in the process.
5. Oh, Canada! And, um, Oh Chelsea!
Let's raise the mood. Jordin Canada can't shoot, but sometimes she can really pass:
Meanwhile, this looked like bad defense until you realised that all Lexie Brown did was think a thirty-foot cross-court one-handed dime right in Sydney Wiese's shooting pocket was unlikely. She forgot Chelsea Gray was on the ball.
6. It's Miller Time
In other entertaining WNBA events, watch (and listen to) the crazy lunatic that leaps up and starts yelling "Clear! Clear!" in this video:
That's Connecticut Sun head coach Curt Miller. On this occasion he was trying to help out his center Brionna Jones (it didn't work), but you'll frequently see him yelling his head off, jumping up and down, and/or wildly waving his arms around (always to instruct his own players what to do, not to try to put off opponents, honest). If a Sun game gets a little dull, watch him for a while instead. It's usually thoroughly entertaining.
Alongside broadcasters having to mumble apologies or quietly gloss over glaringly clear obscenities screamed by upset players, being able to hear and see Miller even more clearly than usual has been one of the more amusing positives of fanless WNBA games.
7. Are you verbally pleased with yourself?
While we're here, an example of one of those obscenities, and Ryan Ruocco crafting a beautiful description of Brittney Griner's reaction (Warning: brief audible adult language ahead).
"Did not seem verbally pleased with herself" is my new favourite description for someone who swears into the ether.
8. Bella Blocco
Remember when I said that comparing Bella Alarie to Elena Delle Donne was lazy? Well, sorry, but I'm going to do it here anyway. You see, Alarie hasn't exactly lit the WNBA up just yet, but one place where she has looked surprisingly good is on the defensive end. And she does it in a similar way to Delle Donne.
It took a while for people to work out how best to use Delle Donne on the defensive end of the floor at the pro level. Her early years in Chicago were essentially an exercise in hiding her as successfully as they could. But eventually she showed that she could be an effective defender in the paint. She's always been willing, but she's not super-athletic or quick, and doesn't have great defensive footwork. What she has always had is outstanding hand-eye coordination. It's a part of what makes her so skilled offensively, and it translates on the defensive end.
Alarie has it too, and it's already led to a bunch of stuff like this:
That play's literally designed to force the switch and get Alarie on Courtney Vandersloot, and all the rookie does is track the best point guard in the game and block her shot completely clean (or actually force a jump ball, due to the dumb US rule). Alarie's had a whole series of those plays, where opponents think they're going to score on her but she times her response perfectly to deny them. You don't always need to be huge or able to jump out of the gym if you can just make your play at the exact right instant.
9, 10 and 11. Lineup Minutiae
You know you love the tiny details. Why else would you be here?
Staying in Dallas, Brian Agler is trying some stuff. He's been mixing and matching in the frontcourt from the start, but the changes and the moves have become a little more significant. Both true point guards, Moriah Jefferson and Tyasha Harris, are now coming off the bench, allowing Allisha Gray to start and Arike Ogunbowale to handle the ball even more than she already was. Meanwhile, Astou Ndour was benched entirely for two games (no injury has been reported). Agler's in an awkward situation because he has a very young roster and a surfeit of decent-to-good players, without many great ones. Too many players need development minutes, and it's hard to choose. In an ideal world they'd trade three or four of those players for one star, but they could be waiting quite a while until a deal like that presents itself.
Unsurprisingly for a team that started 0-5, Curt Miller's been trying some things in Connecticut too. Bria Holmes lost her starting spot to Natisha Hiedeman, who then lost it to Kaila Charles. Holmes hadn't produced much, but the most important effect seemed to be that it woke up Jasmine Thomas, who got to play off the ball a little more and rediscover some offense. Miller's finally going a little further down his bench in search of support for his core and finding them a few extra minutes of much needed rest. Also, when the vets on your bench have had years to prove that they're not going to offer much, you might as well see what youngsters like Charles and Beatrice Mompremier can produce.
Injuries continue to force some interesting lineup contortions across the league. Bridget Carleton got a chance to start for Minnesota when Sylvia Fowles was out, and was very effective against both New York and Los Angeles. Shatori Walker-Kimbrough started for Phoenix with Taurasi out, allowing Bria Hartley to continue coming off the bench and maintain her push for Sixth Woman of the Year. Chicago continues to start a frontcourt of Kahleah Copper, Azurá Stevens and Cheyenne Parker, which would've seemed unlikely back before the season began. It's not entirely clear why they continue to bring a half-fit Diamond DeShields off the bench to play limited and usually ineffectual minutes, rather than shutting her down for a couple of weeks to see if she can climb closer to full fitness.
12. Clark’s Corner
New regular feature alert! In case you haven’t noticed yet, I have a great deal of affection and admiration for Alysha Clark. As a fairly unathletic 5-6 white dude, I wasn’t jumping over anyone as a kid playing basketball. Which means if you want to play and be worth a damn on the court, you better do at least one of two things, ideally both: a) Work harder than everybody else, or b) play smarter than everybody else. And when you had to live that, you develop an undying love for players like Clark that do all the little things that help their teams win. Yes, you can marvel at the gifts of the superstars, but give me a deluxe role player who makes all the vital plays every day of the week.
So here we have Clark’s Corner. Alysha herself may not feature every week, but it’s named in her honour as a place to recognise all the extra plays made by those crucial players who don’t always get talked about by the fans or the broadcasters. Of course, Clark has to be the focus in the first week.
In this one, Clark boxes out a center for an offensive board, kicks the ball back out to her point guard, then resituates herself to nail the three from the corner. Seconds later she’s guarding that center at the other end, grabbing an opportunistic steal, and making a perfect lead pass that should’ve been converted for an easy two.
Here, with 45 seconds left in a tight game, Clark puts the effort in to chase down and (semi-illegally) force a crucial turnover from Candace Parker. Seconds later, she sees and executes the inbounds pass to Ezi Magbegor for a game-sealing layup.
It’s all about the little things.
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The W Dozen, 2020 Week 3: Fever torching opponents but still getting burned
Great stuff, Richard. Alysha Clark is a gem.