It is Time to Trade Ticha Penichiero.....

[BJax24]

.....if DeMya Walker is out for the season. I sat at the game last night and at that time I did not know the extent of Demya's injury. But once again the Monarchs struggled mightly to score the basketball. I mean that is the objective of the game isn't it.

Now I am not saying that this is Ticha's fault, because she is what she is. But with a starting lineup of : Yo, Powell, Brunson, Ticha and Newton, you only have two legitimate scorers on the floor in Yo and Powell. You have no low post threat on your team outside of Yolanda Griffith. We can talk about Powell or Brunson or anybody else to step up. I don't think the Monarchs have time to wait and hope.

THEY NEED TO WIN RIGHT NOW!!! We do not know how long we have one of the greatest players in the history of women's basketball in Yo Griffith. This team does not have time to wait. The organization has to take the attitude of this year or never, and right now without Walker they have lost a ton of scoring, a ton of leadership and energy. All the pressure right now is on Griffith and everybody else around her is either too young, too inexperienced or offensively incapable of sharing the burden.

My suggestion is to:

1. Trade Ticha, while she has some value for a veteran low post player if one is available(Maybe Tangela is available on such a bad Charlotte team ) with "some" offensive skills.

2. Insert Haynie into the lineup. She is not Ticha in some ways (defense, ball handling and veteran presence) but she can do the job. Other than Sue Bird, Lindsay Whalen and maybe Nikki Teasley, none of the other contending team's PG scare me to death.

3. Lawson can backup both Haynie and Newton.

After what I have seen the last two nights:
42-119 FG's 35.3 % FG's
6-22 from 3 (27 percent)
only 10 points outside of the paint against New York

You are not going to be successful in the post season with that kind of production, plus their defense in the paint (the bread and butter) on the last two games have been pourous at best. It is time to shake it up, before the season gets away and we are looking what could have been.

 

[Luv13fan]

WOW...

I am not quite ready to throw the Baby out with the bath water, but that is a major statement.

Lets assume that a team even wants her?
Who could afford her salary.
Who would take her. Minny??? They need a veteran Pt guard. Everone else in the West has a good point guard.

New York may take her, but again the cost may be an issue. Unless to simply trade her for a Draft pick or 2, she won't net a reasonable trade.

In the end Ticha is most valuable right where she is. Here in Sac.

And I do believe this team needs a major shake-up. How about the coaching staff get off their butts and works on some offensive drills. Catch and shoot drills. Dribble pull up drills, any shooting drills.

If this team decided to shoot at all they would be dangerous. It is not about ability, it is about willingness.

Btw I believe Brunson had a very solid game. 8 rebounds in limited minutes is outstanding. We are better off in the post than most people think.

 

[Purple Reign]

I have always believed that defense is about effort and desire and offense is about skill and talent. The effort and the desire is there on defense. But the question is can the Monarchs afford to wait for everybody's shot to come around. How long can you wait? If I am reading correctly, BJax24 is saying that the offensive willingness may be there, but the offensive skills are not. And if they are not there, what do you do? Either:

Go with the staus Quo and hope for the best. Put more responsibility upon players that may not be capable of beng up to the task or you make some changes. It is a matter of being proactive or reactive. I vote for reactive, make a change if you can!!

 

[RDub21]

I was watching the DET/SEA game and I was actually thinking along the same lines as BJax. We went from having the best post rotation in the league to one that is going to get beat game after game without DeMya on the floor. I was thinking with Detroit struggling, we could trade Haynie or Ticha for one of their post players. Riley is posting up below average numbers this season. They also have Kara Braxton who is an offensively minded post player. Minny could use a point guard, but I'd only trade for Ohlde or Hayden, neither of which I think are available. Charlotte is an interesting option again. Staley's career is about done, so maybe move Ticha or Haynie there for Sutton Brown or Teana Miller + draft pick??

 

[Still JD]

I was thinking that after being utterly humiliated by Houston for the majority of the last game, the Monarchs would come out with intensity and prove a point, especially at home. I can't remember the last time I was more depressed after a Monarchs game. I'm still upset today. It's bad enough losing DeMya, but there is no excuse for 20 pts in the firsst half, and what I think was 0-10 shooting to start the game. There was one time our FG% was 9. And I swear every Monarch split her free throws.

I'm not going to defend Ticha's offense, but I think we can agree that no one considers her our offensive weapon. With DeMya out, Brunson can fill the rebound gap, but not the scoring gap. And Olympic should be available next week off the IR (assuming she's not really injured) for some size when needed. The scoring needs to come from the #2 and #3, especially against a zone defense. For offense, I would start Lawson over Newton and if Powell doesn't start producing a little more consistly, then FeiFei might get a chance to start. It's like no one wants to shoot. There's a difference between moving the ball around to look for an open shot, and moving the ball around like "hot potato". There was a point where I hoped they would grab Ruthie out of the stands and put her on the floor. At least she never shyed away from taking a shot.

I'll be very interested to see how this team reacts to this challenge tomorrow night against a very good team. They can all step up, or they can spend their off-season thinking about their squandered opportunity.

 

[MamaBristow]

Not that I would ever be okay with trading Ticha, but I don't see how that would be a good move anyway. In my opinion, both PGs have looked pretty lackluster the past two games. Yeah, Haynie keyed the rush at the end, but it was garbage time. The rest of the game, when it actually mattered, everybody looked bad. The Monarchs shot the ball horribly, they made bad decisions, their free throws sucked.

But Ticha has been stellar this season. Her shot has been off for 2 games in a row now, but outside of that she has looked pretty good almost all season. The team needs to focus on patience and spacing right now. They are rushing shots and they can't even hit the easy ones. The Monarchs had plenty of chances to get in the game last night. NOBODY could convert. Not even our so-called shooters. How bad of a night is it when the only player NOT to miss a FT is Maiga?! I could NOT believe it.

DeMya being out is not the problem right now. The problem has been growing the last couple of games. It's the deviation from the defense that got them to first, the colder than COLD shooting, missing free throws, and careless turnovers. This applies to everybody. Everybody has been guilty of these things. I think the shooting is becoming mental more than anything. None of the shots even look in rythm anymore. They always seem to be in panic-mode.

In my opinion the need an internal shake-up, maybe a small change will help. Put K-Law back into the starting lineup. Maybe starting Buescher? I don't know. Change. Scoring. That is what the team needs. No ego. Powell needs to look for her shot more, and somebody needs to start rebounding if they are going to continue to miss every shot. Oh, and a little quality practice time with the free throws might help.

 

[Purple Reign]

I guess the only way I would be OK with trading Ticha is to get another player to take the pressure off of Yo in the low post. I would not be trading her just to be trading her or because she is a liability. She is the only tradable player we have that can get value in return and not leave a gaping hole in the lineup. Haynie is more than capable in leading this team.

Although I just read that Walker is only out until the end of the regular season. If that is the case, maybe the team can get by.

 

[Luv13fan]

My only issue with Ticha is that she set a tone for the offense. If she comes out aggressive than everyone else can come out and be aggressive.

As for the rebounding, If the shooters look to shoot in shooting situations, it allows the post players to ge in rebounding position. Lately the wings have been looking to dump the ball inside. So the post are not in a position to rebound.

As for Powell... I believe in her ability to create. She gets to the rim when she drives. She just needs to look to score. She should trail Ticha coming down the floor for a spot up jumper.

Either way I put this on the coaching staff because shooting is a skill they don't work on in practice. And it is increasingly evident. The rest of the league looks like they are in mid season form and we don't.

As for the shooting skills, when the season began this team was hitting jumpers. Bekkah had a very nice shot coming into camp. So did Maiga. So now their shooting has deteriated. Why???

IMHO it is the attention to details. My kids have a shooting drill they do before and after practice. Takes 10 minutes. It reminds your hand what the proper shooting form is. Shooting is about practice. You don't have to be great, but you should be proffiecent.

If this team was simply proffiecent, they could dominate. And I believe that this team can be. Including Ticha...

However... Tomorrow game is the telling game. If something doesn't get better tomorrow we can start to panic.

 

[Purple Reign]

I am very anxious to see what the ladies have tonight. At the same time I will be scouting the Shock to see if any of their bigs would fit the team.

 

[GeorgeofSacramento]

Interesting sidenote tonight. Detroit was all high on drafting their local hero, Kristin Haynie, before the Monarchs snatched her up. I wonder if they won't play quite such a physical a game when she's in the lineup. One can hope.

Let's see how the team rebounds tonight.

 

[Luv13fan]

I guess we can put the trade talk to rest this week huh???

 

[Purple Reign]

Um... Maybe for one week . My thing has always been to better the team. Never, ever to trade her because she is a liability. She is a treemendous asset. I just feel that the team has needs in other areas, and at the same time can get along at the point guard. But if Brunson and Powell can give even 75 percent of what they did on last night, the team will be fine.

 

[slugking50]

Trading Ticha?? PLEASE NOOOO!!!!!!!!!<<< Homer talking



Theres no reason to trade her! Shes an important cog and will be needed down the stretch.

 

[6th]

Trading Ticha?? PLEASE NOOOO!!!!!!!!!<<< Homer talking



Theres no reason to trade her! Shes an important cog and will be needed down the stretch.

I think her veteran savvy and her playmaking skills will be invaluable down the stretch.

Another thing is her timing with Yo. People know that Yo is a great player, but they forget that she and Ticha have been playing together here and overseas for awhile now. They really are a tandem.