(Non-Monarchs) Los Angeles Wins 2008 Draft Lottery

Purple Reign

Purple Reign

Starter
#1
#1
http://www.wnba.com/news/lottery_results_071024.html

Call me bitter, call me what you want, but how fair is it that a team as talented as LA wins the opportunity to draft "arguably" the best talent the game has seen in years. And I do not believe for a second that Parker is not coming out. SHE WILL PLAY WITH LLL in Hollywood.

This stinks!!!! I smell a fat rat. Not accusing the league of "New York Knickery" (those NBA history buffs know exactly what I am talking about), but in my view the Sparks tanked this season. During the second half of their last game, the LA GM (Toler I believe is her name) in an interview gave me the impression that the organization did not mind losing these games, and that all these teams beating them down better enjoy it now because "Candace......oops I mean the number one pick will place us over the top" (not verbatum, but in so many words).:mad:
 
Monty'sBiggestFan

Monty'sBiggestFan

Starter
#2
#2
Naaaaaw, not this league. ;)

This doesn't stink nearly as bad as a team that had more chance of being struck by lightning than winning the lottery last year winning the lottery.


With Houston drafting AFTER a new expansion team, that's freaking brilliant.
 
NothinButHoops

NothinButHoops

Starter
#5
#5
Well hell....damn Sparks. I guess if I had to find a positive angle, we get to see them 2 x a season not including playoffs & road trips.

For sure if they get Parker, I won't be sportin no Sparks jersey:cool:
 
StevenHW

StevenHW

Starter
#6
#6
As pissed off as some of you are (which is understandable) about the Sparks getting the #1 draft pick slot, I have to say that I am not suprised. Even if they got #2, they would've gotten a chance to draft either Candace Parker (assuming that she'll be leaving the Vols next year) or LSU senior Fowles.

I just hope the Sparks don't take Vicki Baugh three or four years from now!
 
U

uncommonclay

Bench
#7
#7
ah, fudge ...

Well, if CP3 goes to LA, and I think she will, the Monarchs mountain just got higher, and steeper, to climb ... Do, I think it was a fix? -- No, it's a lottery, wacky things can happen by chance alone ... As far as such a marquee player in LA being good for the league, hey I'm having a great time with the WNBA right now ... I don't need it to boost my appreciation, and I don't think any of the haters will change their minds either ... Still, I am a fan of the game, and I am looking forward to seeing CP3 play in the WNBA, I think she's phenomenal ... it certainly can't hurt the league's popularity overall ...
 
Purple Reign

Purple Reign

Starter
#8
#8
StevenHW said:
As pissed off as some of you are (which is understandable) about the Sparks getting the #1 draft pick slot, I have to say that I am not suprised. Even if they got #2, they would've gotten a chance to draft either Candace Parker (assuming that she'll be leaving the Vols next year) or LSU senior Fowles.

I just hope the Sparks don't take Vicki Baugh three or four years from now!
Click to expand...
My beef is not that they got the pick, that was expected. But how they got the pick is the issue. I feel that at some point, knowing the situation of the influx of talent coming in 2008, somebody down there decided that they were not going to compete in 2007. This is just my opinion, but that team gave the Monarchs fits all season long. And they were way too talented, and well coached to go 3-18 down the stretch. At some point once Holdsclaw "retired", they were hell bent to get that #1 pick. Here is the potential lineup for LA in 2008 if everybody in '07 is back:

SF - Holdsclaw (or Parker)
PF - Parker (or Mc-Williams-Franklin)
C - Leslie
PG - T. Johnson
SG - Spencer
Bench - Fernandez, Baker, L. Thomas, C. Thomas, Mbeka, Page, Moore
 
U

uncommonclay

Bench
#9
#9
tanking it ...

Purple Reign said:
they were way too talented, and well coached to go 3-18 down the stretch
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That bothers me too, although I can see LA & Penny Tolers' strategy -- give up on an already lost 2007, for a shot at one of the all time greats (potentially) ... Still, I hate to see losing on purpose be rewarded, not sure what could really be done about it though, other than appointing one of us as WNBA fairness Czar ... :rolleyes:
 
StevenHW

StevenHW

Starter
#10
#10
uncommonclay said:
...Still, I hate to see losing on purpose be rewarded, not sure what could really be done about it though, other than appointing one of us as WNBA fairness Czar ... :rolleyes:
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The only other alternative that I could see is to reverse the draft order. In other words, the previous year's WNBA Championship team gets the #1 pick, and then goes the ranks go down in correspondence with who had the better won-loss record in the previous regular season. That way, you can't say that a team "tanked" so they could get a high draft pick.

If a team can't afford to keep players under their salary cap limit, they can always trade them.

Besides, aren't we supposed to reward teams to perform better instead of doing things in the name of parity and "leveling the playing field"? (man, I hate that cliched phrase!)
 
U

uncommonclay

Bench
#11
#11
draft order ...

StevenHW said:
The only other alternative that I could see is to reverse the draft order
Click to expand...
I thought about that one too ... I can see some merit in that, I wonder if any league has ever gone that way? ... one other alternative would be to have it all be chance, or chance with bias against a teams' previous chance draft order (so that the team with the worst previous luck would have the best odds next time) ... there would be no reward for tanking there either ...

As an M's fan though, LA is the last place I was hoping CP3 would go ... then Detroit ... ;) ... oh the humanity ...
 
Monty'sBiggestFan

Monty'sBiggestFan

Starter
#12
#12
It seems to me that the odds that you can employ that strategy (tanking) AND have the ping pong balls miraculously go your way is far fetched. Did I think Parker was going to a big market, yeah skippy I did – I thought if the league manipulated anything, she would have wound up in Chicago – which is her home state and is a big$$$ market this league needs to cultivate/hold on to and get seats butted. If she had wound up there I figured the league would have gerry-rigged something to make it happen.

What talent did LA have last year once Holdsclaw retired? We shouldn’t have lost the games we lost to them, so there are 2 games right there they should have lost on talent alone. They didn’t get their point guard back until nearly midseason, they had their emergency point guard playing out of her mind until she hit a wall. Mabika only lights us up and otherwise is one step closer to retiring. Thomas had a down year, Moore was a’right , neither of them put together equals half of Leslie on a good day, Taj was in and out of their line up for a chunk of games. Had we won the game we should have against Chicago and not lost the game we had no business losing to Minnesota does it affect anything? So is this technically our fault?

The league is apparently beholden to a new age of parity/competitiveness (all of a sudden) since their reasoning behind giving Atlanta the #4 pick (I’m faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar more miffed that Houston and Washington got pushed down a spot for Atlanta than I am about whoever got Parker or Fowles, and really, odds wise, LA was going to get either one of those two players unless “karma” busted out and some other weird result like last year happened) and behind the push to make UFA draftable this draft is to accelerate the competitiveness of the expansion teams (all of a sudden).

So on that basis I don’t see inverse order happening. That would kill competition. If you are inversing the order and letting the rich get richer, then the worst teams in your league never get better. The lottery technically is designed to keep teams from being rewarded for tanking. It getting tagged by us conspiracy theorists and skeptics as a mechanism for league manipulation for player “allocation” started pretty early. The league apparently toyed with the idea of instituting a lottery in anticipation of Holdsclaws arrival. Folks felt then that since the team in her home state of NY wasn’t quite horrible enough to get her on their own with the number 1 pick that a lottery could help facilitate that. The year we were headed to the lottery, I had heard that the league was toying with the idea of tweaking the rules for it, not sure if the Monarchs being in it thanks to getting hit hard by injuries and definitely the way we played once we got healthy made the idea crop up, but they did not make a change. Back to the idea of inverse order tho. If we inverse things pre-lottery? Mique, Ticha and Yo wind up in Houston, New York or LA. Is that what we want? It just seems baby and bathwaterish to me.

I’m thrilled at the idea that Parker is about to arrive in the W. Not thrilled at where she might end up…(she still needs to renege the 5th year of eligibility she has, she might want to walk away from Knoxville with as many rings as Mique had so she could have reason to stay and this incoming draft class is loaded as is the projected 08 class)
 
Mr. S£im Citrus

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
#13
#13
uncommonclay said:
Well, if CP3 goes to LA, and I think she will, the Monarchs mountain just got higher, and steeper, to climb ... Do, I think it was a fix? -- No, it's a lottery, wacky things can happen by chance alone ... As far as such a marquee player in LA being good for the league, hey I'm having a great time with the WNBA right now ... I don't need it to boost my appreciation, and I don't think any of the haters will change their minds either ... Still, I am a fan of the game, and I am looking forward to seeing CP3 play in the WNBA, I think she's phenomenal ... it certainly can't hurt the league's popularity overall ...
Click to expand...
Chris Paul's going to play for the Sparks? Now that's really shenanigans! :eek:
 
6th

6th

Homer Fan Since 1985
#18
#18
LPKingsFan said:
Eh, just make sure you win the lottery next year to get Candice Wiggins.

Candice >>>> Candace, you'll see.
Click to expand...

Hmmmm! I realize that is only a matter of opinion at this point. However, as much as I like Candice Wiggins, I don't believe she will be as good as Candace Parker. Of course, time will tell.
 
Monty'sBiggestFan

Monty'sBiggestFan

Starter
#19
#19
I soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo don't want to be in the 2009 lottery...


Wiggins is coming out this draft, the other CP3 (also oddly not named Chris Paul) Courtney Paris is coming out in 2009. As we try to keep up with the Cand*ces and CP3s ;)
 
Luv13fan

Luv13fan

Bench
#20
#20
Rigged and whatnot....



Sorry I have been MIA for so long...But I thought I would finally weigh in on this.

As for the draft and it being rigged. Well I have made my thoughts known about PHOENIX and their remarkable luck for 3 years running. So for the team with the best odds to actually win the lottery (even if it is LA) seems reasonable. However the whole Atlanta deal just seems wrong. Why they were allowed to get the #4 pick is just beyond me.
And quite frankly my faith in The Donna is a little shaken. In light of the murmuring regarding the Rigged-ness of the draft I think the League could have gone the extra mile to have at least web-casted the Lottery. It isn't that expensive to do and would have given a more transparent process for the Conspiracy Theorist.

But as it stands LA got THE UNO (PARKER). Hey good for them.

I really didn't care where Parker ended up, LA IMO is just as good of a place as any. In fact LA should prove to be quite interesting. And unlike alot of folks I don't see this as an immediate return to dominance for LA. They should have been better then they were and they seemed like a tough win for the Monarchs as it were.

Personally I think Minny winning the Parker Sweepstakes could have spelled trouble. Lots of talent, all very young, anchored by Parker, that seemed far more troublesome than CP3 in LA. As it stands, LLL is returning. She is really good, but she is a year older, gone thru a pregnancy and we really have no idea what type of shape she will be in. Taj... Whom I really like, as a player and a person is not getting any younger. The Point guard situation is still shaky until TJ proves her knee is ready to go. But I do like their complementary pieces. I think Marta is very good, Spencer proved that 2nd round sleeper choices can make a difference. Then there is Baker, who I really like. There is something about her that makes me smile. If they chose to keep Thomas then she could prove to be a valuable complementary piece as well.

With that being said. I still don't see this as being "Scary".
However... If Whiz chooses to not be on his job and keep us stagnant, then yeah we will be playing the race for Paris. This is a year where alot of moves can and should be made for all teams to make them significantly better. Between FA signings and drafts and the expansion draft teams should be able to fill holes in their roster with quality players. And IMO This is where we must be active.

I do not see how we can hold this roster together as is and be competitive. Someone is gonna have to go, and it is gonna be someone who will be missed. The question is will we lose them to expansion, and get nothing in return, let them walk as an FA and make Cap/roster space or will we trade and get necessary pieces. And let's not kid ourselves folks, we have some holes to fill.

So for me... I am more concerned on what Whiz is gonna do to make us competitive again. I was very disappointed in last years off-season and draft moves. Maybe Parker going to LA is the thing to shake TEAM Whiz out of the Off-season lethargy.




 
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