Which of the 7 bigs make the team?

[raybrun]

On paper we are loaded with people who can only play the 4 or 4 & 5.
With TP,KL,Scho,Newton,NP,Magaba as locks, that leaves 5 slots. If the new PG plays herself onto the team, there are only 4. However, with the injury history on Walker and Brunson, you really need all 5 for bigs. Who goes? Both the players we traded for Farris have been cut and she is a probably a goner too. If Paris will lose half the 40 pounds her twin sister did this year she will be impossible to keep off the floor.You have to keep Kelly. I was hoping for more from Harper than what we got, but her size and youth make her worth keeping. Adrian was a nice journeyman but not really that great. Trade value is low for about all of them because of either injuries or just WNBA roster limits. Tough decisions ahead for Wiz. What do you guys think?



Rebekkah Brunson
Barbara Farris
Laura Harper
Crystal Kelly
Courtney Paris
DeMya Walker
Adrian Williams-Strong

 

[6th]

Rebekkah Brunson
Barbara Farris
Laura Harper
Crystal Kelly
Courtney Paris
DeMya Walker
Adrian Williams-Strong

I've heard that only 5 players are "locks" and the rest have to play themselves onto the team. The 4's and 5's that I expect to see:

Brunson
Walker
Paris
Harper
and probably Kelly...or maybe Farris

I agree that they will carry 5 bigs. I think we'll also have Powell and MaigaBa at the 3. That leaves 4 players to fill in at the 1 and 2 slots. I expect them to be Ticha and Kara. The other two are up in the air for me.

 

[mdme]

One really important question here is Walker....will she really be able to last the WNBA season and what shape is she in right now?

I don't think AWS will be back, maybe we can get some other big out there with the roster limits affecting other teams too.

This whole 11 roster thing makes things "interesting" to say the least. Maybe, it's the WNBA's way of attracting new teams.

 

[Monty'sBiggestFan]

Farris and Williams-Strong to me aren't even in the discussion. I'm not even sure they've signed AWS.

The rest of the bigs should make the roster. Re: DeMya, the way I look at her is she is not the big piece the team hinges on, she just needs to be effective and last more than 1/3-1/2 of the season. If she does the former, that makes them a better team than the were in the paint last year, maybe even the year before that. If she can do the latter that's money.

The way I see it the roster spot fight will be amongst the guards not named Penicherio or Lawson.

 

[RDub21]

Rebekkah Brunson
Barbara Farris
Laura Harper
Crystal Kelly
Courtney Paris
DeMya Walker
Adrian Williams-Strong

I've heard that only 5 players are "locks" and the rest have to play themselves onto the team. The 4's and 5's that I expect to see:

Brunson
Walker
Paris
Harper
and probably Kelly...or maybe Farris

I agree that they will carry 5 bigs. I think we'll also have Powell and MaigaBa at the 3. That leaves 4 players to fill in at the 1 and 2 slots. I expect them to be Ticha and Kara. The other two are up in the air for me.

I think the "right" thing to do would be to carry 5 bigs for insurance sake, but Maiga and Nicole could play some 4, if needed. If you carry 5 bigs, plus Nicole, Maiga, Kara, and Ticha, you only have space for 2 more guards. So if your roster is like this;

Ticha/Kara(Fill-in PG)
Kara/(Scho or Newton)
Nicole/Maiga
Brunson/Kelly
Walker/Paris/Harper

Our backcourt has very limited depth and offensive punch.

Although I would like to keep 5 posts, I think we need to go with 4 posts and if needed, let Powell or Maiga play a few minutes if needed and that would allow us to keep one more scoring guard on the roster.

 

[raybrun]

Ruthie says Boddie is a great PG

RDub, you may be right in that we will carry 5 guards. Ruthie is a little biased(Auburn) but this woman led the nation in assists and if she turns out to be the TP true backup, we have to keep her. You are right that NP and MaigaBa both play the 4 OK as backups. I had forgotten that. That would put Harper on the bubble.

Should be interesting. Gotta get Paris playing time no matter what. We gave up our season tix last year, but with Paris here now, we bought them back again. She has the ability to put lots of butts in seats, and that is a big deal right now.

 

[6th]

RDub, you may be right in that we will carry 5 guards. Ruthie is a little biased(Auburn) but this woman led the nation in assists and if she turns out to be the TP true backup, we have to keep her. You are right that NP and MaigaBa both play the 4 OK as backups. I had forgotten that. That would put Harper on the bubble.

Should be interesting. Gotta get Paris playing time no matter what. We gave up our season tix last year, but with Paris here now, we bought them back again. She has the ability to put lots of butts in seats, and that is a big deal right now.

How do you figure Harper will be on the bubble? I think she's our #4 big. Now if you said both Kelly and Farris would be on the bubble, I could see that.

 

[6th]

I like Boddie.........a lot. In talking with MBF, the question was raised about whether we could tie up a roster spot with someone who can play only 1 of the guard positions.

Boddie is a pure PG. I have an affinity for pure PGs. But, coach has indicated that we need players who can play more than one position, especially now that the league has cut teams to 11 players.

Personally, I can see keeping Boddie as a backup for Ticha. However, I can also see needing more of a PG/SG to fill the position. Time will tell.

 

[Monty'sBiggestFan]

I don't look at Boddie as the true back up for Ticha because this team doesn't need that. We seem to all be in agreement that the backup and future may very well lie in Kara Lawson's capable hands.

I'm looking at the defensive side of the ball and can she drop some threes and to me, she's battling Miao (who I like worlds more than the idea of Boddie), Newton and Allen in fitting those criteria along with handling the ball. The guard who makes the team at that slot has to make the team better. I don't look at every point guard the Monarchs draft as THE ONE...some are and have been simply nice transitional roster pieces.

Ruthie is a tad bit biased but at the same time I don't doubt Boddie's abilities as a point guard. She may have had a nice target to toss the ball to in Bonner to make her stats look that nice, but the folks she'll be tossing it to at the pro level aren't chopped liver so they may look as good here too. (but I still like Miao worlds more)

 

[raybrun]

I don't see Miao on the roster?

If Miao is in the running, I don't think a pure pg rookie has a prayer of beating Miao out for a roster spot. We can always use people who can knock down outside shots, especially if they are out there with TP,Newton,or Scho or Maiga Ba.

The only thing is that Miao has to prove a lot more than she did last time around. She really did not show her game translated to WNBA a few years back.

 

[Monty'sBiggestFan]

Miao's signing was announced the same day Newton's re-signing was. Not sure why she's not showing up on the roster.

 

[creative one]

Anyone who bothered watching the Olympics last year knows who our PG of the future is. She completely outplayed Bird and Pondexter despite being regarded as the "controversial" pick by the experts. She surprised most people (including me) who didn't think she could effectively run a team at this level. Not only did she run that second unit, she pushed tempo better than any guard on Team USA's roster. That player, ladies and gentlemen, is Kara Lawson. IMO, that's the right decision given what she accomplished in 2005 against Houston and last summer.

Unless we come across another 5-11 pass-first PG with superior court vision, I'm not convinced there are many PGs we'll come across who can beat out Kara to become heir to Ticha's throne. That Whiz didn't make a move in the draft to snatch up one of those ballyhooed PGs in this year's draft pretty much tells you how much stock he puts into Kara's abilities to get the job done (and it tells you what he thinks about their chances of being successful starters in this league). Kara doesn't have to develop, and no WNBA team really has the "time" to wait for a rookie PG to develop. Several teams are on shaky financial ground, and this is not the time to be waiting on a rookie to "develop" or "learn from the best". The league really forked us over by taking away our practice players (the 12th and 13th spots on the roster). All of our players have to be "finished products".

Boddie did not hit a single three-pointer in college (attempted EIGHT, and that's not a typo) and she isn't a better on-the-ball defender than the PG we traded away (as sad as that may seem). Ruthie is clearly biased WRT how she views Boddie just like Whiz is biased on his evaluations of Mountain West players (Kim Smith anyone?). Like MBF alluded to earlier, anyone can look good passing the ball to the SEC Player of the Year. Try getting the ball into Harper with Katie Smith draped all over you. Plus, it's not like she led the nation in assists every single season. She did it once. Every other season, her average was around 5 per game. She was a good college PG. She is not a WNBA PG because she does not even make herself out to be a threat from three. Unlike Andre Miller, she's not good enough to make up for that huge hole in her game.

If Miao can hit the three consistently OR if we find a gem who can do that OR if we just luck out and get a talent like Jia Perkins (because you just KNOW she and Toliver can't co-exist), that player has a much better chance of emerging than Boddie. It's true that Miao didn't show much (anything) her last time around, but her Olympic performance did earn her at least another shot at cracking this league. Who knows. Maybe her English is better so that communication won't be a barrier. Maybe she learned how to defend (doesn't look like she did based on how she performed in Beijing). Maybe she can actually finish at the rim this time.

As for the posts, it's Brunson, Walker*, Paris, Harper, and 5th option (Kelly or someone else). It would be nice to have a post who can stretch the defense, but that's not in the cards.

 

[Monty'sBiggestFan]

.....
If Miao can hit the three consistently OR if we find a gem who can do that OR if we just luck out and get a talent like Jia Perkins ...

Jia Perkins ending up in Charlotte and languishing on their bench were my first two reasons to loathe Trudi Lacey. Perkins should have been in Sacramento, and I'm convinced would have been in Sacramento had #$%*$$ Lacy not stolen her a pick before the Monarchs final selection. "#%$#$" is EXACTLY what I muttered on draft day. Only fitting for her to be returned to her rightful home. I wanted her BADLY...my only consolation was getting her autograph the night I went to watch the Monarchs play the Sting there. But I'm much greedier now. Here's to a Toliver/Perkins feud and the ghost of Trudi Lacey to inhabit Steven Key...

As for the posts, it's Brunson, Walker*, Paris, Harper, and 5th option (Kelly or someone else). It would be nice to have a post who can stretch the defense, but that's not in the cards.

I hope that's something Kelly works on for sure. I told someone that I'm hoping too that while Paris is here working herself into condition that she tinker with the idea of draining a 3, that way she doesn't have to run as far back in transition.