13 Burst results for "Courtney Van Der Sloot"
Northwest Newsradio
"courtney van der sloot" Discussed on Northwest Newsradio
"In the region. And that's just one of the incidents that Martha raddatz is keeping tabs on. She's also reporting on the launch out of North Korea of something new today. The North Koreans had said they were going to launch a satellite, but the Japanese government sent warnings that North Korea may have launched a test missile and urged people in Okinawa to take shelter immediately. The U.S. embassy in Japan repeated those warnings in Seoul, South Korea, warnings were given over public address systems and phones telling people to evacuate, but later said that was sent in air and so far no reports of damages or disruption. A key U.S. ally is coming to The White House next week, ABC News White House correspondent Karen Travers reports. President Biden will meet with British prime minister Rishi sunak at The White House on June 8th, visit The White House said we'll build on their recent engagements overseas. The White House said the two leaders will hold a press conference after their meeting on the agenda, Russia's war against Ukraine in the U.S. and UK support for Ukraine, global energy security, climate change, and economic cooperation. The White House said the president and prime minister would also review developments in Northern Ireland as part of their shared commitment to preserving the gains of the Belfast good Friday agreement. Karen Travers ABC News, The White House. The U.S. is working to approve Sweden's bid to join NATO. Sweden again and again has proven its commitment to NATO to its values to its mission to its members. During a visit to Sweden today, Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying he believes that could happen in the coming weeks ahead of a NATO summit in Lithuania in early July, turkey and Hungary have prevented Sweden from joining the alliance, Turkish leaders claiming Stockholm as harboring terrorists associated with Kurdish militant groups. Northwest news times 6 40 time to check in with Bill Schwartz at the Beacon plumbing sports desk, two University of Washington teams are Oklahoma bound. Winning the NCAA super regional in Seattle earns UW softball of place in the college World Series in Oklahoma City. Thursday night, the 7th seed dogs play 15 seed Utah. Washington baseball team picked for an at large birth in the NCAA baseball regional and stillwater Oklahoma. The diamond dogs on Friday take on Dallas baptist. Game two of the Mariners Yankees series on tap and Seattle's T mobile park tonight. The M's pitching staff was no match for Aaron judge and The Bronx bombers in the opener losing ten to four. Logan Gilbert is Seattle starter tonight lefty Nestor Cortez, New York. And it's a stewie basketball homecoming tonight at Seattle center. It feels good to be back, but also very weird. Just the familiarity and the comfort, but then some things are different because when I walk in this arena, I go to the visitors locker room and not the home locker room and staying at the team hotel and things like that. The great Brianna Stewart leads the New York liberty against her former storm team, which she helped win a pair of WNBA championships. Liberty also have Kent native and Gonzaga alum, Courtney van der sloot, sports with Swartz at ten and 40 after the hour northwest news radio. Join northwest news radio Sunday June 11th at the furry 5 K in support of the healthy animals fund at the Seattle animal shelter, which supports medical care for pets in need, run or walk
WNBA Nation
"courtney van der sloot" Discussed on WNBA Nation
"Don't even know if this becomes like, oh, well the liberty are like the second fiddle. I just look at like the 2024 is just going to be bonkers all over again. Because by then, you've got two seasoned high talent. Coming up against each other. Yeah, I won't go on record now saying who's going to have more rings between Asians, Dewey because there's just a lot that can happen there. But it really feels like we are in the heart of the Vegas aces era right now in the WNBA. I know it's been a while since a repeat champion, but. For the sake of having a moment for the sake of argument, it's hard to say that a liberty team who we haven't even seen on the floor yet can be one of the best rosters the league has ever seen. Yeah, they're absolutely having a moment. And I think it's intriguing and it's interesting. I think in our minds this episode feels like it's ending on a boring note because we all agreed on the city pick and it's the same team that won the title last year. But if this were to come to fruition as it looks like, it'll be anything but boring on the court. I think the thing. One thing, one thing that we're forgetting, if we're looking at a year where the aces potentially dominate and when the title again is that teams are a lot of fun to watch, play basketball. But this is not a knock down drag out type basketball team. They're very dynamic and they're very good. Yeah, I think the teams that are going to be really good are going to be fun styles of basketball. And then obviously based on our rankings, there's going to be some surprises too. And I'm excited to find out who those are. We need to come up with some bet for who finishes above the other between Atlanta and Dallas because we could not be more all over the place. I'm looking at our three rankings back to back to back and we're just throwing darts badly. Trying to figure out where those things are going to be. And then there's Phoenix, just holding steady at 5 and 6. But yeah, I'm super pumped to find out if we're right about Washington. I think we aren't the only show in the only people talking about how Washington is a little bit of a sleeper. So I hope that the expectations don't exceed what they're capable of. It might be really interesting to see typically very good involved teams like Connecticut and Seattle and Chicago, bottom out. We haven't seen that in several years. Don't know how that's what the reaction to that is going to be. And of course, everybody's confused about what the sparks are going to do. So we've got that going for us. Yeah, there's a lot of teams on the rise. There's a lot of teams we've gotten very used to being good potentially falling. This is very much a new face on this league and how it's going to look. And the hope is that that new face continues to shift by expanding and seeing some of that talent shift. What's going to be interesting is until that happens, it's going to be a while until we see a 13th or 14th team on the court. I think this is in the liberty you're going to be the narrative up until that point when you start spreading the talent across 14 teams and that's going to be that narrative that I think picks these up. And I think that's going to be a pretty big deal. Logan and I talked pretty endlessly last week about the frustration that it felt like the WNBA didn't really try to expound off of the moment that the women's NCAA tournament had. With LSU and Iowa in Clark and in South Carolina and all of this stuff was going on and they didn't really pick up on that level of things, but the one saving grace for it may be this incoming rivalry. And what that's going to do to what because on top of it being a potentially high season rivalry for several years, it's also a collection of phenomenal basketball players. Undeniably. Players who they have a collection of 8 to ten players who are very much at the top of my list of, if I have someone who's trepidatious to get into women's basketball, I would point to that player until you watch them. Right, if I have someone who's like, I'm more into the NBA and I'm more about dunking and I want to see this and that go watch AJ Wilson. Go watch Brie Stewart. Go watch Courtney van der sloot. Gorch junk while Jones, go watch Candace Parker, like these are the players that you go like, Kelsey plum, like watch them play basketball and then tell me it's not exciting. I think it's going to be a complicated. It's going to be a good time. So I find that interesting, I'm excited to see that liberty documentary that's apparently coming out soon, but I think it's premature. It's going to be an interesting time. Yeah. We're fortunate that we live roughly a 7 hour drive from Vegas. And this year's Vegas roster and last year's biggest roster are the type of teams that you're like, hey, we're going to at some point this summer. I don't know when we need to make the drive out there to see them. And I think it does wonders for the league as much as I hate when people say this about the NBA, and I know why they say it.
WTOP
"courtney van der sloot" Discussed on WTOP
"Four under through 16. He pulls even for the tournament and within four strokes of the pace set by Bryson DeChambeau. In contention, even though he's a few strokes back there, Justin rose, who under through 14 to pull within a stroke of the lead, he is tied with Scottie scheffler and Corey Connors at three under for the tournament, the latter two, by the way, opened their second round later this hour. We're a few minutes from Rory McIlroy and Colin Morikawa, opening their second round. The mystics not only opened the 2023 season tonight, it's a new era with Eric thibault, making his debut as head coach. His dad, of course, Mike Tebow, making the move to the full-time spot in the front office. It's a challenging one tonight at 7, the New York liberty come to town. They are debuting their new additions. Courtney van der sloot, John quell Jones, and Brianna Stewart, a trio that makes them a title favorite coming out of the east. The nationals open a weekend series against the Detroit tigers tonight, Jake urban taking the 7 O 5 first pitch in his fourth career, big league starts. Rob woodwork WTO sports. Stick around coming up on WTO details on a D.C. police officer indicted. It is one 26. Focusing on its employees and everything it does is a core value for farmers restaurant group. It's a conscious capitalism approach that co owner Dan simons applies to all of his business relationships, including with his attorney, Scott muse, who leads the restaurant industry practice group at shulman Rogers. Every company has a beating heart. And the question is, what do you put into that heart? And people often say in business, you need a great lawyer. I'm not sure that that sums it up properly. What you need is a great human who is excellent at lawyering, but who wants to be part of the heart of your business. I really knew early on. This is the person I want as part of our beating heart, helping us make sure we do legal well, but that we do it as clearly sort of a woven in part of the culture and the ethos of the company. Learn about
The Lead
"courtney van der sloot" Discussed on The Lead
"Now, if you believe the Vegas odds, the WNBA really is a two horse race this year between the aces and the New York liberty. So let's talk about that other super team, the liberty. First Sabrina, tell us how this amazing New York lineup was assembled. So the liberty have been a first round playoff out the last two years just to run at the middle, not great playoff team. And yet they started big game hunting a year ago when Brianna Stewart became an unrestricted free agent flying out to try to convince her to come back to her home state. I decided to go to New York because I want to continue to be great. And I want to go to the place where I can continue to help this league become better. And I'm really excited to go after their first championship. So we brought in two of her former ecat teammates from Russia in jungle, Jones and Courtney van der sloot and all of a sudden now you have 5 players in the starting lineup who have been all stars within the last two years, multiple national team players. When you look at the talent, there's a lot of amazing players on this roster and we're going to go out to the championship. Again, like I said, it was an embarrassment of virtually here in Las Vegas. The same thing applies to New York. It's just most of these players have in play together yet. There might be a bit of a learning curve when it comes to them getting onto the court together. This team is already being talked about as the WNBA's best ever collection of talent on one team. What do you think that will actually look like on the floor? We have Courtney van der sloot, arguably the best player on the 2021 Chicago sky when they won their first title in franchise history. She'll be the point guard. Ryan, it's with away from van der sloot who comes over the seal.
ESPN Daily
"courtney van der sloot" Discussed on ESPN Daily
"Won't. Wearing your seat belt could be the difference between making it home to your loved ones and not making it at all. Every day, when you get in your vehicle and decide whether to buckle up, remember that it's the single most effective way to protect your life in the event of a crash. Make it home safely to the people you care about. Don't risk it. Click it or ticket. Paid for by the nhtsa. Okay, vagina. A lot of storylines to get to, but let's start with something we've seen in the NBA for more than a decade, but now has become a thing in the WNBA, and it's super teams. This off season the New York liberty, they signed Brianna Stewart, former MVP, and maybe the biggest star in the league, the liberty also traded for John quill Jones and other MVP, they signed Courtney van der sloot, one of the best point guards in league history, and though yeah, they still have Sabrina UNESCO, the number one overall pick from 2020, who they just signed to a contract extension. And last year recorded the league's first 30 point triple double, on paper, how good can this team be? On paper, this team looks like a championship squad. Trump well Jones, nobody out there and nothing but net. Trying to break down Harrison steps around Harrison lays it up and at the buzzer. Stewart will fire and cadet. Breanna Stewart is locked in. But as far as how good they are today, Israel, I don't know. Looking at the pieces, the championship pedigree that has just shown up on this roster is incredible. You mentioned two former MVPs, adding that to Sabrina and even benign laney who's been an all star in this league and is a most improved player. Courtney van der sloot who just won a championship in Chicago. I mean, this is coming together as a roster that looks like one of the best we've had in league history. Final few seconds here of regulation. South Anderson. Corbyn is huge. But a lot of things have to fall in place for this to work, right? And so we know that it's going to take chemistry and trust. They have a great head coach in sandy Braun dello, so how she puts these pieces together on the offensive and defensive end is going to be important. She's won a championship. So again, bringing that pedigree, but the most important ingredient in my opinion for New York this year is just the hunger that that city has. They have never won a WNBA championship. The only franchise in league history that has not done so. And then some of those marquee stars that I just talked about have not won a championship yet. Despite being in MVP in this league, John quill did not win one in her time in Connecticut. Sabrina UNESCO never won that coveted NCAA championship in her time at Oregon. So I think she is really looking forward to hoisting the trophy for the first time in her career. And so I think that is really what's going to drive and separate this team and they have the pieces in the championship experience now to do that. Now I'm from South Florida, so I've seen a very high profile super team where there was a lot of pressure on them sort of work through some kicks, but still eventually succeed. So I'm wondering with the liberty in terms of player skill duplication in terms of any other things that you've seen from other super teams, what challenges do they face? Yeah, I mean, I think it's a combination of things. It's the pressure to win in your first season coming together, like everyone believes at this roster is ready to win a championship now. So how do you deal with that? There's also a level of sacrifice, as you know, is real bringing this number of in caliber of stars together everyone sharing and caring and playing together. But where I think this team really has an advantage is three of those players that you name Courtney van der sloot, Brianna Stewart, and Jean-Paul Jones, all played together in on a team in Russia and he Catherine Berg. And so these are three players that have been in those championship situations together and are coming in with some chemistry already. They were building a group chat as they were going through their free agency conversation. So these three players in particular were in touch about their goals for this organization and what they wanted to achieve and how they could do this. So to me, that kind of expedites what could be a championship season for the liberty, but I definitely think that chemistry piece is what's going to be most important. Let's go back to Brianna Stewart for a second. We mentioned the biggest signing of the off season. What is her move from the Seattle storm to the liberties say about player empowerment in the WNBA? Yeah, we're seeing more movement than ever in the WNBA since the signing of the new CBA in 2020 free agency periods have gone wild. Teams aren't able to core their marquee players as long as they used to be able to. There's more money available. There's just more movement in general with this CDA. So we are seeing some franchise faces on the move. And we've seen a lot of that in the last couple of years and now Brianna Stewart is adding that piece. And when it comes to player empowerment, you also have to talk about the fact that John Cole Jones requested a trade. This is not the first time that's happened in league history. We've seen it happen quite a few times, especially in the last decade, Sylvia fowles did so getting out of Chicago going to Minnesota where she won championships. Elena delle donne also requested to be moved out of Chicago, ended up winning a championship in Washington with the mystics. So that piece is also very interesting and players really taking control of that. But Brianna Stewart has had a lot of personal and professional reasons for her move. She won two championships in Seattle. She's from New York, Syracuse, New York, which I should say. She admits that it's closer to Canada than it is to Manhattan. But her wife, Marta is from Spain, and so she can easily get home from New York. There are a lot of different considerations like that. She's got a daughter, ruby now. Obviously, we'll be closer to her family, got another one on the way. But she's also talked a lot about using the media market in New York as a megaphone to bring more awareness to the challenges of the WNBA and to raise the league's platform as one of the best players. Obviously, she used charter flights as kind of a talking point throughout her free agency. But she's also now at an organization with an owner like Josiah who has been very vocal in his support of wanting to move the needle using his resources for some of the needs of WNBA players. And I think that has been very helpful as well. But I do want to say that I think the biggest influence in this movement, particular for the liberty, was looking over at Las Vegas and all the talent that they have and now adding Candace Parker, you have to have a very talented roster to beat them. And I think these players knew that. Well, the China, this to me is the best part of the story because you have a dueling super team and oh, they happen to be the defending champion Las Vegas ASUS. You know they're led by reigning MVP Asia Wilson. Here's Wilson. Last year's Finals MVP, Chelsea gray. Here comes the screen for Williams. Gray, 60 shoot. She wants this. She's charming. Chelsea gray. A master. And of course, Kelsey plum, one of the best scorers in the league. Ron's trying to do it herself. Finishes us the foul. Can you mention Candace Parker? They just so happened to add Candace Parker. And she got found. How does she make this team even more dangerous? Oh boy, I mean, Candace Parker, who is a two time champion, has been an MVP in this league. She's like no other player in the WNBA, 6 4.4 word who has won rookie of the year defensive play of the year and MVP. So she's in rare air. But even at the ripe age of 37, you know, her basketball mind is incredible. And yes, she is a stats sheet stuffer and impacts the game on the floor, but more than anything. I think this chapter of Candace's career is about leaving something for the next generation. And I'm excited to see what her mentorship of Asia Wilson and other young stars on this team will yield. And I also kind of feel like it's a bit of a selfish era for Candice Parker. But she did, you know, win a championship in LA and was the face of that franchise for many years. But then she went to Chicago and brought them their first ring, you know, that's home for Candace being from Naperville, Illinois. She now wanted to play for an organization that had top notch facilities and resources and she's doing that in Vegas and everything that Mark Davis has done and establishing that team. So I think she brings a lot. But there hasn't been a team that has repeated since the O one O two sparks. And so do the aces have the hunger that they did for their first title, to me that's what it's going to take. Can anyone else beat these teams with China or is everyone else basically playing for third? It's going to be a competitive season, Israel. I do think that these two teams will absolutely be at the top of the conversation come September when we're talking about WNBA playoffs and making a championship run. But there are two other teams that are very intriguing to me. One is the Washington mystics. Elena delle donne is healthy and has had the healthiest off season. That she has in a while after a few back surgeries and missing significant times. In most recent years, at any time, Elena delle donne is healthy. Our team is going to be vying for a championship and I'm excited about the new era for Eric Tebow. They've added Britney Sykes and Christy tolliver, Amanda zowe B, but this is also a core that won a championship together in 2019 when you talk about Natasha cloud and aerial Atkins. They have a very, very talented young rookie and Shakira Austin. So Washington will be in the conversation and there's another team that at least starts the season in this group for me. And that's the Connecticut sun. And some people may say, well, wait, didn't you just say they quell Jones? Well, yes, they did lose Jean-Paul Jones, and that's major. And Courtney Williams is also now in Chicago. But you still have just an incredible front court. One of the best in this league with Alyssa Thomas, Brianna Jones, dewanna bonner, you add to this roster, Tiffany Hayes, who was a tremendous talent coming from Atlanta who just brings another dimension of on one play domination on the offensive end. And they have a new head coach and Stephanie white, who was able to get the Indiana fever to the final as the head coach won a championship with the fever as an assistant coach. I just love her toughness and the pedigree that she brings to a team's identity, not that they didn't already have a lot of that. But I just believe that she could be the missing piece to help to bring Connecticut their first trophy. Okay, so there will be competition for those super teams, but this next question is almost a Rite of passage for a thriving league. Are those teams good or bad for the league? I believe super teams are good for the league. The conversation, if nothing else, has been just bringing a lot of excitement and anticipation as we look to kick off. And if you look at the NBA as a model, it was those years of Celtics versus Lakers. That's where a lot of the super fandom comes from. You know, super team seems to breed super fandoms for leagues. Rivals are something that just bring in the casual sports fan. And there could not be two better organizations right now in terms of what they present on court than Vegas and New York to kind of lead that charge. But I think it's great. You still have to win the games between the lines. You don't win games on paper, unfortunately. They'll be a very competitive season across the board and the WNBA, but I think the super team narrative is pretty cool. Well, a growing league also comes with controversy. I think I'm right about that. And this week we learned that the aces head coach Becky Hammond has been suspended for two games for, quote, violating league and team respect in the workplace policies. And the league has rescinded the ace's 2025 first round draft pick for violating league rules regarding impermissible player benefits. And this is all surrounding former aces forward D Erika hamby, who last year accused a team of bullying and intimidation after finding out she was pregnant. Can you put this in perspective for me, what level of scandal are we talking here? Well, there are no winners in this situation. The optics of this are really, really, really bad. The WNBA and his players have long been a league that has supported women on and off the court and specifically in this case, their role as mothers and parents. We saw that in the most recent CBA negotiations on how providing mothers with support and resources was a focal point. It was very important. And that is very different from what dear cause accusations were and what ultimately the league found fault in in Vegas. And what really stands out to me about this is that Vegas was on its way to becoming America's team. I mean, Mark Davis hired an all women leadership team, including giving Becky Hammond a $1 million contract. Their facilities are top notch, Asia Wilson is the face of the WNBA. They won their first championship, and now this. But Becky gets a two game to suspension and the team loses a first round draft pick, a team that's already loaded. The Players Association didn't feel like the punishment fit the crime. And that's understandable. But from what we know or have been told about this case, this is all we do know. They're still, it seems like a lot to be determined. And again, they're just no winners at all. You mentioned the PA not being happy with the punishment.
Winsidr WNBA Show
"courtney van der sloot" Discussed on Winsidr WNBA Show
"To going into a season and knowing, hey, the Connecticut sun, we're going to look this way. You know, the aces were going to look this way. The mystics, we're going to look this way. And Minnesota is going to look this way. Phoenix is going to look that way. I mean, there was, then the bottom tier teams, you kind of sat there in question, what does that look like? It's really across the board. So that's the biggest point that I just keep coming back to. As we head into opening day tomorrow, I'm just so excited to just finally see the product and have a somewhat of a semblance of an idea of what we can look forward to. What do you I know what I look for in opening weekend, right? I say the first three games are kind of a litmus test, figure out where you are, what's going on. Like two preseason games, like the amount of length that the camp is, like, I know everyone likes to say, you know, two weeks of camp is a long time, and blah, blah, blah, blah. But like, I'll be real. The roster gets whittled down, so let's say, as of today, right? Last day to make cuts. As of last night, 8 teams had set rosters. That means for like what a day and a half, excuse me a day and a half. These game day rosters are actually practicing together. Now, I don't know what's going on in camp, maybe they're getting more runs together. I would assume so, but still, like, we can talk about camping short, talk about the fact that now we're throwing together these groups of people and saying, hey, you're a team. Now let's go run it after like one or two days together as a solidified team with that security. So for me, it's just like the first three games are very much so like let me see let me see how these questions are answered kind of what direction is this team going in? Are they headed in the right direction or are they just trying to dig themselves out of a hole? Yeah, I think you're able to look at a few things. One, just types of actions, style of play. The things that have really been emphasized the last week and a half, two weeks, whatever it's been, you know, just product on the floor, style of play. A lot of new coaches, so what does that look like? What is the stuff wide system in Connecticut? What's that going to look like? What is a Patricia Trammell system going to look like in Dallas? And yeah, we did get a peek at that. With the preseason game. But you still have to, those are tough. So I think from a style play and a philosophy standpoint, that's what I'm looking at. But also, let's not forget that all these are the parameters. We were headed into this opening weekend and Courtney van der sloot wasn't there. Whoever wasn't there, you know, half of these stars were still over in Europe. So there is a prioritization aspect of this where we're going to see more complete rosters right off the bat. Which has an immediate impact for these teams long term. You know, I mean, yeah, there are some players. There are some question marks. We talk about Gabby Williams. Some players kind of going back and forth. Who will be here for a couple weeks then they'll go back to Europe and then they'll rejoin the team. So there are isolated incidents where there is going to be some ebb and flow. But this is going to be one of the first times we've seen complete teams more complete teams right off the bat. And that's exciting. I mean, I'm not, I could debate the prioritization clause in rule for back and forth for a thousand different reasons, whether I agree with it, whether or not, but from a fan's perspective, from a WNBA product perspective from the WNBA side of things, I think it's a positive for this weekend, just being able to see complete teams, the superstars are here. They're not finishing up their seasons over in Europe, you know, they've been together in camp, there is more consistency from that standpoint. So I'm looking towards that as well. I love it. Let's do some bold predictions. I'm going to make some crazy statements, okay? The Washington mystics and opening weekend play the New York liberty and the Connecticut sun. Now, tell me, I know this is a hot take. But you know what? It's pre seasoned bold predictions. It's my last chance to make like the craziest predictions. I'm going on this early on. Oh, first of all, we will be doing this is bold predictions. We're not even at pick them yet, Rachel. No, no, bold predictions, which kind of gives leeway to my pick them. Because we're only going to do pick them for opening night. And then every episode, whatever the most recent game are the most upcoming game. And I'm pretty sure are like 6 O in pick them, the last 6 years. Just so you know, I freaking hate you. One year I was beating you all year and then the last day of games you like beat me by one game or some bullshit. Excuse my language. Whatever last year you destroyed me fair. You had an early lead and then I just had to do some really crazy takes to try and catch up. Yeah. All right, my bold prediction is the Washington mystics go undefeated in opening weekend. That means on Friday night, they beat the liberty, and then on Sunday afternoon they beat the mystics. Or sorry, they beat the sun. I don't even think that's that bold. I think for a lot of ready to crown New York, which I understand that too, but
Winsidr WNBA Show
"courtney van der sloot" Discussed on Winsidr WNBA Show
"Forward slash wind cider. Welcome back to the wind siders show this episode Rachel's on hiatus, so I've brought in the wind cider mock draft expert met Cohen to discuss the draft, it was an interesting one. It was a fun one if you joined us on playback. It was one of our best during the off season, obviously, 'cause it was more WNBA related than the NCAA tournament was. We had some great discussions, some great initial thoughts. We're a few days removed so we can kind of take a breath of fresh air, let the fumes of the draft kind of settle and possibly hopefully take more of a overbearing or not overbearing overview approach on what exactly happened in this draft. But before we do that, let's run down aria's notes of what each team's needs were going into the draft and then we'll dive into kind of what happened in our reactions grades, things like that, mat if there's anything you want to chime in when I'm talking about any team, obviously, jump in, interrupt me as we do. For me, the Atlanta dream you just take best available. You're obviously not so worried in this draft where they were placed about stocking up in positions that they have too much depth. In fact, I wouldn't say Atlanta has too much depth and really any position. So just best available. Chicago sky to me was point guard depth. You could also argue maybe some big depth, but to me it was mostly, you know, Courtney van der sloot's gone, how are you going to fill that need? For me, similarly for the Connecticut sun, it was point guard depth. We're going to be looking for this team to find, I mean, we already know they have all star heck MVP caliber, front court presence, the backcourt is the question with younger players and players who aren't necessarily the most vet savvy, if you were. Dallas wings, a shooting, really just shooting. Point guard shirt, but shooting. And if they're going to go for a point guard, someone who doesn't need the ball in their hands. For the fever, depth, we already know they're going to Leah Boston. But what else can they get? And what can they do in terms of depth? The aces, nothing, the sparks shooting due to injuries and pregnancies. They've lost some of their key shooters coming into this season as it were. Minnesota, a point guard or a 5, the New York liberty, nothing. The mercury point guard, and that's honestly just because Skylar digging Smith question mark. Other than that, it's depth and as always with this team shooting. You got BG back. You're not worried about in the paint scoring. You need shooting. Seattle storm, point guards, and depth. And then the Washington mystics just shooting. Any form of shooting I would prefer in the guard spots, but shooting. Did I miss anything? No, I actually, as I'm listening to you go through it, it seems like a lot of these teams were looking for a lot of the same kinds of things. So it was really interesting here. Yeah, and I think a lot of that has to do with talk about a tangent. But I think about a lot of that has to do with just kind of the situation of the league and because we saw so many teams, like Minnesota isn't really starting from scratch, but they kind of are. And Chicago starting from scratch. LA, Seattle. We're seeing a lot of these teams starting from scratch versus the mystics, a team that literally just needs like one thing. Everything else is set there. I need one player who's going to come off the bench who's going to be aerial powers from their championship year. Come off the bench, hit some important shots, supply some needed points and give their starters some rest. Christy toliver is not to be the she used to be. All right. Let's go down this list. Let's talk about what our mindset is. And I'm going to be honest. Everyone likes to call me hater yeh, I give some pretty good grades out. All right. I'm a pretty nice grater. Matt, you're actually a teacher. So I fully anticipate that you're going to bring out the red pen correct me and give some harder more tough grades. If possible. So you got it. Minnesota first. Look, you add Miller, you had hirsch, you had dork. And veal, right? So it's going to be a really fun training camp, Minnesota's very, very interesting because of the roster size and the space. And that's the other aspect too, where I'm always torn when we do these things because are we talking about in the sense of if they could sign everyone here or because also realistically like, I don't know, it's tough because I could see it in a billion different ways. We're judging them based on who they did draft, not who could make the team. But if I'm looking in a long more of a long-term view of this, I could argue, well, you signed this or you drafted this player, they're not going to make your roster and then they're going to be available for another team to pick up who may be did a better draft pick of an overseas player, lots to discuss on that. What's your initial thought about the Minnesota editions? So I know it's something that we've talked a lot about in the off season about Minnesota's specific needs, looking at a point guard looking at the front court, specifically because somebody follows retired. And so who are you going to replace her with? How are you going to fail those needs? And I know that you and I and also Rachel have talked a lot about this draft may not and probably doesn't have those players. So what is Cheryl going to do? What are the links going to do? How are they going to figure out who to bring in? And I think Minnesota actually did a pretty good job. I know at the two diamond Miller that was the consensus choice. You get a quality player, a really good athletic player there. I think hirsch is going to become more of a draft and stash for later. I love the dork pick. Taylor, soul pick later on. I love the BOP. I think Minnesota does a pretty good job here of getting players that can come in and play. We've talked a little bit about minutes and where are they going to fit in?
Winsidr WNBA Show
"courtney van der sloot" Discussed on Winsidr WNBA Show
"Look for the women's NCAA bracket button, the group name is wind cider bracket challenge, and the password is draft lottery, with no capitals. Best of luck to everyone. Let's hop right back in. Indiana fever, I gave a D, if I'm being I will look, hear me out. Maybe really make any moves. Like I'm judging it based off the moves you make, right? Like, okay, Christy Wallace. You get rid of D rob. Cool. Love it. You add Eric Wheeler. Cool. Love it. But did it really move the needle? Victoria vivians, you resent a mechan. You sign Maya Caldwell. I mean, but like, did they need to move the needle? You're not going to attract top free agent. Top three agents, at least yet. I mean, I'm sure they tried. I'm sure Linda tried to be in those conversations, but you're not getting Courtney van der sloot to go to the fever. So, you know, like, you've got this youthful roster that was thrown into the fire last year. You've got the number one pick. It is, again, we've been saying it forever because you had the effect of everything that happened last few years. But it's now on the trajectory of they've been rebuilding and now they're taking the next step of the rebuild. So I would say this because I know. They'll probably be backlash for this. Why am I giving a positive grade to Atlanta and negative in like a non positive grade to Indiana? And the reason in my perspective right wrong in the middle is that to me, Atlanta took steps in the right direction and Indiana, it almost felt like a stall move, not in a bad way, but like a, we don't, there wasn't somebody that we could get, that would help us truly take a step in the right direction, like a noticeable step I'll say. Because I think Indiana took like baby steps, right? Like, they're not moving in the negative anymore. And that's been the issue for a very long time in the free agency period. I mean, honestly, during the tamika catchings GM era, like that was a huge issue. They were taking steps in the wrong direction. I don't think this team took a step in the wrong direction. So maybe that's a step in the right direction. So maybe I'm just being a jerk. I'll bump it up to a C, a C minus, just hearing me talk it out. You can be neutral with it. That's like what I do with the bees. It's just kind of like be Rachel's one grade nicer than me. LA sparks, I gave him a B plus. Look, they had handy for basically a cap dump. You had Jasmine Thomas. I think that's great. Look, in the sense of we don't have a new coach, you have a sense of a new coach who has experience with her. Good move, you need someone who the coach can trust and can lead. They brought back neck and Sinéad didn't have any questions about that. Lexi brown's back during Canada's back. Look, with the Steph Talbot injury with Katie Lou being pregnant, obviously I think the trajectory of this team this season is different than maybe we would have thought a month ago. Do I think that it impacts their grade that much? I don't think I would give him a B plus anymore because they were definitely like in my mind they started from scratch and if you look at the roster, they built a team that's definitely a playoff team. You include some of these injuries, hiccups, whatever. Obviously as ray Stevens a big signing, I think I would bump it down to a B minus. Just because you lose some of that was day one important players. And to me, like that can't go ignored. Whether or not that's their fault. Well, that's what I'm saying. My thing is that's out of their control. Okay. What were the moves this is just my metric? What were the moves that they made in this first year? LA's been a train wreck the last couple of years. I mean, my God, you know. It was horrible. It's still LA, but like the moves they needed to make this summer needed to be solid, you needed to change the culture. You needed to get solid pieces that were steady prose that know what they're doing that aren't going to have off the court issues, chemistry issues, locker room issues, whatever it may be. You needed to just have solid moves. Now, while Jasmine Thomas, hopefully, is feeling great and a 100% and she's looks awesome to be determined. I like the longevity there. To me, I really, really, really am a fan of the Talbot stuff sucks. The Katie Lou Samuelson stuff, whether that was expected or not. We don't know. Obviously, congrats. Congratulations, big time. That's awesome. But in terms of just the positions that they need, I think that changes what they need for the draft. Really needing to, again, kind of like a Dallas situation. You've got a target people who can stretch the floor and knock down shots. We've been saying this with LA for a couple years now. But I would say them being able to attract a top free agent like azare Stevens was huge at this point. Because let's be honest, outside, of Courtney van der sloot, branna Stewart, it was her.
Winsidr WNBA Show
"courtney van der sloot" Discussed on Winsidr WNBA Show
"Basketball, philosophically, what does a Christie's sides coach team look like? We're going to be the hardest, hardest working practice team in the league. We're going to be, we're going to fight for 40 minutes. We're going to get up and we're going to play some unbelievable defense. We're going to play smart defense. We're going to, we're going to make you work for everything. That you get off us. And as you can hear him out, like defensively is my defense is my passion. And I will believe that as many people try to say, you know, offense offense office, 100%. You got to put the ball in the hole. That's what wins games. I get that, but you also be you're going to have those off night offensively. You will never have an off night defensively. And that is, that is what we're going to hang our head on. We're going to be, I want to be a top 5, 6 different team in the league. That's going to be where we start. And we're going to run. And we're going to teach these guys how to play the game of basketball. We're going to, we're going to teach actions. And we're going to teach our goal is to get the right player, the right shot. And we're going to go into that. We're going to talk roles and responsibilities from the minute we cut our team down. You won't have to worry or think, oh, am I supposed to do this or I'm supposed to do that? Tanisha Rai did something in Atlanta that I will take with me wherever I go. And I've done it before, but not to the level. And we didn't we talked about it every day in Atlanta. And we would we brought each player in. We gave them four roles. Their top four roles talked about it. They knew exactly what we expected. Ron Howard, who was a rookie, decided to get those roles from us. And we talked about him collectively as a group all together. So you were in a room with your teammates, and we went through what each person's role was. And so everyone knows what their job is and there's nothing to think about. And Ron took it upon herself, she printed them up, made it nice. And put it in everybody's locker. And it was easy to talk about those things. You know, at halftime or after a practice, like the players talked about it, like, you know, hey, this person, you know, we need you to do this. This is what your job is and you didn't get this for us today. You didn't do this for us today. And so those are going to be clear. And so toughness, competitiveness, and just a clear understanding of your roles is what a fever team is going to look like and feel like. That's awesome. You know, there's been so much talk of recent. The social media chatter, the Talking Heads of the W is like, oh, it's the era of the super team in the W Rachel and I have kind of taken offense to this because I almost feel like it's insulting to the history of the league because you look at the history of this league and there's been super teams throughout with the comets with seeing people and swoops goes there, Minnesota, Phoenix, Chicago, heck even Detroit. Like you look at that roster and you're like, look at those four players on their like, wow. I'm just curious for you. What are your thoughts on the current direction of the league? I mean, that's just the players are, you said in a minute ago, social media, right? So social media backs during some of those times when it wasn't that big then. So people weren't able to talk so much about certain things you weren't seeing everything going on at the minute that it's happening and people weren't able to you just weren't reading so much. If you weren't more invested or involved in the sport. And so now it's just what people are seeing. And 100% agree with you. This is not anything new. You know? And the players are wanting to win championships. There are players that are finishing up late in their career and they want to end on a good note and their contracts have put them in position where they're able to do that. So look, I just think you have to get on board with what is and has been going on and build relationships and put yourself in a position where you have a chance to get those kind of players. You know, there were some free agents out there. This year that I couldn't even though I drafted Courtney van der sloot and coached her, you know, and I even jokingly reached out because that's, you know, but I wasn't going to get Courtney van der sloot. She's got something else in mind. You know, and so you have to build relationships with these players that and build something incredible that they want to come be a part of. So hopefully in the years to come, Lynn, and I'll be sitting there, you know, visiting those kind of players, you know, to get them to come to Indiana. To win to win the championship that year, you know? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, obviously, the foundation is laid and the steps are being taken. Early, early phases, but there's so many aspects of this too. It's almost like recruiting. You know, you've got to build something that's attractive. You know, the stuff you did with Erica Wheeler, which was so cool. I mean, that just went, I mean, it was really cool to see just the production of that and the time and the energy that was put into making her feel special. I think a huge part of that, I mean, let's talk about I think my time is called mankind life. But now it's called Cambridge. Wasn't there just a massive renovation in what's that like now?
ESPN Daily
"courtney van der sloot" Discussed on ESPN Daily
"It may not seem like much. And it's not going to change the game completely, but it's a start. And for somebody to go with literally one tweet. And spark that conversation to the point where they're really talking about a partial solution. That's a lot of power. That one reagent just wielded. After the break, the precedent in another sport. That might be a path forward. This episode is sponsored by State Farm. Buying insurance can be complicated, and you might have a lot of questions, like what if my policy doesn't cover that, or what if I need to make a claim in the middle of the night? Good news, State Farm is there for all your what ifs. You can reach them 24/7, talk through any questions with your agent, and you can even file a claim on the State Farm mobile app. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Caller go to State Farm dot com to get a quote today. What's the precedent that the WWE is going to lean on here as they try to envision a template and sports business in general for what they're going to try and do? Well, just look at Major League Soccer. Major League Soccer in 2020 they had a new collective bargaining. They had their players had been flying commercially for years, just like the WNBA. And when they signed the new labor contract in 2020, they went to charters. And that league is a little more developed. But if you look at the ratings, the WNBA says, hey, a lot of our ratings are better than the MLS ratings. Why is our broadcast right? And they have several of them. Why are they at this level where the MLS just got a 125 million from Apple? And this is a golden era for media rights deals around professional sports. I mean, you've seen just gigantic numbers. As employees of ESPN, we should be clear about this too that this is part of where we stare directly into the camera and break the fourth wall a little bit. Like the WNBA contractors with ESPN as it happens. It's with ESPN and they have a couple other licensing agreements as well. But generally speaking, ESPN has been the broadcast home of the WNBA. It's where the biggest games on our Internet. And it's been a very good broadcast partner for the league for a long time. So there's going to be an interesting situation coming up both for you as Chan but also other streaming services. How much does the Amazon get involved here? Amazon was, I think, the first streamer to invest in the new NBA. And their rights deals are not on the same order of magnitude as other as other leagues, especially the MLS, Major League Baseball, football, the NBA. Correct. But the WNBA, when you ask them about it, they say, well, look at our ratings. The ratings are pretty good. And so I think it's a bit of a chicken in the egg. Is it because it's on ESPN? It's the biggest platform and it's very time when you're not competing against the NBA or football. Can you sustain local ratings? Do all the teams have a local broadcast partner? That spends money to televise its games? It's a really interesting financial question of what those media rights are. We'll be answered over the next couple of years. And I think that brings us back to Reagan and the super teams that have been constructed in this off season. Right. I mean, this off season has seen the birth of two specific super teams, and it starts with the Las Vegas aces, who are last year's champs, and they have Asia Wilson, Chelsea gray, Kelsey plum, and now Candace Parker, and then the New York liberty are, yeah, stocked with the number one overall pick from a few years ago, Sabrina UNESCO, who is a star. They have Breonna Stewart, who we just discussed, and also they have, by the way, former MVP John called Jones and four time all star Courtney van der sloot, and so it is basically like if both conferences had their own version of, yeah, the KD staff clay, Golden State Warriors. Yeah, the ratings for those finals were gigantic. Okay. Whenever the calves would play the warriors, my name's laid all those years in a row. They did well. People were interested. People love heroes and villains. People love rivalries. Hannah's Parker, who was probably the biggest reason before Brianna Stewart ever leave a team that drafted her and she won a championship with when she went to the Chicago sky a couple years ago, oh, she just left the sky and joined the defending champion in Las Vegas. So now we get to talk about how is Candice Parker and Asia Wilson gonna play together. How are Chelsea gray, Candice Parker? Gonna play together now that you're reunited. What's it gonna be like when the sky plays the ace is like, these are great storylines. No, it feels like Vegas is seeing this inflection point and seizing it. They are spending in all sorts of ways it seems to be the number one team in this reimagined sport. I like how you put that. They are spending it all sorts of ways. Because a little while ago, Howard begged all broke a story about Las Vegas being investigated for possible circumvention of the salary cap. Now we saw this in the NCAA for years and years when people should be paid more or could be paid more by other outside interests. There are ways to pay them more off the books or create a ways to do that. The WNBA I can tell you is investigating the Las Vegas aces for possible circumvention of the salary cap and this issue came up because deer camby, who was traded to Los Angeles sparse while she was pregnant with a little upset about it, felt like promises were made and wrote that an Instagram post promises were made that have that she felt had now been gone back on. Not just because they traded her while she was pregnant, but because this idea promises were made and that's a classic phrase that one would use to hint at what happened to our wink weight, not a deal of how you were going to get me more money because you could only offer me this under the salary cap. And that is from what I understand and ongoing investigation to the point where, look, Mark Davis owns the Las Vegas Raiders. Owned the Las Vegas. They say another guy with one of those billions with a B guys. Okay? Plenty of money. Not in billion years, millionaires, very big difference. This is a really interesting story to follow over the next weeks and months because this super team in Las Vegas they already want a title and then they added Candice Barker. They want a title and then they added quite possibly the perfect player to play alongside Asia Wilson and Chelsea gray, who has already won a title with Chelsea gray. Oh, I would be mad to Ramona. I'd be so mad if I was another competitor in this league, of course. We don't just have two super to use. We have two super teams. Well, a lot of controversy are on them. It's a reason to watch. Yeah, it really is. The soup or team era and
The Her Hoop Stats Podcast
"courtney van der sloot" Discussed on The Her Hoop Stats Podcast
"Like miles you can be the liaison for the liberty and own for the aces. Tie game who takes your last shot? That's a great question. Stewart. So that was quick. Chelsea. Well, here's the thing. I think it's interesting, right? Because the ace is more complicated. I think it's fairly obvious that you want do we taking the last shot if she's on the court for the obvious answer would be, okay, Asia. But the aces are constructed a little differently and Asia's game is different to stewie's game. And I think that is kind of, you know, maybe punting on the question, not a fun answer, but you'd have to, you have to be in the match up, see how it's going, see who's defending who, like, we just watched the playoffs. Chelsea gray was taking those shots for the aces. Which is not indictment of Asia. Asia was, I had one of the best playoff defensive performances I've ever seen. She was eating on the glass. She played amazing offensively from a scoring perspective, you know, in many of those games. But when it came down to the end of the game, there's no better one on one bucket getter in this league than Chelsea gray. And ultimately, it's a real luxury to have Chelsea gray on your team and also be like, oh yeah, we also have Candace and Asia in the front court. Like in case we want to, oh yeah, we also have Kelsey plum, who, by the way, can just snipe from anywhere. We also have Jackie young, who's like, you know, in assassin everywhere she goes. It's ridiculous. It breaks my brain, thinking about this matchup every day. Well, yeah, I was gonna say that I was way too fast to answer because as I'm listening to you break it down, I think that comes down to a stewy Sabrina pick and roll. And then reading the defense there. But back in 2021, sab took some of those shots, but I should take a lot of those shots too. She's someone who can generate her own her own looks at any time. JJ seals deeper than maybe anybody else in the league. So if you're looking for you just need two points, you could just clear out, you could space stewie, right? And you can clear out, get a deep two JJ. We were all there, sorry, except for Calvin. We were there in Brooklyn when Courtney van der sloot hit a game winner. She had a few game when his Australian three gaming threes last year. The heart out of the Barclays center that day, like that was made. Also miles is too nice. Benign lady legend I love her. She's not getting the last shot of this TV. I disagree. I think look back at that playoff series last year. Look back at that playoff series, especially that game three. She took some big shots in that series. And no disrespect, she's a clutch player, like she's great. I think her best offense comes off of other actions. I don't think she makes a ton of sense as the number one option. The play that I can't wait to see is John quill and stewie setting staggered screens for Sabrina. Yeah. Going in different directions. A screen on a play. You just, there's so many ways you could play off that. You could have one role one part. You know, there's so many different variations of that set that's going to be just absolutely ridiculous. More than that. I want to see Cal, I just want to see the two of them out there now with Sabrina, but with marine. I want to see that. Yes. I want to see marine with literally anyone, really. But I feel like the better way to phrase that question though based on what you guys are all saying isn't like who's taking the last shot, but who has the ball in their hands at the end? Oh, yeah. So it might not. Be the same thing. You know, when you have a Sabrina or a Chelsea gray who can, if you completely sell out on them, go find someone in all four other players on the court for both of them are going to be able to hit that shot if you sell out on anyone else. So the answer is like, who knows who's taking that last shot? But who has the ball in their hands at the end? It's definitely Chelsea gray for the aces. I think for the liberty. Yeah, I think Chelsea makes it easier for the aces to answer that question. But the real answer, though, is we won't know until Sabrina has her dream the night before opening night. And then once it goes to bed and dreams about who will hit the game winner, only then will we know? Well, I mean, opening night, they're playing the fever again. And I don't want to play the whole set the line thing, but I imagine it's going to be, I imagine I just wanted to be something ridiculous that we can't bet on. We're going to see college basketball lines in the WNBA. The highest number I don't think we had a line in the 20s last year ever. I don't think but we might. Yeah. 19 opening the highest. It feels like it feels like the liberty are always playing the fever opening night. But I think it was the last, I think it was the home opener last year, but then there was the Tierra Macau and year where she hid that put back on opening night and now we're giving them again. It was like the Barclays opener a couple of years ago. It just weird scheduling. But yeah, that's aliyah Boston's first game potentially. And now it's going to be the total opposite. I mean, good for Leah Boston. Garrett great experience playing against John quill Jones and stewie your first game in the W obviously, everyone listening should know that she is not a member of the Indiana fever yet. We're just making a broad assumption that she's going to be the number one pick. Speaking of picks, I know let's wrap up here pretty quickly. We got some college games to watch. Who do you have in your top three? And give me the order. I know that Owen and I definitely differ. On this and I love having Calvin on here because I don't think there's anybody who's watched more college basketball than in Calvin wetzel. But I'll start with my three number one Leah Boston. Two, I'm taking diamond Miller. Three, I'm going Hayley Jones. Yeah, I mean, I can't disagree with that. And I have to say, I'm way outmatched in terms of the numbers of hours of college basketball. You guys watch. Versus myself. So I'm just here to, I'm just here with the vibes report, you know? And the vibes report has Haley Jones as the number two overall. But look, I love diamond Miller. I think I'm in Miller's games incredible. I think that if Minnesota took diamond Miller, no one could critique that at all. What's that? It's a win win with either of those players. It's a real win win. And I think that diamond Miller's ceiling is astronomically high. I think something I'm watching in her progression in her growth is people are going at the next level, professional defenders are going to anticipate diamond Miller using her length to her advantage, which she does so brilliantly in college with these really long Euro steps, et cetera. And it's not to say she doesn't have moves, but I think she's going to need to add a certain extra level to her offensive game to score in tight confines. But that's just growing pains that anyone has. Personally, I'm just really high on Hailey Jones. I think that people have kind of forgotten how dominant she was in the final four when Stanford won the title. There are definitely concerns about will she be able to score it the next level, her three point shooting hasn't been very good in college. Stanford players other than the aguma kays like, can you be successful professionally? We haven't seen it from a lot of Stanford players. You know, coming from Tara's system. And ultimately, I'm like, I just trust her. She just seems like someone who is going to figure it out. She's so smart. She's such a good concert. That's a type of player I'm going to bet on every time. So I'd still take Hayley to, but taking diamond to his entirely defensible. Do y'all have a player comp right now for Haley Jones? It could be NBA too. I don't care. I'm just trying to, I mean, like the IQ is there the handle is like good enough. Obviously the outside shot maybe not there, but I'm trying to figure out who I would kind of put that player comp to, it doesn't ring a bell for me. But there's a lot of similarities, I think, two nafisa Collier in the way that she approaches the game, not defensively, not doing all the same stuff.
The Her Hoop Stats Podcast
"courtney van der sloot" Discussed on The Her Hoop Stats Podcast
"It's in the margins. My first thought went to defense on the perimeter. When you've got Sabrina and Courtney van der sloot, they're not going to a lot of opponents are not going to look at that and be scared on that end of the court, right? And you've got behind them, though, you've got Briana Stewart, you've got JJ, so your next thought is, okay, if they get beat on the perimeter, I have two all W defenders that are capable of stepping up. But you can have some imbalance there if you're constantly pulling one or both of them away from the rim to help. If you're putting them at the switching actions, that's where I think, though, the addition of halo Thornton comes in where. But angelini, because B has been forgotten by so many people in this off season. And I think it's recency bias as some of it, right? Because she was injured for a lot of last year. And I don't think people always kind of watch her defensive game as much as they watch her offensive. And but her strength and her switchability, having her and Kayla as these wing defenders because they did lose Beck Allen in all of these moves this off season. It allows you to put them on to whomever you need to on a given. On a given night, if a rique is cooking, switch B over there, you can hide Sabrina. You can hide slew a little bit. Kelsey Mitchell's generating a lot of fevers offense, then you bring Kayla Thornton into the game. And I think that those options says something that sandy brondello showed that she was very willing to do last year was to kind of make some of those adjustments on the fly to she didn't do those like hockey substitutions where there was 5 in 5 out. So if you've got one of JJ or stewie, always at your back line and then you can mix and match a little bit based on what's happening in that game. They've got depth to do that and that depth is sometimes players that don't need the ball in their hands quite so much. Han was very efficient last year. KT is a very efficient player. Didi is going to be coming off of the bench and hopefully we're finally getting a healthy season out of her. But she's someone else who doesn't need the ball in her hands to make a difference. She's a very, very strong cutter. She makes a lot of smart decisions. And she's not, she's putting most of her energy onto the defensive end. So they've got some players and then we could talk about if marine Johannes gets here and then what that brings because then it's this beautiful free flowing offense. I think a lot of their weaknesses can be covered up because they've got this talent that can score with anybody. But I think that for me and I know there's going to be a little bit of bias here. That's kind of where that separation comes in for me because yes, the aces have made some moves, but the liberty and we don't know their final roster construction yet. There's still probably another move to be made. But right now, we're looking at the starting 5 with 5 all stars, and then behind them, you've got potentially honshu at the 5, Steph Olsen at the fore, Kayla Thornton at the three DD at the two epiphany prints at the one until marine comes over, and then you've got another roster spot where it's Jocelyn Willoughby. And seek a kone all coming into camp to maybe fight for one more spot. That's a roster that's 11 deep. And that's a roster that can that second team can hang with almost every team in this league. So it's not just a top heavy roster. That's scary. I mean, you kind of just hit on it already, but when Daniel brought up the aces bench last year, that's something I always think about is like everyone talks about like have we seen super teams they're not like we have seen super teams before. The aces were a super team, but the ace is starting lineup wasn't super teeth. Their bench was not at all. And I guess I'm interested in your thoughts, how much because we look at the aces last year, like all the starters, you know, when they were healthy, we're playing 30 three minutes a game or whatever it was, which they should have been because that's how they had to win games, but how much do you see sandy using the bench this year compared to maybe what the aces did last year or just any other team really? Any other super team that we've seen? I think if they hit the season with healthy bodies, which last year the liberty and a lot of teams, really. But the liberty, especially that first month of the season looking back, there was a point where they had to cancel a preseason game because they only had 5 players. It took them a while to gel and with a new coaching staff that made it kind of hard to find those rotations to work people in people coming over late and all of that this year, even if you have marine come over late, she's been there already, right? Even if you have a player that's in or out of the lineup, likely they've been there already, even the players that are coming into the system now have played with other people. And I think that's part of bringing in people that are all stars is that they've been on these Olympic teams together or playing overseas with one another. I don't know how deep you can go with this rotation because you can go ten deep. You really can. I just don't know if it's super smart. But if you want this lineup to be, if you want this lineup, this first 5 to be ready to go at playoff time. Any given night, this team will be favored, right? Outside of those four games against the aces. So a deeper rotation makes sense, especially we're seeing a 40 game season this year. So it's still compressed, but they're going to need to make sure that everybody is healthy, come fall when they really need everyone. Scary. I mean, I know Calvin and I know all about speak of cone. We've done a lot of money. Oh yeah. Molly for the win. She's fantastic. And she's also playing really well right now overseas. So I think she's averaging something like 17 and 14. It's something silly. I mean, I can't wait. I mean, I feel like you were probably at practice a lot. I feel like practice is going to be kind of must see here in New York. Before we jump into the super team across the country, I want to ask Calvin because I mean, I've been thinking about pulling the trigger here and there on some futures in the WNBA. I mean, from what you've seen, Cal where do you think there's value in who is being underlooked? As far as contenders go in the league, I mean, I know everyone's being underlooked, but who do you think we should be giving some glances at? You mean outside of the aces and liberty? Yeah. And if it's nobody then, all right, I'll save some money. Well, like the correct answer is nobody, but that's boring. So I'll give you an answer just for our listeners. I think the mystics, if you had to choose someone, the mystics are probably the only team that I could see hanging with the liberty in the aces for anything more than a random hot shooting night, you know, a three game series or 5 game series. They're not going to win one, but I could see the mystics picking up a game against either of those teams in a 5 game series. And the thing about the mystics is they're going to be so good. They might be better defensively than either of those two teams with at least with their best defensive unit on the court. I don't know if there'll be as deep defensively, but what they've added like they brought in Brittany Sykes. They already had the best defense in the league last year. If you catch a team on a cold shooting night and you're locking them down with Shakira Austin on the back line, anytime you do get beat off the dribble, which is never going to happen
The Her Hoop Stats Podcast
"courtney van der sloot" Discussed on The Her Hoop Stats Podcast
"Back with another episode of dice it up or her hoop stats podcast. Ice is not with me today. She's off in Australia. It's game day for her, so good luck. We're recording this on February 13th. Day before Valentine's Day, so I brought in my love, Calvin wetzel, to co host with me. My guy from spread the floor. And we have an awesome set of guests a couple of guys from Brooklyn who started a podcast, could be talking about anybody if you're listening right now, but miles are like Owen Pence from wind cider to guys who Calvin and I probably talked to you mostly every day about women's college basketball and WNBA, both on the liberty bee constantly. I know Owen kind of floats everywhere as well. But guys, thanks for coming on and congrats on starting your own podcast. That's called the pull up correct. Yeah, pull up with miles and Owen. We are part of the wind insider podcast network. Owen and I, first of all, thanks for having us. Great to see your face because normally I'm just texting you all day. But yeah, Owen and I started this podcast. We've been at Windsor for a couple of years now. Him a year longer than me, I think. And this has been kind of a while coming. We've been talking about it, floating it for a while, but it feels great to have it out there, our first official episode dropped last week with Caleb Thornton, one of the newest players on the liberty. And yeah, we're going to get into all of their moves. But it's been a really cool and fulfilling experience. We've got some big stuff planned. You know, it's all right. Like, I don't know. It's just whatever, I guess. No, it's great. Thank you for having us on super fun talking hoops. Love it. Love that. Yeah, listen to Caleb Thornton episode, loved it. We'll throw a link to that description. This episode, and it's funny. It's like, oh, one of the newest members of the liberty, you forget how many new people are on this team. Kind of the topic of conversation with all WNBA circles. They're probably took over Twitter for a couple of days, along with the aces, but let's jump in there. I mean, we're going to be seeing one of the greatest teams. Maybe assembled ever. Firsthand, so we are going to be at Barclays firsthand. Well, three of us at least because we are New Yorkers. Give us a recap real quickly about what the liberty have done for those who are listening and don't know about this new look super team that Jonathan Cole was put together. Yeah. They have had maybe the best off season of any team in WNBA history. And I think that because of the fact that it's a hard salary cap sport, you could even make the argument based on the constraints that the WNBA has. This could be the most impressive off season that we've seen. And I know that sounds like hyperbole. But when you look at it, it's a team that's going from the fringe of postseason contention to co favorite with defending champs. And coming into the off season, I don't think the liberty were one piece away. There were all the rumors about they would add breanna Stewart. But Brianna Stewart, I think just adding her would have elevated them from a 7 or an 8 seed to a top four. But then they added not just terror former MVP, but they also brought in John Paul Jones, the 2021 MVP. They brought in Courtney van der sloot, who is always at the top of the assist per game numbers. They brought in Kayla Thornton, who we've talked about, who's going to be a really big piece. And the pieces that they sent out were big parts of the team, but this is still just I'm watching you smile, Dana, because these are just, we're going to see 5 all stars taking the court on a daily night. And on paper, obviously we don't know how it's all going to work out. But it just looks fantastic from where they are to where they're going to be come opening night. Let's see, I remember a year ago after a game, having a beer, epic man's with miles and Owen talking about, you know, like, what is the real potential of this team? And you'll floated the idea of stewie coming here for this 2023 season. And it always seemed like a pipe dream, but you know, like you said, you make that move, that's great, but to get all the pieces they did, you know, obviously involved Courtney taking less money, bringing a steward taking less money, this roster stacked. I don't want to say top to bottom because every team has weaknesses. We've seen that with the Vegas aces last year. They probably had that bench issue, but as you see the liberty now and it's hard to say because they haven't played as a complete roster together. We're not even close to camp yet, but what do you see might be some weaknesses from this New York liberty team? I'm going to take this one. I'll keep on answering all the liberty questions. I'm happy to. I'd love for you to take this one because this is like when you're taking the test in high school and you have to argue with the answer. I mean, I mean, everyone's talking about them being like the absolute lock of a favorite. I mean, shout out to everybody on this podcast right now. I think we all have some big liberty tickets at plus 7 50 or higher. I think they're now down to plus one 60, one 35 to win it all. It's crazy. So, I mean, with that, you expect a team to be like almost perfect if you're almost even favorite to win the entire league. Yeah, I think that's the thing. When you look at it, everything sounds like it should make sense because they have talent at every position.