Not really good news for the Wings. NT duty for Turkey may soak up a lot of her time. I seem to recall Stokes was on the Turkish NT and sat out the 2019 season when she was with the Liberty due to her Turkish NT.
Though we can't necessarily assume McCowan even wants to come back to and re-sign with Dallas, despite it being the closest team by far to her home city of Houston.
I don't always understand why these Americans do it – every case is different, and the money aspect of it all has something to do with it for sure – but still. Nevertheless, it's just another thing in the American Professional Women's Basketball World that occurs and has to be navigated. If she has to miss time, she has to miss time. It's the W, everyone involved from the franchise down to the fanbases is used to it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Though we can't necessarily assume McCowan even wants to come back to and re-sign with Dallas, despite it being the closest team by far to her home city of Houston.
I don't always understand why these Americans do it – every case is different, and the money aspect of it all has something to do with it for sure – but still. Nevertheless, it's just another thing in the American Professional Women's Basketball World that occurs and has to be navigated. If she has to miss time, she has to miss time. It's the W, everyone involved from the franchise down to the fanbases is used to it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
It is "nothing new", except for prioritization. She has already signed with a Turkish team. I think she may well decide (or have to decide) that her future is best played (and payed) in Turkey rather than in the WNBA. Obviously, that's not a big deal to the WNBA overall as would be the case with Stewart, or bigger names, but it's just one more reason she may not suit up for the Wings next year (or in 24 should Turkey make the Olympics.)
Though we can't necessarily assume McCowan even wants to come back to and re-sign with Dallas, despite it being the closest team by far to her home city of Houston.
I don't always understand why these Americans do it – every case is different, and the money aspect of it all has something to do with it for sure – but still. Nevertheless, it's just another thing in the American Professional Women's Basketball World that occurs and has to be navigated. If she has to miss time, she has to miss time. It's the W, everyone involved from the franchise down to the fanbases is used to it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
It is "nothing new", except for prioritization. She has already signed with a Turkish team. I think she may well decide (or have to decide) that her future is best played (and payed) in Turkey rather than in the WNBA. Obviously, that's not a big deal to the WNBA overall as would be the case with Stewart, or bigger names, but it's just one more reason she may not suit up for the Wings next year (or in 24 should Turkey make the Olympics.)
For all veteran players who play overseas as it relates to Prioritization, regardless of if they're on some country's National Team or not: They'll either be able to play in the W or they won't. For players like McCowan now, yes, they'll likely miss some games somewhere in the middle of the season – but only if they're even able to show up in the first place. I guess I view the National Team thing as completely secondary and not worth worrying about at this point since it doesn't actually prevent them from partaking in the WNBA season itself – unlike Prioritization.
For example, I don't think Gabby Williams being on the French National Team itself is bad for her WNBA career – she played this past season after having played in Hungary while still being on the French NT – but I think her playing for a French-League team is solely what'll keep her out of the W.
Last Edit: Sept 27, 2022 13:49:22 GMT -5 by Deleted
I pretty much agree stormeo. Be interesting to see which team ends up better in the next two-three seasons. While Wings were better than LA last year and are starting with a lot more talent (and fewer problems) this year, LA has the appeal to be able to draw the best talent. My guess is the Wings will lose some of the players they have now to FA, while LA will be adding talent (and they need to because they have very players under contract.) I'm betting in 3 years LA will be a contender while Dallas will be starting a rebuild under yet another new coach.
Maybe this helps Marina Mabrey re-sign, since I believe Trammell was a Sparks AC as far back as 2019, Mabrey's lone year in LA as a rookie.
Otherwise, Trammell's known as being defense-oriented in her coaching. How then will she address the problem with Ogunbowale on the other end? That could be an interesting dynamic to watch play out, though with this hiring I'm not as optimistic. I still think Ogunbowale just needs to take like 3-5 fewer (bad) shots per game in order to be at her most effective offensively.
Not me coming in here and thinking this was a good hire to find all the negativity.
Trammell has been interviewing for a while and she got one. I think she’ll have more discipline and an actual rotation than the previous coach.
There's definitely a chance this works out. I do hope Trammell is indeed The One for these Wings – it's high time for them to stop being so mediocre.
However, there's mostly still uncertainty with this hire since she'll be a first-time WNBA HC.
Therein lies the point: If the Wings were a 'destination' job and/or a well-put-together organization, one could argue they could've pulled off what the Sparks did by hiring away Curt Miller.
The opposite argument is, getting the right HC is all a crapshoot anyway.
It's simply that the Wings haven't had any success since moving to Dallas. Granted their years in Tulsa were worse. Bibb just sucks at his job and keeping top players there.
Even if Trammel is a good coaching prospect, the problem lies in the mistakes Bibb has already made. The Wings have 10 players under contract, and 364 k in cap space. Alarie, Harris and Sabaly are on protected rookie contracts. It's understandable that Sabaly is protected, but Alarie and Harris are paid 83k each. The Wings probably don't have the cap space to sign all 3 of their FAs: Harrison (UFA), Mabry (RFA) and McCowan (RFA), unless they cut Collier and Awak. Even then if a few teams throw enough money at Mabry and McCowan they may be unable to keep one or both of those players.
Also, the Wings will likely have trouble even keeping their No. 11 FRP. Bottom line - being cap strapped means the Wings may lose 1-3 of their 2022 rotation players making it hard to do as well as they did this year.
The more teams involved in a trade, the more there tends to be moving pieces. Look at the 5-team trade from 2021 involving Minnesota, Phoenix, Seattle, New York, and Dallas.
In a vacuum: Chicago needs pieces, Dallas has too many, and New York has clear needs as well as too many pieces themselves.