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Post by dreamfan12 on Dec 19, 2023 1:16:56 GMT -5
I am baffled by the lack of interest in Cardoso. She averages 14 and 11 on 62% shooting, blocks 3.5 shots a game, and runs the floor like a player four inches smaller. She even has more assists than turnovers. After Clark, I'd flip a coin between Brink and Cardoso. Bueckers next, even with the injury risk, and then ... well, the dropoff starts there. I'm just not a believer in Rickea Jackson (almost twice as many turnovers as assists last year). She looks like Jordan Horston to me, in terms of her impact, and Horston is a nice rotation player, and maybe a starter down the line. Rickea is actually a very gifted offensive player, something Horston has never been.
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Post by clayk on Dec 19, 2023 10:12:03 GMT -5
Gifted offensive players don't turn the ball over twice as many times as they get assists. She might be a gifted scorer, but that's a different thing.
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Post by pilight on Dec 19, 2023 20:45:56 GMT -5
I'm shocked that everyone thinks Bueckers is coming out. I think she wants to play a 4th season and she wants to play with Fudd for more than a handful of games.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2023 1:18:58 GMT -5
with Fudd tearing her right meniscus a first time & her right ACL a second time, after tearing it the first time along with her MCL in 2019, it’s not a guarantee that Fudd will return at any point of the 2024-25 season. iirc that knee of hers was banged up throughout her first two collegiate seasons. this newest incident allegedly happened while she was merely practicing her shooting.
we all know Bueckers has always wanted to team up with Fudd, but some things just aren’t meant to be. one has to wonder if that’s weighing on at least Bueckers' mind these days.
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Post by toad455 on Dec 20, 2023 5:14:26 GMT -5
I'm shocked that everyone thinks Bueckers is coming out. I think she wants to play a 4th season and she wants to play with Fudd for more than a handful of games. she's in everyone's mocks currently because she'd be a top 3 pick. Her, Reese and Amoore are my most likely to not enter the draft that I had in my first round.
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Post by dreamfan12 on Dec 20, 2023 12:54:39 GMT -5
Gifted offensive players don't turn the ball over twice as many times as they get assists. She might be a gifted scorer, but that's a different thing. Changes nothing I said. I also don’t need my wings focusing on Passing/assists. That’s not her job. Y’all always talk about how great Caitlin is supposed to be, but ignore how terrible she is as a defender. And how she struggles with physicality. Rude awakening coming for her in the league. She won’t be getting away with any push offs then.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2023 13:28:56 GMT -5
if Bueckers doesn’t turn pro in 2024, she may as well fully exhaust her college eligibility by not turning pro until 2026. she’d likely be the consensus #1 Pick in that draft – if healthy, of course – and she’d probably make as much if not more money staying at UConn playing a less rigorous schedule than potentially playing year-round as a pro, let alone only in the W.
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Post by clayk on Dec 20, 2023 16:29:44 GMT -5
Clark at least tried on defense last year, which was a step up ... but she'll never be a defensive demon. She can score, though. She's more athletic than Sabrina, and though Sabrina can't defend either, I think the Dream would find a spot for either on their roster.
Bueckers is in an unusual position. History suggests her career will be brief, so it might make more sense for her to play at UConn for one more year, and make as much as she would have in Europe and the W combined. She doesn't lose anything by staying, and the training and PT facilities will be better at UConn. Plus the limit on practice time can only help her.
Then again, she may be thinking that if she's only got a few years before her knees give out, maybe she should see how she measures up against the big girls. The quality of play would be higher, and if she comes out of this year healthy, she might give it a shot.
I have to think, though, that logic and the dollars point to her staying in school. Getting a master's on UConn's dime is not a bad move, no matter what profession she pursues down the road.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2023 18:50:51 GMT -5
regarding Clark: as with most conventional pro leagues, offense is generally-speaking valued in the W more than defense. better to be a defensive liability who can always be leaned on to get some buckets rather than a defensive specialist who can’t make a jump shot to save their life.
regarding Bueckers: i feel like her turning pro in a crowded 2025 talent pool, rather than turning pro in 2024 or 2026, would be a commitment to a 'no-man’s land'-type situation. or hey, maybe she stalls turning pro merely on the off chance that her hometown Lynx become a lottery team in either 2025 or 2026 – not that it’s too late for them to acquire a lotto pick in 2024…
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Post by toad455 on Dec 20, 2023 20:29:18 GMT -5
I think if Bueckers remains healthy until the 2025 draft, she's a lock as the #1 pick.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2023 17:23:00 GMT -5
I think if Bueckers remains healthy until the 2025 draft, she's a lock as the #1 pick. imo it’ll depend on who turns pro this year. if Clark, Brink, and Cardoso all do, then probably. if any one of them don’t, then we’ll see. otherwise, the only other PG prospect who could give Bueckers a run for her money in specifically 2025 is Olivia Miles, but with Hannah Hidalgo now running the show in Miles' absence, Miles may have to transfer to be able to fully showcase her skills…
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2023 17:25:24 GMT -5
i wonder if 2024 being an Olympic year may impact players' decisions. no pressure/expectations to crack the Team USA roster if you’re still enrolled in school.
the only one who might be a lock whether she’s turned pro by then or not is Caitlin Clark.
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Post by awhom111 on Dec 21, 2023 22:36:15 GMT -5
i wonder if 2024 being an Olympic year may impact players' decisions. no pressure/expectations to crack the Team USA roster if you’re still enrolled in school. the only one who might be a lock whether she’s turned pro by then or not is Caitlin Clark. I don't think that college players have any real chance at Team USA this time around. If Iowa does not make the Final Four, I could see Clark getting invited to the April camp, but there are way too many people who have recent World Cup or training camp experience and twelve players will be playing the three February games. Assuming they follow recent precedent, the team will be announced before the WNBA season even starts.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 22, 2023 1:52:05 GMT -5
i wonder if 2024 being an Olympic year may impact players' decisions. no pressure/expectations to crack the Team USA roster if you’re still enrolled in school. the only one who might be a lock whether she’s turned pro by then or not is Caitlin Clark. I don't think that college players have any real chance at Team USA this time around. If Iowa does not make the Final Four, I could see Clark getting invited to the April camp, but there are way too many people who have recent World Cup or training camp experience and twelve players will be playing the three February games. Assuming they follow recent precedent, the team will be announced before the WNBA season even starts. come to think of it, i guess i forgot how stacked the guard spot is these days – Gray, Plum, Ionescu (perhaps i'm still trying to block out the events of the 2023 Finals)... i'm gettin' got by the Clark hype in real time i fear whoops! can't just be named Sue Bird or Diana Taurasi and simply find where your name placard is at the Big Kids' Table anymore... at least i hope not! (*cough cough* retire *cough cough* Taurasi *cough*)
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Post by toad455 on Dec 22, 2023 7:20:39 GMT -5
i wonder if 2024 being an Olympic year may impact players' decisions. no pressure/expectations to crack the Team USA roster if you’re still enrolled in school. the only one who might be a lock whether she’s turned pro by then or not is Caitlin Clark. I don't think that college players have any real chance at Team USA this time around. If Iowa does not make the Final Four, I could see Clark getting invited to the April camp, but there are way too many people who have recent World Cup or training camp experience and twelve players will be playing the three February games. Assuming they follow recent precedent, the team will be announced before the WNBA season even starts. Clark has about a 0.01% chance to make the Olympic team for 2024. There's 3 spots available from the 2020/2021 roster. Bird, Fowles & Charles' spots. Two posts and a guard. I'd bet Taurasi makes her way onto the roster again. Clark's odds hinder on Diggins-Smith wanting to play again and whether Atkins can make the roster again. Other guards to make the roster: Kahleah Copper, Ogunbowale, Jackie Young, Rhyne Howard, Betnijah Laney. Alyssa Thomas, Aliyah Boston & Shakira Austin should get one of the available post slots. Copper, Laney, Thomas & Austin were all on the 2022 FIBA World Cup roster.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 23, 2023 22:06:34 GMT -5
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Post by toad455 on Dec 24, 2023 8:30:10 GMT -5
Incredibly guard heavy draft. It's also shocking how thin this draft is on SFs.
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Post by lynxmania on Dec 24, 2023 10:06:45 GMT -5
thanks for putting that together @stormeo
good PG options. Not don’t love the rest of the 2/3s
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2023 15:53:44 GMT -5
Incredibly guard heavy draft. It's also shocking how thin this draft is on SFs. last year's draft had lots of SFs; glad we got one then. thanks for putting that together @stormeo good PG options. don’t love the rest of the 2/3s always seems like it's quantity over quality with the selection of off-guards in each draft – in that way, 2024's doesn't feel different to me. no, to me, what stands out is this year's center group; i think there's something to like about a vast majority of them – yes, even Kitley lolz. even if all of who can go back to school next fall do so, there'd still be a good 3-4 names on there whom i think have shown promise. the more i consider Cardoso as a prospect, the more i hope she's there for the Storm to pick at 4. we need to take one of these posts, as there [always] should be a halfway-decent lead guard available in the second round. but Cardoso i think is one of those rare prospects who'll really show her stuff more in the pros than she does now at the college level.
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Post by WBBDaily on Dec 25, 2023 7:30:26 GMT -5
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