The Lynx currently have a pretty flexible assembly of posts in Napheesa Collier, Alanna Smith and Dorka Juhasz, all of whom can play (or in Dorka's case back up) multiple positions. While I think that they need at least one more post, she might take the form of Maia Hirsch, if she decides to come over. If not, there are a number of players who might be signed as free agents, two of whom, Natalie Achonwa and Alaina Coates, previously played for the Lynx, and one of whom, Amanda Zahui B., played college ball at the University of Minnesota. While Achonwa was pretty much a disaster at $155,000, I would not be opposed to re-signing her or one of the other free agent posts in a back-up role at around the veteran's minimum, and I think that is something the Lynx might accomplish if they simply wait.
If they instead try to address the post situation through the draft, I think that Kamila Cardoso and Aaliyah Edwards will both be gone, even assuming that they both come out, before the seventh pick rolls around. Pili might be available, but she is an unusual prospect, and I have real questions about who she is going to guard. Perhaps Angel Reese slips to 7, assuming that she even comes out, but I think that the better strategy is to try to address the need for a post through free agency and the need for another guard through the draft.
The last message was in reply to Toad455. Stormeo, we agree on the ranking of the SGs. Who would you rate more highly, Osborne or PaoPao?
Paopao without a doubt – more of a PG, better shooter, more potential imo. Osborne’s better defensively, but she still looks like another Zia Cooke to me offensively.
and i agree, they should add a free agent post on the cheap instead of drafting another center. that wouldn’t jibe with Juhász, who maybe would take it as a slight, and i wouldn’t blame her. you don’t want two young players fighting over playing time for the same position, that wouldn’t be good for team culture afaic.
Personally, I go back and forth on who is the better guard prospect, Paopao or Osborne. Paopao is better at running an offense, a useful skill, but her biggest advantage over Osborne is as a shooter, particularly from distance. With the exception of her sophomore year, she has never shot worse than about 40% from three-point range, and this year her three-point percentage is approaching 50%. Largely because of this, her effective field goal percentages have been 51.7% as a freshman, 44.2% as a sophomore, 54.8% as a junior, and a ridiculous 62.6% this year. By way of comparison, Osborne has shot a much more pedestrian 33.3%, 34.0%, 33.1%, and 29.2% from distance, before finally knocking down 36.8% of her threes this year. Largely as a result, her effective field goal percentage has never topped 50% except as a fifth-year player.
Still, while Paopao is much better from deep, Osborne is much better defensively. I think that she is also more athletic than Paopao, and perhaps because of this, I wonder whether it is easier for Osborne to improve her shooting than it is for Paopao, with less athleticism, to improve her defense. I don't know--as I said, I go back and forth.
At any rate, if the Lynx are unable to draft Sheldon due to her being taken in the top six, I guess that I will be happy with either Paopao or Osborne at 7.
On the question of which position to address through free agency and which position to address through the draft, I think that it would also be nice, because the Lynx have two young front court players in Diamond Miller and Dorka Juhasz, and because they also have another young front court player in waiting in Maia Hirsch, to at least try to add a little youth in the back court through the draft.
I have my doubts about Sheldon. She does have a high steals' percentage, which NBA scouts always like, but she also only goes left, but doesn't appear to have much of a left hand. I question whether she will be able to score in the W.
Paopao might have the highest ceiling because players, if they work at it, become better defenders as they transition from being a rookie to being a veteran. And she's a pure point guard who can shoot -- plus she's strong. Then again, she could be a disaster defensively her first couple years, and if so, she's unplayable.
As for Osborne, her shooting and A/TO are much better this year than earlier. Is that real and sustainable? If so, she's the better pick. If not, she too moves down to the end of the bench.
Osborne was dealing with a shoulder injury last year, which was not only her worst shooting from three, but also (aside from her freshman year) the one in which she posted her worst assist to turnover ratio. I don't know how much her shoulder injury impacted on her performance last season, but perhaps there is some reason to hope that her performance this year is "real and sustainable," even if trending downward, at least in terms of shooting, from the start of the season.
P.S.--She started the season, through UCLA's game against UConn, shooting 20 of 36 from three, so I guess that it was pretty much inevitable that her three-point percentage would be trending down as the season progressed.
Osborne’s having something of a career year, but her shooting numbers have only gotten progressively worse as the season has gone on. let’s see what they are this time next month or so. she hasn’t exactly been able to light it up since her star teammate Lauren Betts went out.
The Lynx currently have a pretty flexible assembly of posts in Napheesa Collier, Alanna Smith and Dorka Juhasz, all of whom can play (or in Dorka's case back up) multiple positions. While I think that they need at least one more post, she might take the form of Maia Hirsch, if she decides to come over. If not, there are a number of players who might be signed as free agents, two of whom, Natalie Achonwa and Alaina Coates, previously played for the Lynx, and one of whom, Amanda Zahui B., played college ball at the University of Minnesota. While Achonwa was pretty much a disaster at $155,000, I would not be opposed to re-signing her or one of the other free agent posts in a back-up role at around the veteran's minimum, and I think that is something the Lynx might accomplish if they simply wait.
If they instead try to address the post situation through the draft, I think that Kamila Cardoso and Aaliyah Edwards will both be gone, even assuming that they both come out, before the seventh pick rolls around. Pili might be available, but she is an unusual prospect, and I have real questions about who she is going to guard. Perhaps Angel Reese slips to 7, assuming that she even comes out, but I think that the better strategy is to try to address the need for a post through free agency and the need for another guard through the draft.
Hirsch has a long term injury after also dealing with an injury last summer and when playing has not exactly shown that she is ready to contribute much at the highest levels. I always thought that it was a little weird that they picked her 12, but it actually helped save them money after they were still able to get Juhasz at 16.
I knew that she hadn't appeared in recent games for her club in France. I did not know that she was injured. In his latest Lynx Offseason Update for Canis Hoopus, Mitchell Hansen reports:
Hirsch continues to play in France for Villeneuve d’Ascq this offseason as we wait to see if she makes the move to join the Lynx and the WNBA in 2024.
Over the past week, Villeneuve d’Ascq had two games on the schedule, an 85-72 win over Polkowice on Jan. 30 and a 91-66 victory over La Roche on Feb. 2. However, Hirsch again didn’t appear in either of those games, last appearing in a game on Dec. 13.
So far this offseason, Hirsch has averaged 7.0 points and 3.3 rebounds over 18.2 minutes in nine France-LFB games, also tallying 5.0 points, 2.3
rebounds and 0.9 assists over 16.5 minutes in eight EuroLeague contests.
...bit of a surprise, is she not on their National Team?
Yeah, it's an odd signing. Bizarre timing.
it’s made even more odd when one sees her current stats from Turkey listed in the Lynx’s press release… cuz it ain’t pretty. 🫣 she must have an ‘in’ in the Lynx organization.
It's unlikely that she makes the final roster, not with Courtney Williams and Natisha Hiedeman both available to play the point. Maybe Reeve is just taking the opportunity to get a closer look at her during training camp, in case there's an injury to Williams or Hiedeman during the season and they need to bring in an emergency replacement midseason in order to take some minutes at the 1.
there were/are just soooooo many better overseas options. Époupa’s got no chance of making it, and if somehow she does, it’ll warrant a sizable side-eye…
It is possible that the Lynx front office got stuck in a time warp. At her peak, Epoupa was probably the fastest good international point guard. Unfortunately, that peak is many years ago now and, as highlighted, she is now a deep bench option on the club level for teams needing an experienced European player who does mind not being able to play domestic games. It would have been fun seeing her try the WNBA when she was healthier, but then she would probably still be national team contention instead of being passed up by at least half a dozen better options.
Last Edit: Mar 4, 2024 22:12:58 GMT -5 by awhom111
Hi, Awhom. You know a lot more about international players than someone like me, who seldom watches basketball ball games not involving teams from the United States. Still, I'm not sure that it's accurate to describe Epoupa as a "deep bench option on the club level for teams needing an experienced European player." This year, playing 11 games for Mershin, she averaged 22.3 minutes per game. The season before, playing 7 games for a stacked Fenerbache squad that had players like Breanna Stewart, Emma Meeseman, Kayla McBride, and Courtney Vandersloot on its roster, she averaged more minutes per game (18.6) than any PG whose initials were not C.V. Finally, going back 2 years when she appeared in 20 regular season games for Lattes Montpellier in the French league, she played a total of 602 minutes that season, for an average of just over 30 minutes a game. I am not at all sure it's fair to describe such a player as "a deep bench option."
At this stage in her career, following injuries that kept her from competing for France either in the Tokyo Olympics or in the 2022 World Cup in Sydney, there may well be, as Stormeo said, "soooooo many better overseas options." I'll take Stormeo's and your word for it. Nonetheless, Epoupa is still only 29 years old, and she is still just two seasons removed from one in which, playing 20 games for Lattes Montpellier, she amassed a total of 127 rebounds (that's more than 6 rebounds per game for a 5'5" guard), 91 assists (more than 4.5 assists per game), and 81 steals (more than 4 steals per game), while shooting better than 45% from 2 and exactly 33.33% from 3. As you said, she's an "experienced" PG, who has recently played in the same backcourt with KMac. For that reason, if the Lynx want to bring her in for a look during training camp, it really doesn't bother me at all. Like I said, it's just a training camp contract, and she is unlikely to make the final roster.
Hi, Awhom. You know a lot more about international players than someone like me, who seldom watches basketball ball games not involving teams from the United States. Still, I'm not sure that it's accurate to describe Epoupa as a "deep bench option on the club level for teams needing an experienced European player." This year, playing 11 games for Mershin, she averaged 22.3 minutes per game. The season before, playing 7 games for a stacked Fenerbache squad that had players like Breanna Stewart, Emma Meeseman, Kayla McBride, and Courtney Vandersloot on its roster, she averaged more minutes per game (18.6) than any PG whose initials were not C.V. Finally, going back 2 years when she appeared in 20 regular season games for Lattes Montpellier in the French league, she played a total of 602 minutes that season, for an average of just over 30 minutes a game. I am not at all sure it's fair to describe such a player as "a deep bench option."
At this stage in her career, following injuries that kept her from competing for France either in the Tokyo Olympics or in the 2022 World Cup in Sydney, there may well be, as Stormeo said, "soooooo many better overseas options." I'll take Stormeo's and your word for it. Nonetheless, Epoupa is still only 29 years old, and she is still just two seasons removed from one in which, playing 20 games for Lattes Montpellier, she amassed a total of 127 rebounds (that's more than 6 rebounds per game for a 5'5" guard), 91 assists (more than 4.5 assists per game), and 81 steals (more than 4 steals per game), while shooting better than 45% from 2 and exactly 33.33% from 3. As you said, she's an "experienced" PG, who has recently played in the same backcourt with KMac. For that reason, if the Lynx want to bring her in for a look during training camp, it really doesn't bother me at all. Like I said, it's just a training camp contract, and she is unlikely to make the final roster.
I definitely thought that she was back on track during the Lattes Montpellier season after some time off the radar after she signed with Phoenix. She definitely did not choose the biggest possible playing role with Fenerbahce though as there was always going to be a time when she would stop keeping that spot in the lineup warm and then she moved to Sopron with a fairly similar projected role. She has had a couple of good games recently with Cukurova, but they signed her primarily to fill the EuroLeague bench-only role once the Agnes Studer experiment was clearly not working. She is benefitting from Iagupova leaving and Cornelius also being kind of ineffective, but I wonder what happens if they lose tomorrow as she would be behind Mabrey, Copper, Williams, Kiss for sure for one of the four domestic league game foreign player spots and, depending on positional needs, possibly behind Araujo and Mavunga while Cornelius still seems preferred overall. I am more in the camp of wishing that this had happened sooner than believing that she does not deserve the chance.