Where the Mind Wanders

01Storm vs. Liberty

It’s time to check in on the biggest wildcard in the WNBA: the Liberty. They are the kind of team that can wake up one morning and, seemingly out of nowhere, look like the best team in the league. So I’ve been focused less on the results than on the process and the underlying developments that could turn a disappointing superteam into the scariest juggernaut in basketball, the biggest threat to the defending champs, whom they lost to the other night in what experts somehow deemed a “good loss.”

The head of the snake, the player the Liberty most need to figure it out, is Sabrina Ionescu, who appears to be finding her stride after returning from injury. During the games she has played this year, I’ve had to remind myself that she is still getting back to game speed. Still, every clunky minute felt like a small stab at my basketball heart.

From my sideline speculation, Sabrina and the Liberty are crafting more answers to what the league has been throwing at them. For a while, this is sideline speculation, nerds, it looked as if Ionescu expected the game to be a little easier. Now every defense has adjustments designed specifically to limit her. She was getting trapped, pressured, run off the line, and forced to work harder for every action. For a stretch, she looked like she was getting pushed around and heading toward a regression campaign.

Then, watching last night, I saw some of the brilliance returning. Instead of panicky or frustrated drives into traffic, she was more methodical under pressure. Holding her dribble long enough to make the late pass and keep a possession alive can be demoralizing for a defense. That was the real encouraging thing I saw.

My Libertarian pet peeve, especially when there is this much talent on the floor, is shooting early in the shot clock. If a team has superior talent, why is it settling for bad shots? In theory, a more talented team can survive a worse shot diet and still win. That does not justify chucking threes early in the clock, which the Liberty can drift into now and then. Even when they fall, it comes back to my ongoing point about sustainable basketball. In a vacuum, it can work. Over a season, and especially in big moments, you need high percentage shots instead of prayers.

When everyone is involved, and this is why Fiebich is so important, every player New York puts on the floor is dangerous. But when only a few players touch the ball on a possession, they make life astronomically easier on the defense and, in a sense, let it off the hook. It is stressful watching the ball go from Breanna Stewart to Jonquel Jones, up to Sabrina Ionescu, over to Rebecca Allen, then to Pauline Astier on a cut. Still, even in a blowout, I want to commend New York. I’m seeing more grit and competitiveness from the Liberty, which is what they will need if they want results this postseason.

02Dumb thoughts

I started thinking about a two player game with Isaiah Stewart, Beef Stew, and Breanna Stew. It is the best same last name NBA/WNBA tandem I could come up with. This brain dead exercise is harder than you would think. You cannot just say James or Jordan because, off the top of my head, all I could think of was Aziaha James, and that is not equal. Obviously, the NBA player matters, but the point is to find two great players, not one superior NBA player carrying the whole operation. Let me know if you can think of anything better.

Watching the Liberty last night reminded me of some Nate Oats Alabama teams. I think of guards spraying threes while Grant Nelson crashes the boards, slowly sapping the energy out of opponents. Those teams played fast, differently, and were so good at chasing their own misses. The Liberty could do a version of that because just about everyone on the roster can shoot. I saw Stewart productively crash the glass multiple times, so I think there is something worth exploring there. They have long forwards who could play that role well.

03Astier Propaganda

Last thing: Pauline Astier is a star in the making. I had to double check that she went undrafted, and, yes, somehow she did, because her feel and effort level are off the charts. She came up through the international game, and I am realizing how much the influx of international talent is going to affect future WNBA redrafts, because hypothetical redrafts matter so much.

Teja Oblak and Pauline Astier both went undrafted, which feels like a failure for some scouting departments. Do teams not have international scouts? If they do not, I will gladly accept that position, seeing as I am currently looking for a job.

As a player, Astier reminds me a lot of Carla Leite. I know she can be a 1A on a very good team. In plenty of games this year, she has looked like a 1A or 1B, depending on which Liberty star decides to show up. She plays with a very low center of gravity, probably because of her height, and it is hilarious how often she surprises stronger players. On certain bumps, screens, and other little collisions, I have seen players get frustrated or surprised by how difficult she is to move off her spot.

I’ll conclude my Liberty overreaction this way: Astier is officially my favorite player of the year. Watch out for the Liberty, because with every game, they are figuring out the best way to move their pieces around the board.

04Aces vs. Dream

I’ll keep the Aces Dream commentary shorter because there is not much to say. This loss embodied what the Dream are right now. They have a Jekyll and Hyde tendency: when things are going well, they are terrifying and can reach a real peak. But it is also easy to knock them off their game.

They pride themselves on being fourth quarter warriors, and they have pulled off some outstanding comebacks. Tonight, though, they looked like they were waiting for divine intervention to start their push. They missed too many layups, fumbled passes, and gave up easy buckets all night. That is painful for someone who thinks they can be the best team in the WNBA.

It was an old fashioned thumping, which every good team probably needs now and then. The Dream looked like they were waiting for a break to go their way, while the Aces were set on taking control of the game. If you want to see a stark contrast in basketball balance, watch that game. In theory, Atlanta’s rotation is as formidable as Las Vegas’s. The Aces’ continuity and pedigree, though, are leagues ahead, and that difference manifested in a beatdown.

I was unfortunately on the Dream. I thought they had a good chance, and I even closed well at -1, but the game was never remotely close.

Even though it was Barbie Night, I want to show some love to Allisha Gray. I have been trying to think of comps for her and landed on a young Ray Allen/Georges Niang hybrid. Gray’s calling card has always been elite shooting. There are similar WNBA players you could compare her to, like McBride, but her downhill driving goes beyond that group. She drives with a ferocity and fearlessness that shooters do not always have. When she really wants a bucket, she can will herself downhill and get one.

It is genuinely an elite skill, and I love watching her tap into it when they need it. Whoever is guarding her usually has to play far out, so she constantly has little advantages to attack. I am such a Gray fan based on the first part of this season. I did not like her that much in my first year watching, but seeing her put the ball on the floor has genuinely surprised me.

Now for a horrible comp that will surely offend someone, though none is intended. When I close my eyes at night, I see Georges Niang: a mid to good NBA shooter driving in garbage time minutes of recent Cleveland Cavaliers playoff games. I was living in Vegas, watching a lot of those games, alone and sweating a lot of bets. But needless to say, Niang unironically put some great reps on film. He was pressing for easy points, slithering into low hanging fruit drives, decelerating, and generally becoming a pain to deal with.

I cannot remember whether he made any of those games competitive, but I remember thinking, “I did not know Niang had this in his bag.” That is exactly how impressed I am when I watch Allisha Gray drive downhill.