How does the WNBA still exist?

[6_Rings]

players ain't paid that much.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

players ain't paid that much.

That is ridiculous. In 2002, they made a min of $30k as a rookie and $40K for vet. I'm graduating for a top 50 college with honors and will be lucky to make that with I look for a job. That is not bad pay for 4 months in a league that does not make money and is on life support of sponsors. Then they said they were going to go on strike. (did they go on strike? I really have no idea)

They are professionals in the sense AFL and NBDL players are professionals. Yes, they are good at what they do, but if they were that great they would be in the NBA.

What makes people mad is that this league is being rammed down our throats. It is being marketed at the same level as the NBA, when it isn't even close.

Yea, they dominated the great men's team that had the guy from the green mile.

[6_Rings]

players ain't paid that much.

That is ridiculous. In 2002, they made a min of $30k as a rookie and $40K for vet. I'm graduating for a top 50 college with honors and will be lucky to make that with I look for a job. That is not bad pay for 4 months in a league that does not make money and is on life support of sponsors. Then they said they were going to go on strike. (did they go on strike? I really have no idea)

They are professionals in the sense AFL and NBDL players are professionals. Yes, they are good at what they do, but if they were that great they would be in the NBA.

What makes people mad is that this league is being rammed down our throats. It is being marketed at the same level as the NBA, when it isn't even close.

Yea, they dominated the great men's team that had the guy from the green mile.

when compared to the NBA bud. I'm not trying to belittle the common worker. I'm comparing operating costs between the two leagues.

[Blame Rasho]

I honestly don't know because players get significantly better salaries overseas.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

But I don't get why they should get compared to the NBA. The revenue and value of the franchises aren't even close.

[boogydown]

WNBA salary cap is 700k which is around the league minimum for a NBA player. They break even so I am sure they make a couple million a year.

The WNBA will become famous only when a really hot mvp girl enters the league. That won't happen anytime soon. By famous I mean it will start gaining more audience.

[Free Rider]

I really don't understand what the big deal is. If you don't like the WNBA, then don't watch it. No one is forced to see or go to a WNBA game nor do their games conflict with anything in the NBA so it's not like you're sacrificing anything simply because the WNBA exists. It doesn't have to be as good as the men's game in order for you to enjoy it.

I think it's good that women to have their own professional sports teams because it gives them an outlet to explore and develop their talent. Why not give young girls out there something that the aspire to be or thrive for the same way guys in high school or college who play the game do? Besides some of these women can really play? Personally, I'd give up Sasha Vujacic for Diana Taurasi just to see who would be better for the Lakers. Is it wrong that I'm leaning towards Taurasi?

[MasterRyu]

Call me fundamentally unsound, but I watch the NBA mainly for exciting plays and impossible shots and one-man heroics. No lie. Pure, fundamental basketball does not excite me, and I would turn off the TV in a minute if the Kobes and Lebrons start layuping softly during an uncontested fast break instead of playing to the crowd.

I'm not saying that the NBA should be rid of its basketball fundamentals, no. Just that the best b-ballers in the world should be able to take that set of fundamentals and add flair and creativity to it. That's why the Magic/Bird era was so exciting.

[sdeezy]

WNBA salary cap is 700k which is around the league minimum for a NBA player. They break even so I am sure they make a couple million a year.

The WNBA will become famous only when a really hot mvp girl enters the league. That won't happen anytime soon. By famous I mean it will start gaining more audience.

..not too bad i think

[Rooster]

^Since you put it in context (i.e. mentioning the NBDL) that's fine. Basketball not at the highest level can still be good basketball. Hell, that's what keeps March Madness gonig year after year.

I just don't want to hear a word about WNBA players being better than NBA players at anything 'cause, y'know...

In MY OPINION, the NBA focuses too much on actuall stars. While the WNBA focuses more on team play. Lets go back a few years ago when Michael Redd made the All Star team for example. He was made a star. I looked at him more like a Flip Murray type of player. Now it looks like the Bucks over paid for him.

Once again, the WNBA is more team orriented, team based, and fundamentaly sound. As a team it's easier to see WNBA players playing as a team. That is a fundamental. How many WNBA teams focus their entire offence around one player you don't see it. Basketball is a team game. I love seeing Lebron, Kobe, Dwight, Wade, Carmelo, Duncan, dominate games. At the same time it's not the same as seeing, Magic Kareem, MJ Scottie, The Bad Boys, Robinson TD, Shaq Penny, etc... It seems like the NBA has focused on marketing one player (Kobe and Lebron being prime examples this year) from the overall team game.

Look at this years playoffs for example. It's pretty much been about Bron and Kobe. The NBA and it's marketing has looked past players like Rashard, Turk, Big Z, Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, Dahntay Jones etc.. for the most part may of these second and third options are looked upon as players that can't lead a team not looked as great assets to a team game. A great player in any team game is great to have, but as many team seen before in many sport it's not about one player it's about the team you put around them. I think that the WNBA is more like the NFL that say's ok we got this star player but the rest of the team is just as important.

Marketing and actual play are far different. A guy like Gasol isn't marketed that much, but the Lakers play as a team and it shows on the court. If you want fundamentals, while on the topic of the Lakers, look at how that team generates open shots, Kobe finds Gasol under the hoop, etc. Their offence is a thing of beauty. Also, last year's Celtics with Garnett were playing a standard motion offence, just like I learned at basketball camp all those years ago. Individual dominance is overstated, and when it does happen, look at how many screens teammates are setting for the guy, etc. When a team plays like a team, it tends to win, and when a team over-relies on one player, it tends to lose.

The NBA's marketing team is extremely good. It wants to generate revenue and interest (the fan kind, not just the financial kind). If marketing stars does that, whatever. It doesn't affect the reality of what's happening on the court, which is good team basketball, at least when the good teams are playing.

[Ito]

back in the day it wasnt that bad... the comets were a good team to watch...

[JordansBulls]

They need Cynthia Cooper back.

[miller31time]

Why so much hate for the WNBA?

Like seriously...how does it affect any of you?

I personally love the WNBA and I watch the NY Liberty regularly. It's really not as bad as you guys think.

It's the popular thing to say. It somehow re-affirms a certain aspect of manliness.

Listen, I'm a guy and I have no problem watching the WNBA. I like basketball in all forms. I watch college ball, high school ball, the NBA and yes, the WNBA.

That doesn't mean they're all equal in terms of how much I enjoy watching each, but it's not an all-or-nothing scenario.

Now, I have no problem with people saying they don't watch. That's their prerogative. If they don't like watching it, they shouldn't watch. But this excessive need to put a league down time after time because it doesn't match up with the NBA, a league where players get paid 100000X's more than the average WNBA salary? It's just sort of childish, IMO.

[da.vid]

rasho plays "wnba-style" basketball and he's done okay in the NBA....

[CITYOFANGELSX3]

Its worse then the XXXXXXFFFFFFFFFLLLLLLLLLL

[WadeKnicks2010]

Cheryl Swoopes and Cheryl Miller are 2 of the best basketball players I have ever seen play the game of basketball. PERIOD.

LMAO! I stopped reading after that..

Do you guys watch the All-Celebrity games? that ends this discussion right here. They are far from dominant against players who don't even play basketball that often, let alone as a profession. The NFL players are typically the best players on the team... followed by some of the black celebrities. That white kid from "One Tree Hill" and that other white kid from "Malcolm in the Middle" even produces comparably as much as the WNBA players. If you put a Ben Gordon or a Monta Ellis in a game like that, they'd absolutely murder it.

[da.vid]

i agree with all of you
i could score 100 points every game if i played in the WNBA

[Nuzzo]

Do you guys watch the All-Celebrity games?

Wasn't Lisa Leslie owned by that fat guy with a 'fro from the Harlem Globetrotters

[hoopskillz]

Maybe if they get more attractive girls to play they could capture more male audiences.
It's the same reason why guys even watch women's tennis.

[og15]

i agree with all of you
i could score 100 points every game if i played in the WNBA

No, no you couldn't...