Chicago Sky/WNBA thread 2024

[Guru]

The womens game, in terms of play, is far superior to the men's game. The NBA in terms of actual play is unbelievably boring. They carry the ball and travel and foul and don't play defense. It's just an atrocious sport with too many games. As the women college game grows and we know the women names the WNBA will grow with it. Clark will lead them but Paige and the C for the Sparks all are familiar faces now. That should continue.

The NBA itself is unfixable. Too many games and terrible play. Extremely unlikable stars who continue to be unlikable because there are too star spots for too many teams. I love the NBA offseason more than the inseason.

[DuckIII]

Wow. My take after watching a couple of weeks of the women's game is that it is ROUGH. Check out this no-call from last night. Man! Or I guess I should say, woman!

Watch on YouTube

Clark later returned the favor by groping an opponent who was attempting a layup. Again, no call.

Watch on YouTube

You want to see some dirty no-call basketball, go watch a girl’s HS game sometime. No mercy.

[TheSuzerain]

The womens game, in terms of play, is far superior to the men's game. The NBA in terms of actual play is unbelievably boring. They carry the ball and travel and foul and don't play defense. It's just an atrocious sport with too many games. As the women college game grows and we know the women names the WNBA will grow with it. Clark will lead them but Paige and the C for the Sparks all are familiar faces now. That should continue.

The NBA itself is unfixable. Too many games and terrible play. Extremely unlikable stars who continue to be unlikable because there are too star spots for too many teams. I love the NBA offseason more than the inseason.

Not my experience watching these WNBA games to be honest. They're pretty bad.

It's like a throwback to early 00s NBA which some people will claim was better but nobody really watched.

Also the lack of parity in the league is a big part. There are like 2.5 teams with all the talent. And then the remaining teams all mostly stink.

[Ice Man]

You want to see some dirty no-call basketball, go watch a girl’s HS game sometime. No mercy.

I believe it. Youth sports can be nasty ... aggressive kids, parents howling for blood, and bad referees. If I were to give the injury list from my kid's U14 club soccer team, you wouldn't believe it. No pro team every suffered that.

[MrSparkle]

The womens game, in terms of play, is far superior to the men's game. The NBA in terms of actual play is unbelievably boring. They carry the ball and travel and foul and don't play defense. It's just an atrocious sport with too many games. As the women college game grows and we know the women names the WNBA will grow with it. Clark will lead them but Paige and the C for the Sparks all are familiar faces now. That should continue.

The NBA itself is unfixable. Too many games and terrible play. Extremely unlikable stars who continue to be unlikable because there are too star spots for too many teams. I love the NBA offseason more than the inseason.

Not my experience watching these WNBA games to be honest. They're pretty bad.

It's like a throwback to early 00s NBA which some people will claim was better but nobody really watched.

Also the lack of parity in the league is a big part. There are like 2.5 teams with all the talent. And then the remaining teams all mostly stink.

Early 00s NBA was awesome. Assuming you spent more time watching the WC. Lakers, Kings, Blazers, Mavs, Spurs, Wolves… the talent was so stacked. Players hated each other. The competition was insane.

East was much worse, but you did have Iverson, Vince, TMac… and once the Pacers got the Artest/Miller haul, the Pistons/brawl timeline. That was perhaps the most entertaining time in NBA history imo.. minus Bulls dynasty and a few of my favorite legends (Bird, Magic, Hakeem).

[TheSuzerain]

The womens game, in terms of play, is far superior to the men's game. The NBA in terms of actual play is unbelievably boring. They carry the ball and travel and foul and don't play defense. It's just an atrocious sport with too many games. As the women college game grows and we know the women names the WNBA will grow with it. Clark will lead them but Paige and the C for the Sparks all are familiar faces now. That should continue.

The NBA itself is unfixable. Too many games and terrible play. Extremely unlikable stars who continue to be unlikable because there are too star spots for too many teams. I love the NBA offseason more than the inseason.

Not my experience watching these WNBA games to be honest. They're pretty bad.

It's like a throwback to early 00s NBA which some people will claim was better but nobody really watched.

Also the lack of parity in the league is a big part. There are like 2.5 teams with all the talent. And then the remaining teams all mostly stink.

Early 00s NBA was awesome. Assuming you spent more time watching the WC. Lakers, Kings, Blazers, Mavs, Spurs, Wolves… the talent was so stacked. Players hated each other. The competition was insane.

East was much worse, but you did have Iverson, Vince, TMac… and once the Pacers got the Artest/Miller haul, the Pistons/brawl timeline. That was perhaps the most entertaining time in NBA history imo.. minus Bulls dynasty and a few of my favorite legends (Bird, Magic, Hakeem).

Storylines and a few transcendent talents can go a long way no doubt.

But I'd argue the basketball was pretty bad. As evidenced by Team USA's early 00s experiences.

[Ice Man]

Talk about a team that is totally lost! The Indiana Fever are giving up 117 points per 100 possessions. The next worst defense in the league is giving up ... 106.

[Wingy]

Talk about a team that is totally lost! The Indiana Fever are giving up 117 points per 100 possessions. The next worst defense in the league is giving up ... 106.

Those first two games were historic though. Historically bad. Sure their numbers look much better since despite the 3 additional losses. Plus probably not surprising a bottom dweller stinks at d.

[jc23]

The more physical play of the wnba compared to college doesnt translate to an fun watch. They need to embrace freedom of movement and let the guards cook.

[wojoaderge]

The more physical play of the wnba compared to college doesnt translate to an fun watch. They need to embrace freedom of movement and let the guards cook.

Not in my opinion

Awesome win for the Sky

[greenwing]

The more physical play of the wnba compared to college doesnt translate to an fun watch. They need to embrace freedom of movement and let the guards cook.

I don’t agree with this take. The Sky play great defense for the women’s game. That’s fun to watch. The NBA has become increasingly more difficult to watch - at least for me, anyway - since the current game rewards individual play by allowing players to shoot more and making it more difficult for defenders to do their jobs without getting penalized. It’s a bit ridiculous that everyone averages more than 100 ppg these days.

The NBA was way more fun to watch when every play mattered. The lower scoring compared to today’s game added extra tension in half-court sets. Allowing “freedom of movement and [letting] the guards cook” has turned the game into a game of runs and less tension. It’s more about who happens to be shooting 3’s better on a given night as opposed to a superior team offense and/or team defense winning games.

[nomorezorro]

it's kind of crazy how much reese can affect the game out of the gates despite having absolutely zero touch around the rim. should be real good if she can turn into even a decent finisher

also small sample size obviously, but it's funny that mabrey is looking more like a foundational piece under spoon than she did under the guy who mortgaged the team's future to trade for her

[Ice Man]

it's kind of crazy how much reese can affect the game out of the gates despite having absolutely zero touch around the rim.

If she hasn't learned how to make a basket by now, after 10 years of college, HS, and AAU ball, she probably never will. But she doesn't need to in order to be super valuable. She's Dennis Rodwoman.

As for the refereeing style, I am OK with the guards getting bumped. What annoys me about the WBNA are the outright fouls that are missed. It happens a lot. I have to say, the women are better humored about such things than the men are, presumably because they are used to rotten refereeing. In the Barclay's Center Liberty game, Clark threw a forearm that hit her defender in the face, bloodying her nose, so as to get free for a back door cut. No call. Do that in the NBA and everybody is screaming, today or in the Nineties. Always. A forearm to the face was never routine in the NBA. In the WBNA, however, it's play on. The defender picked herself up off the floor, wiped her face, and the game proceeded.

[sco]

Kudos on a big win over the Liberty. The Sky might be decent again by next season.

[Ice Man]

One of the regrettable things about the social-media era, for this old-timer, is the disappearance of facts. You would think that ease with which one can retrieve information would make discourse more accurate than less, but it's the opposite, because social media has no editors. The lazy and wrong are published just as readily as the hard working and right.

Thus, I read an article about how Aliyah Boston's scoring is down this season because she's getting fewer shots while playing with a "ball dominant" Clark. Per 36, Boston had 11.6 shots last year and is getting 12.9 this year.

It's like that EVERYWHERE. People publishing obviously wrong things that can immediately be disproven. Not when I was young, that did not happen. The tabloids had that stuff but they were tabloids, you knew they contained Martian stories. Otherwise, you could (mostly) trust what you read -- at least that there was a basic fact underlying the author's argument.

Old man. Clouds.

[MrSparkle]

One of the regrettable things about the social-media era, for this old-timer, is the disappearance of facts. You would think that ease with which one can retrieve information would make discourse more accurate than less, but it's the opposite, because social media has no editors. The lazy and wrong are published just as readily as the hard working and right.

Thus, I read an article about how Aliyah Boston's scoring is down this season because she's getting fewer shots while playing with a "ball dominant" Clark. Per 36, Boston had 11.6 shots last year and is getting 12.9 this year.

It's like that EVERYWHERE. People publishing obviously wrong things that can immediately be disproven. Not when I was young, that did not happen. The tabloids had that stuff but they were tabloids, you knew they contained Martian stories. Otherwise, you could (mostly) trust what you read -- at least that there was a basic fact underlying the author's argument.

Old man. Clouds.

Everyone and their dad and grandson became a trustworthy opinion. The shorter the blurb and greater the shock, the bigger the hit!

[MrSparkle]

Indiana needs to upgrade the front court.

I agree with the sentiment that the WNBA is physical, full of non-calls. There's some Laimbeer energy.

The Sky look good. Mabrey is very tough and skilled, Reese is a great glue piece... Cardoso is going to be a whole 4" taller than their current C, who's doing a good job.

[nomorezorro]

maybe i'm just high on a good early start to the season but it's kind of hard for me to imagine cardoso not hitting the ground running

maybe there's some growing pains offensively trying to figure out how all the bigs work together, but given how good reese has been guarding people on the perimeter, the defense should be nuts

[Ice Man]

maybe i'm just high on a good early start to the season but it's kind of hard for me to imagine cardoso not hitting the ground running

She's gonna defend and rebound immediately. Scoring might be a problem. I've been watching Aliyah Boston repeatedly get stuffed when attempting WBNA layups, when she scored almost every time in such situations at college. A lot of these elite centers get used to dominating the small fry at the college level, without having much footwork and finesse. It's a whole lot different when everybody else is the same height (or in Cardoso's case, at least close to her height).

[jc23]

The more physical play of the wnba compared to college doesnt translate to an fun watch. They need to embrace freedom of movement and let the guards cook.

I don’t agree with this take. The Sky play great defense for the women’s game. That’s fun to watch. The NBA has become increasingly more difficult to watch - at least for me, anyway - since the current game rewards individual play by allowing players to shoot more and making it more difficult for defenders to do their jobs without getting penalized. It’s a bit ridiculous that everyone averages more than 100 ppg these days.

The NBA was way more fun to watch when every play mattered. The lower scoring compared to today’s game added extra tension in half-court sets. Allowing “freedom of movement and [letting] the guards cook” has turned the game into a game of runs and less tension. It’s more about who happens to be shooting 3’s better on a given night as opposed to a superior team offense and/or team defense winning games.

I have made this same argument about the NBA (up until very recently). But my opinion about the wnba is different because the players are not as skilled or athletic. If the time comes when wnba teams are scoring 140 points in a game with ease then you do what the nba just did tweak how the game is called.

For myself i know what brought me to watch the wnba and im not seeing enough of it. Maybe im in the minority but i think its pretty obvious that the wnba needs some rule changes to enhance the sport. If the nba felt content with the mid 2000's era basketball i dont think we would have seen the skill growth that we have seen.

And the Fever need to make moves; they are god awful and 80% of the new fans are tuning in to watch them specifically. I feel like this is a second season of a show i really liked but have started to lose steam on.