I wonder if she’s starting to lose the team. LVA was kind of a mess against GSV and couldn’t guard our most basic pick and rolls. Afterwards, BH attacked the team’s effort and character. That was weeks ago, but things don’t seem too different. Maybe the trade will help.
Welp, good show against a really good team. It did seem like no one knew what the other players were doing in stretches, especially with the Euros, but that was expected. Most disappointing was in Q3 or early Q4 where they seemed to let up and Minny got a bunch of O boards. I assume they'll clean that up.
Agree that Janelle seemed hesitant.
Final note - can we get Kevin Danna to do all the games? He has a few quirks, but is better than their normal PxP guy, not to mention the national guy on Ion, yikes.
Danna’s good. He’s Roye’s backup for Dubs games; has been doing Valks PxP on 95.7. *At least in the Bay, the radio PxP guys are a level above their TV counterparts. I have to say KPIX+ is a mess. The broadcasters are shoved in a closet instead of being on the sideline at Chase, they stay in that closet in SF (or is it San Bruno? We can’t know, they have a fake background) for road games and the station can’t seem to settle on a PxP announcer. Danna is the 3rd one I’ve seen this season. The color lady, Morgan Regan (who names their child like that?), is the only constant. I feel for her.
Ah well, GSV fought but got killed by back cuts around Q3/Q4, unforced errors, to let MIN pull away after they tied it.
Couldn’t really hurt MIN in the halfcourt… so when MIN was scoring, GSV was in trouble and then MIN was attacking in transition… a virtuous cycle for MIN.
GSV ended up 34% 3P after >40% in first half. MIN overplayed Salaun and Zandalasini on the perimeter and GSV couldn’t really punish.
In the bigger picture, I feel like MIN is the team that GSV wants be when they grow up. Tough and disciplined on defense, sharp sets offensively with good flow and improv, shooting a lot of 3s. But MIN has better shooters and Collier/McBride.
GSV played really hard and fearlessly but also a bit lucky to only be down 5.
GSV with the slightest hint of an answer for Collier. First, MIN ran Collier in wing pick and roll. MIN burned them with great angles on the rolls for easy layups. When GSV tried to show (temporary switch) and recover, MIN did a great job forcing a switch, then getting the ball to Phee in the paint to bully. But on one of the later plays, GSW sent a double team Mo helping off the paint cutter and Collier didn’t look ready for that. It was I think a foul on GSV but the idea was good. H2 GSV might go with that package that they ran on Boston / Stewart.
Also, I assumed Amihere would get a DNP since the Euros were back, but if GSV gets down big, Nakase may pull her out as a change of pace.
Playing choppy and out of rhythm and with never before seen lineups and staying within 5? No complaints from me! 20 more minutes of basketball let’s gooo
Is Amihere injured? Surely, they should be getting more minutes after dropping 15 pts in their last outing while the Valkyries are struggling to put the ball in the basket?
I am so excited! I loved Iliana at EuroBasket. She won’t have much trouble fitting in since she’s a longtime friend of Natalie since their Aces days, played with Carla and Janelle on the national team, played with Ceci in Bologna, and with LA and Mo in Atlanta. Can’t wait for her to join!
This very helpful comment allays my concern about how the European players were going to fit into the playing style of the Valkyries and the American players.
Hey, some more personal details in the French article. Looks like Rupert has a good reason for her delay, congratulations.
Here is an auto-translation:
[[ As for Iliana Rupert, her arrival at the Golden State Valkyries will take a little longer. Barely recovered from EuroBasket—and in particular from the heartbreak of her 3-pointer and her missed free throw at the buzzer in the semifinals against Spain—the eldest of the Rupert siblings is in France for personal obligations (her civil marriage). This will take her a few days. According to our information, she will arrive in San Francisco around July 15 to join her new franchise. These personal obligations are always difficult to fit into the ultra-busy schedules of high-level women's basketball players, between the domestic league, the EuroLeague, the French national team, and the WNBA...
The Golden State Valkyries will be embarking on a four-game cross-country road trip anyway. Rupert will join the team after that. But the Valkyries will have to cut a player before then to make room for him. "I don't know. We'll have to ask our front office," coach Natalia Nakase said of the need. The French international's arrival after EuroBasket has been arranged since the Expansion Draft last December.
With two WNBA seasons under her belt, and impressive EuroLeague campaigns in between, she's a proven player who can make a direct contribution. Her stretch center profile will be welcome for the Valkyries, who are the worst 3-point team in the league (28.7%). Rupert will be the third French player on the roster, along with Carla Leite and Janelle Salaün , who will also be returning to the team soon.
[[ According to Tom Compayrot of BeBasket: Iliana Rupert is set to report to the Valkyries on July 15th.
There hasn’t been a public confirmation from Nakase or the front office but it’s consistent with the reporting on Rupert’s desire to join the Valkyries later in the summer. ]]
Any word on the timing for Rupert? I saw it might be a visa thing that could take 2 weeks, but someone countered that they should have started work on that 2 or 4 weeks ago if they planned to bring her over. With such a short season, it seems odd to me that they didn't arrange to have her come over with the rest of the Euro-returners.
Also, what a rough stretch to kick off the next part of the season, but if they do have some hiccups, I guess you can argue they were going to lose these games anyway, so it gives them a low stakes chance to integrate the new players before they get to play the mid tier teams that they need to beat.
I haven’t seen anything about the timing of Rupert’s arrival. In fact, I don’t think GSV have ever confirmed it was happening at all. Ingemi got confirmation from Rupert’s agent and Via found a clip where Rupert herself says (vaguely) she’s coming after Eurobasket.
Becky Hammon sure has a way of addressing bad team losses. Like she eviscerates her team to the press.
I wonder if she’s starting to lose the team. LVA was kind of a mess against GSV and couldn’t guard our most basic pick and rolls. Afterwards, BH attacked the team’s effort and character. That was weeks ago, but things don’t seem too different. Maybe the trade will help.
Aja's a free agent next year, just saying...
Welp, good show against a really good team. It did seem like no one knew what the other players were doing in stretches, especially with the Euros, but that was expected. Most disappointing was in Q3 or early Q4 where they seemed to let up and Minny got a bunch of O boards. I assume they'll clean that up.
Agree that Janelle seemed hesitant.
Final note - can we get Kevin Danna to do all the games? He has a few quirks, but is better than their normal PxP guy, not to mention the national guy on Ion, yikes.
Danna’s good. He’s Roye’s backup for Dubs games; has been doing Valks PxP on 95.7. *At least in the Bay, the radio PxP guys are a level above their TV counterparts. I have to say KPIX+ is a mess. The broadcasters are shoved in a closet instead of being on the sideline at Chase, they stay in that closet in SF (or is it San Bruno? We can’t know, they have a fake background) for road games and the station can’t seem to settle on a PxP announcer. Danna is the 3rd one I’ve seen this season. The color lady, Morgan Regan (who names their child like that?), is the only constant. I feel for her.
Yeah, on second thought, can we get Tim Roye? Catching up on summer league, and he's so dang good.
Exactly my thought.
Ah well, GSV fought but got killed by back cuts around Q3/Q4, unforced errors, to let MIN pull away after they tied it.
Couldn’t really hurt MIN in the halfcourt… so when MIN was scoring, GSV was in trouble and then MIN was attacking in transition… a virtuous cycle for MIN.
GSV ended up 34% 3P after >40% in first half. MIN overplayed Salaun and Zandalasini on the perimeter and GSV couldn’t really punish.
In the bigger picture, I feel like MIN is the team that GSV wants be when they grow up. Tough and disciplined on defense, sharp sets offensively with good flow and improv, shooting a lot of 3s. But MIN has better shooters and Collier/McBride.
On to the next one!
We forgot how to rebound.
Does Janelle look afraid to shoot to you?
Janelle did had that really bad game against Spain…I def feel like she need to build her confidence back again sadly
Good point.
She shouldn't be, she's been our best shooter hitting 40% from deep.
Absolutely agree. Her first few touches she looked hesitant and passed to teammates.
And then she shoots it :)
GSV played really hard and fearlessly but also a bit lucky to only be down 5.
GSV with the slightest hint of an answer for Collier. First, MIN ran Collier in wing pick and roll. MIN burned them with great angles on the rolls for easy layups. When GSV tried to show (temporary switch) and recover, MIN did a great job forcing a switch, then getting the ball to Phee in the paint to bully. But on one of the later plays, GSW sent a double team Mo helping off the paint cutter and Collier didn’t look ready for that. It was I think a foul on GSV but the idea was good. H2 GSV might go with that package that they ran on Boston / Stewart.
Also, I assumed Amihere would get a DNP since the Euros were back, but if GSV gets down big, Nakase may pull her out as a change of pace.
Playing choppy and out of rhythm and with never before seen lineups and staying within 5? No complaints from me! 20 more minutes of basketball let’s gooo
The choppier and more physical the game is, the more happy I am. We're facing a squad with high level scorers in Collier/Mcbride.
The more out of rythm they are, the better lmao.
Maaan I love how physical the Valkyries are!! Two separate possessions come to mind which exemplify this tough/physical defense we play!!
Firstly, Billings fighting for positioning on the inside with the Lynx player and was able to muscle her way into a steal. NOTHING EASY!!
Secondly, Hayes defending on that last second shot and bumped the Lynx player twice as she was driving throwing her off balance both times.
Fantastic!!!!
Is Amihere injured? Surely, they should be getting more minutes after dropping 15 pts in their last outing while the Valkyries are struggling to put the ball in the basket?
I hope the fact that she did not play,( but Chen did) does not she mean she’s the one who is losing her position on the team.
Bruh what a weak foul on Burton. That was good defense, I hope that the WNBA doesn't become less physical like the NBA.
Okay, I have limited commenting today, so I’ll be in and out. If anything weird or wonderful happens, please take up the slack and comment here.
I am so excited! I loved Iliana at EuroBasket. She won’t have much trouble fitting in since she’s a longtime friend of Natalie since their Aces days, played with Carla and Janelle on the national team, played with Ceci in Bologna, and with LA and Mo in Atlanta. Can’t wait for her to join!
This very helpful comment allays my concern about how the European players were going to fit into the playing style of the Valkyries and the American players.
Another note to add is that she played really well with spunky guards like Carla and Tip!
Clearly worth the wait. Great to learn her W background.
Ditto!
Hey, some more personal details in the French article. Looks like Rupert has a good reason for her delay, congratulations.
Here is an auto-translation:
[[ As for Iliana Rupert, her arrival at the Golden State Valkyries will take a little longer. Barely recovered from EuroBasket—and in particular from the heartbreak of her 3-pointer and her missed free throw at the buzzer in the semifinals against Spain—the eldest of the Rupert siblings is in France for personal obligations (her civil marriage). This will take her a few days. According to our information, she will arrive in San Francisco around July 15 to join her new franchise. These personal obligations are always difficult to fit into the ultra-busy schedules of high-level women's basketball players, between the domestic league, the EuroLeague, the French national team, and the WNBA...
The Golden State Valkyries will be embarking on a four-game cross-country road trip anyway. Rupert will join the team after that. But the Valkyries will have to cut a player before then to make room for him. "I don't know. We'll have to ask our front office," coach Natalia Nakase said of the need. The French international's arrival after EuroBasket has been arranged since the Expansion Draft last December.
With two WNBA seasons under her belt, and impressive EuroLeague campaigns in between, she's a proven player who can make a direct contribution. Her stretch center profile will be welcome for the Valkyries, who are the worst 3-point team in the league (28.7%). Rupert will be the third French player on the roster, along with Carla Leite and Janelle Salaün , who will also be returning to the team soon.
]]
https://www-bebasket-fr.translate.goog/leila-lacan-est-arrivee-dans-le-connecticut-un-peu-dattente-pour-iliana-rupert-a-golden-state?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp&_x_tr_hist=true
Thanks for the find, Eric!
Mazel tov, Iliana! Welcome to Ballhalla, both of you!
Update from my guy Kenzo Fukuda:
[[ According to Tom Compayrot of BeBasket: Iliana Rupert is set to report to the Valkyries on July 15th.
There hasn’t been a public confirmation from Nakase or the front office but it’s consistent with the reporting on Rupert’s desire to join the Valkyries later in the summer. ]]
https://xcancel.com/kenzofuku/status/1941426583891476846
Lock in !!
Any word on the timing for Rupert? I saw it might be a visa thing that could take 2 weeks, but someone countered that they should have started work on that 2 or 4 weeks ago if they planned to bring her over. With such a short season, it seems odd to me that they didn't arrange to have her come over with the rest of the Euro-returners.
Also, what a rough stretch to kick off the next part of the season, but if they do have some hiccups, I guess you can argue they were going to lose these games anyway, so it gives them a low stakes chance to integrate the new players before they get to play the mid tier teams that they need to beat.
I haven’t seen anything about the timing of Rupert’s arrival. In fact, I don’t think GSV have ever confirmed it was happening at all. Ingemi got confirmation from Rupert’s agent and Via found a clip where Rupert herself says (vaguely) she’s coming after Eurobasket.