Hmm. I know less than nothing (or maybe, now that I've watched a few games and been reading here, I know precisely nothing) but there's no way a little game planning and a little practice plus adding any or all of Billings, Hays and a Zandalasini who hasn't played at all yet, even if all were at 100%, closes the gap with the liberty. Given that "fact", what I would do and what I expect the Vs to do is hold all three out and not risk them with very little to gain.
Which game, exactly, do we lose all our Eurobasket players? Did we get a definitive answer on that yet?
NYL is clearly way better, but if GSV doesn’t fall into a big hole early, that was a competitive game. It was 22-3 after 7 minutes and that let Johannes clown on GSV with low percentage shots that went in. I could easily see them bringing in Billings and Hayes if ready since the lack of depth hurt GSV in Q4, and Cecilia could come in for garbage time to get her feet wet.
No definitive word on Eurobasket but I believe teams want players in at least two weeks in advance of the Jun 18 start, which would be Jun 4.
Game 6 vs MIN is Jun 1, Game 7 @ PHX is Jun 5, so I expect the Jun 1 is the last game we’ll see the Euro players.
Thank you for the information about Eurobasket, so we might have them for .2-4 more games and then lose them for 5-8 games.
I respectfully (meaning, I acknowledge your greater basketball wisdom) disagree. Yeah, with the Vs awesome effort and great attitudes and reasonably skilled players, they are probably not actually 29 points worse than the Liberty, but the 3rd quarter run was also helped by NY playing their worse stretch, as well, which is to be expected when you have been dominating that much. I guess we'll see, but that is a championship level team with every advantage: star players, experience, great coach, most of the team played together a long time. I think/hope tonight will be better and maybe NY doesn't shoot as lights oout and we get a better game but i will be shocked (in a happy way) if the final score is closer than 10-15 points.
Haubner ranks GSV #8 (of 13) in his Power Rankings. NYL was a soaring #1.
[[
Color me impressed with Natalie Nakase and the newest WNBA franchise. Despite the criticism they took with regard to their draft strategy and how vet laden their team became, clearly they had an idea of what kind of culture and program they wanted to build in year one. The Valkyries have beaten their contemporaries — Washington and L.A. — and clearly are a step behind the top teams as evidenced by their blowout loss in New York on Tuesday. But that’s to be expected.
I’ve been really impressed with Kayla Thornton, who has taken the reins as a number one option on this team while the European contingent of Jamelle Salaun and Carla Leite has been extremely fun to see develop. There’s an article to be written about whether or not the WNBA is actively training Team USA’s first true Olympic rival but that’s for another time. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t add Veronica Burton into players that have been impressive in a new setting. Few know about Burton’s collegiate dominance at Northwestern given their lack of national success but she was absolutely her. As a senior, she averaged 17.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 4.0 steals (!) per game. Despite bouncing around the W, she’s always been built for the league and I’m so glad to see her finding her footing in Golden State. Ultimately, the early returns are good and may make them very attractive in next years highly anticipated free agency period.
Marine Johannes was the player I hoped Valks would pick from the Liberty in the expansion draft. She's the one who plays most similar to Kings rookie Jason Williams. Van Loo did a good impression of this in the first game, but that was more of an exception game from her. Marine is more natural in the "volume shooting / scoring guard" role in addition to her elite vision and passing.
That being said, I'm not upset over the Kayla Thornton choice. KT is an elite 3 and D player. Valks need that toughness and physicality.
Hopefully the Valks come out with more fire on Thursday. But you can clearly see the difference in talent and size. Stewie is elite - her game reminds me of Anthony Davis. Jonquel Jones is also an elite talent. I would compare her game to KAT. She's good at shooting the 3, but also knows how to punish switches by using her 6 ft 6 size to seal off smaller defenders for easy layups. They also have Nyara Sabally - a mobile 6 ft 5 who was out tonight, as well as Sabrina Ionescu (elite 3pt shooter and passer) and Leonie Fiebich (6 ft 4 wing defender). With the size and length, it's hard to get open looks against the Liberty. It'll be a great learning and training experience for the Valks.
Fun game watching Valkyrie’s really take it to the Liberty. Valkyries are tough and fast and fierce and scramble ferociously. Their defense and switching were good, their shooting not so good. Linskens gave some problems to JJ under the basket. I got the feeling that GSV neophytes Salauen and Leite were surprised by the pace of the game and the toughness of this Liberty team.
Thanks for these game wraps, Eric! I appreciate the effort you're putting into this new team. I hope this site picks up steam as the season goes on. Hopefully you'll also be able to get some guest writers in the future, too.
Turned into a surprisingly watchable game. Our steals were fun, low cross court passes less fun. I'm worried that Kayla T's neck is going to be super stiff on Thursday - I'd be laid up for weeks w/ that.
Game thread up.
FYI, current game status for Thursday.
Monique Billings – Questionable – Right Foot
Tiffany Hayes - Questionable - Nose
Cecilia Zandalasini - Questionable - Right Foot
Hayes and Billings were questionable last game and ended up out. Zandalasini has been out this whole year, but has been upgraded to questionable.
Hmm. I know less than nothing (or maybe, now that I've watched a few games and been reading here, I know precisely nothing) but there's no way a little game planning and a little practice plus adding any or all of Billings, Hays and a Zandalasini who hasn't played at all yet, even if all were at 100%, closes the gap with the liberty. Given that "fact", what I would do and what I expect the Vs to do is hold all three out and not risk them with very little to gain.
Which game, exactly, do we lose all our Eurobasket players? Did we get a definitive answer on that yet?
NYL is clearly way better, but if GSV doesn’t fall into a big hole early, that was a competitive game. It was 22-3 after 7 minutes and that let Johannes clown on GSV with low percentage shots that went in. I could easily see them bringing in Billings and Hayes if ready since the lack of depth hurt GSV in Q4, and Cecilia could come in for garbage time to get her feet wet.
No definitive word on Eurobasket but I believe teams want players in at least two weeks in advance of the Jun 18 start, which would be Jun 4.
Game 6 vs MIN is Jun 1, Game 7 @ PHX is Jun 5, so I expect the Jun 1 is the last game we’ll see the Euro players.
Thank you for the information about Eurobasket, so we might have them for .2-4 more games and then lose them for 5-8 games.
I respectfully (meaning, I acknowledge your greater basketball wisdom) disagree. Yeah, with the Vs awesome effort and great attitudes and reasonably skilled players, they are probably not actually 29 points worse than the Liberty, but the 3rd quarter run was also helped by NY playing their worse stretch, as well, which is to be expected when you have been dominating that much. I guess we'll see, but that is a championship level team with every advantage: star players, experience, great coach, most of the team played together a long time. I think/hope tonight will be better and maybe NY doesn't shoot as lights oout and we get a better game but i will be shocked (in a happy way) if the final score is closer than 10-15 points.
Anyway, off to the game thread :)
Yes, our disagreement is small: whether the average margin of defeat would be 15 vs 20. 😀
Interesting review, the last sentence being the most important in my opinion.
Haubner ranks GSV #8 (of 13) in his Power Rankings. NYL was a soaring #1.
[[
Color me impressed with Natalie Nakase and the newest WNBA franchise. Despite the criticism they took with regard to their draft strategy and how vet laden their team became, clearly they had an idea of what kind of culture and program they wanted to build in year one. The Valkyries have beaten their contemporaries — Washington and L.A. — and clearly are a step behind the top teams as evidenced by their blowout loss in New York on Tuesday. But that’s to be expected.
I’ve been really impressed with Kayla Thornton, who has taken the reins as a number one option on this team while the European contingent of Jamelle Salaun and Carla Leite has been extremely fun to see develop. There’s an article to be written about whether or not the WNBA is actively training Team USA’s first true Olympic rival but that’s for another time. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t add Veronica Burton into players that have been impressive in a new setting. Few know about Burton’s collegiate dominance at Northwestern given their lack of national success but she was absolutely her. As a senior, she averaged 17.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 4.0 steals (!) per game. Despite bouncing around the W, she’s always been built for the league and I’m so glad to see her finding her footing in Golden State. Ultimately, the early returns are good and may make them very attractive in next years highly anticipated free agency period.
]]
https://www.nocapspacewbb.com/p/no-cap-space-wbbs-2025-wnba-power
Marine Johannes was the player I hoped Valks would pick from the Liberty in the expansion draft. She's the one who plays most similar to Kings rookie Jason Williams. Van Loo did a good impression of this in the first game, but that was more of an exception game from her. Marine is more natural in the "volume shooting / scoring guard" role in addition to her elite vision and passing.
That being said, I'm not upset over the Kayla Thornton choice. KT is an elite 3 and D player. Valks need that toughness and physicality.
Hopefully the Valks come out with more fire on Thursday. But you can clearly see the difference in talent and size. Stewie is elite - her game reminds me of Anthony Davis. Jonquel Jones is also an elite talent. I would compare her game to KAT. She's good at shooting the 3, but also knows how to punish switches by using her 6 ft 6 size to seal off smaller defenders for easy layups. They also have Nyara Sabally - a mobile 6 ft 5 who was out tonight, as well as Sabrina Ionescu (elite 3pt shooter and passer) and Leonie Fiebich (6 ft 4 wing defender). With the size and length, it's hard to get open looks against the Liberty. It'll be a great learning and training experience for the Valks.
Marine is a really fun player to watch, except yesterday I was not having 100% fun
Fun game watching Valkyrie’s really take it to the Liberty. Valkyries are tough and fast and fierce and scramble ferociously. Their defense and switching were good, their shooting not so good. Linskens gave some problems to JJ under the basket. I got the feeling that GSV neophytes Salauen and Leite were surprised by the pace of the game and the toughness of this Liberty team.
Thanks for these game wraps, Eric! I appreciate the effort you're putting into this new team. I hope this site picks up steam as the season goes on. Hopefully you'll also be able to get some guest writers in the future, too.
Turned into a surprisingly watchable game. Our steals were fun, low cross court passes less fun. I'm worried that Kayla T's neck is going to be super stiff on Thursday - I'd be laid up for weeks w/ that.