u/Careful-Painting3214

I'm not a Fire fan because I'm already a Mystics fan but everyone on the Fire roster is extremely likeable.

Someone just posted Bridget as the most underrated player and I absolutely agree. I think it's because these types of awards generally go to players on winning teams. I just found myself guilty of this bias.

I did an analysis of who should win most improved player. Sports books currently have Leite as the 5th most likely candidate to win the award. I'm glad I chose to analyze the top 5 because I would have missed this otherwise. When you look at analytically with an actual criteria ...

Carla Leite should win the most improved player award and it's not even close.

https://www.reddit.com/r/WNBANonEchoChamber/s/hc3Ynvcq6D

Value is the key word, isn't it?

A'ja Wilson is the world's best player but she doesn't have as much value on the upcoming women's FIBA team as she does on her own Aces team. Likewise, does she have as much value on her Aces team as Shakira has on this Mystics team? I think Aces still make playoffs without A'ja. I think Mystics finish bottom 5 without Shakira. Posting my full take below where I still have A'ja winning the MVP, but it's crazy to me that Shakira isn't even in the discussion.

https://www.reddit.com/r/WNBANonEchoChamber/s/SJBG1CSCnm

I really want someone to convince me she's number one.

https://www.reddit.com/r/WNBANonEchoChamber/s/SJBG1CSCnm

I'm not an Aces fan so I tried to come up with criteria where she doesn't get the MVP again.

I failed.

Posting link to my full analysis but, basically, if you ask yourself who's the one player whose absence would most significantly diminish her team, I don't think it's close.

https://www.reddit.com/r/WNBANonEchoChamber/s/jqWHvwdc8v

Anyone expecting the Sparks to actually give us any problems? I think this game is over before the 4th quarter

Mystics 85
Sparks 72

https://www.reddit.com/r/WNBANonEchoChamber/s/f7M0UWnUNG

With 11 games left, our 7-game winning streak is over, but dropping those two road games to the Aces was actually the best thing that could have happened to this roster. We weren't going to win out. Those losses uncovered the exact adjustments we need to make to absolute tear through this final stretch and head into the playoffs white-hot.

If we want to hit that 9-2 finish, it comes down to three quick fixes:

• Integrate, Don't Just Insert Laney-Hamilton: Forcing her into heavy minutes right away disrupted the rhythm that won us 7 straight. She brings championship defense, but her minutes shouldn't come at the expense of what was already clicking.
• Protect Cotie McMahon's Minutes: Our free-throw generation plummeted against Vegas because Cotie’s minutes were slashed to 21 and 15. Even in just 15 minutes, she still forced 6 free throws. We need her downhill aggression on the floor to punish defenses.
• Cut the Self-Inflicted Turnovers: Vegas didn't overwhelm us with pressure; we gave possessions away with careless, lazy passes. That’s a discipline problem, not a talent problem, and it's the easiest thing to fix before the playoffs.

We don't need to reinvent our offense. We just need to get back to what makes us dangerous.

I've posted in more detail here for anyone interested ... https://www.reddit.com/r/WNBANonEchoChamber/s/4e2CzQDtWz

Never afraid to take my lumps if I'm wrong ...

https://www.reddit.com/r/WNBANonEchoChamber/s/ORlgwi2r1E

Is this just because I'm a Seahawks fan or does anyone else see the similarities?

https://www.reddit.com/r/WNBANonEchoChamber/s/5QdCtj74Kw

I think it's important to recognize that this is the team she built. The #4 draft choice was obvious after the other top 4 got picked and I would also say Cotie was the obvious choice at #11. Since the team already had those picks before Jamila was fired, we can go ahead and credit her with those two players.

We can't say for sure she would have picked Dugalic and I don't think she would've signed Onyenwere given she clearly saw that this team was ready to compete and most likely wanted to aim higher.

No knock on either Onyenwere or Dugalic but they're all we can attribute to the post Wideman era for now and they're not needle movers. In fact, we'll still need to credit Jamila with next year's number one pick and the 2028 number one pick she got from Chicago.

The decision to fire her was mysterious before and saying it hasn't aged well would be an understatement. I personally wish we could've seen how much further she would've taken this team.

As it stands, this team was already rebuilt before 2026 free agency even began and that's the fastest rebuild I've ever seen in any sport.

The team probably won't honor her in any way for this but I think the fans owe it to her to at least acknowledge this was all her doing.

Thanks, Jamila!

Even if we assume they can protect 6 players in 2028, that list will already include:

Shakira, Sonia, Kiki, Betts, Georgia, Cotie.

Then they'll add a top 6 pick next year thanks to Chicago. How about free agency? Will they sit it out again for developmental reasons? If not, the list of players you don't want to lose grows to 8 and that doesn't even include popular players like Olsen, Harmon, Dugalic and Prosper. And if they can only protect 5, it gets even worse.

They'll have two first round picks in 2028 and more expansion drafts in 2029 or 2030, I think.

https://www.reddit.com/r/WNBANonEchoChamber/s/EGmx7aFbRL

It's wild that this team did so little in free agency that they still have 1.83 million in cap space, and are still good enough for several people to have them at #2 right now.

I didn't consider this a development team, didn't understand the decision to mostly sit out free agency and don't understand the decision to not make a trade before the deadline.

If they had gotten Plum or even Skylar, I 100% would agree they're #2

Neither player should be traded. Let's get this out of the way.

But it looks like they're trying to trade Lan, given the decision to not play her against the Dream. Hopefully, they couldn't get anywhere near what they were expecting and we'll see her suit up tonight.

Wings biggest weakness is defense and the reigning defensive player is right there on the roster and just needs to be unlocked. If this coach that many of us don't have much confidence in can get over himself and make some adjustments, this is a deep playoff team.

The funniest thing about Arike is how much she's able to make so many people deny the truth -- she's still incredibly talented and that talent can be harnessed correctly. Given her low trade value, trading her now can only result in a huge net loss.

The key is having her come off the bench. And the key to that is the coach and front office having the guts to just do it. I'm sure her feelings are a factor but I think the biggest factor is they want to preserve her trade value for the off-season. Well, they need to just suck it up and do it.

The pieces are all there. It's up to the coach and front office to put on their big boy pants.

And while averaging almost 32 minutes per game?

At this point she's already passed Sabrina as the best 3pt shooter in the league. I don't see her passing up shots, I just see she seldom gets open looks. She also has such a quick release that she doesn't even need to be as open as others.

So why is she only 15th?

I know they have her camping in a corner most of the game but why? There must be some reason for it.

I see lots of posts about overplaying certain players too many minutes while bench players who get hot often go back to the bench for no reason.

It's already been obvious this isn't a good system for Lan and yet there's been no adjustments made to accommodate our million dollar free agent and reigning defensive player of the year.

My thought is coach has a specific system, isolate and hero ball, and either won't or can't adjust based on the players on the floor at any given moment. In other words, not dynamic or adaptive. That means only specific players can stay productive on the court for extended minutes each game.

For example, Lan has her moments but eventually goes back to being fish out of water the longer she stays in.

Is that the problem or is it something else?

I have no doubt we'd be sitting on an 8 game win streak if we had played the Liberty on Friday instead of having to play consecutive nights.

It was wrong to label this a rebuild season and do nothing in free agency except signing Onyenwere to more money than players like Natasha Howard. As some of us projected before the season began, this is turning it to be a waste of a year with Kiki and Sonia on cheap contracts.

But at this point of the season, teams like the Sparks and Sky know they're likely to miss the playoffs and won't get far even if they do get in. They're most likely looking to the future already and they both have solid veterans who will be free agents after this season, and happen to be exactly what the Mystics need.

Kelsey Plum - she won't be available until August but that gives her time to learn the offense. In fact, that gives the whole team time to actually install an offense.

Price? Georgia and the Mystics 2028 first round pick? They would still have Chicago's.

Skylar - Georgia and 2027 second round pick?

There's plenty of other options but either one of Plum or Skylar would immediately change this from a wasted season to an interesting dark horse season.

All season I had been hoping a team not in contention would sign her exactly so a team like the Aces wouldn't end up doing so.

Is Buggs really better than her?

The Washington Mystics should aggressively pursue guard JJ Quinerly. The Dallas Wings recently waived Quinerly due to a massive logjam of guard talent on their roster, presenting Washington with a low-risk, high-reward opportunity to add a tenacious perimeter defender and dynamic transition scorer