u/Even-Match8080

Actually confirmed one of the biggest questions I had about Dallas back in May: why Azzi started the season coming off the bench.

It was pretty clear he originally wanted Paige playing more off ball, and that only changed because the starting lineup was terrible. But that brings up another question: if he already pictured Paige playing off ball in May, then why did drafting Azzi make sense? Her biggest strength is literally playing off ball, and she’s one of the best at it.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Azzi and I think Dallas is wasting an opportunity with her because she’s clearly one of their best players. But if this is really how our coach sees the team, I honestly don’t understand it.

This chart looks at how much value players add compared to an average shooter on pull-up 3s, catch-and-shoot 3s, free throws and mid-range shots.

A few things stood out:

Paige is #1 mostly because of her ridiculous +58.0 from mid-range, while Kelsey Mitchell gets a huge part of her value from pull-up 3s.

Kayla McBride is in a different class as a catch-and-shoot player at +58.4.

A’ja being 6th is also impressive since most of her value comes from mid-range and free throws.

Azzi is 9th with a pretty interesting profile: +26.8 on catch-and-shoot 3s and +29.8 from mid-range, while barely getting anything from pull-up 3s or free throws.

Courtney Williams is another fun one. She’s negative on pull-up 3s but still 10th because of how good she is from mid-range.

Really cool way to look at shooting beyond just FG% and 3PT%.

Image taken from Twitter. @ automaticnba

Look who’s already in the structural phase. And it’ll probably still be finished before the Sky, even though they only started everything in May of this year.

I’m not going to say it’s because of the minutes she’s been playing, because it was a contact injury. But sorry, what now? Two of the three starters who have been playing the heaviest minutes are now injured. Obviously, Azzi’s situation seems precautionary for now, and we still don’t have any news on Jessica, but it’s concerning either way.

I’m not usually one to criticize coaches, but man, why does he keep dodging questions like this? What does Minnesota have to do with the question? Even if they’re also mismanaging their starters’ minutes, why should that stop us from being concerned about ours?

He’s not Minnesota’s coach. He’s paid to coach and manage Dallas, so when he’s asked about Dallas’ minutes, he should be able to answer a question about Dallas without pointing to what another team is doing.

Sorry guys, but if Azzi doesn’t play, we don’t even have a chance of winning. Our defense without her simply doesn’t exist.

A look at the main defensive guards on the current playoff teams

The matchup I find the most interesting is Rhyne vs. Azzi. Rhyne has the edge when it comes to defensive events, especially steals and Stops/100. Azzi is a little more balanced across the different defensive factors, especially dFT (87th percentile vs. Rhyne’s 24th). Their DRAPM is basically the same: Rhyne +0.7 (89th), Azzi +0.7 (88th).

Also looked at each team’s perimeter defense:

• GSV: Probably the most complete group. Burton is the best defender, but Charles also grades out really well. They don’t rely on just one player and they’re especially good at limiting efficiency.
• Atlanta: The most aggressive group. Gray is the most complete defender, while Rhyne Howard and Canada generate a ton of steals, blocks and stops. This is easily the trio that creates the most defensive events.
• Minnesota: Courtney Williams and Kayla McBride are both really strong defenders. Courtney has the better overall impact, while Kayla is elite at limiting efficiency. Miles gets a lot of stocks, but her adjusted impact is much lower.
• Las Vegas: Very solid and balanced. Jackie Young, Chelsea Gray and Loyd all have positive DRAPM. They don’t have the same defensive peaks as Atlanta or Minnesota, but there isn’t really a major weak link either.
• Indiana: More middle of the pack. Lexie Hull is clearly the best defender, Kelsey Mitchell grades slightly positive and Caitlin Clark is around neutral. Fine overall, but nothing really stands out as a group.
• New York: Pretty average overall. Sabrina grades positive but doesn’t generate many stops. Pauline Astier is more active, while Marine Johannes does well limiting efficiency in some areas but grades really poorly in others. They don’t really have a standout defensive guard.
• Washington: Citron is the clear standout, especially with steals and blocks, but the group overall is below average. Cotie McMahon is closer to neutral and Georgia Amoore has the weakest numbers of the three.
• Dallas: Easily the most unbalanced group. Azzi Fudd grades very well and has strong numbers across basically every area, while Paige (-0.8 DRAPM) and Arike (-1.0) grade very poorly. No other team here relies this much on one guard for positive defensive impact.

For the ranking, I used my own simple score just to combine everything:

30% DRAPM
40% advanced metrics
30% defensive production

Yesterday I posted the best three-point shooters. Four players made both lists.

Kelsey Mitchell takes a lot more threes than mid-range shots, and she’s less efficient from mid-range.

Marina Mabrey and Jackie Young use the mid-range even less, but they’re more efficient when they do.

Azzi Fudd is the opposite. She’s shooting an absurd 54.0% from mid-range, and nearly 30% of her points come from there. The only player who relies on the mid-range more is Courtney Williams, with 44% of her points coming from that area.

Yeah, we really need a center. Li isn’t that good defensively, but having a true big completely changes our offense.

I know a lot of people say Azzi gets a bad whistle, and I agree. There are definitely some fouls on her that don’t get called.

But honestly, I don’t think that’s the main reason her FT numbers are so low. Even if every missed call was called correctly, I don’t think it would make a huge difference.

Looking at her shot profile:

• 73.1% at the rim
• 62.7% from 10–16 feet
• 39.6% from three

Most of her offense comes from jump shots and off-ball movement. She rarely attacks the rim looking for contact and usually avoids it.

To me, that’s the biggest thing that needs to change in her game. If she starts getting to the rim more and embracing contact, her ceiling changes completely.

As for assists and rebounds, I don’t think we’ll ever see huge numbers from her. Maybe she gets close to 3 APG and 3 RPG, but that’s just not her style of play, and Dallas doesn’t really need her to become a primary playmaker or rebounder.

I’m probably one of the biggest critics of her game. I hate inefficient basketball, especially when it comes with bad defense. But she hasn’t been inefficient lately, even though her defense still leaves a lot to be desired.

The problem is that even when she plays well, she’s still going to get criticized by 95% of the fanbase. They don’t like her, and her reputation is awful with other fanbases too. I honestly don’t see how she turns things around in Dallas. She’s averaging 22 points over the last five games and people still don’t want her there.

At this point, the best thing for both sides is probably to move on. On the bright side for her, at least she’s making $1.2 million.

Context: She committed a foul on a three-point shot with 15 seconds left, which led to a five-point possession, and Dallas lost by one point. She was yelling at the referee after the call.

I’d normally post this in the Dallas sub, but there are already too many people there whose opinions are influenced by their favorite player.

Azzi has never really been someone who creates her own shot. She moves into position and gets the pass. But lately I’ve noticed that whenever she wants to shoot, she basically has to make something happen herself. To be fair, Dallas has started running a few screens for her, but every game I still get the feeling that she goes long stretches without even touching the ball.

I went back and watched some of her final games at UConn because I had never watched her in college, and she honestly looks like a completely different player. I think it has more to do with how much of a priority the team made involving her.

There have been two games where I felt especially frustrated, like, please get her more involved. This last game, when she clearly had a ridiculous level of confidence, and the second game against the Aces, when she was shooting around 90% from the field and still only took nine shots.

Azzi is quickly becoming my favorite player, mainly because of the effort she puts in defensively. That’s always been a huge factor for me when it comes to liking a player.

But I genuinely can’t tell whether this is just the difference between college and the W and she needs more time to adjust, or whether Dallas simply doesn’t treat her like a priority on offense.

If this was her first practice, it was already a huge sign she was going to win.