u/sharkproofundersea

https://preview.redd.it/91o014kk5fbh1.png?width=1024&format=png&auto=webp&s=997d4b340ec92acaf456efab0571936752729592

one of the big questions going into the year -- after last year's unsuccessful Cloud & Sabrina pairing -- was what a successful backcourt pairing with Sab would look like. Her and Johannes seemed troublesome. Her and Laney has foundered with Laney's lack of availability. But in the past couple of games (beating title contenders!) it feels like we've maybe stumbled into it, with Astier and Sab? Astier's lane-penetration opens up the 3-point line for Sab (and she can, if challenged or not wanting to shoot, find a cutting Stewie or whoever). And Sab's threat from deep keeps the lane open for Astier's drives (and she can of course pass to JJ or Leo or whoever when challenged at the rim).

Fear of bad defense made it seem unlikely, but if Sab can keep herself at a plausible defensive level (as she did against Minnesota) & Astier can stay pesky, then Leo and Stewie as the back-line feels like it takes care of a lot.

Don't throw things at me -- I recognize how much this would rock the franchise and infuriate the fanbase -- but given how she's been playing, and how DeMarco has (hasn't) been using her, it seems worth considering: what could we plausibly get in exchange for Laney-Hamilton? The most plausible target I could come up with is Nelson-Ododa from the Sun...

(Also, if you think this is an outrage and not worth considering, make the case! Should we keep her entirely out of loyalty? Are you confident in her future contribution?)

One of the smartest Liberty-watchers goes deep, with clips: https://x.com/LucasKaplan_/status/2069549159401537921?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Perhaps a naive question, but why in general WNBA threads do Liberty fans generally seem so thin on the ground? Whether we're playing the Mystics or the Sparks or whoever, the general sentiment seems always to be celebrating our opponents. Are we generally unpopular? Just not particularly popular among Redditors? E.g. look here: https://www.reddit.com/r/wnba/comments/1uc85f6/post_match_thread_wnba_the_sparks_defeat_the/

I'm as disappointed as anybody in how we're playing, but one thing that keeps me sane is considering e.g. the terrible season Alanna Smith is having so far (much worse than JJ!), and how if she were doing that on our team, it would look like such an obvious front office fiasco.

Which doesn't mean we've made all the right moves or anything, but that there are struggles in every timeline, and that the season is long, and that we're all gonna be surprised -- on the positive and negative sides both -- a bunch of times before this year is over.

Caveats about how it's very very early in the season, totally different rosters etc etc, but I wonder if the respective starts of the Tempo and the Storm suggest that maybe Raman was a bigger part of our coaching problems than Sandy.

On this morning's episode of No Offseason Annie Constabile reports that Satou's cyst isn't related to her concussion, and that the Libs expect her back early in the season. I was beginning to panic and develop conspiracy theories (the shaved head...), so I found this very reassuring!

Are all the preseason rankings, surveys etc maybe going a *tiny* bit hard on how unstoppable Las Vegas is gonna be? I mean, maybe they will be! They're a great dynasty, went on that great run last year, etc etc. But they haven't looked immortal for much of the past two seasons, and I'm sensing a bit of herd mentality/recency bias among the prognosticators. Or perhaps this is all wishful thinking!