r/WNBANonEchoChamber

Ever. Will it happen this year? This is what I saw:

The Aces are cooked and they might be done in general. An overreaction to being suffocated by an amazing defensive unit? Possibly. But I fully believe the run is over for their big three in their current form. And next year won't be their current form. Chelsea will be a year older. Jackie will still be kinda young but she's been shooting 24% since game 2 of the Indiana series. If they sign her to another max contract, they're going to have the same depth problems next year as they had this year.

Next year's free agency is going to be brutal for them. The two expansion franchises will be ready to spend, as well as the reborn Houston Comets. And I don't the expect the Mystics to be obtuse enough to keep sticking to the same senseless off-season playbook they stuck to this year. Demand is going up and prices are going to crush any team with 3 max players. Sorry, Caitlin.

I don't see this series going back to California.

There's a reason I spent so much time talking about the Aces next season. It's because I was writing about the Liberty simultaneously. Just do global search and replace Aces-Liberty on the text above. This series isn't going to make it back to down I-95 to Atlanta. And ditto about their off-season.

I know objectivity doesn't exist in sports so Dream fans, have a day with this.

DeWanna Bonner spent pretty much the entire season on one of the worst teams in the league. Let's be very, very clear. She averaged 27.6 minutes per game with the Mercury. She wasn't a bystander in the team's mediocre performance all season. She contributed heavily to their poor play.

But then just like last season, she bailed on her team for greener pastures to chase a title she wouldn't have deserved, even if she had won or might win. Let's throw all bias out the window and at least try to look at this objectively. There's zero integrity in any of this. In fact, there's tons of whatever the opposite of integrity is. It's disgusting to me.

People who like to rationalize to defend things that benefit them will say it's common for long-time veterans to be given an opportunity to chase one more title. Yes, but there's two very important aspects to consider:

1. It's usually given to the them at the beginning of the season so they can actually earn and deserve it
2. It's usually veterans who aren't capable of going to a team right before the playoffs start and affecting the outcomes of one or more series

Neither of those apply here. She was instrumental in the Atlanta Dream defeating the Washington Mystics as she was the player who got the Dream rolling in the second half of both games. And now she just scored 23 points as the Dream defeated the Liberty in game one of their semifinal series. Winning with integrity should be a thing.

Join me on Dem Agora if you want to argue about this. it's better suited for people who want to have constructive discussions.

A’ja, Becky, and Chelsea really are operating on a different level. A’ja’s the system and the structure at the same time, Becky’s the one who keeps the geometry stable, and Chelsea’s game‑time decision‑making is basically crystallized genius.

That’s why Game 1 looked the way it did. The Valkyries pulled her out of her usual triangles and forced her into reads she normally controls. When you disrupt the operator, the efficiency dips.

I know it's the GSV defense but this is a complete smothering. A'ja can't do this alone.

Obviously, I wouldn't call their players old, but they're generally older than the Dream and Valkyries. I think the rest is exactly what both of those teams needed.

... to both have 30 points and 10 rebounds tonight. I also think both teams even up the series tonight, but I've done much better predicting player performances than games.

And anyone who actually puts their money where my mouth is needs to check themselves in to a world-class mental health institute.