Gotnext Women's Basketball Boards

skew11 · Joined: 12 Jun 2002 Posts: 372

today at 1pm(3pm cst/4pm est) and on Season Pass TV :!: Hope Kayte's knee is ok and she can go. We need a 'W' because this is one record I do NOT want!.

Gil · Joined: 25 Jun 2002 Posts: 84

FYI, folks....

The Mercury made some player transactions prior to the Portland game today.

Bonfiglio has been moved to IR, and the team picked up post player Oksana Zakaluzhnaya off of the waiver wire. This was the same post player formerly with Detroit that some of you were speaking about a few weeks ago. To make room for Oksana on the roster, the team waived Quacy Barnes from the IR list. I don't know if Oksana will be in uniform for this afternoon's game.

I hope this catches you all up with the player information. It should be a good game this afternoon vs. the Fire (with Jackie Stiles who has been activated off of the Fire's IR list).

Gil · Joined: 25 Jun 2002 Posts: 84

Almost forgot.....Kayte's ok and Coach Sharp says she has been given the green light to play in this afternoon's game vs. the Fire.

gia · Guest

Wow, re: Oksana Zakaluzhnaya - either I'm psychic, or Seth read the board and took my advice to pick her up ;) , or it's just a coincidence. Probably the latter, eh? :lol:

At 6'6 how can she not help? Wondering who if anyone is on the trading block with the deadline coming up....Bonfiglio? Tuvic? VEALY??....fodder for another thread.

In the meantime, we really need this win! Adrain's mistakes are killing me but the Portland announcers are pretty entertaining.

Gaucho_Don · Guest Joined: 12 Jun 2002 Posts: 223

Did everyone else just lose the audio pass?

Ohio Gaucho · Guest Joined: 12 Jun 2002 Posts: 65 Location: Salem, OH

Phoenix channel of audio season pass was lost in the second half. Switching to the other team's channel ususally works in this situation. The Fire commentators were not too bad, actually, as Gia suggested.

Well, we got the record no one wanted. :cry:

Regards,
Bob
UCSB '61

gia · Guest

Be glad the audio went out. It was a dismal finish.

I don't care how many blocks Williams gets, she's LIABILITY when she is on the floor. At least 10 of the Fire pts came off her fouls or turnovers. Someone needs to tell her that she should NOT be dribbling the ball anywhere on the court!

At the same time they have no one else to put in there........except for Kayte and they don't leave her in there very long. Tuvic has been a bust. They obviously don't trust her for more than 5 minutes a game. Same with Veal.

eaction83 · Guest Joined: 14 Jun 2002 Posts: 130 Location: Fremont, CA

Oksana, eh? We'll see, but I frankly doubt she's going to be of any more service than Barnes was. 6'6 is great, but it's not of much use if you're tiptoeing around the low blocks like you're 5'6, which is the impression I have of her from looking at her career numbers here in the states vs. what she puts up in Europe.

For the team's sake, naturally, I hope I'm wrong and that she suddenly blows up and becomes a great player. But this is her third year in the league, she's done pretty much nothing, and she's already been cut twice this year, once by the worst team in the league, and once by a team that still has Tausha Mills--poster child of all draft busts--on its roster. So I'm afraid I'm just not too optimistic about her ability to do anything besides take up space on the bench.

Gaucho_Don · Guest Joined: 12 Jun 2002 Posts: 223

What is up with the substitutions (or lack). Is the difference between the 1st 6 and the last 4 that great? The last 4 players averaged less than 5 minutes! I think more substitution than that is necessary just to keep the starters fresh.

It is nice to see Kayte getting some time, although from what I could see it looked like a subpar performance from her, hopefully it is just rust recovering from the bruise and not a big deal.

I'm still of the opinion that Veal is the most underused player on the team, Kayte and her were neck and neck but Kayte's been getting some good time recently. (Interesting that the two underutilized players are hotel roommates on the road trips (per Kayte's Chronicles)

I was looking back at some box scores from the start of the season and I wonder what has happened to Tuvic. Her playing time has dwindled because her performance dwindled after a decent start to the year... What does it take to stay motivated for the season? Or get motivated for a road win?

At this stage any road win will do. It seems like we've been close late in a lot of road games only to fall apart... hmmm... maybe the starters are tired after playing an average game of oh 34 minutes :evil: :twisted:

cbibat · Guest Joined: 14 Jun 2002 Posts: 232

When Cooper was coaching one of the things she said she wanted to do, and did, was get the bench playing double digit minutes.... when this happened the bench produced.... why the change? :?

Mat H · Guest Joined: 24 Jun 2002 Posts: 168 Location: Glendale AZ

I really hope Seth pulls off some trades before this season is scraps. Adrian Williams has about 10 too many rookie mistakes per game to be in her 3rd year. :? I don't know if it's the coaching staff or what, but the bench was the key to the early winning. Now, we have no production off of the bench. Something needs to happen quick, we desperately need more vets, QUICK! :x

gia · Guest

Sharp obviously doesn't trust the bench. She's leaving it up to Gillom, Grubin (who has a pattern of having 20 pt games and then 3 pt games), and Harrison (when she thinks offense instead of just defense). Let's face it, our big 3 just ain't that big :(

Sharp would much rather stick with the starting lineup and give them rest by giving Saunders, Veal, Moises, Tuvic, Kayte token sporadic minutes. She should just go to my entire squad sub pattern....6 min starters, 3 min bench. :)

Again, Williams is not a boost to the team playing that many minutes. She makes way too many mistakes (not finishing shots, tipping the ball out of bounds, stupid fouls, DRIBBLING up the court). She's 6'5 and today the guards out rebounded her (again). Your starting center should be averaging more than 5 rbs and 5 pts per game in 25 min. IMHO

Mat H · Guest Joined: 24 Jun 2002 Posts: 168 Location: Glendale AZ

It's more like the BIG One Gia, the other two often over sleep. :?

Ohio Gaucho · Guest Joined: 12 Jun 2002 Posts: 65 Location: Salem, OH

gia wrote: Again, Williams is not a boost to the team playing that many minutes. She makes way too many mistakes (not finishing shots, tipping the ball out of bounds, stupid fouls, DRIBBLING up the court). She's 6'5 and today the guards out rebounded her (again). Your starting center should be averaging more than 5 rbs and 5 pts per game in 25 min. IMHO

Perhaps its a Trojan Connection :?: Miller, Cooper, Sharp, Williams? USC has played some great WBB in the past, and the Mercury seem fascinated. Anyone in mgmt also a Trojan Alumnus? :?

When Adrain hustles, she contributes.

Go Mercury :!: :)
Equalling that record is quite enough :!:
Beat the Storm :idea:

SportsFan48 · Guest Joined: 12 Jun 2002 Posts: 1137

In William's defense, she is NOT a starting center in this league. Yet she has been thrust into that position and we expect miracles. She has improved her game, but she is inconsistent. How many other players can make that same claim?

Seth, we need to enlarge the team bus, charter a plane, whatever it takes to get some of the X-factor on the road.

gia · Guest

Miller is the one who brought Williams in from USC with high hopes of her becoming the next Lisa Leslie. Obviously that hasn't happened and I can't see it ever happening. Yes she's been thrown into the starting position with Maria out. Maybe it would have been better for her to go play overseas or in the WNBL during the off season like many others did. You can lift weights and work one on one with a mentor all you want, but when you want to be the best you can be, you play play play until you're at that caliber.

The paper is quoted Seth as saying Kayte didn't get more minutes vs Portland because of foul trouble - 4. Yet Adrain continued to play with 5, Gillom, Grubin, Harrison all had 4.

mb · Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2002 11:03 am Post subject:

Kayte, and even Bobo (Tuvic) need to get some of Williams minutes. Kayte has the highest FG% on the team. She scores 4.2 ppg in 12.3 minutes to Adrains 5.3 ppg in 25.5 minutes.

How many times must we ask for more minutes for Veal and Christensen?

How many times must we ask Adrain to shoot the ball if she is w/i 8 ft, and not to dribble at all unless it's a quick move to the hoop?