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CamrnCrz1974 · Joined: 16 Jun 2003 Posts: 1689 Location: Central Phoenix

Phoenix is 9-3 since Stepanova arrived, 9-2 with Maria in the starting lineup.

1) Is the success solely because of Maria? Did Maria come at a good time (after a long series of road games early on)?

2) Would Phoenix, currently at 12-13, have the same record had Penny and Kamila been available since the beginning of training camp? We lost to Sacramento without Penny, Kamila, Maria (or Plenette, who was injured), and we lost to Indiana without those three.

3) Would Phoenix, currently at 12-13, have the same record had Penny and Kamila been available since the beginninf of training camp, but if Maria Stepanova never came?

This is not to diminish Maria's contributions...just some interesting points to discuss?

Mercurymaniac · Joined: 04 Aug 2002 Posts: 1197 Location: Scottsdale

I think we might have had a better record if Penny and Kamilla had been available from the start. I felt early on we didn't play to our potential because we had the built in excuse that we don't have our complete team. We came out flat in the opener and it seemed several players weren't in shape. We won last year without her or Kamilla.

I believe the dimension that she brings is there is another line of defense. How many times in the past have we played good D for 27 seconds and force a bad shot only to loose the rebound? I think the combo of Maria and Kamilla has made the difference because we have a second line of defense and more dependable rebounding. It also discourages, some of the smaller guards and forwards venturing into the middle willy nilly.

I also feel that it has brought some competition at the post position. Now people have to work to get minutes instead of getting them by default.

All in all, Maria has made us more versatile.

hellcat

Ok I'll has it a go...

CamrnCrz1974 wrote: 1) Is the success solely because of Maria? Did Maria come at a good time (after a long series of road games early on)?

I think you could say it's a bit of both.

Even though we had Kamila I don't think many teams would have respected our inside game even with that acquisition. Having Maria there as well means teams another solid presence in the post and has probably freed up more opportunities for players like Penny as there is no one in our starting line up you can afford not to respect on D - despite what Henry Bibby thinks. ;)

CamrnCrz1974 wrote: 2) Would Phoenix, currently at 12-13, have the same record had Penny and Kamila been available since the beginning of training camp? We lost to Sacramento without Penny, Kamila, Maria (or Plenette, who was injured), and we lost to Indiana without those three.

I think our record would be better. When you look at the distribution of minutes there were some players that were out on the court in those early games for a lot more than you would expect during the regular season. Whilst that's a good learning curve for them it's not good for the W/L column when you're a team with play off aspirations.

CamrnCrz1974 wrote: 3) Would Phoenix, currently at 12-13, have the same record had Penny and Kamila been available since the beginninf of training camp, but if Maria Stepanova never came?

That's a hard one. I think some of those early games we could have won if we had both Penny and Kamila, but recently Maria has been stepping up and stepping over (hey there's a banner idea :P) our opposition. I think it may have balanced out in the end to around where we are. All three of those players are important to the Mercury's success.

librarygeek · Joined: 27 May 2005 Posts: 176 Location: Central Phx

All right, I'll give it a shot. I think that every player is significant at this point and that this team is very much a sum of its parts. If Penny, Kamila, and Maria had all been present from the beginning of camp, I think this season would be a very different story.

I think we would not have lost so many games in the first part of the season had we had Penny and Kamila from the beginning. As others have mentioned, Maria and Kamila together give us an inside presence and help us garner a bit more respect from other teams. Since we no longer have a gaping hole in the middle, the perimeter players are more effective. Basically, most of our players can be a threat on any given night and I think that makes it harder for other teams to deal with us. They don't have to watch out for 2 or 3 players; they have to watch out for all of them. And all of our starters have the ability to shoot from various spots. Maybe it's that European forward thing - Maria and Kamila can score under the basket as well as from fifteen feet out. And that's a beautiful thing.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that we are a much more complete team with EVERYONE here and it shows.

SportsFan48 · Joined: 12 Jun 2002 Posts: 1136

Excellant summations! :D

Here is my 2 cents:

Quote: 1) Is the success solely because of Maria? Did Maria come at a good time (after a long series of road games early on)?

A better time to get her would have been May 1, but coming at all has been a positive. Our success is not solely because of Maria but she has been a factor. It is so fun to see the Mercury with some height. I would love to see a lineup with Maria, Kamila, and Ashley at the same time. Especially if it was against the shortest team....Indiana???

Quote: 2) Would Phoenix, currently at 12-13, have the same record had Penny and Kamila been available since the beginning of training camp? We lost to Sacramento without Penny, Kamila, Maria (or Plenette, who was injured), and we lost to Indiana without those three.

I can't say whether we would have the same record or not, but I do believe we would have won some earlier games if they had been here. If I were Sacramento, I would be a little nervous coming in here tomorrow night. They aren't the same team....IMO they are weaker. No Walker and I don't think Chelsea Newton is having as good a second half as she did the first half of the season.

Quote: 3) Would Phoenix, currently at 12-13, have the same record had Penny and Kamila been available since the beginninf of training camp, but if Maria Stepanova never came?

Again, can't say for sure, but I think our record would be better regardless of Maria, if PJ and KV had been here when camp started. Maria has definitely made a difference, but I think we would have had better success against some of the eastern conference teams on the road if our roster had not been such a roller coaster up and down.

Mercurymaniac · Joined: 04 Aug 2002 Posts: 1197 Location: Scottsdale

After reading the article in todays Republic, I guess we'll get to find out Maria's impact really soon. She is slated to leave next week. :(

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/mercury/articles/0812mercury0812.html

So was this season, more of a getting to know you again and see what you'll be returning to next year? I guess we can approach this as if she got injured. She goes down and what would we do? I think Ashley can step up and once she dials in on that mid range jumper, our posts will just get stronger.

I can't wait for Orender to figure out a way, that helps us maintain the top Euro players and keep the W strong. The whole world knows that the W is the premiere women's league, now we need the pay and the clout to garner the respect, so each country's federation won't be calling back their stars.

Mercurymaniac · Joined: 04 Aug 2002 Posts: 1197 Location: Scottsdale

http://msn.foxsports.com/olympics/story/3896462

I wonder with the "Father of Soviet Basketball" dying if all National Basketball heroes will have to return to Russia to attend the funeral.

I wonder if this will speed up the timetable.