I have never wanted to tag a total stranger and share an image more than when I saw this and thought of @brianphillips.bsky.social
Magic the Gathering Hall of Famer, Seattle Storm Crazie, and board gamer.
342 followers 74 following 157 posts
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I have never wanted to tag a total stranger and share an image more than when I saw this and thought of @brianphillips.bsky.social
Not just you, she’s worked out amazingly well / Notre Dame must not have been utilizing her as well as they could.
Suddenly the Storm's 8-10 home record makes more sense, but that's weird.
Ha! Very fair!
The defense is the bigger difference right now. It seems like she has all the tools to be amazing, but does not resemble Wemby's impact on that end (yet?).
I was talking today about how I'm not used to seeing someone her size with such good hands and such touch around the run, and my Spurs-fan wife just looked at me ... it WAS lazy, but it has circled all the way around to reasonable again (especially if she keeps shooting 3's).
They only want Boston if it's the current NBA owner. Having a different owner of the WNBA team would lead to the W and the MNBA having misaligned interests. To be clear this is all complete bullshit and they're screwing over the tribe, but what it is is evidence the NBA has the real power. :-(
Look I’m just happy she was on the floor for her defense after multiple teams in this losing streak cooked Malonga (especially the Sparks). Baby steps.
It’s Gabby.
@joshlloyd.bsky.social My league (9 cat hth) is doing all round reversal: 1st pick in the first round drafts last in every other round. Would you still want a top 2 pick? And surely 12th is better than everything 3-11, right?
lol, well done!
It's our pick and therefore a good trade.
A time machine for Alysha Clark. (Aka bench production/depth.)
Gabby Williams. My god. As of halftime she has 10 points, 3 steals, 5 boards, and fully 8 assists. AND she’s held Paige Bueckers to … zero. (Paige has 2 points off a transition layup versus Wheeler.) She’s running the offense while Skylar is out and also running the D. Triple double incoming. #WNBA
The row behind me at the Storm game: #wnba
As a Storm fan I wouldn’t want her (plus I know it’d be impossible to construct a trade for her anyway). It’d have to be the Valkyries I think to make the salary cap math work, or maybe the Mystics. Do you even want to make the playoffs if you’re those orgs though? And are we sure she would help?
The Storm at 9 is crazy. Yes they're inconsistent, but they have wins over all the top teams - their ceiling is very high. Why rank them based on their floor, especially when they are 13-9 for 4th place in the standings?
Arike is back from injury so they are no longer capable of playing defense.
My apologies, it's Win Shares where she was 5th, not yours. Interesting that it's that different! (McBride also totally got snubbed ... I'm quite surprised by the coachs' picks.)
McBride is a bigger snub than Brionna Jones?! Isn't she like 5th on your win shares metric? I'm gonna guess that someone drafted the right to talk about her ahead of you ...
Anyone interested in a movie-length documentary about Magic's 1998 US National Championship? I did an interview for this and am impressed with how it turned out: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Hcc...
The season finale of Welcome to Wrexham was AWESOME! I knew what was going to happen, but the way they told the story (especially the speech by Rob McElhenny) brought literal tears to my eyes.
lol
During high school she spent most of her allowance on real guitars and last weekend she graduated college with a minor in Music Technology. Anybody need to hire a live sound tech or similar? :-)
Clark is fine. She’s defense first so you don’t always see her contributions (also she’s great for the culture off the court). She’s old, so needs to be under 20 mins per game, but since EW started starting things have been fine. Agree Lexie has not worked out (so far?).
Exactly
I guess Amihere also has her eye on those minutes though.
I am hoping they’re preserving cap space to absorb Katie Lou Samuelson’s contract in a Li Yueru deal. With Fagbenle leaving soon and their ability to market themselves and their international players there’s a real win-win trade available! All we (the Storm) would ask for is Stephanie Talbot.
Did they maybe waive Linskens in time for her to go to Eurobasket even though she would have preferred to stay here?
We would want a payer back (not a pick), and specifically a wing (we need help at 2 and/or a 3). Contract details obviously matter a ton, but Li is super-cheap and we have a little room to take back a slightly bigger contract.
Golden State? Dallas? Connecticut? Phoenix?
A wing! We currently have 3 centers plus Nneka and we're using Erica Wheeler to back up the 1, 2, and 3.
This is a sweet idea for a cube
Only one way to know for sure, I don’t blame her for trying it once!
Seems fine as long as you know in heart you would pay the last-minute rescheduling fees to stay. (And then the more expensive those are, the better your reverse jinx works.)
Kitley looked quite good
Shockingly accurate
That first half against Vegas was the best I’ve seen the Storm play since Sue retired. #WNBA
Not just you. It's a fairly recent coach-speak phenomenon I think.
She's played a couple minutes there, but if you make her a 4 then you have 5 players playing 4 or 5 and 5 players covering 1 through 3. That doesn't really add up. I'm more interested in seeing them trying Nneka at 3 a little. (Mostly though they built the roster for Miles not Malonga.)
Surely they're also on the phone with Golden State about KLS and a draft pick for whoever GSV is gonna cut 13th? (Connected: do you know what the rules are for letting a player rehab in your facilities if they aren't under contract?)
This video is about Andy Mangold’s unconventional Ornithopter cube and the community that has become its champion. ft. @andy.luckypaper.co 🎥 youtu.be/Pddm1gbBuWE?...
Also Li Yueru is gonna make Dominique Malonga earn every minute of her playing time.
My “way too early” conclusions after watching the first half of the Storm preseason game from my season tickets: 1) Mackenzie Holmes is gonna make this roster, 2) Serena Sundell isn’t. #WNBA
They held their own early against Chicago. I think what we're actually seeing is how good the Fever are gonna be.
I ADORE the giant smile here from Kiki Iriafen after this play. Nothing says "you have arrived" like getting cussed out by Sophie Cunningham and when that realization hits her, she just starts beaming. #WNBA
Their cap is (was) set up where they could add a 12th player after two months or so though, which the hardship plan would eat into. You're right, but trading her strikes me as a better solution (and likely allows #12 to show up sooner as well).
Some of this will depend how camp is going. Maybe Mackenzie Holmes or Madison Conner actually looks good? (Yeah yeah, I am also an optimist.) I do feel better knowing the basic structure of this as it 100% seems like a thing they can and should do.
Does this mean she would be under contract for next year instead of a free agent?
Love this. People are sleeping on the Storm and they shouldn't be. I think they'll be better than last year, while also being really well set up for the future.
Oh, wow, I think you mighta got me with this one.
Seattle: We have Jonquel Jones at home (Dominique Malonga)
Sinners is the best movie I've seen in years. I ran it back for a second time last night so I could see it in Imax, which is was shot for. Predictably gorgeous, but it was the upgraded sound that really made it worth it.
Our bench is gonna be SO MUCH BETTER this year than last year. Will be sad to see these cuts (and that's enough talent that maybe we can even make a last-minute trade?!). I agree with your intuition, but Wheeler and Yueru will need to show up ready to play!
A Touch More (with Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe) isn't exclusively about basketball, but it hits all your points (and has plenty of basketball talk). The Ringer WNBA podcast is also good.
The other 2 3rd rounders are intriguing as well, but unless the Storm cut a veteran (which seems unlikely since building a bench of useful vets was clearly their off-season priority) then there's only one spot for Sundell, them, and the other training camp invitees to compete for.
Love, love, LOVE the draft the Seattle Storm had tonight! Malonga has Lauren Jackson upside and Serena Sundell had no business falling as far as she did in the draft, so I think we might have gotten both the best steal and the best long-term player. #WNBA
GREAT draft! And there's room for Sundell on the roster (assuming they injury-suspend Nika and Jordan). She seems like tremendous value for a 3rd round pick. Conner is also intriguing but it's harder to fit her in (unless she has a better camp than Sundell).
Long-term they'll be able to figure it out (especially once Nneka leaves or retires). It does not seem like the best way to optimize 2025 though. None of Ezi, Dom, or Nneka seem like they'd be able to play the 3, but if one of them can do that effectively then we're in great shape.
And you’re ignoring her Euroleague titles …
I always assumed she would fail to make the transition to the W but now I’m in Spokane and, well, wow. (Plus Angel kicking ass despite similar doubts is fresh in my mind too.)
Zero mistakes and only one try (and that many measures) seemed like quite harsh conditions, but I also cheered out loud and felt the sequence was well worth devoting most of an episode to so maybe that level of difficulty is fine?
I am really enjoying this season where you don't know the challenges in advance and we get to watch you figure out how to solve them.
The Sky are not my team, but your reporting has been so good that I follow you anyway. Looking forward to seeing what amazing things you do next!
She seems so perfect for them that I think overpaying slightly was still a good move. A point guard who can actually play defense?! You pay what it takes and try to win another one right now.
I wouldn’t change it. There were better counters available but only at higher mana costs (but Lapse was not a good counter in that deck). I would have played Remand instead if it existed, and probably 2 of them. It’s usually better, plus enables some cool tricks where you Remand your own spell.
Sleight of Mind if I let the little kid in me run free. (Dismiss if I’m being honest with myself.)
March Madness
Do we know anything other than Dallas’s “she elected to sit out” version? Like is she hurt, does she hate Dallas, does she have other plans for the summer, not care about the W, or something else entirely?
The Bernabeu (where Real Madrid play). The place felt like a cathedral, and at the time I went everyone there was worshipping Christiano Ronaldo.
Sure looks like they have 10 they like and it will be an open competition for the 11th spot between 3 3rd round picks, Mackenzie Holmes, Zia Cooke, Brianna Fraser, and anyone else they bring in.
Or do we not know for sure that Nika is out for the whole season?
They will just suspend both of them and that means they hit for zero, right? If they only suspend one then the other eats the 11th spot on the roster, right? (I hate that they won't get paid, but they don't seem to have much of a choice to my eye.)
I have us with $91,485 left for the 11th and final roster spot, assuming Li, Wheeler, the #2 pick, and everyone signed for above the minimum make the team. Does that look right to you? (Hat tip @herhoopstats.com, which continues to be awesome.) #WNBA
PREACH!!
Thanks! You don't always post about training camp contracts so just knowing it isn't that is interesting, even if expected.
Do we know Katie Lou’s salary number yet?
That foul was awful, 100% agree
That was shockingly good
Her upside if she gets over her issues is she's start-able. I do not think they're counting on that (#2 pick is the likely starter). You said they should spend her money on someone better, which would be a start-able shooting guard. For $18k over min and a 2nd round pick that's not happening.
She makes slightly more than the minimum. (96k this year, 98k next year. The minimum is 78k.) There are no start-able shooting guards available at that price. The only reason she is that cheap is the health issues. Yes, if she fails to improve on last year it's a wasted roster spot, but ...
She had undiagnosed and untreated Crohn's Disease. Some athletes are able to perform despite this disease, but there's also the possibility it's career-ending. Whether this is a good trade comes down to whether she is able to get healthy. At that low price, it seems like a reasonable gamble to me.
She's playing reasonably well in Athletes Unlimited. I'm hoping we got a steal! (But you logic about LA moving on is depressingly sound.)
Also age matters less when everyone is signing for only one year. I like where they're at for this season as long as they get to draft someone who can play heavy rotation minutes at shooting guard.
JuJu Watkins is the first player with 35 points, 5 blocks and 5 assists in a game in the last 20 seasons across all DI. She's also made 6 3s, has 11 boards, 8 total blocks She's doing this against the undefeated, No. 1 team in the country An all-time performance for the ages
I would argue there’s a distinctly Miles-shaped hole in their lineup for 2025 (Bueckers would fit too).
They have options, sure, but only Miles (or Bueckers) fits the gaping hole at guard in 2015. Nneka and Sky deserve a roster that can compete …
Our team makes a TON of sense if we get to slot her in at 2-guard. I have no idea what our backup plan is if she doesn't come out.
Emma Meesseman!
Thanks for recommending Clingan two days ago! Should I start him, Camara, or Andrew Wiggins as my 10th guy tonight? (12t, 9cat with Points projecting to be my closest category this week.)
The Unrivalved 1 v 1 tournament is sweet. Round 2 is tonight (7et). www.unrivaled.basketball/1-on-1
You're assuming the #2 pick on rookie money in one of the spots, right?
Does she hit Indiana's cap for the original number, the "buyout" number, or nothing at all?
Literally my favorite Storm player, welcome home!!
Why does Charlotte do this trade? I guess Mark Williams is in year 3 so he's too old for them?! Plus they know they'll still be rebuilding in 2030 and 2031 so you gotta ...
Oh, hi Mark! @joshlloyd.bsky.social
Is Matkovic up enough to warrant an add in 12’s?
While we’re raiding the Aces can we also bring back Alysha Clark?
Yes, please.
