Swish Appeal regular and resident Washington Mystics fan thewiz06 looks at Category 3 teams with two teams that will be continuing an extended rebuilding process. See Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 of his series of guest posts for a look at all the categories and where teams fit.
It seems like an eternity now between the time when I first wrote this out about a week ago and free agency which officially started as of yesterday. We have seen one trade already where the Los Angeles Sparks traded guard Noelle Quinn for Mystics forward Marissa Coleman, and the Tulsa Shock traded Andrea Riley for Temeka Johnson earlier this offseason. I look forward to seeing what else happens in free agency, and what team building strategy each team ultimately makes. Ultimately, very few teams decide to rebuild - as I might hope - because this often results in a period of lower win totals.
Swish Appeal regular and resident Washington Mystics fan thewiz06 begins his look at Category 3 teams with two teams that can both begin to rebuild and aim for the playoffs. See Part 1 and Part 2 of his series of guest posts for a look at all the categories and where teams fit.
I wrote this knowing that I was going to take heat for some of my thoughts. One person wrote to me saying that I overemphasized roster age and Sue Bird's free agency. Outside of talent, age is very important and overall roster age is the most important thing, all other things being equal. The main way I viewed my rationale of teams is from this ten step rebuilding plan from Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis, and it is something that's pretty big in Washington. Ted also owns the Mystics (I know Sheila Johnson is the President and is called the de-facto owner too), and the Wizards NBA team.
Swish Appeal regular and resident Washington Mystics fan thewiz06 takes a look at "Category 2 teams: teams built for the postseason, but not the WNBA title just yet". See Part 1 of his series of guest posts for a look at all the categories and where teams fit.
The following are what I call "Category 2" teams.
I believe that these teams are talented enough to aim for the playoffs in 2012, but probably aren't championship caliber yet. Then again, I don't think that most people thought the Minnesota Lynx would win the WNBA championship last year with flying colors, so perhaps you can expect one of these teams to be called a championship contender if its chemistry is really good this year and one of the Category 1 teams has chemistry or injury issues.
Swish Appeal regular and resident Washington Mystics fan thewiz06 got in touch with me about an idea for a fan post analyzing what each WNBA team should do this year as free agency picks up. After reading it over and having a few exchanges, it became apparent that it was too much to fit in just one fan post. And then it just made more sense to post this as a series of front page stories for people to dig into. So without further ado, his first installment previewing the WNBA off-season, if you will.
In any professional sports league, it's not just about wins and losses, even though it is the most visible measure of a team's performance. There are other metrics that need to be viewed to see how the team is doing and where it should be in the future. These include the age of the roster, how younger players played, etc.
To me, there are three categories of strategies among all teams in a professional league.
The 2012 WNBA schedule has been released and the season is slated to start on Friday, May 18 as the LA Sparks visit the Seattle Storm for a 10 p.m. ET game. A full range of games is scheduled for the opening weekend of action with seven games in the following two days to begin the year.
The 2011 Finals rematch of the Atlanta Dream and Minnesota Lynx will be replayed in Atlanta on Aug. 25 and at Minnesota on Sept. 7.
But the biggest news regarding this season's schedule might be the month-long hiatus for the Olympics.
To hear that former assistant coach Carol Ross of the Atlanta Dream would be heading west to become the head coach of the Los Angeles Sparks was not the news I wanted to hear from the DFO in the off-season.
What follows is a collection of very random thoughts. If Queenie can write Random Notes of Doom, I can write Random Thoughts on Coaching Changes.
The Los Angeles Sparks' campaign of "New Year, New Schedule, New Coach, New Direction" was unveiled today with Carol Ross slated the lead the Sparks.
Gary Kloppenburg has been announced as the newest head man for the Tulsa Shock today. Kloppenburg comes to Tulsa after spending the previous four seasons assisting the Indiana Fever and long-time colleague Lin Dunn.
In the past four years Indiana has posted an overall record of 81-55, and has reached the playoffs in each of the last four seasons. The Fever fell to the Phoenix Mercury in the 2009 WNBA Finals, and most recently lost in the Eastern Conference Finals to Atlanta Dream in 2011. Prior to his stint with the Fever, Kloppenburg was Dunn's assistant for the Seattle Storm in 2000-02. During those years in Seattle, the team went 33-63, including a 6-26 inaugural season for the Storm.
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