Eshaya Murphy Waived

Despite a strong start to the season, Shay Murphy fell out of the rotation.  Joy Cheek will bring a big body and the ability to shoot from range.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 11, 2010

FEVER WAIVES MURPHY, RE-SIGNS ROOKIE JOY CHEEK

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Fever has waived fourth-year guard Shay Murphy and re-signed rookie forward Joy Cheek, as announced by Chief Operating Officer and General Manager Kelly Krauskopf.

Murphy was a part of Indiana’s WNBA Finals roster in 2009 and played in 15 games this season despite battling a nagging right wrist injury sustained in the waning moments of the Fever’s loss at Tulsa, May 29. During the club’s first five games, Murphy was one of Indiana’s brightest stars, averaging 11.2 points and a team-leading 7.0 rebounds per game. In 10 games since the injury, however, she has averaged just 2.0 points and 2.6 rebounds.

Cheek, 6-1, was Indiana’s third-round draft pick last April and one of the team’s final cuts in training camp. The former Duke standout averaged nine points in two preseason games with Indiana and led the club with six rebounds per game.

Said Krauskopf, “We are hopeful that the next month or so will give Shay time to heal her wrist and be ready for a strong season overseas. I hope we have the opportunity to bring her back to Indy next season.”

The Fever, 11-6 at the midway point of its summer schedule, plays seven of its next 11 games at Conseco Fieldhouse where it has won seven straight. The defending Eastern Conference champion, Indiana currently trails Atlanta by two games and second-place Washington by one. The Fever battles Atlanta and Washington in five of those next 11 games.

Following its first visit to the WNBA Finals and three consecutive sellout crowds during the 2009 WNBA Playoffs, the Indiana Fever is eager to pursue a sixth straight playoffs appearance and a return trip to the Finals in 2010. The Fever hosts the Connecticut Sun during its annual Kids Day presented by Knozone on Wednesday, July 14 (1:00 p.m.) and entertains the East-leading Atlanta Dream on Friday, July 16 (7:00 p.m.). Season and single-game tickets are available at FeverBasketball.com or by calling (317) 917-2500.

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Gory Details from the Chicago Sky about their 0-4 record vs. the Fever

Audrey Reynolds breaks down the gory details here. 

Unfortunately, Shameka Christon looks to be out for quite a long time with surgery tomorrow and then another 2-4 weeks to heal.

Kevin Messenger adds the following statistical tidbit:

Chicago’s Sylvia Fowles, named earlier in the day as the Eastern Conference Player of the Week, had game highs of 26 points and 18 rebounds. The rest of the Sky roster totaled 25 points and 16 rebounds.

No wonder Big Syl is an Olympian and a weekly Player of the Week. 

The Fever and the Sky meet once more this year.  July 27th at Conseco Fieldhouse.  I am really interested in Coach Key's frame of mind for this upcoming game.  Can the Sky take one game?

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The Dog Days of Summer

It's the dog days of summer, locked right in the middle of the WNBA season.  I'm on the road this week, having just moved last week, so it's been a mess around here.

The last stretch of four road games for the Fever have been unquestionably tough.  According to Hollinger, the Fever have faced the toughest WNBA schedule thus far this season, adjusting for the strength of competition.  

So coming out of games with Seattle, Washington and Chicago with a 2-2 record has been good, even if both those wins were against Chicago.   Chicago is better than their record, so the Fever have been fortunate to go 4-0 this season against them. 

Two games came down to inbound passes in the late game. 

Against Chicago, Indiana were able to draw an improbable 5-second violation with their denial defense.  Against Washington, it was a long five seconds but no call was made and the game was over once Washington inbounded the ball and were summarily fouled.

The game against Seattle was another game where referee discretion weighed heavily.   After a "let 'em play" first half, the officials tightened up the second half, taking the Fever by surprise and all but handing the game to the home team, which didn't need much help. 

The main defensive issue is to identify faster perimeter players that need a Tully or Tamika blanket when those players get hot.  It's not clear what can be done when Sue Bird drops 9 points and assists for 2 more in 90 seconds, of course.

Tonight, the Fever play the Tulsa Shock at home.  They are looking for a better result than the loss the last time these two teams met, which is still regarded as the most surprising game outcome of the season according to Massey.

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Fever Press Release

No Surprise here, Top 5 MVP candidate Tamika Catchings is in for the All-Star game.  

For more, Richard Cohen's picks are here.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 29, 2010

CATCHINGS AMONG TOP 10 VOTE-GETTERS IN STARS AT THE SUN FAN BALLOTING

            WASHINGTON, D.C. – A six-time WNBA All-Star, seven-time All-WNBA recipient, three-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year and two-time Olympic gold medalist, Indiana Fever superstar Tamika Catchings has been named among 10 top vote-getters in “WNBA vs. USA Basketball: The Stars at the Sun” Balloting presented by T-Mobile. In nationwide fan balloting online and in WNBA arenas, Catchings was the third-leading vote-getter overall and the leader from the Eastern Conference. Catchings trailed only Sue Bird (Seattle Storm) and Becky Hammon (San Antonio Silver Stars).

            The top 10 vote-getters and votes received: Sue Bird (Sea) 127,490; Becky Hammon (SA) 116,391; Tamika Catchings (Ind) 100,248; Diana Taurasi (Phx) 93,649; Swin Cash (Sea) 85,236; Lauren Jackson (Sea) 80,392; Candace Parker (LA) 78,624; Jayne Appel (SA) 69,316; Michelle Snow (SA) 67,906; Sophia Young (SA) 65,974.

            The Stars at the Sun will showcase the world’s best female basketball players under one roof when the WNBA’s top talent faces the USA Basketball Women’s National Team. The event will be hosted by the Connecticut Sun on Saturday, July 10 and will be televised nationally on ESPN at 3:30 p.m. ET.

            The 10 players who received the most votes are guaranteed a position on team rosters. Catchings and other players voted in who are already in the USA National Team Pool will play on the USA Basketball team, led by head coach Geno Auriemma. Remaining players who have been voted in by the fans will play on the WNBA team, coached by the Seattle Storm’s Brian Agler. Auriemma will name the remaining players on the USA’s 11-player roster on July 1. WNBA coaches will vote on remaining members of the WNBA team, which will be announced July 6.

Following its first visit to the WNBA Finals and three consecutive sellout crowds during the 2009 WNBA Playoffs, the Indiana Fever is eager to pursue a sixth straight playoffs appearance and a return trip to the Finals in 2010. The Fever plays host to the Tulsa Shock on Thursday, July 8 (7:00 p.m.), and entertains the Connecticut Sun during its annual Kids Day presented by Knozone on Wednesday, July 14 (1:00 p.m.). Season and single-game tickets are available at FeverBasketball.com or by calling (317) 917-2500.

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The Eastern Conference Advantage

The disparity between East and West continues.

In particular, the 17-6 (74%) Eastern Conference winning percentage is larger than the 44-29 (60%) winning percentage currently enjoyed by home teams versus road teams.  

The Indiana Fever will be on the road for four games until July 8th.

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Is Candice Dupree's "Career Year" All That?

Ben York of SLAMOnline waxes poetic about the "hard work and resiliency" behind Candice Dupree's bump in boxscore stats.

Candice Dupree is interesting because like Kevin Durant, she appears to be playing well and playing a lot, but has lousy plus/minus.   Obviously, that could be related to the Mercury's weak performance, so Lynx Stats provides net plus/minus, adjusted for team performance.  Out of 11 Merc players, Dupree comes in at -10.9 or 9th on the list.

There's actually only eight players in all the league with a worse net plus/minus.

When Tangela Smith (-16.7) comes in at the bottom and DeWanna Bonner (-6.1) and Diana Taurasi (-5.5) in the middle, perhaps there's something wonky with the numbers.  However, it says something that Tameka Johnson is playing a lot of minutes (330+ in 12 games this year) but still manages +9.9.

Aside: You think the Merc don't miss Cappie Pondexter's playmaking when Tameka Johnson sits?

York goes on to muse about why Dupree isn't a hotter prospect in the minds of other teams. 

Yet, she also continues to remain one of the most undervalued assets in the league.  It’s difficult to figure out why...

While her boxscores may be consistent, how that performance equates to team success is far more problematic.

Year   / Rank / Raw / Net
2006 / 11th  /   -        /   -9.4
2007 /   3rd  /  -40    /  +4.3
2008 /   3rd  /  +19   /  +9.5
2009 / 10th  / -122  /   -4.6
2010 /   9th  /    -23  / -10.9
 
So, what explains Dupree's statistical bump of which York speaks?

Could it be simply that she benefits from the high octane Mercury game and from exceptional weak competition this year in the Western Conference?

I don't know that answer, but her team-adjusted plus/minus and the Merc's overall performance both sour the emotive force underlying Dupree's superlative scoring percentages.

The disparity in those figures pose a mystery for nascent basketball statgeekery. 

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Statistical Noise or Basketball Truth?

Chasing the Title reports the following line-up plus-minuses for the Fever vs. Storm game:

Top Fever Lineups

January-Zellous-Douglas-Moore-Davenport: +10

Bevilaqua-Douglas-Catchings-Sutton-Hoffman: +6

January-Douglas-Catchings-Moore-Davenport: +4

The Fever used 12 unique lineups in this game with only four generating a positive value for the team. Two of them stood out as particularly ineffective.

January-Zellous-Catchings-Moore-Davenport: -6

January-Douglas-Catchings-Sutton-Hoffman: -4

Rearranging:

Bevilaqua-Douglas-Catchings-Sutton-Hoffman: +6
January-Douglas-Catchings-Sutton-Hoffman: -4

January-Zellous-Douglas-Moore-Davenport: +10
January-Zellous-Catchings-Moore-Davenport: -6

Essentially, this suggests that

1. Bevilaqua in with the starters was great, January in with the starters stunk.
2. Douglas in with the reserves worked best but Catchings in with the reserves was disaster.

I'm not sure I believe either of those small sample statistical artifacts, although I'm inclined to see some basketball evidence that might support a preference for Tully to stick with the starters and January with the bench.

Does the bench need Douglas' scoring more than Catchings' defense?  Possibly! 

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