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Questions, Questions
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Media Day was last week, but since we are catching up, here's the photos from the Indy Star.
First off, I'd like to thank Kevin Messenger for allowing me to come by tomorrow's Fever practice to catch up with a few of the returning players. I have a lot of questions.
1. Why is Turkey the hotbed for premium WNBA offseason talent?
Mainly, and I may ask this around even to Kevin since the whole Fever staff has followed this in the off-season, but I am quite curious as to why Turkey became the hotbed of WNBA offseason talent. Certainly there's nothing wrong with Istanbul, greek salads, heaps of feta cheese, strong shots of coffee and life on the Meditteranian Sea, but it isn't necessarily your first thought as the highest bidder for the best WNBA talent.
The scenarios that played out in the title run in Turkey are an analysts' dream. The Fever players were mixed and matched against Mercury players, along with a host of other basketball stars of whom the casual observer does not know. How big of an achievement was grasping that title for Ebony Hoffman? How many hard fouls were delivered between Fever friends?
One thing's for sure - we missed some great games in basketball not seeing that playoff run, and some great WNBA talent at work.
2. What is Lin Dunn doing in practice to get the team back to its winning ways?
0-2 is bad, but hardly bad considering the team's four starters have missed the preseason and are just getting back. How do the Turkish League rules differ from WNBA play?
Given that the team's starters may have been playing hard and at a high level over seas, the issue is not conditioning. You might think integration is an issue, but the team only has one new face on the roster, rookie Jene Morris who has played 5 minutes in game 1 before pitching in a whopping 14 minutes in game 2. Still, not enough to upset the Fever ship, perhaps.
If the problem isn't conditioning or integration, it seems only jet-lag might explain the losses. It will be interesting to see if the coaching staff focuses more on general Fever improvement work or does anything special for this weekend's home-and-away with the Chicago Sky. That leads me to question 3.
3. What should we expect this weekend against the Chicago Sky?
Obviously, I hope the Fever players tell me "Sweep!" but I will also be in contact with Audrey of Chicago Sky Hoops! It's going to be a matchup between winless teams. The nice thing would be to let each team take one at home. The mean thing would be to let the Chicago Sky run away with both. The best thing would be to see the Fever get back on the horse and steal one in Chicago and then come back here and get the other.
Anyway, I'll be talking with Audrey later this week about Sky high expectations, what's going on with the team and find out if they have any legitimate excuses like jet-lag. Or a Fever.
Some catchup links:
(courtesy SportsPageMagazine.com)
Dream beats Fever 66-62:
Check out Pleasant Dreams for coverage of the game!
Jene Morris - Social Mastermind in the Making / Swish Appeal, Q McCall
Building a brand was one of the themes of the post-draft orientation curriculum the rookies were taught about and being a brand-builder herself, Morris is ahead of the game. Using and studying Twitter and social media prior to the draft gave her the early lead in the classroom and a firm grasp on the importance of social media.
"[The WNBA] actually explained to us to build ourselves and to build an image for ourselves because that’s going to help the league," said Morris. "Ticket sales – we need people to come watch us play, we need people to like us and to see who we are off the court and they’re going to want to see that on the court. It’s definitely helping my business . . . You basically can promote and build who you are. With me being the representation of the WNBA I think that that will bring a lot of attention to the WNBA – and a positive one at that."
Her Blog link is on the left side panel all for you!
More Jene Morris background from Q McCall at Swish Appeal:
Jene Morris, San Diego State University
Morris is another person who caught a buzz during the tournament with an impressively quick release on her jump shot and ability to find scoring opportunities. However, unlike some of the other pure scorers above, her tendencies make her more of a "perimeter scorer", a generally productive group of players (partially because it includes Cappie Pondexter). Like Barlow, Hightower, and Wright, she also rates as a very good defender with a steal percentage of just over 5% (she did win the conference defensive player of the year, after all).
The reason she's knocked down statistically is obviously her team's RPI, but also a below average shooting efficiency for her style of play and a very low rebounding rate, which tends to be a strong red flag at any position. Given that, despite her tournament performance and defensive ability when compare Morris to a player like Grant, Grant just seems to have physical tools a notch about Morris, not only in terms of height, but build. But ultimately, choosing between the two will be a matter of personal preference.
