Contenders and Pretenders: An East Coast WNBA Preview

On this episode of Full Circle, Lexie and Mariah are jumping headfirst into the upcoming WNBA season. Lexie gives us the scoop on her first 24 hours in Seattle, and the two break down how coaching changes across the league are shaking things up. Then it’s all about the East Coast — last year's stats, who’s making moves, and what teams you need to keep an eye on. Catch us next week when Lexie and Mariah head west for part two of our season preview!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Full Circle is an Iheartwoman's sports production in partnership with
Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hi, everybody from Seattle. I'm in Seattle, guys, Welcome to
another episode of the Full Circle Podcast. I'm Lexi Brown.
I'm here with my girl, Mariah Rose. How are you doing.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
I'm so good, Lexi. How are you?

Speaker 3 (00:27):
I'm good.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
The vibes are just very immaculate right now. I feel
it through the screen. What's going on? How is your weekend? Like?

Speaker 1 (00:34):
What?

Speaker 2 (00:35):
What? What is it?

Speaker 1 (00:36):
I think I'm just I think I'm just happy that
I had a weekend at home because I have been
traveling so much that I la the apartment. Well, yes,
but for a day. I got home on Friday, so
technically I was in Atlanta for the weekend.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Okay, And what was the last time you spent a
whole weekend in Atlanta? Girl?

Speaker 1 (00:52):
I don't even know. But but I'm happy because I
feel like I got to I'm cleaning my apartment, I'm
getting my life together. I'm a per And again, how
are you settling in in Seattle?

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Well, I just got here last night, and so far,
so good. It's energy here is amazing, Like it's actually
probably the best first twenty four hours I've had in
any city I've played in, honestly, Like the communication is
on point. They've picked me up at the airport. They

(01:23):
didn't have me waiting. All my stuff in my apartment
was just all set up and ready got They had
a rental car waiting for me today. I get to
go to the facility tomorrow, so I actually might go
tonight and go just take it all in before everyone
else is there, So I might go go get some
shots up tonight on the shooting machine, which like the

(01:43):
fact that I can do that now, like I literally
can't believe it, Like isn't that horrible though, Like this
is year eight, and I'm excited to have a shooting
machine that I can to be able to go to
the gym at night, like and you think about it,
and it's just like we should all have a gym

(02:04):
to be able to go to a nighttime. And yeah,
now it's becoming like a joke or whatever, like the
players are like, oh, we deserve better, and then they
just ship you away because I posted a TikTok yesterday.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
Actually I was gonna bring that up.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
But you know what's funny, Sato commented on it, and
I went on her page and she like literally posted
like the same exact video like a few weeks ago
when she was in the hot tib At, I think
at her new facility.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
I saw that one too, but I didn't see that.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
So I went on there and I commented last night,
I said, God, don't even see that you posted this.
That's so funny that like collectively, were all feeling the
same way about demanding more and if your team just
can't provide it for you, theyor just send you to
a team that will. So thank you La Sparks for
sending me somewhere that will take care of me. But
it should be the norm across the board that everybody

(02:52):
should have facilities. And I think we're getting there, slowly
but surely, but we're getting there. Speaking of TikTok, have
you been reading any of the comment of the last
video I posted of us talking about the international players?

Speaker 1 (03:05):
No?

Speaker 2 (03:06):
Okay, well I would.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
Like to what they're saying about us, Lexi.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
It's not even bad about us.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
I just feel like, first thing about social media since
I've been off X like everything has just been rainbows,
butterflies and sunshines. I've been so much happier and my
mind is clearer, so we'll start there. So when I
bring these conversations to TikTok and I'm just reading through
the comments and people argue with each other, I want
everyone to collectively take a deep breath and stop arguing

(03:34):
so much under other people's posts. It's getting out of control,
especially when I can tell that neither one of the
parties involved are really understanding what's being said, and then
the plot gets lost. And so I do want to
clear up something that I think is like being misconstrued.
That conversation we had about the international players and the

(03:56):
rule change the age change, so one of the weirdest
comments I was that the WNBA is trying to bring
European players because they want the league to be more whitewashed,
And I was like, do y'all know there are not
only white people that play and live in Europe. We
just drafted o European player that is very much a

(04:16):
black person.

Speaker 3 (04:18):
So that comment came.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
Up a few times, which I thought was odd because
I was like, this has nothing to do with race whatsoever,
nothing at all, And then it was a back and
forth about you know how we're always just like, oh,
everyone needs to stay in school, but then everyone's like, no,
they need to lower the age. And then it's like
people can't really pick a side. But I'm like, just
because the rule gets changed doesn't mean people have to
like leave. We were just.

Speaker 3 (04:42):
Saying that the option should be there.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah, if anybody does want to leave, because that's it.
But I just like, I was reading the comments and
I'm like, are you guys even understanding what we're trying
to say. And then they're like, well, they put a
cap on Americans in Europe, so we should put a
cap on Europeans here. No, I don't think that's the either.
But it's just like I'm always shocked at the lack

(05:05):
of comprehension online.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
Yeah, I'm seeing them. I had to go look it up,
and the main thing I see is this conversation about
it doesn't benefit college players to come out and go
to the w early because of an il and blah
blah blah blah, And like you said, I think they're
misunderstanding the whole point of what we were trying to
say that is just that the option should be there

(05:30):
as far as age and everything is concerned, and the
amount of professionalism that is occurring overseas in order for
us to be able to keep up with that on
a basketball level, because I think people forget that that
part still exists. I know about an IL and I
know that that's an option, and I know that it
makes sense. We've just had a million times it makes
more sense for them to stay longer, but basketball wise,

(05:50):
and I think Sedona made us talk about this age wise,
Like we're talking about how like if your people are younger,
they're going to take people who are younger with a
better skill set over somebody who's older that might be riskier.
Like that makes perfect sense.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
It's actually crazy how much of the conversation surrounding college
players now is anile based. We like very rarely hear
people getting into like real basketball talk when it comes
to these players in college. And I think, you know,
during this w season, obviously we don't have NIO. We're professionals,

(06:24):
so we'll be able to get into more like basketball
and analytic talk, which is what we're going to do
in a little bit. When I introduce what we're going
to talk about later, but for next college season when
we're doing our show, like I really want to get
into more like actual basketball talk, like.

Speaker 3 (06:39):
Speaking of nil and transferring.

Speaker 2 (06:41):
I think Jeniah Baker just committed to Tennessee. I saw
that today, which again further validates our point that everybody
going to the sec H. I'm very nervous for the
ACC and the Big Ten. I'm super concerned about the ACC.
I think the Big Ten will be okay, the Big twelve,
they'll have a few, but as far as the ACC, like,

(07:04):
I'm just I don't know what they're gonna do. But
like do I don't know much about like how the
money and all that stuff works, But it's just like
y'all got to find some money somewhere. Find it. I
watched an interview with Coach Yo on Dejah Kelly's podcast.
She dropped a clip today and Coach Yo's is now
saying that the first thing she's asking her players is
how much money do you want? Dang, I can't believe this,

(07:28):
and I know it's so it's now I'm so beyond
conflicted with this NIL stuff now, because how much money
do you want? Like?

Speaker 3 (07:37):
You average three points?

Speaker 2 (07:39):
A game. You should get twenty dollars, Like what do
we And I talked about it with Erica Wheeler when
I was with her, Like it's not teaching these kids
how to like earn anything, battle through adversity, figure your
shit out, Like, unless you really are in a horrible
situation at your school, like you should, you should be

(08:01):
encouraged and motivated enough to try and figure it out.
I'm gonna die on this new hill every every day.
I'm building a new hill to die on. Bring back
that sit out rule unless your coaches change or leave.
If you leave and your coaching staff is the same,
you need to sit out. Like it's getting ridiculous at
this point. And now you have players moving from team

(08:24):
to team, and we always talk about the high school kids,
but like what about the kids that are already on
the team. Mm hmm, Like you got a new player
who obviously wants to come in and is obviously probably
getting money and promises, and they gonna come in and
stop all over something that you've been building yourself. I'm
not really here for that at all.

Speaker 1 (08:40):
So again, my concern with NIL and the transfer rules
and all of this stuff, the sec about to become
the most dominant conference in basketball. My concern mainly is
with the level of play, because again, if the basketball
itself isn't good, you talk about all the time, the
shooting is at the same in college anymore, these players

(09:01):
are going to be They're very young, they're not professionals yet.
It's going to get to a point where it's like
all of the talent's going to be concentrated in just
a couple of places. Everybody's just kind of playing around.
It's feeling very unserious, and like you said about I
want them to make their money. Like I don't even
want to sound like a hater. I think most people
are smart enough to comprehend that. We're not saying that

(09:23):
they don't deserve to make their money, but there needs
to be balanced there because at the end of the day,
the most important thing should not be going to the
school where I'm going to make the most money, and
if that opportunity is there, obviously they're going to go
to the school that's going to make them the most money.
As a fan of basketball, we need to start having
basketball conversations again, like you said, Lexi, next season obviously

(09:45):
we'll get very much into that and through w season
and everything. That's the whole point of us doing this,
But it's just unfortunate because those conversations are dominating the
media and dominating the actual college basketball landscape because everything
changes every year because everybody can, right.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
So you can't even like build on anything that you
were talking about the year prior because that player is
not that school anymore.

Speaker 3 (10:07):
They're at a new school, and then whoever was on
that team, they had.

Speaker 2 (10:10):
A new school. So it's like, how do we even
put together conversations and meaningful dialogue when everyone is just
bouncing around. And that's the problem that was happening in
the men's side, and now it's slowly happening on the
women's side, and that is a little bit concerning for
me for the future of women's basketball because we're at
this like tip top of the mountain of momentum right now,

(10:34):
and there are decisions being made right now that could
ruin the momentum long term because now we're gonna have
the same problem as the men's Nobody knows where anybody
is at school anymore. You can't grow and build with
the player because every year there at a new school,
you know there's gonna be conversations that come out about
this player wanting money, this player is selfish and greedy.
Like it's already happening with football, it's already happening with

(10:56):
men's basketball. So I hope that we're able to reel
it in a little little bit for the sake of
the future of women's basketball, because the thing that has
made this momentum happen is because for so many years
there's been like loyalty and growth and consistency, and now
it's like it's gone, Like all of those things are
just gone now. And that's what people love about women's sports.

(11:19):
And yes, make money, I love it, whatever, but like,
we still are not making that much money for us
to overcome the dark side of what all this is.

Speaker 1 (11:29):
If that makes sense, I think the solution to this
issue is I think that women are victims to the
fact that we aren't making enough money. We I am
not a professional athlete, but y'all are made enough money
off of what you do on the court in order
for that other stuff not to matter so exactly. Of course,

(11:49):
and Olivia Miles might chase the situation where she's going
to be the girl and the main person on the
team when that Haley vanleth is gone, because imagine how
much money you can make when they come to do
the need is commercial. Guess what, You're not sharing your
salary with somebody else. We have to kind of make
these decisions because at this point, these college kids could
bring in generational type of wealth and they're not going

(12:10):
to turn that down when let's be real, the salary
in the W is it alone? Is it going to
allow them to do that? And on top of that,
then you have to go and do all of this
extra stuff in pr and commercials and social media and
all of these things that are taking away from the
actual basketball being played, which is what we really should
be prioritizing, right. And it's not just basketball either, it's

(12:30):
all women's sports because most women in sports are making
most of their money, you know this, off the court.
And so the more you're putting into stuff off the court,
the less you're putting into on the court stuff. And
so if they want that level of competition to continue
the way it has been, then the money for actually
playing basketball needs to rise or else.

Speaker 3 (12:51):
I mean, and it is about to.

Speaker 2 (12:52):
But the thing about it is you don't get paid
for your performance on the court in college. So I mean,
assuming best case scenario with our new CBA, that money
goes up, then I feel like some of those problems
will be resolved. Again, I don't think that's ever going
to change about women's sports is doing all the extra
stuff off the court. I think that's just reality. But
like also I think women are just more marketable. It

(13:14):
might be more fun to work with. Even like when
I'm working with companies and brands, like almost everybody that
I've worked with on content and commercials and photos it's
all women. Like I don't know if that's because like
I'm a woman, so they bring women in and as
vice versa. But it's like women are truly dominating this
space right now. So I don't think that's ever going
to change. But like you said, like you have to

(13:36):
still put the time in on the court, like the
main thing is the main thing, if that's what you
want to do. Yes, they're probably a good amount of
girls that probably do not want to be in the WNBA,
and that's fine, But like the ones that do, like
y'all still gotta fine time to get that extra work
in because there is a whole bunch of other girls
maybe not doing as much as you off the court,

(13:56):
but are putting that time in in the gym, And
when it comes to be a professional is about putting
the ball in the basket. Like, yes, marketable, if you
have followers, dah da dah, that's all great, But at
the end of the day, can you put the ball
in the basket? Can you help the team win? And
that's what it comes down to at the pro level,
And I hope and I don't want to have situations
every year where you have these popular players not getting

(14:18):
an opportunity or not making teams because they're not ready
because they didn't put enough time in the gym. So
I just don't want that to happen because I feel
like we're finally getting like a balance of like popular
players with good brands, but they're also very talented and
ready to go. So I just hope that we don't
lose that because it is it is a very violent

(14:39):
jump from college to w like extremely violent, and women
are in like you're with grown as women now, like
fighting for their livelihood and like this is our jobs.
So yeah, I mean, I wish them the best. I

(15:01):
do sometimes feel bad for the coaches in college right now,
and like, I don't know how they are doing their
jobs right now.

Speaker 1 (15:10):
With all of this movie, I feel bad for coaches
in sports in general. Recently, I feel like coaches don't
at least like a high school I feel like your
coaches everything, they run everything, they can tell you what
to do, they say run, you say how fast whatever.
I feel like as of recently, the coaches are just
they'll change over, disposable. The w fired half of the

(15:32):
coaches at.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
The end of last season, and NBA coaches aren't fire
them greatful for playoffs. Like what I think is starting
to happen with coaching. I personally never ever wanted to
be a coach in my life, but what I'm seeing
based on my experiences with coaches and now how the
game is played now, and like everybody got a trainer.

(15:54):
Everybody's a trainer. You have access to all these videos
and analytics and stuff. You really do like almost anything yourself.
At this point, what I'm saying now that coaching is
going to transition to is I think at some point
the WNBA in the NBA is going to be at
least like eighty percent former players as head coaches. And

(16:16):
I feel that way because we don't have to depend
on these older people that have never played before. But
because there's well we we're so knowledgeable. We've been around this,
we've been around that. Like okay, well now we all
have access to everything. Like there's really nothing that these
older coaches can teach us that we can't find on
our own at this point. Also the style, the communication style,

(16:38):
mental health, all those things. They don't know what to
do with any of that. Like all they want to
do is scream at us and yell at us and
not communicate with us like adults and like as equals.
Like that's really the main thing is like these leagues
are transforming into like more player led and like player centered.
So I'm like slowly seeing like these older coaches like

(16:59):
getting phased down out like one at a time in
the w and the NBA, and it's very interesting to me.
I've never had a former coach as a I mean
a former player as a coach before, so this will
be my first time playing for a former WNBA player.
So I'm really excited about that because I'm such a
nerd when it comes to basketball. I love film, I

(17:20):
love learning, and I just have never had a coach
that hasn't been like offended by that, Like, yes, I
might know a little bit more than you, so you're
still my coach. I respect you, but I respect but
respect me back, and don't be mad that I have
a question about something or I have a suggestion about something.
Like It's never been malicious or disrespectful. But my entire career,

(17:43):
I've always butted heads with my coaches because I want
to I always want to learn, but they come be
a sponge. Be a sponge. I'm trying to be a sponge,
and then you don't want me to be one. So
from a spectator standpoint, like can you tell the difference
between how coaches coach that are former players versus like
just coaches, Like can y'all even like tell the difference?

Speaker 1 (18:05):
I feel like there's a noticeable difference when the players
are buying into the system that the coach is implementing,
if that makes sense. I don't know if it's more
so whether you played professionally before or not. Thing. I
feel like it's a case by case basis with coaches
and how much they can connect with their players. But

(18:25):
it's very obvious when you have a situation where the
players are not buying into the system, and they're kind
of doing their own thing, and it's obvious that they're
butting heads with what they're supposed to be doing on
the court and a team where everybody's buying in because
it's all about culture in a locker room and on
the court, right. So I don't know if that has
to do with your star player. If your star player
doesn't want to listen to the coach and isn't abiding

(18:47):
by what the coach is doing, then nobody really is
able to If the coach nobody really takes them seriously,
nobody's really going to listen. So I feel like that's
a mess. I was curious for you as far as
a player, because for me as a fan, a lot
of times when I see a coach getting fired or whatever,
usually the first thing that comes to mind for me
is the coach is kind of being scapegoaded. Is they're
not actually the one playing once, Like they can tell

(19:09):
you what to do all they want, but they're not
out there playing. But I'm curious, from a spectator's standpoint,
what role does a coach play in the team's success
or lack they're are? How important do you feel like
the coach really.

Speaker 2 (19:22):
Is I think for me, since I've been on like
so many different teams with so many different dynamics, like
I'll actually like give like full blown examples. So when
I was in Connecticut, you know, I kind of just
wasn't like involved at all with like anything that was
going on. Like I just like would show up to
practice and leave, Like I just I literally was like
I don't know what's going on here. And then you

(19:43):
fast forward to the season before they made the coaching change.
Like remember in the finals or the playoffs when Kurt.

Speaker 3 (19:51):
Was in the huddle and he was like, I'm gonna
lose my job if.

Speaker 2 (19:53):
You guys don't make layups, like and that clip like
went viral because they got it on the mic. Then
he was just like I'm gonna get fired because can't
make layups. And it's like at that moment, like everybody
knew like he had lost the team. Like I agree
with you, like you can tell when a team is
like off the coach and like like a mutiny damn
near And that's kind of what happened in Connecticut and

(20:14):
that's why he got fired. But like I was there
at the very beginning of that and it was just like,
so I wasn't necessarily surprised when that happened in Connecticut.
And then I'll talk about when I was in Chicago.
You have a team full of Vets ready to win.
You know, the season didn't really start off very well
for us.

Speaker 3 (20:32):
At that time.

Speaker 2 (20:33):
I wasn't on the team at that rough patch. But
you have two players, brilliant players and Cannas Parker and
Courtney vanderslout right, So their minds are always turning, they're
always having conversations, they're always talking to coach, they're always
talking to each other, they're always talking to us. So
that there was like a power struggle there for a
little bit of like, okay, sloop in with Chicago for

(20:54):
x min years. Candace just got to Chicago. Everyone is
expecting a championship, and then you have the coach balancing
to w big Hall of famers, So that dynamic takes time.
And then you know, we got to the playoffs, and
I don't want to say James like relinquished his power
to us, like the team, I mean, but he kind

(21:15):
of was like, all right, like we made it to
the playoffs barely, I'm gonna let y'all rock and we
gonna we're gonna roll with what y'all want to do. Basically,
we have like this meeting and it was like a
great meeting, but like basically he was just like like,
we can win, but we got to like we got
to meet in the middle. But it was more like
he met us like the majority of the way, and

(21:36):
then we met him a little bit and then we
ended up winning. So really it's like, how good of
a relationship do your star players? How are your coaches
and your coach's coaching staff, and that it matters like
and then you're basically people say like your point guard
is the extension of your coach, which yeah, that's true,
but I also think like your superstar is also an
extension of your coach. So you have to be able

(21:58):
to communicate things that maybe they don't know how to communicate,
things that maybe they don't feel like they need to communicate.
Some conversations need to be had amongst teammates privately or
in front of everybody, whatever you want to do. But
those conversations in that relationship I think is the biggest
part of building a successful team and building a winning culture,
which is why I couldn't figure my shit out in

(22:20):
LA because every year it was a new coach that
I was trying to build a relationship with, and then
a whole new group of players that I was trying
to build a relationship with.

Speaker 3 (22:29):
And that's not like the recipe to be successful.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
So as much as I would never want to be
a coach, I respect the hell out of them. I
think they're necessary to win games. Sometimes you're like, oh,
this team is like coaching themselves, but like, yeah, like,
but a good coach puts a team in a situation
to be able to just like run on autopilot. So
I do think coaches are important. I'm very excited to
be coached by a former player because we just think differently.

(22:55):
And some of these coaches like, oh, yeah I played,
we know, No you did it. I don't believe you.
I don't believe it. Yeah, how coaches that for like, yeah,
when I was you know, and I know that was
like a thousand years ago.

Speaker 3 (23:07):
I don't want to hear it.

Speaker 1 (23:09):
I'd like what you said about star players and coaches
because they are an extension of the coach. Because they
are they set the culture in the locker room when
the coaches and around when the coaches around. Really, I
feel like, especially younger players are looking to the star
player more than they're looking at a coach. And I
feel like organizations they see their star players as anchors

(23:29):
and their franchises, and they see coaches as disposaball. Like
you talked about your situation in LA, I feel like,
what's it like when y'all know the coach is about
to get fired?

Speaker 3 (23:40):
Man?

Speaker 1 (23:41):
What's that like? That's that like?

Speaker 2 (23:43):
Listen? I will tell another story about LA. So my
first year in LA, when Derek Fisher was still the coach,
I forgot where we were, but we had just lost
a game that we probably shouldn't have lost. And it's
not funny, because coaches getting fired is not funny, guys.
But it's just like the way that professional sports just

(24:06):
operates at times is very unseerious and if any other
I mean, I feel like maybe some people get like
blindsided when they get fired from their jobs or whatever.
But like the way, the time, the energy, the relationships
you have to build in these professional sports and the
way that they're just like get out is so crazy
to me.

Speaker 3 (24:23):
So I think we end up we lost the game.

Speaker 2 (24:25):
I can't remember if we were on the road or not,
but we're in the locker room, dead silent fish walks in,
doesn't say anything, just brings us in for the huddle,
and just like walks out of the locker room and
that was it.

Speaker 3 (24:37):
And then I was like the last time we saw.

Speaker 1 (24:39):
It, so there was no I'm not coming back. It
just just break.

Speaker 3 (24:45):
He just walked in, he said bring it in.

Speaker 2 (24:48):
It was like, this works, and then left and then
boom fired.

Speaker 1 (24:53):
That's so awkward. And then after your coach is fired
and they bring in an interim or whatever.

Speaker 2 (24:59):
So this is just moves up to replace. And then
at that point you're just kind of like that, like
no one ever talks about that coaching time period because
you're in such an awkward situation and the team is
in such an awkward situation, like someone just lost their
job and now you're just like filling in for them,
Like do you implement your own offense defense? Like how

(25:22):
much time of the season is left? Like am I
interviewing for the head coaching job right now? Or is
this just temporary? So do I want to show all
my cards just for them to not keep me anyway?

Speaker 3 (25:32):
Which is what happened in LA. They ended up not keeping.

Speaker 2 (25:35):
Bread as our head coach after he actually did a
pretty good job considering all the nonsense we were dealing
with that season. But it's like that's like a very
unspoken about process for coaching staffs and players. It's like, Okay,
your head coach just got fired, but like, Okay, now
you got to listen to this new person, and god forbid,
you don't have a good relationship with that assistant coach.

(25:57):
Thankfully I did, but there was some players on its
team that like didn't. Then now they're in charge.

Speaker 1 (26:02):
Yeah, I'm wondering that right now watching the NBA playoffs
are on right now and thinking about Denver and Memphis.
Your coaches just got fired and you're in the most
important part of the season. Like yeah, I feel like
that's really important.

Speaker 2 (26:15):
It's crazy, and then you just have to like go
about per usual, be the professional that you are the
whole time. You really still like because nobody ever comes
in and sits the team down and lays out, Okay,
this is what.

Speaker 3 (26:28):
He was doing right, or is this is what she
was doing right?

Speaker 2 (26:30):
This is what she or he was doing wrong, and
this is what y'all are doing right, what y'all are
doing wrong. There's no conversation about anything. You just have
to move on, at least not in my experiences. That
could be different for other players' experiences, But I just
feel like it would benefit to have some type of
meeting or conversation to lay out what led to this
decision instead of just being like, this is the decision

(26:52):
we made and just get over y'all selves. So it's
always extremely interesting that power struggle of coaches in front offices,
which is why I also think that leagues like athletes
are limited and unrivaled everyone loves so much because that
that dynamic is gone, Like you don't deal with that

(27:12):
at all. Like athletes unlimited, we don't even have coaches.
We don't have coaches at all. We have facilitators who
are like many coaches, but there is no coach's favorite
coaches yelling at you. We don't got a gm play
this person, don't play that personal were trying to trade
this person, Like there's none of that going on. Athletes
a limited unrivaled is a little bit different because they

(27:33):
do have coaches, but like, you're not gonna get fired
in the middle of the unrivaled season. There's no GM,
like your team is what it is, and like the
environment is just completely different. So I feel like that
is also why fans and players have found like more
enjoyment in the off season leagues, because that whole political

(27:56):
negative side of bounding down to the front office has
been moved. And I hope like the WNBA is watching
these two leagues and they're seeing like how the players
are interacting with each other and how the level of
play is elevated. Like I think there is a direct
correlation between like happiness and playing well, you know, like
look good, play good. It's like so I'm hoping like

(28:18):
we're going to implement, you know, a less toxic environment
in professional sports, but like I don't know, I don't
know if that's possible with the people in charge unfortunately,
because they don't understand what it's like to be in
these situations.

Speaker 1 (28:30):
Why do you feel like there was so much turnaround
with coaching last season in the W Yes.

Speaker 2 (28:38):
Well, I think that there's more eyes which led to
like more criticisms, which I remember literally telling our GM
and coach last season to get off Twitter because I
could tell that they was looking on it like I
was like, y'all need to get off the internet, like enough,
because I remember Kurt like got himself in trouble tweeting

(29:00):
about some like you don't owe these people on an explanation.
You're the coach. So it was like we would wake
I would wake up and obvio see a tweet, So
look good? He tweeted, like why are you tweeting responding
to what people are saying online? And like that's something
that I had to learn myself. And like it was
like I was like funny, ha ha, like get off Twitter,
But I like Loki was dead ass serious because why

(29:20):
are y'all doing that? Like y'all are in the positions
y'all are in because y'all are qualified and y'all earned it,
and that's what y'all want to do. Like why are
you looking at what anybody is saying on the internet.
So I think that had a huge part of it.
It's like you had more eyes. So people were like
very critical of what was going on. And I think
everyone is just kind of like gearing up for this
new era of WNBA and you have to put the

(29:42):
right people in the right places, you know, these teams,
like I said, drafting intentionally. Free agency was very intentional,
so I think they were just putting the right coaches
and the right situations and then gearing up for potential changes,
Like we're talking about the more European players possibly coming
over a lockout. Hopefully not, but like there's just a
lot of moving pieces, and I think the best time

(30:04):
to make like massive changes was right now. I remember
being in the league eight years now. It's been like
a carousel of the same coaches bouncing around from this
team to this team to this team. You have a
losing season, Oh, who cares, We're gonna hire you over here.
Oh your whole team turned against you. Cool, we're gonna
hire you and Steve, you can do something different on
this team. So it's been nice to see new people

(30:26):
being hired, especially from like the NBA side. I love
that some college coaches have come up, because you know,
everyone is like up in arms that Don Staley won't
leave South Carolina, But I'm like, but there's other coaches
that will leave their colleges to come be in the
w So I'm happy that a few of those coaches
have come to coach in the WNBA. So I'm actually

(30:46):
really excited about this season because there's so much change,
Like every team is different except for the Minnesota Links.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
Yeah, I used to go team, which makes sense. You
know how I feel about going to the finals and
changing whole team up because you lost? I know, I
hate that. What are you looking forward to the most?
And I'm curious because I know if it were me.

(31:17):
I know when I was in high school the last
time I was an athlete, every season I had a
game circle. You got any game circle?

Speaker 2 (31:23):
You know what game I have circled? Riah, do you
already know? But what I did find out yesterday is
we have a close scrimmage in La early May, so
I can get all that bad jed you out in private.
So when we have the real game, it will be.

Speaker 1 (31:38):
All just fun.

Speaker 2 (31:40):
Yeah, it'll be all shits and gigs. Actually, this is
how I wanted to kind of break down the W
season these next two episodes. This episode, I want to
talk about the East Conference teams, even though we techically
don't have conferences anymore, but this is the easiest way
to break them up, and then next week we can
get into the West. Is that cool?

Speaker 1 (31:57):
I'm excited?

Speaker 2 (31:57):
Yeah? Okay, all right?

Speaker 3 (31:59):
In the Eastern conf ferences. If you guys don't know.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
Let's give the listeners a little history lesson. There was
a time where the WNBA operated Eastern and Western Conference
in playoffs. Okay, that used to be a thing. I
think that the Western Conference became too dominant, I want
to say, which is kind of what we're seeing in
the NBA. I wonder if they'll ever pivot out of

(32:21):
the Eastern versus Western and just go one through.

Speaker 1 (32:25):
They copy j'all with the Ncason Tournament too.

Speaker 2 (32:27):
So okay, back to the WNBA and the Eastern Conference.
We have the liberty, the fever, the dream, the sun,
the sky, and the mystics. Okay, So this is how
we're going to have this conversation. We're going to go
through if they had a coaching change or not, any
of their major personnel changes, not including the rookies. Okay,
I'm not really going to We talked about the rookies

(32:48):
last week. I don't really know enough about them all yet.
So we're going to acknowledge that they got rookies, but
we're going to talk more about their returners, cool potential
play style changes, and then as far as my basketball
nerds like me, I'm gonna use three stats that I
looked up on the WNBA page, which is effective field
goal percentage, which is your field goal percentage, and it

(33:09):
calculates it a little differently because it includes three point percentages,
and it like weighs it a little bit higher because
they're worth more points. Their pace, which is how fast
you play, and then their net rating, which is your
offensive rating minus your defensive rating, which is like you
basically will be like your point differential. Okay, all right,
everybody keep up.

Speaker 1 (33:29):
I'm so excited.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
First team we'll talk about is Indiana Fever. They were
first in effective field goal percentage, second in pace, and
sixth in net rating. New coach Stephanie White, who came
from the Connecticut Sun, and some notable personal changes is
the additions of Natasha Howard, Sophie Cunningham, Breonna Turner, Dawanna Bonner,
and Sidney Coulson.

Speaker 1 (33:51):
Thoughts, Mariah, Well, We've talked in length about the Indiana
Fever and what they did in the offseason, but I
think they obviously are taking winning and capitalizing off of
this Caitlin Clark moment. They have going very seriously and
I feel like this is exactly how you are you're
supposed to react to having a star like her, and

(34:11):
they made the playoffs, she was Rookie of the Year,
she had a great year. Like this all makes sense.
I'm excited for them. The coaching change I think is
going to be really big. Poor Connecticut. They're the East.

Speaker 2 (34:22):
We'll get there in the We'll get to them.

Speaker 1 (34:24):
Yes, but I think that it's going to be really exciting.
I don't I'm not going to call them championship contenders
or anything like that, but I think.

Speaker 2 (34:31):
That it's going to be You think that they're contenders, Yes,
I do. I'll tell you why.

Speaker 1 (34:34):
Wait wait, wait, wait, let's talk about this for a second.
When I say championship contender, I mean I would bet
my own personal funds that they are going to win
a championship. I guess contending means they could. But like
I call, I think a contender is like, I will
put you in there right now today, I think you
will win.

Speaker 3 (34:52):
I guess my contenter means get to the finals.

Speaker 1 (34:54):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, get to the finals, get to the
finals a.

Speaker 3 (34:57):
Yeah, And I'll tell you why.

Speaker 2 (34:58):
I think that there was a lot of misconception about
Kaitlyn Clark's overall game. I think that people got so
caught up in her scoring that they didn't realize how
good of a point guards she was in college.

Speaker 3 (35:13):
So I think that.

Speaker 1 (35:15):
Well, not to interrupt you, but she didn't get the
opportunity to show that as much in college because as.

Speaker 2 (35:21):
Much exactly, but the plays that she was making still
despite all that was like insane. But like people were
so caught up in the logo threes and the twenty
three point attempts per game, which absolutely I understand that,
Like it was so much fun to watch. But I
always said she could potentially be one of the best

(35:42):
point guards to ever play in the w NBA, and
everyone was like, shut up, Lexi, and I was like,
all right, led the league and assists last year as
a rookie, which is incredible. So I think after you know,
they take the inventory of this season, you look at
what you have, they said, we need to give her
a more elite supporting cast and potentially not as many

(36:05):
players that need to be spoon fed buckets. So that's
no disrespect to anybody that was on her team last year.
Like obviously they made the playoffs, they'd had a great season,
but you have a Natasha Howard and a Donwana Bonner
that can just straight up go get their own bucket.
And they're huge. Okay, these are tall people. Okay, guys,
I think they're both like sixty three and sixty four, right,

(36:27):
So matchup nightmare. Sophie Cunningham has been playing out of
position in Phoenix for like three years, so she probably
will get to go play the three again. She's a
very underrated defender, and now you have very elite rim
protection and Bree Turner, So now you go keep a
Leah Boston out of foul trouble, which means she's gonna
be a to stale on the court.

Speaker 3 (36:47):
So do I think that they are a contender? Yes,
I do.

Speaker 2 (36:50):
Then you throw in Sid Coulson, who is a very very,
very very solid backup point guard and she plays defense,
so you can even throw her out there with Kaitlyn,
and now Kaitlyn can chill on defense for the most part,
because defending the one is not easy. And it's not
because you can't stay in front of people. It's because
all they do is get freaking high ball screens constantly,

(37:11):
and it's hard to navigate those at times, especially when
the screener is six five. So yes, I do think
they're a contender because they strategically gave Caitlyn Clark a
very very very well balanced team where she won't have
to carry as much as the load I don't think,
and she can fish. She'll probably end up facilitating even

(37:32):
more than last season. And then I didn't even talk
about I didn't even mention Kelsey Mitchell. I can't believe
I forgot to mention Kelsey mission. All I do is
talk about her constantly. I have my notes right here.
I didn't even put Kelsey Mitsch's name on there, like,
I'm so sorry, Kelsey. She might be the most important returner.

Speaker 1 (37:47):
I also, you make a really good point about defense
and Caitlyn being able to preserve herself on that side
of the court, because that is really really dangerous because one,
I don't think she's ever had that ever, and two
they also helps to protect her as far as staying healthy.
You know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (38:05):
Exactly? Have I convinced you you make great points?

Speaker 1 (38:08):
Will great points? But we shall go. We shall continue on.

Speaker 2 (38:12):
Okay, Well, speaking of contenders, we're going to talk about
the current WNBA champs, The Liberty. They were third in
effective field goal percentage, seventh in pace, and first in
net rating. And don't let that confuse you, because every
time we played the Liberty, like we were like, they
don't really like playing defense like that, which they don't.
They just scored way more points than everybody. So yes,

(38:35):
they have the number one net rating, but like, let's
not get it confused, like they're not locking up. They
wasn't locking up on defense, which, with that being said,
the additions that they have added might actually have them
sing us yes.

Speaker 3 (38:49):
So they didn't make a coaching change.

Speaker 2 (38:51):
They added Natasha Cloud, Isabelle Harrison and Marine Johannes decided
to come and play, which is so fun for all
of us to chase that girl around.

Speaker 3 (39:01):
And then someone that.

Speaker 2 (39:02):
Probably everyone has forgotten about is Rebecca Gardner. She's been
out with injury. She was on the Chicago Sky, now
she's on the Liberty. She, if everybody remembers, was the
oldest rookie ever. Everyone just reminded us constantly how old
she was a rookie. So love that for her. We
played together in Israel. She's a very smooth player, she's
a great defender, she's super athletic, very underrated, so them

(39:25):
adding Rebecca as well is huge for them, especially defensively.
But I'm interested to see how Tash intermingles with this group.
We watched Tash and Sabrina play pretty well together and
unrivaled because I remember we mentioned that a lot while
ago that tashould probably try to get on the Liberty
because her and Sabrina got a good little thing going on.

Speaker 1 (39:44):
I can't believe, like we call that that literally and
it took a minute for it to happen. But I'm
happy for her.

Speaker 2 (39:52):
So am I and I know that, Like remember we
would always talk about like the Liberty, like as good
as they were, they kind of like lacked like a
real personality, and that's why they made Ellie like the
face of the Liberty. Ellie is their mascot, guys, by
the way, which she is amazing and has been actually

(40:13):
so great for the Liberty and the WNBA. But I
don't like that their forward facing thing is their mascot
and not one of their players. I've always thought that
was interesting to me.

Speaker 1 (40:24):
I kind of love that for them, especially being in
a franchise like New York and it's so forward facing
and it could be so Marquee and this, that and
the third they just want to hoop, like they're not
I see that they're not stressing all that other stuff.

Speaker 3 (40:38):
They really just get to chill and play basketball.

Speaker 1 (40:41):
Right, They're like, let Ellie go do the press tour
and go.

Speaker 2 (40:48):
I never thought about it that way, like the fact Ellie, like, yeah,
I used to think it was weird, But I'm like
maybe they liked, like maybe they asked for it to
be like that, Like that wouldn't actually surprise me considering
who's on the team, Like they are a very marketable group.

Speaker 1 (41:02):
Stewie signature shoe. Yeah, they already are doing their thing,
They're making their money on and off the court, and
they still get to just hoop and kind of stay
out of having to do all that face the franchise
extronists and just and go win the championship. I would
prefer that.

Speaker 2 (41:20):
That's actually a great point, especially in New York. Okay,
all right, Mariah, you you have turned me because I
used to kind of have an attitude because I was like,
why do we see the elephant more than the players?
But that makes sense and that's why they probably freaking we.

Speaker 1 (41:33):
Still the players just enough at the parade.

Speaker 2 (41:37):
Facts with their championships and everything. I think that Tash's
going to be a great addition. She's going to bring,
you know, a different type of personality, a toughness, and
I think that I always said Sabrina plays well with
an elite point guard. So going from one elite point
guard to the next and from Cordy Matter, salute to

(41:58):
Natasha Cloud. So I'm excited about the Liberty. I'm very
excited for Natasha and let's see if they can defend
that title. Next we have the dream At Yeah oh ah, yeah,
this is yo tea.

Speaker 3 (42:12):
Well technically mine too.

Speaker 2 (42:13):
But they were last in effective field goal percentage, eleventh
in pace, and seventh in net rating. I we lost
to the Dreams. I think every time we played them,
which I was like, how like, well, I don't know,
like they had our number for some reason, like it
was crazy. New coach coach Smessko. I want to say
his last name is Believe. He's from Florida Golf Coast

(42:36):
and if I remember watching any type of Florida Golf Coast,
they like to run running gun, which will fix their
pace problem. Their major additions were Bree Jones, Shatry Walker,
kimbro and Brittan Grinder. So my only question is what
type of play style are they going to run? Because
you have two very dynamic scores and Ryan Howard and

(42:59):
Alisha Gray, you have a point guard that wants to
push pace in Jordan Canada, and now you add these
ginormous players that are pretty limited, not in like skill
set obviously, but like traditionally, they're very limited. They neither
one of them really shoot threes. They don't handle the ball,
which is basically what those positions are transforming to, slowly

(43:20):
but surely. So I'm very interested to see where they land.

Speaker 1 (43:24):
What the identity is gonna be.

Speaker 2 (43:26):
Yeah, because we watched and we'll talk about Dallas next week,
we watched that double big experiment in Dallas fail miserably,
So I don't know if they're going to do the
double big thing in Atlanta or if they're gonna play
them one at a time. I'm talking about Big and Bri.
Those are two players that typically have been one of

(43:47):
the focal points of an offense, and I can see
them being like the third or fourth option on this team.
So Bigi's used to playing with the dynamic score and
Diana Tarassi as far as like outside shooting read not
so much. That's always what Connecticut's Achilles Hill was their
lack of perimeter consistent three point shooting.

Speaker 3 (44:06):
So maybe it will benefit Bree having.

Speaker 2 (44:08):
A completely change of scenery. As far as personnel and
play style, I mean, I think Beg's gonna be fine,
like she's BG. But they surprised me last year. I
thought they were going to be better than they were.
I think they were right there at the playoffs. They
almost made playoffs.

Speaker 1 (44:24):
I will say, as we spoke about earlier, we saw
this in the MNBA with the missions, A coaching change
at the right time to build a new culture. You
know what I'm saying, might be the.

Speaker 2 (44:37):
Move I believe. I mean, I believe in them, and
I love playing in Atlanta even though they're like, we
have the most sold out games in the league. Well yeah,
because you're arena holds twelve people. So like their games
are lit because I remember growing up they played in
the big arena where the Hawks played, and those games
were lit, and then they had like a down time

(44:57):
where the games were in that smaller arena and nobody
who's in there, And now it's packed out every night,
which I think is amazing, and the energy is very Atlanta,
like it's Atlanta down in there, like it's so fun.

Speaker 1 (45:09):
You know, it sucks, and this is it. I'm not
even come for the Dream.

Speaker 2 (45:12):
I see.

Speaker 1 (45:13):
I see beautiful things for them this season. But I
was going to respond to all those things you said,
was I feel like this mystery of there's all these
options of what they could do and who the focal
point could be and what could possibly happen, just means
that we'll have options Lexi.

Speaker 2 (45:27):
Yeah, lots and lots of pop shops.

Speaker 1 (45:29):
It is really unfortunate in Atlanta as far as being
a sports city that we have every professional sport. We
have so many sports teams and we have the fan
base here and we just don't have winning. So I'm
gonna need the Dream. I'm gonna be dedicating myself this
season full time. When I'm not being a dedicated Lexi fan,
when I'm there, when I'm there when you play the Dream,

(45:50):
I'll be supporting you, of course, but I feel like
I've dedicated myself to hopefully the Dream being that kind
of like Vegas brought Vegas their first National Sports championship,
we need that with a Dream so it's time.

Speaker 2 (46:04):
I mean I have I'm very positive about what they
got going on there, like even the addition of Chatori.
I didn't talk about her much, Like she is a
consistent scoring option, she plays defense, and she's like a
great teammate because I played with her at Maryland, so
I know her personally and she's great and I'm glad that,
Like she also is getting a change of scenery. But

(46:24):
it's gonna be interesting, what like if they're gonna just
completely change their offense, because it's different when you bring
a new player. You bring in not even new players,
you bring in stars. These are two all stars you're
bringing in, and then someone who knows how to win,
like Stories won championship. She won championships in college, like
she's a winner. So you bring in three players like that,

(46:45):
you're obviously trying to make a culture change. So what
is that dream team gonna look like this season? Because
they had such a disappointing year last year, So shout
out to.

Speaker 3 (46:57):
The dream I'm excited for them.

Speaker 2 (46:59):
One of my favorite city still play in and they
have my favorite jerseys.

Speaker 3 (47:03):
Loo Key playoffs. We playoffs, all right, Pero stamp it.

Speaker 2 (47:15):
All right? Next up.

Speaker 3 (47:17):
We have the Connecticut son.

Speaker 2 (47:19):
I'm going to read off these stats, but like they
really don't matter because nobody is nobody on the team
last year is even on the team. But I'm still
gonna read the stats anyway because we're going to keep
it consistent. Eighth and affective field god percentage, last in
pace and second in net rating. So new coach, the
European coach came over. Key additions Diamond Deshields, Marina Maybury,

(47:41):
j C. Sheldon, Yvonne Anderson, Lindsay Allen. Tina Charles was
the biggest surprise signing for me because I'm not going
to be an agist. I'm not because I'm creeping up
there as well. I don't want people to do this
to me. But I'm like very surprised at like she's
still playing, and I think it's like I think she

(48:01):
just wants to win, like she I can't imagine going
that is she.

Speaker 1 (48:05):
Doing in Connecticut.

Speaker 2 (48:06):
Well, I feel like nobody else wanted to give her a.

Speaker 3 (48:09):
Chance to win.

Speaker 2 (48:13):
And I don't know Tina Charles personally. I'm pretty sure
she was overseas playing like the She doesn't get enough
credit in my opinion for her longevity, she might be
right behind DT and scoring. Yeah, she's the second leading
scorer behind Diana Tarassi. Yes she's over two thousand points
behind Diana Tarassi, but she's still second. And because she

(48:37):
hasn't won, people put her in this like box, which unfortunately,
that's the reality of sports at a certain point winning
if you're a good enough player winning there is an
expectation to win, and she just hasn't. But she's also
the all time leading rebounder.

Speaker 1 (48:54):
Here's the thing. See, I'm not trying to be I'm
not trying to be that person. I think that they
should just they should just go out there and have
fun and try their best. That's what I see.

Speaker 2 (49:05):
But remember when Diamond was on here, she said she's like,
y'all are sleep on us, and I believe her. It
doesn't help that one of your star players demanded a trade,
but two of them said, one actually got it and
the other one did not get it. So that's probably
not the greatest I.

Speaker 1 (49:22):
Would say Marina does not want to be there.

Speaker 2 (49:24):
Yeah, that's probably not the best energy to have starting
a season. But I'm hoping that the rest of the
team can like override that and make her feel comfortable
and make her feel like she can help them win games.
And she needs to stay there because she's not getting traded. Yeah,
be serious, she's not. You demanded the trade last year.

(49:44):
It's not going to happen. And then they traded Tash,
so I think they were like, Okay, we'll get rid
of one of y'all. So I mean, I want them
to have as good of a seat, Like I don't
know what they're ceiling is, but I want them to
get there.

Speaker 3 (49:57):
I would like to.

Speaker 2 (49:58):
See them get there because Diamond is my best friend.
I want her to be successful. So yes, this is
a very biased opinion on the success I want for
Connecticut because I want her to feel success for herself.
They have some rookies coming. I know we're going to
talk about the rookies, but it's like you're starting from
scratch it.

Speaker 3 (50:16):
Like for me, I'm like, this is fun.

Speaker 2 (50:18):
Like I know you're in Connecticut and like I know
that's not fun, but like that's beside the point, like
you are starting completely over. Like for me, I would
love that. Don't send me there.

Speaker 3 (50:29):
But I'm I'm happy.

Speaker 1 (50:31):
Dined by Unbiased Synopsis. Okay, for those who don't know
correct me if I'm wrong. LEXI not a starter from
last season, it's still there.

Speaker 3 (50:39):
No, they all loved every single one.

Speaker 1 (50:41):
Okay, your entire starting vibe is gone. I do that,
but I just wanted to hear you say it.

Speaker 2 (50:45):
You don't, Yeah, yep.

Speaker 1 (50:47):
The point is I feel like when you're in a
situation like that, where really your whole culture, like we
talked about with the coaches, star players, everything. Your coach
is gone, your star player's gone. You're starting completely from scratch.
My positive for Diamond, I will say, is being in
that kind of situation is very low pressure and gives
you an opportunity to shine. And I hope she finds

(51:08):
that success for herself. But that organization needs to figure
it out low key because there's some crazy stat about
they've been to the playoffs the most times.

Speaker 2 (51:17):
Yeah, most playoff wins, most playoff wins, a championship.

Speaker 1 (51:20):
Okay, thank you, most playoff wins that championship. That don't
make no sense. And to have that and then to
get rid of everybody is like. But I will say,
I will say that it is important for organizations to
know what they're ceiling is and know okay, we're not
going to get that far with this group. So maybe
that is a positive for them that they realized they
weren't going to get to the mountaintop with that group

(51:41):
and they got well, they did not technically bad choice,
but that group is gone, So maybe this is an
opportunity for some new fresh blood. But if I'm categorizing
these teams as you go along, this is probably what
I will do. Between contenders and pretenders, they're pretenders, They're
they're not.

Speaker 2 (51:55):
That's fair. I would say the only two real contenders
so far are Indiana and New York.

Speaker 1 (52:00):
In New York for sure, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (52:01):
Next we have the Sky eleventh in effective field goal percentage,
ninth in pace, and tenth in that rating. So yeah,
not very good. New coach coach marsh from the Aces,
which I thought was a great hire. Key additions Cordy
Vander Slut and Ariel Atkins, so I'm interested. This group

(52:23):
is going to be interesting. I'm interested that Slute decided
to go back to Chicago after winning a championship. That
was an interesting move to me. And I was surprised
to see Ariel leave the Mystics. I don't know why
she left the mistake, I don't know what they got
going on over there either. But some players don't want
to be part of a rebuild, and that's completely valid

(52:44):
and fair, Like I wouldn't. You're not for to waste
my prime yere Is on a rebuild.

Speaker 1 (52:48):
I would love that as a rookie though. Yeah, for sure,
I would love that as a rookie being able to
play and not a high stakes environment, but you're still
playing professionally against the best of the best and learning
and getting your foot in without somebody being like, Okay,
we're to trade you if this don't work out.

Speaker 2 (53:01):
So I mean, but Chicago kind of like kind of
rebuilding right now too. Yeah, their core players will probably
be Angel Camilla and Haley, so babies babies, right. I'm
very interested to see what type of offense is implemented
because they brought in some scoring, some outside scoring which

(53:24):
they were severely lacking last year, and new coaching, new culture,
coming from a championship culture at that so I don't
foresee them trying to do that high low stuff again,
the double big thing. Like, I'm very interested to see
what teams that have that personnel actually try to do
that double big thing. Because the thing about when you

(53:45):
do double big lineups. At least one of them has
to be versatile. They have to be able to bring
the ball up, they got to be able to pass,
and they got to be able to shoot. So you
don't have that in any of the bigs in Chicago, respectfully,
Like that's not a knock on them, it's just true.
Camilla and Elizabeth are very interior post players, which is
very important, but very hard to play a certain style

(54:06):
with both of them on the court at the same time.

Speaker 1 (54:08):
Lexi, for our other basketball nerds listening, I'm curious because Angel, Camilla, Hailey,
those are going to be big ticket names as we
go through the season and as they go through their careers.
But as far as on the court, they're actual fit.
What you see coming out of that little trio. How

(54:30):
is that going to look on the basketball court?

Speaker 2 (54:32):
I honestly think whoever plays best with Hailey is going
to play more. Haley said in her press she does
like I love playing with big players.

Speaker 1 (54:40):
Well, do you think that Angel has an advantage because
they played with Obviously it was only one year, and
that year, I mean, everybody points to it and says
that you're terribly it didn't really work out, but they
still they still.

Speaker 2 (54:51):
Did, they still want Yeah.

Speaker 1 (54:53):
So do you feel like Angel has an advantage in
that way because she has played with Haley before?

Speaker 2 (54:58):
Or I feel like people shouldn't even bring that up.
It's a completely different environment, it's a completely different situation,
and they're both very different players than they were two
years was it two years ago?

Speaker 1 (55:12):
Two years ago?

Speaker 2 (55:13):
You know, Haley got her confidence back, Angel got her
swag in the w Like, it's gonna be a completely
new experience for them playing and now you're playing for
something different, like this is the pros now, like this
ain't college like these aren't you not playing against little girls? No?
More like you're playing against grown women. But again, Tyler,
he's he's used to this very fast paced, running gun

(55:37):
elite offense and style of play. So them being able
to implement that with that group, like would be really
cool to see because I do feel like a lot
of people think that like that group is going to
be very limited, and I feel like if they're open
to learning and developing, that that group can be very
special on both ends of the floor. I mean we
didn't even get to the defensive side. I think defensively

(55:58):
they could be a nightmare to play against, but you know,
you got to score the ball to win, So it's
gonna be like, who's who's gonna have to ball the most?
Is gonna be the real question. Obviously, Ariel and Salute
together like that's gonna be a one two punch that
I'm very looking forward to see because playing with anybody
that plays with Slute automatically is gonna be in a
better situation on the floor at all positions because she's

(56:20):
such a great point guard and she has such a
feel for the game. And I think that's something that
Chicago lacked last year, is they didn't have somebody that
could just like control the game, like if it was
getting a little out of control. They didn't have someone
to be like, all right, let's chill out for a second,
or we need this type of bucket, let's get this bucket,
let's do this, let's do this. And I think Slut
will bring that calmness to the to the group, which

(56:41):
will be good because they're so young. And then Ariel
can like she can give you thirty at any given night.
So I mean, I think they're gonna be better than
they were last year.

Speaker 1 (56:49):
I think so a lot of the discourse surrounding Angel
specifically was double double queen rebounds, rebounds, rebounds, rebounds, rebounds,
And obviously, as a fan of Angel that wants her
to be great and don't want anybody to talk about her,
I will say I want to see her finishing more
as far as looking at her off season, and obviously

(57:10):
y'all are only going to post the best parts of
your workouts. But it seems like that's something that she's
been really working on, so hopefully that improves. But that's
something that I would like to a little nugget I
would like to give this guy. I would like to
see that.

Speaker 2 (57:21):
Oh yeah, I mean they were second to last and
field goal percentage, Like that's not like that's a stat
that is literally a statistic on the internet. They were
second to last and affective field goal percentage, which is
a combination of twos and threes, so they barely shot
any threes. So that means you were very poor shooting twos.
That's not good. You're not gonna win very many games

(57:41):
being poor at both. So I think that her rebounding
is still something that is like next level, very elite,
like not a lot of people can do that, But
will her rebounds potentially go down if she finishes a
little bit better, Maybe they might, But that's not going
to be like She's not going to be like I
just hope the conversations hurt all. Look, she's not like.
I just hope it doesn't have to be a negative thing.

(58:03):
If you see improvement in her game, you see improvement
in her game. But we don't know what that is
going to look like necessarily, but there is gonna have
to be an improvement as far as like finishing around
the basket exactly.

Speaker 1 (58:13):
And I feel like one thing that you always say
is obviously the double double stuff, and her rebounding is
super early, and that's great, but if you're not putting
the ball in the hoop, you're not going.

Speaker 2 (58:23):
On games exactly. So I mean, I'm really looking forward
to this guy. You know, they're another team that kind
of like cleaned house with it. Their whole team basically gone.
So I'm really excited for them too. I'm always excited
for a new coach, especially if new black coach. I know,
that's right, always excited for that.

Speaker 1 (58:40):
Angel was hurt about their coaching change, though, and so
I feel like they had to bring somebody in.

Speaker 2 (58:45):
Yeah, that could at least give them like confidence that
like okay, like we're still we still got fa But
he has, you know, an incredible background and one championships
and has a really good reputation, So I think they're
going to be better.

Speaker 1 (58:58):
One thing I want to clear though for those listening
is we have said very similar things about you're gonna
hate me about Connecticut in Chicago as far as they
cleaned house and blah blah blah. But Connecticut they're not
as young. No, they're not as young, so it's not
the same thing. This is a true rebuild.

Speaker 2 (59:18):
Well, yeah, Connecticut is like out with the old day
with the new like rip the band aid off. Chicago
was like, I mean, it's hard to believe that we
won a championship like three years ago. That is that
is insane, Like it's like it happened, and then everyone's
like whatever, who cares.

Speaker 1 (59:35):
But as you mentioned, the culture there when you want
a championship was very It was vets trying to win literally,
so it was kind of like, Okay, you got yours,
and now we're planting this new seed and watering it
so that we can have another group of vets. That
want to win, that are ready for that.

Speaker 2 (59:51):
It's like basically what it was, and that's kind of
basically what all the teams are doing right now is
similar to what Chicago did that one year, was like
we're finna win now and and we can figure everything
else out later. Okay, so Sky, I foresee them having
a much better season than they did last.

Speaker 1 (01:00:06):
Year, but they're still in my pretender's bucket.

Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
Sorry Chicago, That's okay, all right, Last, but not least,
we have the Mystics fifth in effective field goal percentage,
ninth in pace, tenth in net rating. New coach knew
a lot of things. I think.

Speaker 3 (01:00:22):
I don't think.

Speaker 2 (01:00:23):
They signed anybody in free agency, and then they have
the seven million rookies that they drafted.

Speaker 1 (01:00:28):
Let's say shout out to my girl, Kei Ky you
ate that dress up eight down, that jury in the house, honey.

Speaker 2 (01:00:35):
So honestly, I think the key returners, I guess we
can just talk about step Dawson, Brittany Sykes, Shakira Austin
which Shakira Sykes, they both have been dealing with like
injuries a lot the last like one or two seasons,
So I'm excited to see both of them healthy. They
both played and Unrivaled both looked really good and Unrivaled. Oh,

(01:00:56):
Steph played in Unrivaled too, So yeah, they've all been
playing in all season. I think they are ready to
win again. You know, the Mystics used to run the
table for a little bit. Finally they can let Elena
Dela don go because she officially announced her retirement, because
I know that there was a part of their organization
like she might come back, she might come back. So

(01:01:18):
now they can officially like just move on, which I
think is good.

Speaker 3 (01:01:22):
Especially with this new group of rookies coming in, Like.

Speaker 2 (01:01:24):
They might be the most rebuilding rebuild team.

Speaker 3 (01:01:27):
Right now for sure, like by long, sure sure.

Speaker 1 (01:01:30):
And I interviewed Kicky and she talked about that they're
not They're expecting to be in a rebuilding kind of situation.

Speaker 2 (01:01:36):
It's not yeah, win now mode, because even their vets
are pretty young, Like I mean, I would say Steph
isn't considered super young, but like her psych Shakira, like
they still like are on the young vet side, I
feel like.

Speaker 1 (01:01:50):
So, I just also want to note that it's interesting
that we started off this conversation by talking about the
East West Conferences. Elimination in the W because if that
were the case, if it was East West, I mean, damn,
Like the West is significantly stronger.

Speaker 2 (01:02:07):
Yeah, which is weird because like how does that keep happening.
It's happened in the NBA, and the.

Speaker 1 (01:02:11):
W significantly stronger. And if that were the case, I
would consider Indiana a real contender if it were East West,
because they wouldn't really they'll be able to kind of
clean the East up.

Speaker 2 (01:02:22):
I feel like I feel like I might agree with
you there, but I think that DC is kind of
in a similar situation as Connecticut, Like y'all have opportunity
to build a new culture, new era, new style, new everything,
and they do have some key vets that I've played
a few seasons together to like hold everything down. So
which'll be awesome for the rookies. Yeah, and again, like

(01:02:44):
I'm excited for the like this rookie group, like they
can like grow together, Like we just don't see that
in the WNBA, Like we don't see like two, three,
four rookies coming in together and figuring it out together
and whether it's successful or not, Like it's always nice
to see a great group of players like grow and
learn together. Which is again, white people love college so much.

(01:03:05):
And now, yeah, you're kind of seeing it more in
the NBA now, especially now that these teams are younger
than some of the college teams playing. Like we're looking
at Houston, Okay, see who else is young?

Speaker 1 (01:03:15):
Detroit?

Speaker 2 (01:03:16):
Detroit, Like people are really invested in them because they've
we've watched them like grow and learn together. Like are
they gonna win championship? No, probably not, but the journey
is not this year, not this year, but they run
at the time is ticking.

Speaker 3 (01:03:30):
And that's the thing about the w.

Speaker 2 (01:03:32):
As well, is like everybody moves around so much, like
and then when it comes to the time to make
real decisions about salaries and contracts and salary cap like
it's all just like very random. Because by the thirty year,
second or third year, you already have moved you rookie
to a new team because she even give her a
chance to develop or she wasn't able to keep up.

(01:03:53):
But like, that's not what your pro career is about.
It's about development and growing and learning. Unless something just
horrible happened during the season and she must go, that's different,
but that's usually not the case.

Speaker 1 (01:04:04):
But I want to before we go, ask you, as
far as I know, in the NBA, the MNBA, I
should say, they.

Speaker 2 (01:04:12):
Don't get us kissling Mariah saying that shit, sorry, Lexi,
LEXI does not I do not say m NBA guys,
I know probably all would like me too. I'm very
much an NBA fan. I love NBA, so Mariah Maria
said it.

Speaker 1 (01:04:29):
I think everybody knows that I am an NBA fan.
The point is, I feel like in the NBA, we
have seen ever since the Warriors dynasty, the formula for
winning a championship became smaller. The game got more outside, outside, outside, outside,
and some fancying it's boring. I absolutely love it. That's
my favorite. That's my favorite album. Aball to watch. But

(01:04:50):
that's either here nor there. In the W you mentioned
double Biggs in Atlanta and Chicago, that kind of situation.
What do you think that the recipe for success, whether
it's going to work or not, but like, what do
you think that these coaches and these organizations are seeing
as Okay, this is this is the style on the
W that everybody's kind of implementing.

Speaker 2 (01:05:08):
I do think that more outside shooting is coming, which
makes me excited and very happy because at the end
of the day, threes are worth more than twos.

Speaker 3 (01:05:15):
Like what like that is what it is.

Speaker 2 (01:05:17):
From the last three or four championships, the best player
of the team has been that four. So I think
the key right now in the w is having a
really versatile foreman, and versutle can mean a lot of things.
That's why it's versatile. Like maybe they can shoot really well, Okay,
maybe not. Maybe they can pass very well, maybe they

(01:05:38):
can bring the ball up, they can initiate offense like
what you would consider like a glue player, but they're
like super glue because they are also scoring the ball.
So I feel like, you know, you have the best
players in the league right now and a Fista Collier,
Ajia Wilson, Breonna Stewart, Neka Goloo McKay. I mean Natas

(01:06:00):
Shah Howard could reinsert herself in that conversation on this
Indiana team, John cul Jones like these are what you
consider like the top players in the league right now.
And then directly under those players, I think are the
perimeter players that can hit outside shots. So the Arique's Jewel,
Lloyd Kelsey Plumb, Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young, me.

Speaker 1 (01:06:20):
I was gonna say Lexi Brown Hello.

Speaker 2 (01:06:25):
So first I'll thank Arik because she was probably one
of the first players to come out and shoot all
them damn threes off the bounce, off the like all
the crazy shots. Jewel Lloyd I think has been more
of like a surgical score, you know, coming off of
pin Down's curls, like not as random as Arique's buckets.
And then you bring in a Kaitlin Clark who's doing

(01:06:47):
all the logo, shooting off the bounce, coming off screens,
pull up transition threes, like now everybody's like, okay, like
this is what we can do, Like this is the
style of play that's gonna win you games.

Speaker 1 (01:07:01):
But also facilitating because it's like you're drawing so much
attention to yourself that it confuses defenses. And if you
can facilitate and make plays, then you're dangerous.

Speaker 2 (01:07:12):
Yeah. So I mean, yes, you look at the Golden
Golden State Warriors has been the formula. You have elite
scores from the perimeter, and then you have your glue man.
So the Draymonds of the world like, but I feel
like that position in the w is more offensively gifted
than what you would call the Draymonds of the NBA,

(01:07:32):
which because there's so much perimeter scoring now, like that
person doesn't necessarily have to score. Also, they have more time,
Like there's just so many different things in the NBA
that are different from the WNBA, Like we had more
time to play, more people would be scoring. But because
that position right now is so versatile and so good
gifted offensively, and then just a matchup nightmare. Like they're

(01:07:54):
just like kind of the key piece. So the fore
man has been the key to WNBA six access. Now
there's some shooters around them, very hard to guard, very
hard to guard.

Speaker 1 (01:08:05):
Shout out to the.

Speaker 2 (01:08:05):
Force, Shout out to the four.

Speaker 1 (01:08:08):
Well, Lexi, I'm really excited for next week because I'm
about to come with stuff to say about these last teams.

Speaker 2 (01:08:14):
Yeah, but I'll have a nice little update for our
first day of training camp because it'll be the day
after camp.

Speaker 1 (01:08:21):
When are we going to have ours our Lexi's goals
show right before the season starts, like at the beginning
of Bay.

Speaker 2 (01:08:27):
Yeah, right before our first actual game, not our preseason games,
our first actual games, so I can actually put together
a realistic list. Yeah, you know, Okay, because I want
us to be able to check these goals off. I
don't want to end the season and nothing is checked
because I've made goals that didn't make any sense.

Speaker 1 (01:08:45):
I will say. When I was working for the Atlanta Hawks,
I was on the social team and we did this
thing where the players would write down their goals for
the season on the little poolaroid to be cute to
put them on our Instagram, and the whole starting five
did it, and so obviously everybody put win a championship
as their goal, except for Capella, who put go to

(01:09:06):
the conference titles and everybody. They tore us up in
the comments. Tore us he was so mad about at
the social team for posting that. He was so mad,
But I was like, you say, right, I mean, and
he was probably the most realistic out of everybody.

Speaker 2 (01:09:23):
But yeah, like what y'all want them to lie about
their goals just so y'all can make fun of them
if they don't get the championship, because they all.

Speaker 3 (01:09:31):
Knew they wasn't gonna get going. So so funny, that's
really funny.

Speaker 2 (01:09:35):
Okay, Well, I hope y'all enjoyed our little breakdown of
the Eastern Conference and the WNBA. We're really excited for
next week to get into the West and this season
is going to be really fun. But thank y'all for
tuning in again. I hope you guys enjoyed it. We
will see y'all next week on the Full Circle podcast.

Speaker 1 (01:09:53):
Thanks for listening to Full Circle. We'll be back next
week with more basketball for the Girls, by the girls.
We want to hear from you. He leave us a
review on Apple Podcasts and tell us what you want
us to talk about. Full Circle is hosted by Lexi
Brown and Mariah Rose. Our executive producer is Jesse Katz.
Our supervising producer is Grace Fuse. Our producer is Zoe Danklab.

(01:10:14):
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