July 30, 2025 • 32 mins
On this episode of Full Circle, Lexie Brown is flying solo and gives a full vibe check on where she's at. She reflects on her recent performances and what it’s like trying to break into the rotation as a bench player. Lexie keeps it real about the wear and tear of the W season, the chaos of the compact schedule, and why load management is officially part of the conversation.
She shows love to the unsung heroes—bench players and role players—while breaking down what it takes to stay ready when your number’s called. Plus, she dives into recent games, drops some analysis, and previews matchups to watch heading into the next stretch of the season.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Full Circle is an iheartwoman's sports production and 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):
Well, hello, everybody, welcome back to another episode of Full
Circle Podcast. I'm Lexi Brown. If y'all in a know,
today is a little bit of a different type of vibe.
I'm doing my first solo episode, so bear with me please.
Mariah was having some technical difficulties and we did not
want to leave y'all hanging for the week, so we
(00:33):
decided that, hey, let me just wing this and just
see how it goes. So I guess we can just
first and foremost start off with a vibe check, which
is what Mariah usually asked me. How I'm doing. How
the season has been going for me? And this has
probably been my most productive week of the entire season.
(00:53):
I've been playing more. I finally scored in double figures
last week at Chicago. I went five for five in
that game, scoring twelve points, so that really felt good.
We played at Chicago, we played in DC, which we lost,
but I also got to play a lot in that
game because we got down big early. In the game,
(01:14):
and our bench actually got us back within a two
possession game in the fourth quarter, so it was nice
to be a part of that. And then we finished
our road trip in Connecticut where we won and we
were up big early again, so I got to play
a little bit. Didn't shoot the ball great, but it's
still good to get out there and play and contribute.
(01:35):
I still would not say I'm part of the rotation,
contrary to what maybe you guys might see in the
minutes played. But I'm very much still not in the rotation.
But when you are trying to break into the rotation,
you have to take advantage of the moment you get
on the court, which I think I did this past week.
So baby steps. I know the season is over halfway
(01:57):
through and we're still talking about baby steps into the rotation,
but that is just the reality of being a bench
player slash role player in this league. You just have
to be ready when your opportunity comes. So proud of myself,
proud of my other teammates that are coming off the
bench for the Storm because they've come in and been
(02:17):
productive and have been working really hard. So when it
comes to playoffs and the end of the season, when
the wear and tear becomes more obvious, that's when you
know teams have to look to their benches a little
bit more, and I think that our team has a
very capable, more than capable bench. It's just about getting
on the cord and getting cohesion and getting reps. Because
(02:39):
you can do all the practices you want, all the
workouts you can, but at the end of the day,
you need game reps to be able to contribute in
a game. So I'm excited that, you know, our starting
unit is starting games a little bit better, giving us
an opportunity to get in and get some game reps.
So that's my vibe check for right now. But on
the topic of the wear and tear of a season,
(02:59):
I think that this season has been grueling for a
lot of teams. I think for every team, but definitely
players have been a lot more vocal about the war
and tear of this season and how it's been affecting
the play and our bodies and our recovery. Time. I
looked it up shout out chat GPT about what the
(03:23):
average days in between games have been for the past
few seasons. So this season, the average days in between
games is at around two point seven days in between games.
In twenty twenty one, it was four days, an average
of four days in between games. Last year it was
three point two three average days in between games, and
(03:44):
even last year a lot of players wore having issues
with the schedules. So the biggest blessing within all of
that is that we are flying and charter playing, so
we are able to maximize our recovery time versus when
we used to have to fly commercial. So that's you know,
definitely still a blessing. But we have forty four games
this year versus the forty we had last year, and
(04:06):
that number is only going to increase. You know, we're
adding two more teams next season, which means more games,
which means longer playoffs, longer road trips, and just more
and more wear and tear on our bodies. And we're seeing,
you know, a lot of players dealing with injuries. You know,
we just saw Kayla thorn Is out for the season
with an injury. Breonna Stewart just went down with an
(04:27):
injury this past weekend in their game versus the Sparks.
We've seen a lot of season ending injuries. We've seen
a lot of star players missing significant amount of games
due to injuries. And for the first time I think
that since I've ever played in the league, we saw
a player out for rest and that player was Pagebackers
and she sat out for rest over this past weekend,
(04:48):
which in my mind for a rookie, that's kind of wow.
But as a WNBA player, you know, I'm looking at
her like, you know what, that makes sense? And we
haven't released it's seen load management in the WNBA before
because our schedule is so short, but because of the
closeness of games, you know, we are having more back
(05:09):
to backs. Like I just stated, there's not that many
days in between games anymore. I do foresee more load
management being implemented into the WNBA. And if you guys
don't know what load management is, because it's a big
trigger word in the NBA, like I said, we haven't
really had to deal with it in the w Load
management is the practice of strategically resting players to promote
(05:30):
longevity and protect them from injuries. There was a study
done for the NBA and they didn't really find anything
that connected load management to injury risk, but they didn't
really say if it helped or didn't help Therefore, the
load management has stayed in the NBA, which for me
as a player, I completely understand wanting to prioritize the
(05:55):
longevity of your career. And yes, for fans it is
a bummer because you know, there have been a lot
of situations that people have been very vocal about. So oh,
I saved up all my money to come watch this
player play. You know, in my city, it's the only
time they come into town and he is resting, And
you know, I know that's a bummer for fans, and
(06:15):
I see it from that perspective as well. For sure,
like somebody could be spending all they have to come
watch you play, and that's the game you happen to
be resting on. And I'm sure that the athlete feels
bad about it. But at the end of the day,
like they have to prioritize ourselves. We have to prioritize
our bodies and our careers and just finding the balance
between too much rest not enough rest. I think every
(06:37):
player is different. For example, my team, the Seattle Storm,
my teammates, they'll have to be missing a limb to
miss a game, Like I swear, like I've never seen
so many players just wanting to play all the time,
always locked in, wanting to play all the minutes, which
is amazing. I love it. You know, you always want
to have players on your team that want to give
(06:59):
a hundred and ten percent every game, for every minute.
But during the course of a season, that's not really
a feasible thing. And we saw it with the New
York Knicks in the NBA. You know, they went that
route of you know, playing their starters heavy, heavy, heavy minutes,
and yes, they found success in the regular season, but
once that postseason grind hits, you know, you got to
(07:19):
look to your bench. And it's nothing against the players
that are playing all the minutes. It's the fact that
you've now had these players sitting on your bench for
a long, long, long, long time, and you look over
one of the most important parts of your season, which
is the playoffs, and they're not as productive as you
need them to be or as you want them to be.
(07:40):
And that's just the balance of being able to find
a rotation going into your benches, resting your stars, because
stars need to star when it's time, and the time
to be a star is absolutely during the playoffs. So
it's been interesting seeing a lot of these WNBA teams
and coaches in front office is trying to navigate this
(08:01):
grueling schedule because I know at the beginning of the year,
I said that there was a bit of intentionality in
putting these rosters together. But as the season has gone on,
I think we all have seen that there really wasn't
much intention putting some of these teams together. You know,
a lot of teams typically go six seven players deep
(08:21):
every year, and I don't think that is a thing anymore.
I think there's too much talent. The game is faster,
it's more physical. They're letting us play this year, if
you guys haven't noticed, So teams are having to go
deeper into their benches, and not every team has built
a roster that they can do that with. So we're
going to see teams like find some problems as the
(08:44):
season goes on, because you know, after player number seven,
they're like, this player doesn't even match with the rest
of my team. This player can't even come in and
do what I need them to do. And that's not
the player's fault at all. You know, the player doesn't
ask to be brought into a team. The player doesn't
ask for a role they're giving it and they do
it to the best of their ability. I've already said
(09:06):
the Phoenix Mercury is the best put together team of
this season in my opinion. You know, the Liberty and
the Links are at the top of the standings, but
they didn't really put a team together this past offseason.
They already had their team in place, and you know,
those were the two finals teams, So why would you
make a lot of dramatic changes when you were in
the finals. So it's going to be interesting to see
(09:28):
for these next twenty ish games what these rotations look like.
You get to the playoffs and that's when like your
rotation shrinks. But I think this season it might go
the opposite way. You know, as we get close to
the playoffs, you're going to see these teams trying to explore,
you know, the rotations, the depth that they really have,
because you know, this is way far in advance, and
(09:49):
we'll get into a playoff picture in a second. Our
finals is best to seven. We have never had a
best of seven finals before. And for Kathy Kathy to
hear us complaining and having issues with the longevity of
this season and the compactness of it, and be like, oh, yeah,
I heard y'all, so I'm gonna give y'all the longer playoffs.
(10:10):
That doesn't really make sense to me, but again I
am excited for it because it's new, it's fun. But again,
that's like way far in advanced. But speaking of playoffs,
I looked at our standings, and you know, ESPN does
are like power rankings. I hope y'all understand that power
rankings and standings are not the same. Power rankings are
(10:30):
strictly opinion based, obviously, because the power rankings do not
match the current standings at all. So yes, it's a
good list and they have their reasoning and their logic
and it and you know, it's fun to read. But like,
this is like what the standings would actually be if
the playoffs started today. So if the playoffs started today,
the matchups would be the Links versus the Mystics at
(10:52):
the one in eight matchup, The two and seven matchup
would be the Liberty versus the Aces, the three and
six matchup would be the Mercury versus the Fever, and
the four or five matchup would be the Dream versus
the Storm. So honestly, I love that playoff picture I
have no idea who would come out of these first
(11:15):
round of games. Honestly, obviously you give the benefit to
the home team to come out of these series, but
I would love to see this as the potential playoff.
But I think that seven six, seven to eight spot
is absolutely up for grabs. A lot of these teams
have similar records. Only one team right now has reached
(11:36):
twenty wins and that's the Links, and seven teams are
five hundred or worse right now, which I don't know
if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but
it would be nice to see some more of these
teams get above five hundred, especially heading into playoffs. You
want to go in, you know, winning games. I will
(12:00):
give us a quick little weekend recap of some of
the games that stuck out to me. We'll start with
the Liberty and Sparks matchup. Rakia Jackson had twenty four
points and a game winner. I don't know if you
guys saw the game winner, but it was definitely a
little wonky, not your typical game winner, but a bucket
(12:21):
is a bucket, so shout out to Rakia. She's been
playing really great. In the midst of a five game
win streak, which is currently the longest in the WNBA,
So shout out to the Sparks. They're really, you know,
figuring it out. I'm pretty sure that three of those
five games were on the road, so to be able
to go on a road trip undefeated is definitely amazing.
I think that they have found their lineup that works
(12:43):
with Julie Oliman starting at the one. Like I said earlier,
Kelsey Plumb is a great passer, but she's an elite
two guard and they have found that complimentary piece at
the point guard position for her. And she has been
bawling ever since that they made that change in the
starting lineup with Julie Oliman starting at the one. She's
(13:04):
had two ten plus assists games in the last i
think two weeks, and Kelsey Plum is currently fourth in
the WNBA in scoring at twenty points per game. I
think that's her career high. Let's double check that. No,
it is tied with her career high from twenty twenty two,
when she was also averaging twenty points per game. But
she is having a career high in minutes, she's having
(13:26):
a career high and assists, she's having a career high.
In rebounds. So this move to the Sparks has definitely
been beneficial for Kelsey Plumb, which we all knew it
would be because she definitely is a walking bucket. Cameron
Brink is returning tonight Today's Tuesday, July twenty ninth. This
episode will drop Wednesday, so we will have seen Cameron
(13:47):
play return to the WNBA court by the time this
episode dropped. So super excited for her coming back from
an ACL injury. I think they said it's been thirteen months,
which is a long time for someone to not play
the game that they love, So perfect time for her
to come back. Five game winning streak. They're at home
on TV. Couldn't be a better comeback game for her.
(14:09):
So really excited for Cam and the Sparks and riding
that wave. We actually play them this week on Friday,
so you know, I would be tuned into the game
as a spectator, as a fan, and absolutely as a
competitor because we got to see what they got going
on because they are hooping right now. Another game that
stood out to me this weekend was the Aces versus
(14:29):
the Wings where we saw Jeweloyd come off the bench.
I don't want to say this incorrectly. But I don't
know if Jeweloyd has ever come off the bench in
her entire WNBA career. But she did have a very
efficient twenty point outing while coming off the bench for
the Aces against the Wings, and in her place they
started KB, who had nineteen points. And I said earlier
(14:52):
this season that she's been under a lot of scrutiny,
a lot of opinions about what her role is on
that Aces team, and she played in AU. She's been
playing in AU, and I know and we all know
what type of player that she is. And like I
said earlier in the episode, it's all about your opportunity,
and it's all about being ready for your opportunity. So
(15:13):
she got that opportunity over the weekend in Dallas and
showed out. So shout out to KB for making the
most of her minutes. I don't know if the Jewel
Lloyd on the bench is long term or if it was,
like you don't know what goes on in these locker rooms.
I don't know if it was her idea. I don't
know if it was Becky's idea to bring her off
the bench. But sometimes you kind of just have to
(15:34):
make those adjustments. To your lineup and see what happens.
The Aces have been a team with a huge question
mark all season long, like what's going on with the Aces?
And again, I just think it's them figuring out how
to incorporate a megastar into a team already full of them.
So I think Jewel coming off the bench was really
good for her. She got the shots that she wanted,
(15:55):
the shots that she needed. She looked like she was
in rhythm. So honestly, I mean they won, they looked good.
So this could be a long term thing for the Aces.
But if it's not, that wouldn't be surprising. But if
it is, it also wouldn't be surprising. Becky has been
known to be a coach that does everything she can
to win, and if that means shaking up her starting
lineup from time to time, she's going to do it.
(16:16):
So shout out to the Aces. You know they're still
finding their way. They are sitting comfortably well I guess
not comfortably for them. For them, this is definitely an
uncomfortable five hundred at their standards. But I think that
once they figure out their rotation and who can play
with who which at twenty six games, you're kind of
(16:37):
like Dun' shouldn't they have that figured out already? No,
absolutely not. Twenty six games and very limited practice time
is not enough time to figure out how to win
basketball games, especially not in this league. So the Aces
seem to be heading in the right direction though, and
that's always great for the league when the Aces are
playing well. The third game that stuck out to me
(16:58):
this past weekend was they Dream versus the Links game,
and the Dream handed the Minnesota Links their first home
loss of the season. Target Center is not an easy
place to win in. They have great energy, their fans
are amazing, and like I said, the layout of Target
Center is like the fans are like sitting on top
of you. So for someone that enjoys environments like that,
(17:20):
like it's a great gym to play in. And some
people maybe if they get, you know, anxiety about having
people kind of being on top of you, maybe it's
not a great place to play in. But the Dream
still have quietly been very dominant this season, and I
still think that they're under the radar, even though I
thought post All Star Break they would get a lot
more recognition for the way that they've been playing. But Nope,
(17:42):
not yet so that's good for them though. I mean,
I think being led by Ali Shagray, Bree Jones and
Brittany Grinder, like those are probably some of the mower
quiet superstars in our league. So it kind of makes
sense that this is the way that the Dream you know,
are navigating this season. BIGI had a season high I
think of twenty two points in that game, and I've
(18:04):
been really enjoying watching how the Dream have been utilizing
Bree Jones and Brittany Grinder. I know a lot of
people had a lot of question marks coming into the
season about how the coaches style of play, which is
very run and gun a lot of outside shooting, would
compliment having two of the best post players in the
WNBA on the same team. And they've had their ups
(18:28):
and downs, but I think that they are most consistently
successful when either Brie or BG have a really good game.
I don't know if we'll see both of them have
dominant games, because then that would mean that they're not
doing their outside shooting. There's three point shooting. They're scoring
because they have very talented guards and Ryan Howard Jordan
(18:48):
Canada and Leash. Ryan Howard is still out though with
an injury, but they have been managing without her, which
is also a really good thing to see one of
your stars is out with an injury. It's nice to
see Beg have one of her Beg type games. You know,
she's had a pretty quiet season so far. Wasn't an
All Star, which is something that we're not used to seeing.
(19:10):
But she's been quietly helping this Stream team stay in
the top four of this league this entire season. Na
Fista Collier did have thirty to eight and seven in
that loss, though, so I think even though the Links
are technically the best team in the league as far
as their record goes, who do they go to if
(19:33):
they have other players that are struggling. You know, two
of their starters in Bridget Carlton and Kayla McBride only
combined for four points, which that's not going to happen
very often, probably won't even happen ever again this entire season.
But when you have Pee put up a monster performance
like that, who is the next person that's going to
step up in multiple ways? You know? Alana Smith had
(19:55):
twelve points, Corney Williams eleven points, and Natsha Hideman comes
off the bench contributes ten. But you know when you
have a team that has such a star and Fee,
who's always going to give you numbers, She's always going
to be consistent. And you do have those those days
where you have starters that you know they're a little off.
(20:17):
It happens. You know, you can't make every shot that
you take. Who's going to be that next person that
brings them energy on both sides of the ball, because
they did give up ninety points, so it's not always
about scoring. Who's going to come in and be a
defensive leader for them, who's going to get those rebounds,
who's going to get them those extra possessions? And I
think as dominant as the Links have been, they still
have a weakness in Okay, so we already know it's
(20:40):
going to be Fee and then who's next, Who's up next?
And I think that's what makes them so dangerous is
that they they rotate. That's how good they are. Like
one day it's Kmac, one day, it's Courtney, one day
it's Bridgid. You never really know who that second person is.
But when it comes to the longevity of a season, playoffs,
you kind of have to have that consistent one two
three punch, And I think that's something that always is
(21:03):
hard about having such a talented team is when it
gets down to the nitty gritty who is going to
have the ball, who's gonna make the plays? And I
think that's literally probably the only downside of the Minnesota
Lynx right now is that they have so much talent,
So who's gonna have the ball in these moments and
who's gonna make the plays in these moments? If it's
not Fee? But again that loss, I want to be
(21:24):
too worried about it. If I'm the links, there's still
twenty two and five comfortably sitting in first place in
the in the WNBA right now, having a great season,
Fees having an MVP type season, I think that it
is her award to lose still, and I do not
think it's close anymore. But we'll see. We still have,
you know, a lot of games left in our season
for someone to try and take that MVP award from her.
(21:56):
This episode is going to be short and sweet, y'all.
You know I usually depend on for a little back
and forth banter here and there. I think I guess
I can just use this time to even talk about
my season A little bit more and what the reality
is for a lot of players in our league. You know,
we're at the halfway mark. Over the halfway mark, all
Star break has come and gone, and like I said,
(22:17):
you start to see, you know, the real rotations of
these teams coming together as you head towards playoffs, as
you start to know if your if your team is
going to be in playoffs or not going to be
in playoffs. I haven't been in I haven't been to
the playoffs in three years, right so I only know
what it's like to be in survival mode, trying to
(22:38):
claw your way to the seventh or eighth spot in
the WNBA playoffs. You know, I've never been halfway through
the year and been like, yeah, we're about to make playoffs,
Like I haven't felt that in a long time. So
being in that situation right now is really nice. Not
saying that there's any room for us to like relax
or get comfortable, because when we want home court two,
(22:59):
we want to continue to rise in the standing. So
not saying that we're guaranteed a playoff position. We still
got to play at a high level and act as
if we are fighting for a playoff position. But I
just have never, not never, I just haven't been in
a position like this in a while. So it's actually
really nice, and it's kind of a refreshing change to
not be in like survival mode trying to get into
(23:20):
the playoffs, being so far away from getting into the
playoffs at this season no longer matters to anybody, and
you're already looking to the next year. Like so it
is nice being in a different environment in that regard.
But you know, I have a lot of friends in
the league that are in very similar situations as me,
as far as being on the bench and having a
role probably given to you at the beginning of the
(23:41):
year or before you signed, or when you're in training
camp and you know your team has an expectation for
you before you even step foot into their facility or
before you even have a practice. There's conversations that are
had to get you ready, to make sure that you've
come prepared. And I think for me in the WNBA,
there's just not there's not enough appreciation for role players
(24:05):
and bench players throughout the league. And yes, there's a
six woman award, like, yes, that's like a thing, but
typically there's only like two or three players that are
even eligible for that sixth Player of the Year award
because there's no six women that really get a real
opportunity to come in and make a real impact and
(24:27):
play how they want to play and how they know
how to play. I'm actually going to go down the
last few six Women of the Year in the WNBA.
You know, it is a great award. I think that
it's important to have a player of high caliber coming
off of your bench. I think it's one of the
most important awards, or one of the most important roles
on a basketball team is your first person off the bench.
(24:49):
But I see it all the time. I'm experiencing it currently,
like a lot of teams, there's not really a consistency
when it comes to the person is coming off of
your bench. So last year Tiffany Hayes twenty twenty three,
Alicia Clark twenty twenty two, Breonna Jones twenty twenty one,
Kelsey Plumb twenty twenty and twenty nineteen was Dericka Hamby
(25:10):
in twenty eighteen. John Cuel Jones from the Connecticut Sun.
What I just saw in this list is that the
six Women of the Year awards has come from two
teams for the last six years, seven years, two teams,
the Sun and the Aces. Okay, so within these six
Women of the Year awards, you have multiple All Stars,
(25:35):
multiple champions, multiple potential MVP candidates. John Cuell Jones actually
was an MVP. Kelsey Plump could become an MVP if
she keeps playing at this level and can get the
Sparks to the playoffs. And Deerica Hamby is one of
the best players at her position right now and was
even when she was in Vegas coming off of the bench.
(25:55):
So it's an interesting award for me because, like I said,
the starters in this league play eighty five ninety percent
of the minutes in these games. And if you have minutes,
and you have opportunity, and you have the green light,
you have a chance to be a really good player
in this league. But that's not the reality for all
(26:17):
of us. That has never been my reality ever in
this league. And that's okay. I've been in the league
for eight seasons figuring it out and finding ways to
help teams win and being a good teammate win a championship.
But I don't want y'all to get this confused just
because you are not getting major minutes on your current
team does not mean that you are not a capable
(26:38):
basketball player. Actually, to ask chat GPT again, so shout
out to chat GPT for helping me today in this episode.
What my career highs have been in this league? And
my career high end points is twenty six, my career
high and assists is nine, My career high and steals
is seven. So again, I think people forget how talented
(27:04):
this league is from top to bottom, and it's all
about opportunity, and it's all about fit, and it's all
about the confidence that gets instilled in you from your
teammates and your coaching staff. But I do think it's
always so interesting at what these six Players of the
Year look like. And the fact that for the last
(27:25):
seven years they have come from only two teams is
a little bit concerning to me because you're trying to
tell me that two of the best teams in the
league at that Connecticut and the Aces have consistently been
in the top four of the WNBA through this entire
time period that I'm talking about from twenty eighteen to now.
So you're supposed to tell me that no other teams
(27:48):
in the entire NBA has a player that has come
off their bench and can make an impact, like the
defending champs and the team at the time that had
the most playoff wins in WNBA history. I just think
that there needs to be more of an appreciation for
the role players and the bench players because it is
not an easy It's not easy. It is not easy
(28:10):
to come in and your job is to not mess up.
If you have a lead, don't lose the lead. If
you're down, don't make the lead even worse than it
already is, and just be ready at all times, no
matter what you know. You might come in the game
at the three minute mark in the first quarter, great,
next game you might not play at all, and then
(28:31):
the next game you might play twenty minutes, and then
the next game might not play at all. So it's
definitely a mind game. It's difficult. Not saying that being
a starter in this league a star in this league
is also not difficult. I think that is also very difficult,
but just difficult in a different way. But I do
see a lot of super talented players that are just
(28:53):
chilling on benches, being great teammates coming in and being
productive when they have the opportunity but those actually are
a lot of the players that I know when I
talk to frequently. So we all are getting through these
situations together and continue to be uplifting towards one another
and reminding each other that we're all here for a reason.
We earned our right to be in this league. We
(29:15):
earned our spots on these teams, and your minutes played,
your points per game does not define you as a player,
and it doesn't define you as a person either. So
shout out to my girls that are chilling on the bench,
Shout out to my role players, Shout out to my
six women. Y'all are valuable. Y'all are important, and y'all
are needed, especially in these long, compact, grueling seasons. So
(29:41):
I just wanted to give a little shout out to
my bench girls because I don't think that they get
enough love at all in this league. So I just
wanted to take a little bit of time to talk
about that and give a little preview now for some
of the games that we should be looking forward to
this weekend. This episode short and sweet, y'all. I hope
y'all are enjoying me just being by myself because I
(30:02):
was a little nervous not gonna lie, but I think
that it's been fun. But I can't wait for a
ride to get back. But this week some of the
games that you should definitely be circling is the Aces
versus the Sparks. Cameron brings return the Liberty versus The
Links on the thirtieth, which, once this episode drops, will
be that night the first time we've seen the Finals rematch. Okay,
(30:27):
so that's something that we should absolutely be excited for.
Another game that we should circle is Us versus the Sparks.
It is the first time the Sparks are coming to Seattle,
and their team looks completely different from the last time
we played them, So definitely looking forward to playing them
and how well they're playing. It'll be a great test
(30:48):
for us. And then Saturday, August second, we have The
Links versus the Aces, which, despite what the Aces record is,
I think that's going to be a great game time
ABC in Vegas, So it's gonna be popping, it's gonna
be lit. So yeah, I think that this second half
of this season is proving to be very interesting. It's
(31:11):
proving to be a lot of fun, and I am
actually predicting that we're gonna have a dark horse make
a playoff push? What team is gonna be that dark horse?
Right now? My bets are with the La Sparks, but
that could absolutely change, as you've seen things change very
very quickly in this league. So thank y'all for tuning
in with me my solo episode. I promise I'll get
(31:34):
better if I need to do more solo episodes. But
your girl's been a little bit busy. You know, I've
been on the court. Finally, you know how to get
a little bit more locked in on the games because
I've been playing them a little bit more. But shout
out to y'all. Thank you for tuning in, and we
will see y'all next week. Bye, Thanks for listening to
(31:54):
Full Circle.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
We'll be back next week with more basketball for the girls,
by the girls. We want to hear from you. 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. Listen to Full Circle on America's number
(32:16):
one podcast network. iHeart Open your free iHeart app and
search Full Circle with Lexi Brown and Mariah Rose and
start listening
Full Circle is an iheartwoman's sports production and 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):
Well, hello, everybody, welcome back to another episode of Full
Circle Podcast. I'm Lexi Brown. If y'all in a know,
today is a little bit of a different type of vibe.
I'm doing my first solo episode, so bear with me please.
Mariah was having some technical difficulties and we did not
want to leave y'all hanging for the week, so we
(00:33):
decided that, hey, let me just wing this and just
see how it goes. So I guess we can just
first and foremost start off with a vibe check, which
is what Mariah usually asked me. How I'm doing. How
the season has been going for me? And this has
probably been my most productive week of the entire season.
(00:53):
I've been playing more. I finally scored in double figures
last week at Chicago. I went five for five in
that game, scoring twelve points, so that really felt good.
We played at Chicago, we played in DC, which we lost,
but I also got to play a lot in that
game because we got down big early. In the game,
(01:14):
and our bench actually got us back within a two
possession game in the fourth quarter, so it was nice
to be a part of that. And then we finished
our road trip in Connecticut where we won and we
were up big early again, so I got to play
a little bit. Didn't shoot the ball great, but it's
still good to get out there and play and contribute.
(01:35):
I still would not say I'm part of the rotation,
contrary to what maybe you guys might see in the
minutes played. But I'm very much still not in the rotation.
But when you are trying to break into the rotation,
you have to take advantage of the moment you get
on the court, which I think I did this past week.
So baby steps. I know the season is over halfway
(01:57):
through and we're still talking about baby steps into the rotation,
but that is just the reality of being a bench
player slash role player in this league. You just have
to be ready when your opportunity comes. So proud of myself,
proud of my other teammates that are coming off the
bench for the Storm because they've come in and been
(02:17):
productive and have been working really hard. So when it
comes to playoffs and the end of the season, when
the wear and tear becomes more obvious, that's when you
know teams have to look to their benches a little
bit more, and I think that our team has a
very capable, more than capable bench. It's just about getting
on the cord and getting cohesion and getting reps. Because
(02:39):
you can do all the practices you want, all the
workouts you can, but at the end of the day,
you need game reps to be able to contribute in
a game. So I'm excited that, you know, our starting
unit is starting games a little bit better, giving us
an opportunity to get in and get some game reps.
So that's my vibe check for right now. But on
the topic of the wear and tear of a season,
(02:59):
I think that this season has been grueling for a
lot of teams. I think for every team, but definitely
players have been a lot more vocal about the war
and tear of this season and how it's been affecting
the play and our bodies and our recovery. Time. I
looked it up shout out chat GPT about what the
(03:23):
average days in between games have been for the past
few seasons. So this season, the average days in between
games is at around two point seven days in between games.
In twenty twenty one, it was four days, an average
of four days in between games. Last year it was
three point two three average days in between games, and
(03:44):
even last year a lot of players wore having issues
with the schedules. So the biggest blessing within all of
that is that we are flying and charter playing, so
we are able to maximize our recovery time versus when
we used to have to fly commercial. So that's you know,
definitely still a blessing. But we have forty four games
this year versus the forty we had last year, and
(04:06):
that number is only going to increase. You know, we're
adding two more teams next season, which means more games,
which means longer playoffs, longer road trips, and just more
and more wear and tear on our bodies. And we're seeing,
you know, a lot of players dealing with injuries. You know,
we just saw Kayla thorn Is out for the season
with an injury. Breonna Stewart just went down with an
(04:27):
injury this past weekend in their game versus the Sparks.
We've seen a lot of season ending injuries. We've seen
a lot of star players missing significant amount of games
due to injuries. And for the first time I think
that since I've ever played in the league, we saw
a player out for rest and that player was Pagebackers
and she sat out for rest over this past weekend,
(04:48):
which in my mind for a rookie, that's kind of wow.
But as a WNBA player, you know, I'm looking at
her like, you know what, that makes sense? And we
haven't released it's seen load management in the WNBA before
because our schedule is so short, but because of the
closeness of games, you know, we are having more back
(05:09):
to backs. Like I just stated, there's not that many
days in between games anymore. I do foresee more load
management being implemented into the WNBA. And if you guys
don't know what load management is, because it's a big
trigger word in the NBA, like I said, we haven't
really had to deal with it in the w Load
management is the practice of strategically resting players to promote
(05:30):
longevity and protect them from injuries. There was a study
done for the NBA and they didn't really find anything
that connected load management to injury risk, but they didn't
really say if it helped or didn't help Therefore, the
load management has stayed in the NBA, which for me
as a player, I completely understand wanting to prioritize the
(05:55):
longevity of your career. And yes, for fans it is
a bummer because you know, there have been a lot
of situations that people have been very vocal about. So oh,
I saved up all my money to come watch this
player play. You know, in my city, it's the only
time they come into town and he is resting, And
you know, I know that's a bummer for fans, and
(06:15):
I see it from that perspective as well. For sure,
like somebody could be spending all they have to come
watch you play, and that's the game you happen to
be resting on. And I'm sure that the athlete feels
bad about it. But at the end of the day,
like they have to prioritize ourselves. We have to prioritize
our bodies and our careers and just finding the balance
between too much rest not enough rest. I think every
(06:37):
player is different. For example, my team, the Seattle Storm,
my teammates, they'll have to be missing a limb to
miss a game, Like I swear, like I've never seen
so many players just wanting to play all the time,
always locked in, wanting to play all the minutes, which
is amazing. I love it. You know, you always want
to have players on your team that want to give
(06:59):
a hundred and ten percent every game, for every minute.
But during the course of a season, that's not really
a feasible thing. And we saw it with the New
York Knicks in the NBA. You know, they went that
route of you know, playing their starters heavy, heavy, heavy minutes,
and yes, they found success in the regular season, but
once that postseason grind hits, you know, you got to
(07:19):
look to your bench. And it's nothing against the players
that are playing all the minutes. It's the fact that
you've now had these players sitting on your bench for
a long, long, long, long time, and you look over
one of the most important parts of your season, which
is the playoffs, and they're not as productive as you
need them to be or as you want them to be.
(07:40):
And that's just the balance of being able to find
a rotation going into your benches, resting your stars, because
stars need to star when it's time, and the time
to be a star is absolutely during the playoffs. So
it's been interesting seeing a lot of these WNBA teams
and coaches in front office is trying to navigate this
(08:01):
grueling schedule because I know at the beginning of the year,
I said that there was a bit of intentionality in
putting these rosters together. But as the season has gone on,
I think we all have seen that there really wasn't
much intention putting some of these teams together. You know,
a lot of teams typically go six seven players deep
(08:21):
every year, and I don't think that is a thing anymore.
I think there's too much talent. The game is faster,
it's more physical. They're letting us play this year, if
you guys haven't noticed, So teams are having to go
deeper into their benches, and not every team has built
a roster that they can do that with. So we're
going to see teams like find some problems as the
(08:44):
season goes on, because you know, after player number seven,
they're like, this player doesn't even match with the rest
of my team. This player can't even come in and
do what I need them to do. And that's not
the player's fault at all. You know, the player doesn't
ask to be brought into a team. The player doesn't
ask for a role they're giving it and they do
it to the best of their ability. I've already said
(09:06):
the Phoenix Mercury is the best put together team of
this season in my opinion. You know, the Liberty and
the Links are at the top of the standings, but
they didn't really put a team together this past offseason.
They already had their team in place, and you know,
those were the two finals teams, So why would you
make a lot of dramatic changes when you were in
the finals. So it's going to be interesting to see
(09:28):
for these next twenty ish games what these rotations look like.
You get to the playoffs and that's when like your
rotation shrinks. But I think this season it might go
the opposite way. You know, as we get close to
the playoffs, you're going to see these teams trying to explore,
you know, the rotations, the depth that they really have,
because you know, this is way far in advance, and
(09:49):
we'll get into a playoff picture in a second. Our
finals is best to seven. We have never had a
best of seven finals before. And for Kathy Kathy to
hear us complaining and having issues with the longevity of
this season and the compactness of it, and be like, oh, yeah,
I heard y'all, so I'm gonna give y'all the longer playoffs.
(10:10):
That doesn't really make sense to me, but again I
am excited for it because it's new, it's fun. But again,
that's like way far in advanced. But speaking of playoffs,
I looked at our standings, and you know, ESPN does
are like power rankings. I hope y'all understand that power
rankings and standings are not the same. Power rankings are
(10:30):
strictly opinion based, obviously, because the power rankings do not
match the current standings at all. So yes, it's a
good list and they have their reasoning and their logic
and it and you know, it's fun to read. But like,
this is like what the standings would actually be if
the playoffs started today. So if the playoffs started today,
the matchups would be the Links versus the Mystics at
(10:52):
the one in eight matchup, The two and seven matchup
would be the Liberty versus the Aces, the three and
six matchup would be the Mercury versus the Fever, and
the four or five matchup would be the Dream versus
the Storm. So honestly, I love that playoff picture I
have no idea who would come out of these first
(11:15):
round of games. Honestly, obviously you give the benefit to
the home team to come out of these series, but
I would love to see this as the potential playoff.
But I think that seven six, seven to eight spot
is absolutely up for grabs. A lot of these teams
have similar records. Only one team right now has reached
(11:36):
twenty wins and that's the Links, and seven teams are
five hundred or worse right now, which I don't know
if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but
it would be nice to see some more of these
teams get above five hundred, especially heading into playoffs. You
want to go in, you know, winning games. I will
(12:00):
give us a quick little weekend recap of some of
the games that stuck out to me. We'll start with
the Liberty and Sparks matchup. Rakia Jackson had twenty four
points and a game winner. I don't know if you
guys saw the game winner, but it was definitely a
little wonky, not your typical game winner, but a bucket
(12:21):
is a bucket, so shout out to Rakia. She's been
playing really great. In the midst of a five game
win streak, which is currently the longest in the WNBA,
So shout out to the Sparks. They're really, you know,
figuring it out. I'm pretty sure that three of those
five games were on the road, so to be able
to go on a road trip undefeated is definitely amazing.
I think that they have found their lineup that works
(12:43):
with Julie Oliman starting at the one. Like I said earlier,
Kelsey Plumb is a great passer, but she's an elite
two guard and they have found that complimentary piece at
the point guard position for her. And she has been
bawling ever since that they made that change in the
starting lineup with Julie Oliman starting at the one. She's
(13:04):
had two ten plus assists games in the last i
think two weeks, and Kelsey Plum is currently fourth in
the WNBA in scoring at twenty points per game. I
think that's her career high. Let's double check that. No,
it is tied with her career high from twenty twenty two,
when she was also averaging twenty points per game. But
she is having a career high in minutes, she's having
(13:26):
a career high and assists, she's having a career high.
In rebounds. So this move to the Sparks has definitely
been beneficial for Kelsey Plumb, which we all knew it
would be because she definitely is a walking bucket. Cameron
Brink is returning tonight Today's Tuesday, July twenty ninth. This
episode will drop Wednesday, so we will have seen Cameron
(13:47):
play return to the WNBA court by the time this
episode dropped. So super excited for her coming back from
an ACL injury. I think they said it's been thirteen months,
which is a long time for someone to not play
the game that they love, So perfect time for her
to come back. Five game winning streak. They're at home
on TV. Couldn't be a better comeback game for her.
(14:09):
So really excited for Cam and the Sparks and riding
that wave. We actually play them this week on Friday,
so you know, I would be tuned into the game
as a spectator, as a fan, and absolutely as a
competitor because we got to see what they got going
on because they are hooping right now. Another game that
stood out to me this weekend was the Aces versus
(14:29):
the Wings where we saw Jeweloyd come off the bench.
I don't want to say this incorrectly. But I don't
know if Jeweloyd has ever come off the bench in
her entire WNBA career. But she did have a very
efficient twenty point outing while coming off the bench for
the Aces against the Wings, and in her place they
started KB, who had nineteen points. And I said earlier
(14:52):
this season that she's been under a lot of scrutiny,
a lot of opinions about what her role is on
that Aces team, and she played in AU. She's been
playing in AU, and I know and we all know
what type of player that she is. And like I
said earlier in the episode, it's all about your opportunity,
and it's all about being ready for your opportunity. So
(15:13):
she got that opportunity over the weekend in Dallas and
showed out. So shout out to KB for making the
most of her minutes. I don't know if the Jewel
Lloyd on the bench is long term or if it was,
like you don't know what goes on in these locker rooms.
I don't know if it was her idea. I don't
know if it was Becky's idea to bring her off
the bench. But sometimes you kind of just have to
(15:34):
make those adjustments. To your lineup and see what happens.
The Aces have been a team with a huge question
mark all season long, like what's going on with the Aces?
And again, I just think it's them figuring out how
to incorporate a megastar into a team already full of them.
So I think Jewel coming off the bench was really
good for her. She got the shots that she wanted,
(15:55):
the shots that she needed. She looked like she was
in rhythm. So honestly, I mean they won, they looked good.
So this could be a long term thing for the Aces.
But if it's not, that wouldn't be surprising. But if
it is, it also wouldn't be surprising. Becky has been
known to be a coach that does everything she can
to win, and if that means shaking up her starting
lineup from time to time, she's going to do it.
(16:16):
So shout out to the Aces. You know they're still
finding their way. They are sitting comfortably well I guess
not comfortably for them. For them, this is definitely an
uncomfortable five hundred at their standards. But I think that
once they figure out their rotation and who can play
with who which at twenty six games, you're kind of
(16:37):
like Dun' shouldn't they have that figured out already? No,
absolutely not. Twenty six games and very limited practice time
is not enough time to figure out how to win
basketball games, especially not in this league. So the Aces
seem to be heading in the right direction though, and
that's always great for the league when the Aces are
playing well. The third game that stuck out to me
(16:58):
this past weekend was they Dream versus the Links game,
and the Dream handed the Minnesota Links their first home
loss of the season. Target Center is not an easy
place to win in. They have great energy, their fans
are amazing, and like I said, the layout of Target
Center is like the fans are like sitting on top
of you. So for someone that enjoys environments like that,
(17:20):
like it's a great gym to play in. And some
people maybe if they get, you know, anxiety about having
people kind of being on top of you, maybe it's
not a great place to play in. But the Dream
still have quietly been very dominant this season, and I
still think that they're under the radar, even though I
thought post All Star Break they would get a lot
more recognition for the way that they've been playing. But Nope,
(17:42):
not yet so that's good for them though. I mean,
I think being led by Ali Shagray, Bree Jones and
Brittany Grinder, like those are probably some of the mower
quiet superstars in our league. So it kind of makes
sense that this is the way that the Dream you know,
are navigating this season. BIGI had a season high I
think of twenty two points in that game, and I've
(18:04):
been really enjoying watching how the Dream have been utilizing
Bree Jones and Brittany Grinder. I know a lot of
people had a lot of question marks coming into the
season about how the coaches style of play, which is
very run and gun a lot of outside shooting, would
compliment having two of the best post players in the
WNBA on the same team. And they've had their ups
(18:28):
and downs, but I think that they are most consistently
successful when either Brie or BG have a really good game.
I don't know if we'll see both of them have
dominant games, because then that would mean that they're not
doing their outside shooting. There's three point shooting. They're scoring
because they have very talented guards and Ryan Howard Jordan
(18:48):
Canada and Leash. Ryan Howard is still out though with
an injury, but they have been managing without her, which
is also a really good thing to see one of
your stars is out with an injury. It's nice to
see Beg have one of her Beg type games. You know,
she's had a pretty quiet season so far. Wasn't an
All Star, which is something that we're not used to seeing.
(19:10):
But she's been quietly helping this Stream team stay in
the top four of this league this entire season. Na
Fista Collier did have thirty to eight and seven in
that loss, though, so I think even though the Links
are technically the best team in the league as far
as their record goes, who do they go to if
(19:33):
they have other players that are struggling. You know, two
of their starters in Bridget Carlton and Kayla McBride only
combined for four points, which that's not going to happen
very often, probably won't even happen ever again this entire season.
But when you have Pee put up a monster performance
like that, who is the next person that's going to
step up in multiple ways? You know? Alana Smith had
(19:55):
twelve points, Corney Williams eleven points, and Natsha Hideman comes
off the bench contributes ten. But you know when you
have a team that has such a star and Fee,
who's always going to give you numbers, She's always going
to be consistent. And you do have those those days
where you have starters that you know they're a little off.
(20:17):
It happens. You know, you can't make every shot that
you take. Who's going to be that next person that
brings them energy on both sides of the ball, because
they did give up ninety points, so it's not always
about scoring. Who's going to come in and be a
defensive leader for them, who's going to get those rebounds,
who's going to get them those extra possessions? And I
think as dominant as the Links have been, they still
have a weakness in Okay, so we already know it's
(20:40):
going to be Fee and then who's next, Who's up next?
And I think that's what makes them so dangerous is
that they they rotate. That's how good they are. Like
one day it's Kmac, one day, it's Courtney, one day
it's Bridgid. You never really know who that second person is.
But when it comes to the longevity of a season, playoffs,
you kind of have to have that consistent one two
three punch, And I think that's something that always is
(21:03):
hard about having such a talented team is when it
gets down to the nitty gritty who is going to
have the ball, who's gonna make the plays? And I
think that's literally probably the only downside of the Minnesota
Lynx right now is that they have so much talent,
So who's gonna have the ball in these moments and
who's gonna make the plays in these moments? If it's
not Fee? But again that loss, I want to be
(21:24):
too worried about it. If I'm the links, there's still
twenty two and five comfortably sitting in first place in
the in the WNBA right now, having a great season,
Fees having an MVP type season, I think that it
is her award to lose still, and I do not
think it's close anymore. But we'll see. We still have,
you know, a lot of games left in our season
for someone to try and take that MVP award from her.
(21:56):
This episode is going to be short and sweet, y'all.
You know I usually depend on for a little back
and forth banter here and there. I think I guess
I can just use this time to even talk about
my season A little bit more and what the reality
is for a lot of players in our league. You know,
we're at the halfway mark. Over the halfway mark, all
Star break has come and gone, and like I said,
(22:17):
you start to see, you know, the real rotations of
these teams coming together as you head towards playoffs, as
you start to know if your if your team is
going to be in playoffs or not going to be
in playoffs. I haven't been in I haven't been to
the playoffs in three years, right so I only know
what it's like to be in survival mode, trying to
(22:38):
claw your way to the seventh or eighth spot in
the WNBA playoffs. You know, I've never been halfway through
the year and been like, yeah, we're about to make playoffs,
Like I haven't felt that in a long time. So
being in that situation right now is really nice. Not
saying that there's any room for us to like relax
or get comfortable, because when we want home court two,
(22:59):
we want to continue to rise in the standing. So
not saying that we're guaranteed a playoff position. We still
got to play at a high level and act as
if we are fighting for a playoff position. But I
just have never, not never, I just haven't been in
a position like this in a while. So it's actually
really nice, and it's kind of a refreshing change to
not be in like survival mode trying to get into
(23:20):
the playoffs, being so far away from getting into the
playoffs at this season no longer matters to anybody, and
you're already looking to the next year. Like so it
is nice being in a different environment in that regard.
But you know, I have a lot of friends in
the league that are in very similar situations as me,
as far as being on the bench and having a
role probably given to you at the beginning of the
(23:41):
year or before you signed, or when you're in training
camp and you know your team has an expectation for
you before you even step foot into their facility or
before you even have a practice. There's conversations that are
had to get you ready, to make sure that you've
come prepared. And I think for me in the WNBA,
there's just not there's not enough appreciation for role players
(24:05):
and bench players throughout the league. And yes, there's a
six woman award, like, yes, that's like a thing, but
typically there's only like two or three players that are
even eligible for that sixth Player of the Year award
because there's no six women that really get a real
opportunity to come in and make a real impact and
(24:27):
play how they want to play and how they know
how to play. I'm actually going to go down the
last few six Women of the Year in the WNBA.
You know, it is a great award. I think that
it's important to have a player of high caliber coming
off of your bench. I think it's one of the
most important awards, or one of the most important roles
on a basketball team is your first person off the bench.
(24:49):
But I see it all the time. I'm experiencing it currently,
like a lot of teams, there's not really a consistency
when it comes to the person is coming off of
your bench. So last year Tiffany Hayes twenty twenty three,
Alicia Clark twenty twenty two, Breonna Jones twenty twenty one,
Kelsey Plumb twenty twenty and twenty nineteen was Dericka Hamby
(25:10):
in twenty eighteen. John Cuel Jones from the Connecticut Sun.
What I just saw in this list is that the
six Women of the Year awards has come from two
teams for the last six years, seven years, two teams,
the Sun and the Aces. Okay, so within these six
Women of the Year awards, you have multiple All Stars,
(25:35):
multiple champions, multiple potential MVP candidates. John Cuell Jones actually
was an MVP. Kelsey Plump could become an MVP if
she keeps playing at this level and can get the
Sparks to the playoffs. And Deerica Hamby is one of
the best players at her position right now and was
even when she was in Vegas coming off of the bench.
(25:55):
So it's an interesting award for me because, like I said,
the starters in this league play eighty five ninety percent
of the minutes in these games. And if you have minutes,
and you have opportunity, and you have the green light,
you have a chance to be a really good player
in this league. But that's not the reality for all
(26:17):
of us. That has never been my reality ever in
this league. And that's okay. I've been in the league
for eight seasons figuring it out and finding ways to
help teams win and being a good teammate win a championship.
But I don't want y'all to get this confused just
because you are not getting major minutes on your current
team does not mean that you are not a capable
(26:38):
basketball player. Actually, to ask chat GPT again, so shout
out to chat GPT for helping me today in this episode.
What my career highs have been in this league? And
my career high end points is twenty six, my career
high and assists is nine, My career high and steals
is seven. So again, I think people forget how talented
(27:04):
this league is from top to bottom, and it's all
about opportunity, and it's all about fit, and it's all
about the confidence that gets instilled in you from your
teammates and your coaching staff. But I do think it's
always so interesting at what these six Players of the
Year look like. And the fact that for the last
(27:25):
seven years they have come from only two teams is
a little bit concerning to me because you're trying to
tell me that two of the best teams in the
league at that Connecticut and the Aces have consistently been
in the top four of the WNBA through this entire
time period that I'm talking about from twenty eighteen to now.
So you're supposed to tell me that no other teams
(27:48):
in the entire NBA has a player that has come
off their bench and can make an impact, like the
defending champs and the team at the time that had
the most playoff wins in WNBA history. I just think
that there needs to be more of an appreciation for
the role players and the bench players because it is
not an easy It's not easy. It is not easy
(28:10):
to come in and your job is to not mess up.
If you have a lead, don't lose the lead. If
you're down, don't make the lead even worse than it
already is, and just be ready at all times, no
matter what you know. You might come in the game
at the three minute mark in the first quarter, great,
next game you might not play at all, and then
(28:31):
the next game you might play twenty minutes, and then
the next game might not play at all. So it's
definitely a mind game. It's difficult. Not saying that being
a starter in this league a star in this league
is also not difficult. I think that is also very difficult,
but just difficult in a different way. But I do
see a lot of super talented players that are just
(28:53):
chilling on benches, being great teammates coming in and being
productive when they have the opportunity but those actually are
a lot of the players that I know when I
talk to frequently. So we all are getting through these
situations together and continue to be uplifting towards one another
and reminding each other that we're all here for a reason.
We earned our right to be in this league. We
(29:15):
earned our spots on these teams, and your minutes played,
your points per game does not define you as a player,
and it doesn't define you as a person either. So
shout out to my girls that are chilling on the bench,
Shout out to my role players, Shout out to my
six women. Y'all are valuable. Y'all are important, and y'all
are needed, especially in these long, compact, grueling seasons. So
(29:41):
I just wanted to give a little shout out to
my bench girls because I don't think that they get
enough love at all in this league. So I just
wanted to take a little bit of time to talk
about that and give a little preview now for some
of the games that we should be looking forward to
this weekend. This episode short and sweet, y'all. I hope
y'all are enjoying me just being by myself because I
(30:02):
was a little nervous not gonna lie, but I think
that it's been fun. But I can't wait for a
ride to get back. But this week some of the
games that you should definitely be circling is the Aces
versus the Sparks. Cameron brings return the Liberty versus The
Links on the thirtieth, which, once this episode drops, will
be that night the first time we've seen the Finals rematch. Okay,
(30:27):
so that's something that we should absolutely be excited for.
Another game that we should circle is Us versus the Sparks.
It is the first time the Sparks are coming to Seattle,
and their team looks completely different from the last time
we played them, So definitely looking forward to playing them
and how well they're playing. It'll be a great test
(30:48):
for us. And then Saturday, August second, we have The
Links versus the Aces, which, despite what the Aces record is,
I think that's going to be a great game time
ABC in Vegas, So it's gonna be popping, it's gonna
be lit. So yeah, I think that this second half
of this season is proving to be very interesting. It's
(31:11):
proving to be a lot of fun, and I am
actually predicting that we're gonna have a dark horse make
a playoff push? What team is gonna be that dark horse?
Right now? My bets are with the La Sparks, but
that could absolutely change, as you've seen things change very
very quickly in this league. So thank y'all for tuning
in with me my solo episode. I promise I'll get
(31:34):
better if I need to do more solo episodes. But
your girl's been a little bit busy. You know, I've
been on the court. Finally, you know how to get
a little bit more locked in on the games because
I've been playing them a little bit more. But shout
out to y'all. Thank you for tuning in, and we
will see y'all next week. Bye, Thanks for listening to
(31:54):
Full Circle.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
We'll be back next week with more basketball for the girls,
by the girls. We want to hear from you. 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. Listen to Full Circle on America's number
(32:16):
one podcast network. iHeart Open your free iHeart app and
search Full Circle with Lexi Brown and Mariah Rose and
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Hosts And Creators
Lexie Brown
Mariah Rose
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