10 June 2012
Some Storm Thoughts from Richard Cohen
In his analysis of yesterday's Seattle @ San Antonio game, Richard Cohen had some ideas about what's wrong with the Storm. Here are some of the bits I thought were most interesting:
"While many of their most obvious issues have been on offense this year, Seattle’s defense also isn’t what it used to be. [Ann] Wauters simply isn’t as mobile as Lauren Jackson, and isn’t anywhere near as comfortable in the Storm’s defensive system. It leads to slow rotations and inadequate help right at the core of the defense, which makes everyone else look bad. Danielle Robinson [of San Antonio], for example, is far too quick for [Sue] Bird, but part of Bird’s style defensively has always been to funnel opponents towards where she knows her help will be. She can’t cope herself, but she can at least push people in the right direction. That doesn’t work without teammates behind her in the right positions, who can slide over quickly. Wauters is at least a step slow, and it throws everyone else off."
"Some of the problems for Seattle’s offense are a case of a self-fulfilling prophecy. They know they’re struggling, and especially when a few efforts don’t drop early on, they start forcing things or rushing shots. The expectation that they’re going to struggle and knowledge that they’ve been poor offensively is in turn causing them to screw up. It’s a vicious circle that’s tough to break."
"Sue Bird’s trying to attack and score to help carry her underperforming team, but it’s not working in the slightest. She’s just pressing and forcing things too much, which leads to horrendous shooting nights like the 1-13 she produced in this game. She was open for a lot of them, but nothing would drop. When even Bird’s hopelessly struggling, Seattle know they’re in trouble."
It's all very depressing, but I like reading a more knowledgeable analysis.
But hey, here are two things that are not depressing:
1) Kevin Durant (NBA star) is a fan of the WNBA!
2) Tomorrow I turn in my resignation letter at work. Woo hoo!!!!!
"While many of their most obvious issues have been on offense this year, Seattle’s defense also isn’t what it used to be. [Ann] Wauters simply isn’t as mobile as Lauren Jackson, and isn’t anywhere near as comfortable in the Storm’s defensive system. It leads to slow rotations and inadequate help right at the core of the defense, which makes everyone else look bad. Danielle Robinson [of San Antonio], for example, is far too quick for [Sue] Bird, but part of Bird’s style defensively has always been to funnel opponents towards where she knows her help will be. She can’t cope herself, but she can at least push people in the right direction. That doesn’t work without teammates behind her in the right positions, who can slide over quickly. Wauters is at least a step slow, and it throws everyone else off."
"Some of the problems for Seattle’s offense are a case of a self-fulfilling prophecy. They know they’re struggling, and especially when a few efforts don’t drop early on, they start forcing things or rushing shots. The expectation that they’re going to struggle and knowledge that they’ve been poor offensively is in turn causing them to screw up. It’s a vicious circle that’s tough to break."
"Sue Bird’s trying to attack and score to help carry her underperforming team, but it’s not working in the slightest. She’s just pressing and forcing things too much, which leads to horrendous shooting nights like the 1-13 she produced in this game. She was open for a lot of them, but nothing would drop. When even Bird’s hopelessly struggling, Seattle know they’re in trouble."
It's all very depressing, but I like reading a more knowledgeable analysis.
But hey, here are two things that are not depressing:
1) Kevin Durant (NBA star) is a fan of the WNBA!
2) Tomorrow I turn in my resignation letter at work. Woo hoo!!!!!
Labels: Seattle Storm, WNBA, work
# posted by mamurd @ 8:23 PM 
