Mailbag!

[MUSIC] Welcome to the Ringer WNBA show. I'm Seret Sohee, as always. And today, I am going to be answering your WNBA mail-back questions and here to help me out is everybody's favorite, the Peoples champ, the New York Corporate Rec League champ, Stefan Anderson here with us. I don't see any trophies in the background. I don't know what's going on there. I'm honored. I'm honored that you could join us. Honestly, the night after, imagine was a night of celebrating champagne, all that stuff. Congratulations to you. It is an honor. It is an honor to be joined by you, Stefan. Seret, you're way too caught. You're way, way too caught for this. Yes, as you mentioned, shout out to Spotify, our team won the Corporate League Championship last night. After many seasons of defeat, you know, we played these six, seven game seasons. The last, I don't know, like the last four seasons, we just can't get over to hump. And it felt good to finally win one. We won one in a bizarre fashion. So out to AJ, a new engineer here at Spotify, just got extended after his internship over the summer and hit an amazing clutch ice in his veins, corner three to seal us with the victory and bring home championship. So it was, it was why you keep AJ. Yeah, AJ is the star man. Wait, so do you guys play, like, what are you like playing like McKinsey or something, like, how does this work? Are you playing like other corporations? Yes, we play other corporations. Who do we play last night? I can never remember the names of these teams because everything's a blur. BSP, I don't know what BSP does. How might I see you going to look it up as we go? But shout out to the good folks at BSP. They took us to, they took us to the break, man. They made us fight for it. Like we had, we had to go down and play the foul game. It was free throw for free throw, box out, hard box out. It's like closing out positions, trying to get that last shot. And luckily, we came away with the win and we are champions once again. So shout out to all my teammates, slash coworkers, at Spotify, corporately. Hopefully we could be repeat champions for this fall. But yeah, man, it's an honor to be back. But you said it's great to be back. It's a big day. It's a big day for the company. I am very excited to have you on this side. I always appreciate when you get out of your producer chair and help me out with the show a little bit. But yeah, so Stefan is simultaneously our producer. He's also a Liberty Superfan. And he's going to be helping me with this mailbag. I can't wait, man. I'm interested to see what the people have, the acts and where their minds are going at this time. Me too. Right before Feeberbreak. So it's like an interesting time. We're going to have no W for a few weeks. But we'll be locking Feeber, see what's going on over there. And let's see what's going on. 17 games, no W. Definitely have some Feeber questions. There's a combination of, I think, people being really curious about what their team can do in the playoffs. And then also looking ahead to free agency for the ones that don't necessarily feel so great about how their season's going. I've noticed a lot of the fans that are eliminated from playoff contention, just didn't participate in this at all. A lot of the questions really came from the people who have teams that are on that bubble of can they really contend. So I thought that was pretty interesting, which makes sense. Those are the few questions that we have remaining as when we get back to the season, what we're going to have five games left and really just figuring out what the playoff setting will end up shaking out as. But we do have a team USA before that. Yeah. I think my interesting thing is I want to see what player comes out of this Feeber Tournament with an extra boost, you know what I mean? I think we might have some Feeber fatigue. It knows games coming out of it. But I'm interested to see the player that comes out of the Feeber Tournament. Maybe it's the first time or maybe it's the veteran. And just like uses this time to kind of get right and like goes into the playoffs with that extra boost. You know, there's something about ramping it up for a few weeks that gets you in that mode. And then your end playoff mode right after that. So it's like your brain is already there. You kind of push it to the limit. I'm interested to see who is that player. And what player takes advantage of this opportunity? Yeah. I think it's probably-- honestly, I think it's going to be Kiki Irif and Sonia Citron. Our first question actually came from Kyle Sanderson on Twitter. And he asked what the team USA-- what they're going to look like during this Feeber run with no Asia Wilson has been officially ruled out. She's been dealing with some back issues. And I can understand why when you're gearing up for what you're hoping is a long playoff run. And you know that Nellissa Smith is also going to be out. And you're probably going to have to play a lot of the five. I imagine that he says, we'll go pretty small and rely on Asia a lot in their front court. Why you wouldn't necessarily want to fly to Berlin, play six games in 10 days, and then fly back. I can totally understand why Asia made that decision. And then Kelsey Plum is not only out for team USA, but also out for the rest of the season. That's not surprising at all. She's been dealing with injuries all season. Phoenix has been eliminated from the playoffs. And yeah, I think it's time for Kelsey Plum to get right and just focus on free agency. We'll see what happens there. We have plenty of time to talk about the Mercury and that trade and free agency though. So we'll probably do that on a different day. But team USA selected Kiki Irifin and Sonya Citron from the Mystics to replace Asia and Kelsey Plum. I'm happy about, but like, I mean, I love Kiki. We all know that I love Kiki. We just had her on the pod a couple of weeks ago. So if you guys want to listen to that episode to give you a preview of what she could be like on team USA, I definitely recommend that. But Sonya Citron is someone that I thought should be on this team in the first place. Like she is to me the best wing defender in America. I got a lot of pushback on Twitter for saying that. I got pushback that was on the level of, look, please don't have the audacity to tell me I'm a highlight watching when I say that Sonya Citron is a better defender than Ryan Howard. That is an opposite of highlight watching, take. But she's, look, she's the best primary defender in the WNBA, this dad spirit out. I think that she's a great addition to this team. She's somebody who can play on and off the ball. Yeah, it just, it made perfect sense to me why she would be on this team. Kiki, while I love, I do, I have some questions about whether they might not regret putting Shakira Austin on the roster because she's 6'5" and she's one of the best wing protectors in the WNBA. And if USA has a weakness, it's probably how their front court size aligns with some of these other teams. Like these other teams, they have basically different iterations of Victor Wembeñama. Like, France has Dominique Malaga, who is her French compatriot. 6'6", incredible post threat. Somebody who's having an incredible season in the WNBA was an all star, is going to be maybe all WNBA. We'll see. Then there's Spanish Wembe, Oafam. You got Chinese Wembe, Zhongju, who, like, 7'3" actually might be the tallest woman alive. And then Nigeria has Stephanie Okechek, who you might have seen in college this year. But there's a lot of big international talent. And I think that Alia Boston is going to have her work cut out for her. She's kind of the only true five on this roster. She's definitely somebody who I think can-- I think there's this balance, right? There's a lot of young players on this team. In fact, you have this lineup now that you can play with Katelyn Page, Sonya Citron, Kiki, Angel, or Alia. And it's kind of like the young intern crew. This is giving dream team. This is giving, like, we're showcasing our best young talent to the world. And for some of these players, I think it might end up being a bit of a disadvantage. With Asia out, I think Katelyn can pretty much gone for MVP. And I think she's going to play a ton of minutes. And I think that Alia Boston's going to have to play a ton of minutes because she's the only true five. And you're playing six games in 10 days and trying to go in a deep layoff run. For Kiki and Sonya, on the other hand, though, because they have never been to the postseason before, because it has been a long time since either of them have really actually been in high leverage meaningful one game in your out sort of moments. And it's an opportunity for them to interface with older players. and they don't have to. have a lot of expectations going into the postseason. And in fact, one of the only things that, I think, critics of that team would say that they were missing was veteran talent. One of the things that Kiki talked about on our episode was just how much she soaks in from being alongside players like that, like just how much she learned it unrivaled from just being around Kelsey Plum. I think the Washington Mystics are a team that could actually use all of this to their advantage. Everybody else, I kind of worry about the wear and tear. But I do think the wear and tear is kind of even though. Like, I think now that Asia is out, Angel is gonna have to do more. The Fisa Collier is gonna have to do more. Brianna Stewart, which we'll talk about later, is gonna have to do more. And I think that we're gonna see, they're gonna employ some lineup versatility because of Asia being out. I think they're gonna have to go smaller as well. And maybe that's the answer. Maybe you're not trying to match up with them size wise. You're just gonna say, oh, we're gonna space the floor out on you guys. And we're gonna put your bigs in so many different actions that they're just gonna foul out. And we're gonna dictate the style. And you are not gonna have enough on your perimeter to be able to deal with Caitlyn, Paige, Sonia, Jackie Young, and Ryan Howard. So, I don't know. Look, anytime the best player in the world can't play for Team USA, it sucks. And it does make it a little bit more of an even playing field, especially against Team like France. And I think we'll talk about a little bit more next week when we do our Fibo preview. But that's a team that I think can actually match up with them. Size wise and defense wise. They're kind of like a little bit of calories coated. Like they have, they have Domalonga. They're gonna have the Abbey Williams. They're gonna have Carla Lait. They're gonna have Lila Khan. Like they're gonna have players that can defend. And they're gonna have players that can score and go down hell on you. So Team USA is definitely gonna have be prepared for that. But ultimately, I think it's a really stacked team and they're probably gonna be fine. - Yeah, I mean, to echo your sentiments, I do, first, the first thing you mentioned, you were like, why don't they replace Kiwi Shakira Austin and like, what an embarrassment or riches, the best of that. That you're legit. Like, they popped two players off their team immediately when you lost two vets like Kelsey Plum in Asia Wilson. And you could still make an argument for a third. You know what I mean? That's such a great opportunity for this team and I think to answer my former question and to go for what you said. Like, this builds for that. Like, they can learn off of this. And maybe that makes that many even scarier team headed into this postseason. Yeah, I think they'll be fine. Like with players like, you lost the best player in the league. But you still probably have, if you were to rank it, Fee, Stewie, Katelyn are somewhere between two in the seventh best player in the league, like, you know what I mean? You still have still top five players on your team. Size-wise, Stewie's not small. So she could still kind of play the five a little bit if you need her to. I know the Liberty haven't been able to do that with her. But yeah, Boston is gonna be amazing there. I think Angel's gonna be really feisty. And I really like her chances in this Fee, the style. Like, I think she's gonna be, she's gonna show out if she has to play like some small ball five or like the four wherever she's playing. I think she's gonna be like a little bit of an X factor. With her ability to run, like, run in transition. I think she's just gonna get so many buckets from getting stops and just dashing down the floor and you have pages in it. Great. And like, you think about how great of a pass or you just said Chelsea, great, and Caitlin Clark are like, she's gonna get a lot of opportunities there where it's like, oh wow, I'm open. Like, I didn't even realize I was open right here in the basket. I can put this in. Yeah, exactly, exactly. I feel like Asia being out is much more of an ace's concern than it is a team USA concern. Like, this just feels like it's coming from them realizing what they need to do now that Nellissa Smith is out. And I can't help but think about the Olympic break in 2024 and the ways in which it felt like the aces were just exhausted after playing in the Olympics and then trying to win a title. And I personally, when I think about them going small, I just don't really have a lot of faith in the idea of Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young being able to come back from Team USA and playing defense a way that they will need to lead them to in order to make a small ball strategy actually work. And they added Colony Brown to to try to replace Liz and she's gonna be able to get a ton of layups. Like, I don't worry about this team on the defensive end of the floor or sorry, on the offensive end of the floor but they're defense. I just think that like now I look at the rest of playoff race and I'm like, okay man, like the links were already ahead. Now you probably put the Valkyries ahead of them. You probably put the fever ahead of them. You probably put the dream who just blew them out or not blew them out, like had one of their best wins of the season against them ahead of them. And the team that they're matched up against in round one right now I think is the Liberty or they're most likely to get the Liberty and the Liberty have had their number because they've had the size advantage on the perimeter and they've been able to utilize JJ and you just lost more size and I think your guards are going to be exhausted from playing team USA in a year in which Jackie Young has already been underwhelming defensively as great as she's been on offense. Chelsea Gray at this age is going to be inconsistent defensively. So I think like if the ACEs want to make a deep run they are going to have to dig very, very deep. And frankly, if they do, if they actually manage to come out of team USA and then go on a deep playoff run and make the finals, it just becomes like another feather in the cap of Asia Wilson and Becky Hammond. But I think it puts them in a tough spot. What's the next male big question? - Speaking of Liberty, let's talk about the Liberty. See Nelly from Blue Sky said, "Stui bacon through a full playoff's healthy because I'm worried that window is closing." - Dude, I think like we just talked about what she might have to do with team USA. She might have to play center. She might be asked to do more. Like this is, honestly, I think Stuy this entire season has been going through the price of versatility. Like Stuy's versatility is such a gift but with the season that the Liberty have had with the amount of injuries they've had, she has had to plug in so many gaps for this team because a lot of the times I think Christa Marcos looked down that rotation and thought, "Oh my God, she might be our only answer." Like she just turned 32 years old this week and she leads a Liberty in minutes by a really wide margin. And we still have five games to go as well and this is the second most minutes that she's ever played in the season. So she's also amongst many players who are adapting to the season being longer as well. But this is the first 44 game season that has also included an international play break as well and she is one of the players that is going to feel the brunt of that probably more than anybody else. She's also guarded more possessions than anybody on the Liberty outside of Pauline Astier and she leads them in I think points, blocks, steels. She's number two in assistant rebounds. A lot of her attempts have been guarded this season too as opposed to the season before. She's just had to exist in a very, very taxing context this entire season. So if you were a Liberty fan and you were worried about that, I totally understand it. I do wonder about the window closing because I think one thing Stuie has shown us is that she's still a top five player in this league. She's going to be first team all WNBA. She's an MVP candidate in the sense of, she's in MVP conversations. She's the only MVP candidate that you could make the case is like carrying their team. Everybody else that is an MVP candidate has a lot of great teammates around them. Like she is the most valuable. They would fall off a cliff. It would be a gutter if she wasn't played every time. But sure, for sure. Yeah, yeah. Are you, where are you at, your Liberty fan? How do you feel about this? I feel like this season, like she's done too much. Like you mentioned, like she's out there guarding wings. She's in the post. She's like, take it a beat and down low. She's hitting the glass. She's our playmaker. Like she's just doing everything needed on this team. And I don't know, I guess it gets taxed after a while. I don't think the window is closing just because, like, for Stuie, she's still, like, she could still get the three-point shot back. And that comes like, that could be. I think there's a window where it could happen again. I don't know. Completely closing the window, I think that could happen again and be the latter part of her career, where she's just, like, this super stretch for whatever you want to make her. Yeah. The Liberty. How do window closing is more of a conversation or more of a question out at X rather than stewies window of being an elite player, window closing, if he backs in me? - Yeah, I don't know, like look, she could just get back, get the three pointer back tomorrow, but she is taking a lower percentage of her shots from the three point line that she ever has in her career. So it seems like she is internally adjusted to the reality of her three point shot, sort of inexplicably falling off of a cliff. And what is now a three year trend? 29% in 2024, 24% in 2025 and 25%. This year, clearly something happened to that shot, but she is still one of the best mid-range shooters in the WNBA. She gets two feet in the pain and it's functionally over. And there's not a lot of players in the league, I would say that about like the FISA Collier, Asia Wilson, Pagebeckers and Brianna Stewart are probably the two players that I, the four players that I look into, like okay. Like two feet in the pain, midi, great. Obviously not as efficient of a shot, but it's there. That can carry you for a very long time, especially when you're still doing everything else that you're doing on such an elite level. But to your point, yeah, I mean look, do you want to do want to go to our next question because it kind of gets into the larger Liberty implications? - Sure, shot to Jules B, she said for the Liberty, it feels like they're looking to ride the big three plus Leo into the world's fall off with side two out, so more Alan retiring and MJ not guaranteed to stay. How do you see the Liberty maximizing that big three in the off season and do they bank on a set, too, return? - I feel like you're going the joys of the championship or solely kind of being sucked out of you, unfortunately. - Yeah, I think that comes, I think that comes with the territory, right? When you put it all in, just to win sometimes, like this is like the price you pay outside of like a lot of aces, like a Jules Loy, even like, oh, you know, let's try to like figure this thing out. Like, we'll move Kelsey Plum for Jules Loy to like, let's see what we could do here. It's like, they can't keep you in a way with this, but I do think that, I do believe that they can find places to plug in, SDA becoming a solid rotational player. It's a big thing. Like, to think them invested in the you and Han, and like, you know, like just, just the players that, like feeling those little spots and maybe you could add a better to, you could still sell New York City, too. A lot of athletes, you know what I mean? Like, I feel like we could get a free agent or two or somebody who's like on a ring chase. And like, you know what, I got one more spot like for Christy, the one about it just went to the dream. Last week, you know what I mean? Like, we probably didn't talk about it. We missed it because it happened between pods, but like, she just joined the dream. Last week and came in on Sunday and looked like the perfect player that like, you could easily, I feel like, I think that's probably gonna be their best play is to like, invest in these younger draft picks and like, the younger talent, turning them into real rotational players, and then maybe sign a veteran, too, to just kind of even out the roster. And yeah, I think you do have to beg on set, too, coming back and being somewhat of the player that she was prior to. Yeah. Like, I feel like that's a big thing. I'm hoping that it goes that way. So we'll see. Yeah, honestly, I just feel like you can and shouldn't bank on Satu coming back. Like, this is someone who has had two catastrophic injuries to the head in the last year. I think all that anybody can hope for hers to get better on a personal level. And then, you know, just kind of take that pressure off of the potential of like making a WNBA comeback. For now, obviously, I'm sure that's their aspiration. I don't want to be doom and gloom about it. But I just think that like, Satu is somebody that we have to sort of consider as off the table until we get information suggesting otherwise. And I think that puts New York in a position where they could either go that route that you're talking about, Stefan, or they might have to actually think about making some bigger moves. Because I think the problem with New York's big three, and there's a sort of team building question that I'm going to be paying attention to through the course of the postseason, which is, would you rather have a big three or would you rather have a balanced team? This is a question that has permeated the NBA for a long time, especially since the second apron. The WNBA has a hard cap. And if you want to sign three superstars, then it's going to be very difficult for you to fill out the rotation on the bench in a way that produces a ton of depth. It only has three playoff series as opposed to four. The first round is three games. The second is five. And the third, the championship is seven. So there's less games. There's less of a worry about attrition. Maybe you can ride out a big three type of team for that long and not worry about the depth. That's basically what the ACES did the year prior. But it is something I'm going to be watching because when you look at the standings, the Minnesota links, which are the most balanced team in the WNBA, frankly, have a big five. Don't have a lot of depth, but they spread their talent pretty evenly across their starting lineup. They're the number one team in the league. They have a very strong seven. And the Valkyries who don't have a big three by any means who might actually be a two seed that doesn't have anybody make the all WNBA team are gunning for that one seed right now. So the two best teams aren't really built that way, at least in the regular season. And then you have the ACES and the fever and the liberty and their dream that are a little bit more top heavy. Now granted, the dream might not count in this because they're cat management and their ability to draft good young players has allowed them to have not only a lot of top end talent. They have the best starting lineup in the league by the numbers, but they also have a lot of depth, though dare I say it's underutilized. I digress on that though. I do wonder what it will mean for the liberty because I think the thing you can't have when you have a big three is you can't have two of them not producing at a superstar level. Right now, Stewie is the only one of them that is producing at a superstar level because they don't have enough depth to make up for it. And these types of teams typically don't have enough depth to make up for when one of your superstars is struggling. That's why, for example, with a fever, when Alia Boston has a bit of a tough stretch, it's very visible and it has costs in a way that it might not if she was on a more well balanced team. But Alia Boston is so important to what the Indiana fever do that if she's struggling, if she has a couple of games where she's not making her lay-ups or she's not confident in her three-pointer, the downstream impact of that is such that it becomes very noticeable where some superstars, they actually have the ability to hide. With New York, John Qual Jones cannot hide. Sabrina, you would ask you cannot hide. And we can start with Sabrina, right? Like, I think two things are happening. I think A, she's had a very difficult season. She's been dealing with injuries. Most people here know that I'm not the biggest fan of Sabrina's game, but I don't want to take this as an opportunity to dunk on her just because I don't think that this season is actually a fair representation of what she is capable of. However, we are seeing at the same time a pretty valid B calibration of where she ranks among the young guards. Like you're not taking her over, or the guards in general, you think you're not taking her over Caitlyn, you're not taking her over Paige, you're not taking her over Olivia Miles, you're not taking her over Kelsey Mitchell, you're probably not taking her over Jack and Young. Ryan Howard has had a better season than her. Alicia Gray has also had an up and down season. So I think it's like, that's a great example of a player. It's like Alicia Gray's had an up and down season, but it's okay because Atlanta has so much depth that we just don't really give her as much crap for it as well. Even like Chelsea Gray, who's a lot older than her, than her has had a better season by the numbers. And then if you wanted to get into like just the pure productivity aspect of it, players who have been more impactful than her this season in the guard position, Carla Late, the Tisha Hydeman, Veronica Burton, Marina Mabry. So Sabrina this season has barely played at a top 15 level among guards. And when she is such a big pillar of what you do, that's really gonna hurt you. And then John Quill Jones is maybe scratching the surface as a top five center, like which is a thin position in the W. But you're definitely taking Asia over her. You're definitely taking Leo over her. You're definitely taking Dom over her. You're definitely taking Shakira Austin over her. Then if you want to compare her to the other center piece bigs, if you want to open it up to like the power forwards, you're taking Natasha Howard, you're taking Kiki, you're taking Angel Reese, you're taking the Fisa Collier, maybe you're taking Jess Shep. And she's also like been one of the worst defenders in the WNBA this season, and she's your center. Like the only two players in the league who have defended at least 100 possessions this season, and have. been worse than JJ or Meg Gussips in and you'll buy a no-gitch. So, I mean, the defense is an issue. Like, the point of attack defense sucks. They're in protection sucks. And Stewie and Leoni Fibic just not really enough to bake up for all of it. And that brings us to the postseason. So there's very much possibility that all Sabrina UNESCO really needs a 17 days off. And she's not playing for Team USA. She had a stretch this season, where she started to look healthy. And she started to fight her rhythm. And she was looking like the Sabrina whole. If that happens and the Liberty are able to make the second round, I think they should beat the aces if they end up getting matched against the aces. And they either have like a great second round or they make the finals. And I think that you can go with your plans to fun. I think you can go with, OK, let's just build some depth around this team. I think if JJ shows us a little bit more too, maybe JJ needs 17 days off as well, right? I think maybe everybody on this team-- Honestly, Stewie needs 17 days off more than anybody else in the world right now, but she's not going to get them. So you're just going to try to count on her to be able to do things. But look, if the playoffs look ugly, then I think you got to start asking yourself questions about like, are these three superstars the ones that you want to construct a big three around? So I think it's such a tough, tough conversation to have. And it's like, who is the person? Now you have the difficult conversation saying, do I piece off either Sab or JJ figure out how to work around it, right? That's a difficult conversation you have to have, right? Then the second part of that conversation is, do I get enough from either player? You probably get more of a return for Sab than you are for JJ at this point in her career. So then it's like, do I trade Sabrina? And will this team still have this same kind of synergy if I just replace her with another guard? And who is that other guard? And it's just a whirlwind of questions that you have to act yourself. But it's better to be proactive than to be reactive in a sense where it's just like, you go back and run this thing back one more year and then say, next year, it doesn't look good at all to start the season. And now you're like trying to do a trade mid season to like reinvigorate the team and the team's offense or defense at this point. And God knows what happens when you get into like, when you play the injury game, right? Like they're also getting older, as you mentioned, Stewie started 32 and JJ's getting up there. It's just like, I don't know, you kind of got to figure out what is the next iteration of this thing. But I'm torn because I feel like they are just, they're in the middle of, they're in the middle of somebody, if I mentioned this episode ago, like you're just in the middle of the age of Wilson Dynasty. You just, you know, it's like you're graded a little bit more on a curve or not on a curve, but it's like your Achilles heel is that you can't, you're not being greater properly because like you have this once in a generational talent that you're going against right now. It's like, it's just her way with the league has to go through her because if you fail, it's like you're great at it based on that. But it's like you also have to make a move once you want to title. Like you put your place yourself amongst the giants already. So now I don't know, I'm very, I'm very, I'm torn, but I would, I would probably lean more towards if we got to, if my original plan didn't work, I'd probably go more towards seeing what you can get for a sabb in the market and see if there's another guard who, who was out there or maybe you could trade for a guard and maybe an extra bench piece and it's like they, in turn replicate the production that she has, but it's not the same player, but like the two players in conjunction give you that and then you have another player, you have a deeper bench and somebody else to work with. It's interesting, like, yeah, it is tough because I think that when you think about the next iteration of the Liberty, I think for the Liberty, the answer to that has always been Sabrina Unescu. Right. And she is having the type of season that is making you ask questions about how sustainable that is if you want to win a title. I think it's also risky to sell low on a player who clearly look, well, I have issues with her game and I think those issues are being exacerbated by this season is clearly, clearly on the low end of what she is capable of. So the chance of her bouncing back, especially, well, she would have to approve any trade, but especially if you even think about that and she starts, she then goes and has an off season where her jaw is clenched for six straight months. Like, I don't know, I don't know. Like, I don't know if you want to risk that too if you're the Liberty as well. Like, that's kind of the scary thing. One player, one player I think that they should really look at in the draft is Elugia Conwa, who might get drafted around that number 10 range that they'll probably be at. She's a great point of attack defender, which they need. She's a guard. She's a good cutter. She's really fast. She can get downhill. She's got that extra heart factor. Like, those are types of players that I think they need. I think they need the players. Like, the Benagelini Hamilton, honestly, like, who could do the dirty work? So that the big three could just be the big three. Chloe kids, Clara Strack, two players who are big. So I think kind of like fit that and could be in their draft range as well. If things still do get ugly, I think they're kind of some interesting Sabrina destinations. Like, I think, let's say in a world where both Atlanta and the Liberty flame out, Ryan Howard for Sabrina, you'd ask you, I think, would be very interesting for both sides. I'm not interested. You're not interested in Ryan Howard? No, because I think Ryan suffers from the same thing I have with JJ, where it's like, you feel like the talent is there. Yeah, but I don't think the effort is, I don't think the effort is there on a night to night basis. And I don't know if I could watch two of those players together. I don't know if that, I don't know if it's gonna bring, you know what I mean, I don't know if it works out. Like somebody has to like get that out of them. I don't know if Chris DeMarco can actually just, you know what I mean, just being completely honest. I just don't know if I would like it. I think it's an interesting trade if you want to just throw something on the table, but I don't know if my heart could take that. It would be tough to watch. Maybe, maybe you make that trade and then you bring in Teresa Weatherspoon who could just light a fire under both of them for it. Now, now you say, now you have me intrigued. I wanted, I wanted Teespoon to say this is so bad. So I would love that idea. I think Chris, I think Chris gets another shot at it. I just can't, unless they get like smoked in the first round, I think he'll be back. I think he gets another shot at it. And I think for the most part, somebody talked about the other day, and I want to just put this out there. Like, given what he's got to start this season, when you take in injuries, you take in everything that happened this off season, and during the season coming in from replacing the coach that built the culture here. It's done a pretty good job. When you take everything out of it and it's just look at it and it's like, you know, they're not bad. What are they? Two games out of the three or four C. That's still, you know what I mean? That's still pretty good. It's not at this point we're talking semantics. Like, yes, they could be a game out of being eight, but they're also like a gamer to a being out of third. So it's like, it's tough. It's tough to judge that though. Like, it's not really about their record though. It's about the way that they look sometimes. It's about the way that like it looks like when they go up against a team like the Valkyries, it's about, and I don't think this is a, I don't think there's something that can be pushed back. Oh, that a little bit serious. That's the Valkyries aren't fair to anybody. They they make everybody outside of the leaks like that. And even they did that the last time they played the leaks. Literally every team they play Valkyries Island is, it's not a, it's not a nickname that they can do for a run. Yeah, but it's just, it's a way in which they're so easily punkable. Like, I was listening to the athletic podcast this morning, though, offseason. And Zena Kato was saying that people around the Valkyries, if you ask them who they want to play, they say the Liberty. You should never say that about a team that won the title two years ago. And I don't know that I trust the Liberty enough to hear that and actually do something with it. And I'm not even necessarily putting that on Kristen Marko. I think that's an issue with the team from the get go. I think if anything, it's like, I take it up to Jonathan Cole because I think Kristen Marko has been up against a learning curve, a very steep learning curve, that you can see him still working through. For a team that has championship aspirations, I just think it's a difficult fit that puts a lot of pressure on him to basically try to read a WNB in cyclopedia and then apply it to coaching. a WNBA team to a title. I think that there was a little bit of arrogance in trying to make that decision in the first place, and it probably should have been a recognition. And look, I would have loved to see it be. Like, I mean, look, like somebody like Teresa Weatherspoon as a coach, like, yes, she has some of her blunders as far as like in X's and O's coaches and have to be Teresa Weatherspoon. But like, I think to get to know what your team is, to know what the collective IQ on that team is, and to know that the hardest part with this team is sometimes just getting the fire started. Like, maybe they should have thought a little bit less about tactics and should have thought more about like, like the intangible aspect of just like wanting to play for somebody, you know? Like a Sydney Johnson type. Grant, you weren't gonna go get Sydney Johnson, but like a Renem Wakama type, we're gonna see coaching with Nigeria as well. Like just somebody who, like, I just, I think it's almost like too much of the same thing with the like the Liberty coaching staff and the Liberty players are all sort of just like smart basketball minds that don't always get up, like they're just kind of even killed. Like, and you need, like, you need those players, but you need balance. - You need somebody who's gonna crash. - Yeah. - You need a crash out. You need a bit of a crash out. And you lost your, you lost your shoe thrower as well, like you need a crash out. - Yeah, you're right, you're right, you're right, you're right. - Yeah, but I don't, I think that's more pro, yeah. But I think that goes back to my original point that don't, I don't, the process over how it happens, like if Satu and Benajar on this team for the full season, I think they, I think they give them a little bit more of an edge, you know? - Absolutely. - Yeah, right, like they, they both could be there and kind of like be the vets and be like, "I don't think Satu is standing up for a lot of this." You know what I mean? Like I think she's gonna get into it. She said, "I'm walking up a little bit with Satu and Benajar." - So I think just giving that, it's like, you had a plan to start the year and then like the plan goes to shit in the sense, not to shit, but like it just looks bad at times. But like the highs are really high on her. High on the lows are just like this team is disgusting. They wouldn't use watching them. So I think it's just like, how do you make the most of it? I don't know, I give 'em a little, I give 'em a little bit more credit. Maybe I'm a little, I'm not biased, but I'm just, I'm taking a step back and I'm like, all right, looking at where we're at. It's not, it's not that crazy. It's not that crazy. But yeah, see your point. This team does need a little bit of that like, that dog, they need a little bit of grit on this team. Somebody that kind of like push 'em on that level and not just like an end of the bench private player, like a player that's on the floor and has that aggression. Like on the Tasha Cloud, like what Tasha was there last year, she brought that fire to them a little bit. You still need one of those players that are a rotational player that is like, gonna be a person that you could throw out there in the last five minutes and like, there's no fear in it. Like Stu is not gonna play with any fear, but like, you know, you could kind of get up on her a little bit like, you don't know what J.J. is waking up and thinking that day. You don't know like you, she's outstandingly talented 'cause shoot the three big body, you could get to the pose, could put the ball on the floor, could do so many things, but like, some days she just wakes up and she's like, "Yeah, I'm going through the motions today." And then some days she's going through and she's like, "I'm the best player on this floor, and I don't care who else is there." Need more of the ladder than the former? Can I throw you one Mystic's trade that I think, what won't happen and one Portland Fire Trade that I think could? - Let's get it. - Okay, so I think Sabrina Unasky would be a great fit in Washington. I think her playmaking, shooting ability, title-winning experience, table-setting experience. It's everything that they are missing. And what she lacks on defense is something that they can make up for with their size, their versatility is a team that's top three on the defensive end. They're huge. She'd be flanked by Sonya Citron, Kiki Yerefin, Shakira Austin, and whoever they keep. I'm wondering, could you build something around Lauren Betz, Cody McMahon, maybe Cass Prosper, though she's probably not ready yet, maybe Cass Prosper, just makes more sense on the Mystics. And either the 2027 pick, which could be like a Hanna Hidalgo type, could be a Madison Booker type, could be a McHale Williams type, or the 2028 pick. With the caveat that Sabrina would have to approve on any trade that she would. And also, honestly, I think Washington could very much say we like our young core. Yeah, I can't say that. I see them adding. I don't see them subtracting at any point. I see them going to get more vets and just saying, we need shooting. Let's figure out how to get some more floor spaces in here with us. Because I think that's their biggest issue. They get one or two wings that can shoot it. They're scary, they're scary. 'Cause they play downhill, they know how to get to the cup. Like you said, they'd be like three throw attempts, like they are like, they figured out that part of it. And they play extremely hard defense. Like all you need is like water, two floor spaces, where everybody's like, you know what, we're just gonna pack the paint and figure it out. And it's like, oh shit, we can't pack the paint anymore. Now we have to go sit out, we have to do something else out there. Sab will be, she would be interested, interested over there. I just don't know. I can't see them pulling a plug on that this year. I think they're like a year or two away from that type of tree. - Yeah, I can see them, especially if they have a deep run. Yeah. - Yeah, Barron what happens in a playoffs? Like if they go out and they get smoked in the first round, then it's like, okay, all right, we need to make, we need to make a little bit of leap. 'Cause we have the talent. We just need to make one more like piece to kind of push this thing over the edge and then we could be a contender. - All right, Portland. - All right, let's hear it. So, or she could return to Oregon where she played college basketball, which feels, and it's really close to Nike as well, which feels like the most plausible because she would have to approve any trade. Carla late, Sarah Ashley Barker, and the 2027 first round pick, which is projected to go top five. So you're probably outside of like the hand arrange, but you can still get a really, really solid player there. I think that would be the one she probably would be both willing to approve. 'Cause it's a fresh start for her over here in Portland. - Her and Alex Sarama just spamming pick and rolls, the homecoming. I could see her just having a beautiful season over there. I could see some game winners. I could see some like replicating dame time. There though I do, I do love the Carla late arrival. I could see it being a really nice fresh start for her. If she feels like that's what she needs. It could be. - She's already wanted that one in New York. - That could make the most sense. Yeah, and now I'm coming back home or to where I play college ball at, not home. That, that I could see the poor, in Portland would need somebody to like market it. Like you could sell tickets around side in the whole Nike aspect. - Yeah, I think it's a, that could be a more of a win-win on both sides. I'm more reluctant to take that trade than the Washington trade, I'd say. - I think Washington probably doesn't do it. Like you probably have to even send something back or maybe they wouldn't want to trade the first round. Like I think Washington is just in such a position of power with whatever decision that they want to make. Like it's kind of, it might be a little harder to, like the Washington deal is definitely a better one, especially because that pick is better and they already have learned bets. But I don't know if you get. - I just don't know if you get that, you know? - I don't know. - Yeah, yeah. Man, so tough. Ah. - Yeah. - This is like, it's getting there to the end when you see the doors close and all you're like, "Ah, do I run out or I do something to stay on this?" Like, I don't know what to do. - Oh no. - I'm terrified, I'm scared, I'm scared, I'm scared. - Okay, I'll stop, I won't make you talk more about New York. What's the, what's our next question? - All right, we are going to talk about the Dallas Wings right now. Shout out to Jules B with another one. Our crew is playing the last recent games, has put a spotlight on a Wings cap situation. The Wings can probably retain cure without even training her off of her $1 million salary, but freeing up cap space sure makes it easier. Do you think the Wings try to make a move for ARC or LAN? And if so, do you think the decision is affected about how ARC is played or as a three? - So I think the cap situation is going to be very interesting. We'll see how much the cap can increase. This year, the maximum that it could increase is $27.9 million, which would be almost a $1 million increase. In which case, I think Dallas has obviously a great shot at keeping a walk. I think there will be plenty of teams because of how she's playing that are going to throw her Big month. money. I just think she's one of those players. She's really, she's still really young. There's a lot of upside. She does things in the WNBA that are, that will help any team lean more into modernity because she is somebody who can simultaneously hit threes and cut and protect the rim. She's an explosive rim protector. She's had, I don't like, she, I think she might have been the block leader in August. She has been incredible in this recent stretch. I think ironically, maybe not ironically, but walks emergence alongside Atlanta Smith playing a lot better lately has actually saved Dallas. This is extremely small sample size, but in like, it's been, but it's over a hundred minutes. But in the time that a walk and land have played together, Dallas is a plus 28 per 100 positions. I think that the combination of those two, playing at a high defensive level and being able to like reasonably space the floor is kind of the best outlook that you could have for how to surround Jessica Shepard, who has become a huge part of your offense, who puts a ton of pressure on the rim, who is a great playmaker, but really struggles on the defensive end. But that front court there, to me, has a ton of balance. So you might have found something that allows you to actually keep land. I also just, I would, I would consider moving a reekate before I considered moving land just because I think land had one of those seasons where she just struggled a lot with a fit early. And then she dealt with injuries. And I wonder if it's just one of those things where if you just unplug it and plug it back in, if she won't just come back and be the Atlanta Smith that we expected her to be this season. A reekate on the other hand is way more of someone that we just know who she is. She's an isolation score. Look, she can get a bucket like nobody else in this league can get a bucket. But I think that that's a diminishing skill on this particular team. And it's a diminishing skill when you're not providing a lot on defense in the way that you need to do it to get your offense is through isolation. Like she's kind of in a tough spot where like she doesn't, she's not a good enough off-ball mover like the way that somebody Kelsey, like Kelsey Mitchell is where she can like integrate herself into an offense and still be really productive and work with other players. Like she just kind of needs to work on an island. But she's not good enough like the way that Kelsey plum is to actually justify putting the ball in her hands and making her the number one option. I think honestly, and this is no disrespect, like I love a reekate's bag. I just think she's kind of in a tough spot. I think honestly, like maybe the best option for her is being like a super six woman. That's why I've always been really intrigued by her potentially going to the Aces. I think they also just love a Reclamation project as well. They need scoring off the bench. That's an option for her. There frankly aren't a lot of options though. I just think that she's just like with the contract that she's on in the direction that the WNBA is going in. I think honestly, like Kurt Miller probably jumped the gun by giving her, you know, the terms that she has and the length on her deal that she has. Like it kind of automatically becomes one of the worst contracts in the league. So it is going to be difficult to deal with her. And I think the place that it really hurts is you probably aren't going to be able to keep Maddie Seagriss. And I think just in general, the development and the management of Maddie Seagriss was horrible this year. She's one of the most underutilized players in the WNBA. She can shoot three. She understands offensive concept. She's really high IQ. She deserved a much bigger role, especially like with Jose and like all the yelling he was doing in post game press conference is about defense. Like you have a player on your bench that you're not playing enough who can actually fix some of the issues that you have. So it's going to be difficult to retain them both. I think if the cap actually hits it's like max, you might be able to. But honestly, I can imagine Maddie Seagriss being like, you don't value what I bring. I want out. Like I want to go somewhere else. So we'll see what happens. I think the smart front offices will definitely have their eye on on Maddie Seagriss. So we'll just, we'll just do it. Yeah. We'll kind of have to see with with that one. Bring Maddie home. Bring Maddie home. What's home? Where's she from? New York. And bring her home. Okay. All right. God. She's God. She's a New York maybe. All right. All right. Oh, man. Shout out to Maddie Seagriss. All right. I think our next question is from Kirk, your old friend. Mass money ball. Shout out to Kirk. So I understand that I'm a filthy casual. I think it's weird to take note with hindsight that the Dallas Wings pick of Azifud is a potential miscalculation. I say that because knee injuries is scary and a number of women selected in a next selected draft look special. So how can they build this next offseason? And what do they do need to actually win more than a handful of games against the league's best? Easy pick was definitely a miscalculation. I don't think that that's really controversial to say. I think she can simultaneously be a great player who I think when she was healthy had a great rookie campaign was asked to do a ton was also underutilized as well. Fifty first and spot up three point attempts into WNBA and you're the best pure shooter in the league. What are we doing there? I think she could have even with everything that she showed. She could have had a much better rookie year than she did, but she was basically relegated to having to defend every great wing that the Wings played against and was not really like being given her optimal shot diet which everybody in the world knows what it is and she still showed a lot. So I think like easy isn't a tough spot. Like she can maximize what she does really well and she's still never going to be a Libyan miles. And honestly, Kiki Rice could end up being like the better player in this draft too. I think she was healthy. She would definitely be in these conversations as well. She had been healthy the entire season. With that said, I think what they need is a big wing that can play the defense that can take some of the pressure off of AZ to be the number one containment player. I think I mentioned here for the Liberty, Illugia Conwa is also in their range in the draft. I think that she would make a ton of sensor for the same reasons that she would make sense in New York. She's just a great point of attack defender and she's a great off-ball player and she's just got that dog in her as well. I also think that look, I think the larger thing with AZ, with like you have two number one picks in a row, this is your opportunity to maximize your ceiling, right? Team with Paige and Illugia obviously just has a ceiling that is ridiculous. Team with AWOFAM and Paige just looks like it's a really great pick and roll fit and you kind of have like you have your one and you have your future for and like you're kind of just building around. From there and with her being 19 years old, there's no telling what kind of player she could become. I still think this team has a ton of upside. Like Paige, AZ, AWOF, they're all projected to get better than they are today and they have two first round picks in this upcoming draft that they can use to bolster their defensive depths and just their depth in general. However, if they do want to increase their ceiling, they could use one of those picks to take a little bit more of a high risk high reward pick player in 19 year old. I was, I know, I know a Risa Shea. She is Zachary Risa Shea's younger sister. She's a French prospect for Upsell. She's 19 years old. She's six two. She is fluid as hell. She's somebody who I think is going to develop into a great wing defender. But the truly special thing about her game is passing. She's really fun. She's a long finisher. Her feel. She's just one of those players that makes basketball look easy. I think you're a wings fan. You might want to, you might want a YouTuber. I think you'd have some fun going down to Wormhole with her. The only problem is she can't really shoot. And that's where it's like the high risk high reward. If she does figure out that shot, she's going to be so much better than where the projections have her. And if she doesn't, I still think she could be a pretty productive player. Like I just think that it would depend. It would be a little bit more system dependent. But I think she's really smart. She's really young. She's a high upside player. And she's somebody that like if you're Dallas and because you've made some of the wrong decisions here, you might have to take a risk and see if you can make up for it with and use one of these picks to do it, right? Because you have feel like you've had a pretty bad pre-agency track record, you know, keeping a reek a signing land, Dijonet, Melissa Smith. The only signing that's really worked for you is Jess Shep. Pagebackers is an obvious pick with number one. AZFUD was probably a miss. I think that some of their young players, though, also like, because Maddie's not the only one. I think Azaya James is also just taking it back. See as far as we're taking a step back, as far as like her. potential goes as well. JJ Quinn early as somebody who, I thought was really interesting last year, and I wish we could see more out of this year. I think Jose treats this team too much, like it's older players, other seniors who should get a lot of time in the freshmen, like the rookies and the second years are like the freshmen who need to register, basically. Like having AZFUD come off the bench to start the season was pretty ridiculous in hindsight. And I think that he just, if there's a lesson to take from the season, it is that you can't mismanage the development of your young players because you're not just a college coach, like you're a WNBA coach and you are a manager, and you have to simultaneously think about the president and the future at the same time. And I think that's something that he has struggled with. And if this team doesn't hit it's healing, I think that we're gonna be looking sideways at a lot of the front office decisions that have been made, but they're lucky in that they still have a ton of talent. So they might be able to get away with the mistakes that they've made and ultimately like still find a way to feel the really dangerous team because they do have some really interesting players. - Okay. Our next question is from another one of your colleagues, Patrick Redford, over at the defector. I'm host of the nothing but respect podcast. The defector, will the Valkyrie score enough in a half to win a title? - In the half court. So they're a pretty average half court team. I think their problem is that they also take more half court attempts than anybody else in the league, which might come off as surprising when you consider what their identity is, right? Their identity is playing defense. And usually teams that play a lot of defense get a lot of stops and they run and transition. But I think what this gets at is like the fundamental philosophical difference between the Valkyrie's and every other team in the WNBA right now. Every other team the WNBA is geared towards offense and the defense is in service to getting better offense. I think the Valkyrie's play average offense so that they can get, so that their defense can be elite. So I think that they like to slow down the pace. I think they like to play in a half court and I think they play a lot of isolation ball because it allows them to have a lot more control on a defensive end. It allows them to have a lot more floor balance on the defensive end. Like they can take a shot and just get back. It is what makes them the best transition defense in the league. And I think ultimately, a playoff series is really about like who owns the question. Like who dictates what's the most important question in a playoff series? Like who imposes their style? I don't know if that's the questions that serve them are the ones that actually animate the series. All of which is to say if the question of will the Valkyrie score enough in the half court to win a title becomes the animating question of a series, that means that they have not imposed their style enough on the other team that it becomes the question that that team is trying to answer. That that team is not then in the position of trying to answer a question about their offensive execution. If that's where we are, if that's a question that we were answering, that means that we did not have a Valkyrie's coded playoffs. That means that the referees are probably calling the game in a way that allows the offense to dictate terms. And that means that the Valkyries are not going to win that series. Like that's ultimately what it is. Like it's like to me, it's not the question of will they score enough in the half court. It's will they do everything else well enough that that becomes irrelevant? Or alternatively, this is the team that takes some of the three's, maybe they just pour it in from the three. And if they're doing that and they're playing at the defense, if they are, then they can do anything. - Okay. My next question is from John Hubble and DC. He said, "Should the mistakes have drafted Kiki Rice instead of Lauren Betts?" And he leaves a note that saying, "Can we still come on a podcast?" At least if the first round. I'm going to answer your second question, John. Ruiz is definitely coming back. If I have to broaden Ruiz from his apartment to come on his podcast, I will do it myself, but to answer the question, sir. - Yeah, congrats to Steven Ruiz, who is leaving us unfortunately for Fox Sports, but he has a open, there's an open door policy for Steve Ruiz to come on his podcast. He can come on wherever he wants to. And I will certainly be asking him back on the podcast, especially if the mistakes went the first round, even if they don't though, because Ruiz is a ball-nower and we love ball-nowers here. To your question of whether the mistake should have drafted Kiki Rice instead of Lauren Betts, I, yeah, I hate to make a judgment this early, but yeah, I think just because of the makeup of this team, I think that Kiki Rice would have slotted perfectly for them at the point guard spot. She's a great shooter, she's a great playmaker, she's a low turnover player, which is something that the mystics struggle with. She can space a floor. She is, the advanced stats darling of this rookie class, like her plus-minus is out of this world. She is one of the best finishers that we have ever seen as a rookie, her ad-1 percentage is historic for a rookie, like as far as like being able to play to this team's identity, as far as like the toughness and like the rim pressure, she would have fit perfectly into what they are trying to do. She's tough, she's mature, she's hard-knows, she's young, she's a great defender, she is like a lot of things that mystics basketball is all about, and she slots into the position that is their biggest need with Georgia Amor and how much she has struggled. But granted, Amor is playing a lot better. I think it would have also done Amor a ton of favors to be able to actually come off the bench for this team, and not have to have like the pressure of being the starting point guard. And then Betts, on the other hand, like I just don't think she's really had the space to flourish. And I think even in a limited space that she has had, she's been really impressive. But I think like it's just tough when you have Shakira Austin having like an MIP level season, being such an excellent shop blocker, which is like one of the bigger things that Lauren Betts brings to the game. Having her next to Kiki Iriefin, who is like a great defender on the perimeter, a guarding pick and roll is switching. They fit, those two fits so well together that I think for Washington, like you look at that and you have to say like, this is a future of what we're trying to do. And it's hard for me to see where Lauren Betts fits into that because like ultimately for your number or four pick, you want someone who's doing more for you than being an excellent backup big. And I think Lauren Betts should also have higher aspirations for herself than that too. So I would not be surprised if she's eventually dealt because I find it hard to believe that she could live up to her full potential on the mystics and there will be teams like that need that type of rim protection that would love to have a cornerstone young big that is six, seven and can just eat up space the way that she does, that can roll the way that she does, that is developing her outside game and her touch the way that she is. I look at an LA if they have anything to give down the line as a team that definitely is like going towards a youth movement as well. Phoenix could use a rim protection. If Kelsey Plum logs, maybe they just do a fire sale and move in the direction of trying to get young players or Portland, I think is a very interesting team. Chicago could, I mean, Chicago has a little different like Camila Cardoso. Oh, let's see, I don't know. Probably not, Chicago doesn't work. Toronto really needs room protection granted. They're not gonna trade you Kiki Rice for Lauren Betts but I'm sure that's a team that could be interested in her as well, like, look, I'm not saying you have to trade her like tomorrow or anything like that. Like maybe there's a magical way it all works out but I'm just looking at it and I'm like, yeah, like they probably should take Kiki and it probably would have been the best for Lauren Betts to even if she had ended up somewhere else. Even though, look, I'm sure she loves, she loves being a young hoe, she loves being the young, the young intern Washington Mystics, the young term women, these ladies, these girly pops, these girls, you know what, I will say something on that. So during a national broadcast, one of the commentators called the Washington Mystics by the nickname, which they call themselves, which is the young hose. That is something that Lauren Betts said to Superd when Superd had her on her podcast. And I think it's like, obviously there was like a mini discourse hurricane that came out of this. And we don't spend a lot of time on it but I did have, I did have some broad thoughts on it. Like for a national broadcast, I get it. Like you don't have to mainstream it for a number of reasons. Like A, we don't need anybody who is not them or who is not like a feminist or who is like not cool or coming from the right place, referring to them as hose and saying that like it's okay because they say it. Like there's also like a bit of like a medium problem here. Like that was set on a podcast. I'm on a podcast. I think that just like you have a little bit more liberty on a podcast. Whereas a national podcast is a little bit different as well. But I think it kind of gets that struggle. I think of like I think a lot of us are trying to figure out how to translate all the things that make the WNBA fun onto a medium that like it makes it a little bit difficult to translate like the mystics like there's awesome Gen Z team that's like always doing these TikTok dances. but they are kind of like built for the social media age and I think trying to translate that onto the meeting of television, especially like a national television, nationally televised sports broadcast, can be a little bit difficult. So I totally understand what the commentators were trying to do, but I think that you can get into a bit of a medium issue. You might not want necessarily everybody that listens to the national broadcast to know about the ongoing. It's like there are certain things that we can keep in the group as well in a way, just to let them have fun as well. Because like you're also like then, then you see like all of these like, just people talking about like, oh like I saw people on like Georgia Amor after she had her 25 point game. Like, you know, there's a video of Sydney Johnson like dancing in a locker room and like Georgia Amor like starts like twerking. And like people are like complaining about like the fact that she's doing this and she's like a young woman and like young girls are watching this. And like it's just like, I don't wanna have that conversation because I hate that conversation because it's like there's this like automatic placement of women's athletes in this like motherly role model. Everything you do has to be with like the little boys and little girls that are watching you in mind that they must like always examine and police their own behavior through the lens of like knowing that kids are gonna be watching them. It's not their job to raise anybody's kids. And there's a lot more appeal to women's basketball than the idea of them just being role models. Like I think it's honestly like one of these marketing things that just kind of we need to pipe down it on a little bit. We also need to pipe down our expectations. Anthony Edwards has like 10 baby moms, okay? Like let's also not be so hypocritical about this. Like why do these women have to be perfect? Stop scaring the young homes, everybody. That's all I got. That's all I got. Okay, let's go back to the mystics I guess. - Stop scaring the young host. The quote of the day, I think. - All right, next question is from Caleb. - It's just gonna be normal, it's all be normal so we can have nice things. - Right, right, right, yeah. - Listen, literally playing dodgeball in a locker room. Like they're happy to wait. - Yeah, man. - They're just having fun. It's a fun story. It's a fun story. - Exactly, just let 'em have fun. Let 'em be young, who cares, don't be accepting your own ideas of what womanhood needs to be or what they need to be onto them. - We don't need to overthink this one. - We don't. - When Benagia Lady came, they were like, "Oh, we got, we got big boys." - We're an old hoe. - Yeah, we got an old hoe to meet the young host. - Right, like, we got big mom here to lead all of our children. Like, we get it, we totally get it. Oh, from Caleb, he says, "Hey there, big Mrs. Span here." Obviously the team is young, although we just said, and has plenty of room to grow, but what are some of the reasonable playoff expectations from this team? Prior to the season, I just wanted to make the playoffs. Now they clinched, I'd be really bummed if they lose in the first round. - The perils of expectations. - Yeah. - What's a madman quote? Like, what's happiness? It's a moment before you get more happiness. - I watched the show by the way. - You haven't seen it? Oh my god. - Never watched the show. - It's my favorite show of all time. - All right, it's been told my cousin, who is the movie buff, the movie TV buff. After I finished my first, the perils watch last year. He was like, madman, next show you need to watch. Sit down and watch madman. If you like the subpranos and you love the subpranos, go watch madman and get back to me. - Yeah, it's the same, one of the headwriters on the subpranos actually wrote madman. - Yeah, so I got to find some time to lock in, maybe. So I did my subpranos watch at the end of football season last year, so that's the good time, like that late winter, early spring time where things are a little bit slower. So maybe that'll be my time. And maybe we'll do a mail back episode around then and I'll give you my madman break. - Oh my gosh, yes. - Honestly, if you start watching madman, we're gonna have to do like a weekly end of episode check-in on like where your progress is, what you're thinking of the latest episode. It's like, I love that show. And I will rewatch it like every year. I'm kind of in like a perpetual madman rewatch. Like I have one going with my roommate and I have another one going with my girlfriend that are both at like a different part portions of the season. - Oh, you're just having a blast right now, just watching it at the end of the day. - I am, I am an introduce and people to madmen is like one of my favorite things. This is like introducing somebody to your favorite restaurant, but you know like, you know what they shouldn't order, but your intrigue don't say it how far, like they're gonna go in the menu. Like I think you should try this, but this is also good too. - Exactly. - You're watching them enjoy something that you love a lot. - Exactly, yeah. - It's like having a blast. All right, Mystics, so look, expectations was, I think they're actually in a kind of interesting spot now. So I would have said, just enjoy yourself. Don't worry about it. But I think a three versus six series against the ACEs now that Liz is out is very interesting. Like I think prior to the injury I would have said, look, the ACEs just be twice in a row. If you get them, like they already showed you what the measuring sick was at your peak when you were in your win streak. See if you can win a game. Now I'm like, man, is Asia going to be able to just like, man that front court all by herself with like returning turner and Cheyenne Parkertias and Kalani Brown when you have like Keke and Shakira and Lauren. And then you have like Cody driving at you and you have Sonia snaking pick and rolls. Like for a team in the ACEs, those are already a bad perimeter defense. Already was like just solely relying on Asia Wilson. This is a team that also leads a league in free throw rate. Like honestly, I would just try to get Asia in foul trouble. Force Becky to take you out of the game and watch a team that's like 20 points present for 100 possessions worse with Asia off the floor, try to find a way to create without her, right? Even if it's a Valkyries, I think it's really interesting. Like I recently went on Marcus Thompson and Zena Keta is a Valkyries podcast and we talked about how like the only first round matchup that we hate for the Valkyries is a Mystix because they play the same style. Like they play you a lot, they both play defense. The Mystix can match the Valkyries physicality. They also have the added effect of being able to like pummel Golden State on the boards and the glass, which is like one of the only places that I feel like they have vulnerabilities and they have a ton of defensive versatility as well. It's a high variance. Like I feel like the Mystix, I don't shoot a lot of threes. If the Valkyries like go off from three, then I think the Mystix would have to get to the line a lot just to like make up for that deficit. But I think that'd be a very interesting series. And then who else could they get? They could get, I mean, they could get Minnesota. Look, you're not like you're not happening Minnesota. But they also like Minnesota's problem. We just saw this against the dream is they can get pummeled in their front court as well. Like they have a bit of an undersized front court and I could see the Mystix making that one a series. I could, I would be interested in Kiki versus Olivia round two as well. I think that'd be a really fun series. But ultimately look like just just enjoy the journey. Like you have one of the best futures in the league. Both fans would die to have a pair as awesome as Kiki and Sonia and know that you have a 2027 pick, know that you have a 2028 pick. Like see what Shakira Austin is doing. You have the most immaculate vibes in the locker room. There's you have the most fun team in the WNBA. Like the pressure really eventually comfort them. Now they're going to team USA. They're going to get to do that. Like it's a dream season. Like you don't always get these seasons as a band. Like so just like root for them to learn some lesson and see if they can take care of the ball, see if they can execute their sets. Frankly, root for a little bit of failure too. Root for them to have an off season to train really, really angry. So that they can come back next year and be like a full on title team. You know, like that's like, I think you got to just continue to root for progress here. And don't let perfect be the enemy of good. Do not let your expectations for the future soil your enjoyment of the present. Like just have a good time with what this is right now because this stuff is fun. And as a band, as you know, like if you've been a mystics band for a while, you don't really, you don't always get to have seasons like this. So just try yourself. Just try yourself. That's all I got. I agree. I agree. Enjoy the ride. Enjoy the ride. It's a fun, fun team. What you learn, like push, yes, say you can push the aces or the links to a second or third game, like a third game. It's just, all right, let's have some fun. Like let's push some pressure on them. Say they blow you out in third game. But at least just getting there is like a win. You have something to hang your hat on and just say, you know, we had a really good season. Like, OK, we know what it takes to be there. Now let's go. Yeah. Exactly. That extra, you have those uneasy expectations. We're like, all right, we got it. We got to be good now. Exactly. Exactly. You can say, yeah, table those feelings for next season. Yeah. This is a problem to have after being in the top five of the draft for the last of the years. Season what's going to happen is we're going to be like, oh, they had such a promising run in the playoffs. They're adding in 2027. pick their adding shooters. Oh my God, this team could be a top four C. This team could be a contender. And then they're probably going to end up like going six and four out of the gate, which is going to be totally acceptable and fine. But we're going to be like, oh my God, are they frauds? And then you're going to be writing a mail bot bag letter to me about, why is everybody freaked out about Sony shooting slump? And I want Kiki's going to figure it out. So just sludge us. Let's just be here now. Exactly, exactly. Enjoy the process. Enjoy it. Yeah. I did get one question that I forgot to send into you, which was, can we finally make the first round longer? It is the first round is just right now with three game series. Yeah. I kind of like maybe like I get it. W's growing. And about three game series that it's fun, but I would like the five game series to. I would. I kind of want to see what happens. Like I think the first round in so many other sports, especially in basketball, is typically such an afterthought because like in the NBA, we have seven games. And I think in seven games is long enough for the best team, even if they like get off to a slow start, or they get like punked in the game one. Like that's enough for them to eventually just make it back in the series, right? I kind of like that. Like if you have a three game series, and we just talked about what, let's say Washington just shocks Minnesota out of the gates, like out rebounds them by like 15 in the first game and like close out of close win. Now every eyeball is on game two. Like Minnesota then has to win game two in order to even continue in the series. They have to win two games in a row. And then go on the road. Yeah. Like exactly, exactly. Why do you think it's 111 now? So I think that they'd be back at home. But I remember that making crazy. Yeah. I'm glad they said that. Wow. Like every team should get their home game, but I just think like there's so much extra juice that it might be worth losing like the revenue and the intrigue of having two extra games in round one. I also think about like, okay, right now we're slated to get fever versus dream in round one. There isn't a degree to which look three games of that series being a rematch from round one, Caitlin Clark versus Angel Reese, the one a bonner going back to Indiana storyline. Storyline central. I also just think that like, I don't know if we could handle five games of that. I was going to obviously. I don't know what happens. I'm more suitable, but I get what you say. Yeah. I think that if we get five games of that series, there might genuinely be like a nuclear attack in America. Like I don't, I don't know if they this country has like the emotional bandwidth right now to handle five games of Angel Reese versus Caitlin Clark and the physicality with which to dream play and the front court battle and Ryan Howard defending Caitlin Clark for five games. You just know that something crazy is going to happen derogatory. I don't like, I just I just don't know if we're in a position right now. Like it's, it goes back to the Washington Mystics like young hosts things like let's everybody be normal so that we can have nice things. We're not normal enough right now for a five games series. You know, all right. I'm with you. You maybe next year. Maybe next year. Maybe next year. Right now with the season that we've had. I just don't, I just don't think three games is perfect. Three games is perfect. I think three games you get a lot of spice and it ends before anything crazy happens. Some things are meant to be temporary. That's cat, that's kind of how I'm at. That's cat, that's kind of where I'm at. Like you go from three games of Spireworks, five games is nuclear attack. There's only a certain amount of explosiveness that is actually positive. It's counterintuitive. I think a lot of you would be like, you're overthinking this. Five games. It's trauma. It's good basketball. Let's do it. Story lands are there. I get it. Just I've spent enough time covering this league to know that I just won't go the way that we wanted. That's maybe three games around. For the same sake of self-preservation, you don't want to burn, you don't want to burn too bright and burn out. All right, man. That was fun. We got some really great questions. I honestly like, I feel like the quality of the questions that fans are sending in are just so impressive. You guys have such a great understanding of the cap and what matters. You're just so plugged in on all your teams. I really enjoyed these questions because they actually really forced me to think pretty deeply about the situations that the teams are in. We'll probably do a playoff mailbag. I love doing mailbags. I actually think we just need to do more of them because they're always fun. I enjoy doing them. I think the fans enjoy them. It's great. I appreciate you guys. I'm sorry to anybody who sent in questions that we weren't able to get to. I wanted to focus a little bit more on the postseason questions, which is also granted the majority of what we did end up getting. There's one more I will address. There's one from Blue Sky. Ask me if Dott and Des are definitely dating. Look, here's my thing. I think that we need to romanticize platonic friendship more than we romanticize romantic relationship. I was watching the Daisy chain fields thing in the way that, first of all, that music festival looked incredible. I think Olivia Rodrigo should be the commissioner of the WNBA. I looked at that music festival and I was like, this is what the WNBA should be going for. You just have all of these amazing women, young and old that have managed to attract 45,000 people to go see them on one night and they also raised $20 million for a number of different organizations that are working for the empowerment and advancement of women. I thought that was an amazing festival. The way that Olivia Rodrigo looked at Stevie Nicks while they were singing landslide together, there was nothing like traditionally romantic about that in the way that we think about couples. But it was romantic in the sense that there was so much love, there was adoration, there was reverence, there was so much beauty in that moment. I think that while yes, it would be great if Des and Dott are dating and maybe they are, maybe that's like something that the tempo we're trying to imply with them being sort of like each other's foils, like one of them is like the quiet type. One of them is the extrovert. I get that. I think that is just as beautiful in a queer romantic relationship as it would be in a platonic relationship. So I actually don't need them to date. I think that either one of those things is fine for me. That's my, that's the last, that's the last very, very WNBA related thing that I have to say. Stefan, thank you so much for Robin Hood, man. The people's trip, love when you come on. I know we're going to hear you're about it all again. So yeah, you're the best. Thank you for also producing this episode as well. And thank you, thank you everybody else for listening and presenting in your questions and we will do this again soon.