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Speaker 1: This is a Japanese way to get headache out.

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Speaker 2: Long sleeve teachers roll them up and then tie up

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Speaker 2: on my head head like this, were it tight? Okay

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Speaker 2: like this, So now your headache is gone because this

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Speaker 2: give you a new headache.

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Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the No Dunks podcast, probably a

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Speaker 1: part of the Athletic Podcast Network. It's September twelfth, twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty three. I'm your host for today, Trey Kirby. We

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Speaker 1: got Jerome in the yard making the magic happen. And

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Speaker 1: I'm happy to be joined today by a national women's

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Speaker 1: basketball staff writer for The Athletic, one of the co

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Speaker 1: hosts of the Athletic Women's Basketball Show alongside Xenakada and

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Speaker 1: Sabrina Merchant. We got Ben Pickman on the show. Ben,

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Speaker 1: what's up man?

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Speaker 3: I'm doing super well, Super excited to hear.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I can't wait to w with you. Thank you

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Speaker 1: to everybody here in the stream team joining us live today.

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Speaker 1: Thanks to everybody listening to the podcast a little bit later,

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Speaker 1: like subscribe, comment, email, engage with us, make this show

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Speaker 1: a big time hit. Ben. Before we get into the playoffs,

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Speaker 1: I want to talk to you a little bit about

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Speaker 1: the regular season in the WNBA longest regular season we've

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Speaker 1: ever had. We've got super teams in the w now,

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Speaker 1: if I'm not mistaken, highest scoring season in WNBA history

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Speaker 1: as well. Has this been as awesome of a regular

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Speaker 1: season as it seems like to me?

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Speaker 3: It has been, you know, extended games, extended season means

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Speaker 3: a lot more records have fallen, a lot more incredible

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Speaker 3: scoring performances. Scoring has been up, as you mentioned, a

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Speaker 3: ton of triple doubles, some history in that category. All

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Speaker 3: throughout the league, the super teams have been as good

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Speaker 3: as advertised, even though New York did take a little

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Speaker 3: bit of time to get going, you know, and you know,

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Speaker 3: the bottom of the league, the middle of league has

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Speaker 3: been super competitive too, just kind of topsy turvy. A

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Speaker 3: lot has come down to the end of the regular

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Speaker 3: season and it sets up for a really playoffs.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, I thought the last week was really exciting

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Speaker 1: because a few teams were really trying to qualify for

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Speaker 1: the playoffs down the stretch, two teams I pull for.

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Speaker 1: I'm a Canvas Parker fan first and foremost, but then

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Speaker 1: the Sky and the Dream were like going down to

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Speaker 1: the last games of the season to see if they

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Speaker 1: were gonna make. It kind of reminds me, honestly of

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Speaker 1: a Formula One season where we've got two teams really

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Speaker 1: fighting for the title, a couple of good teams, and

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Speaker 1: then a whole bunch of mid carters who you don't

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Speaker 1: exactly know what you're gonna get from game to game.

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Speaker 1: But it made for an exciting season, man, and I'm

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Speaker 1: hyped for the playoffs to come around. Did you have

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Speaker 1: a favorite game, a favorite moment from the regular season

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Speaker 1: this year?

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Speaker 3: I mean, there were a few memorable ones. I'm based

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Speaker 3: in Brooklyn, so I've been around the Liberty a lot.

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Speaker 3: I've seen a lot of Liberty games in person. I

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Speaker 3: mean Brianna Shurts her first home game when she set

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Speaker 3: a franchise record and career high forty five points against

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Speaker 3: the Fever, Like, that's how you kick off a tenure

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Speaker 3: with a franchise with a bang, right, Like it was

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Speaker 3: an unbelievable performance. It was like, oh, man, now we

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Speaker 3: are finally getting to watch Dewey in person. That was super,

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Speaker 3: super exciting. All Star was a great weekend, super successful,

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Speaker 3: ton of fun events there. Anytime you're around the aces

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Speaker 3: and just seeing them in person, that is a treat.

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Speaker 3: So those are some of the highlights for me.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I was lucky. I got to see the Aces

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Speaker 1: play here in Atlanta twice, including Asia Wilson's fifty three

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Speaker 1: point game. It was on a Tuesday, a school night.

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Speaker 1: I got a second grader and a third grader and

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Speaker 1: I kept them in the arena until the final final

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Speaker 1: buzzer sounded because we couldn't miss a basket. Man, that's

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Speaker 1: the most points I've ever seen in any basketball game.

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Speaker 1: That was so awesome to see the fans, the Atlanta

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Speaker 1: fans getting hype to see Asia Wilson go to the

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Speaker 1: line and knock down free throws for the fifty and

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Speaker 1: fifty first point before she went on to fifty three.

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Speaker 1: That was incredible.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a treat for not only you but also

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Speaker 3: your family and keep it him out on the score.

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Speaker 1: Good for you on that exactly. You know, you don't

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Speaker 1: learn everything you need to know from books. I'm watching.

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Speaker 1: I'm like, this is history class right here. You'll probably

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Speaker 1: never see a game this exciting again, So drink it

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Speaker 1: in while you can. Those fun times. The man, Asia

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Speaker 1: Wilson an absolute bucket. But we got the playoffs starting

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Speaker 1: tomorrow Wednesday, night, So let's take a quick look at

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Speaker 1: the bracket here at the end of the regular season,

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Speaker 1: the Aces are taking on the Chicago Sky in the

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Speaker 1: one versus eight matchup. Would be awesome if Candas Parker

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Speaker 1: was healthy for that one, but does not seem to

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Speaker 1: be the case. The team you covered, Ben, the New

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Speaker 1: York Liberty take on the Washington Mystics, who do seem

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Speaker 1: to be getting healthy at just the right time for

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Speaker 1: the playoffs. In the three six matchup, we've got the

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Speaker 1: Connecticut Sun, a surprisingly great team this year, taken on

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Speaker 1: the Minnesota Links, who I'm very confused by. And then

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Speaker 1: we got the Dallas Wings versus the Atlanta Dream. I'm

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Speaker 1: hoping to get to a game in that four or

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Speaker 1: five matchup then, But first question I've got for you.

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Speaker 1: We mentioned how there's been two great teams this year,

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Speaker 1: two super teams in the Aces and the Liberty. The

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Speaker 1: Aces finished the season thirty four and six, first in offense,

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Speaker 1: first in defense, but maybe a rocky or second half

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Speaker 1: of the season after starting twenty four and two, they

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Speaker 1: finished ten and four to end the regular season. Meanwhile,

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Speaker 1: the Liberty, they finished thirty two and eight on the year,

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Speaker 1: second in offense third in defense. They won eight of

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Speaker 1: their last nine games fourteen of their last sixteen to

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Speaker 1: challenge for the one seed at the end of the

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Speaker 1: regular season. Are we destined to see these two teams

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Speaker 1: in the finals or is there anybody who could knock

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Speaker 1: one of these two teams off?

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Speaker 3: I mean, it feels easy and maybe a little anti

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Speaker 3: climactic to open this show and say that it feels

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Speaker 3: like we're almost destined to have the Aces and the

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Speaker 3: Liberty meet in the finals. But it certainly does feel

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Speaker 3: that way. You know, these two teams have been the

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Speaker 3: two best teams in the WNBA all season long. Oftentimes

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Speaker 3: it is by a significant margin. Or we've certainly seen

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Speaker 3: you know, New York most recently they blew out the

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Speaker 3: Connecticut Sun and seem to put some distance between you know,

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Speaker 3: the two and the three in this matchup. You know,

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Speaker 3: certainly there's some other teams Connecticut can challenge Dallas. I

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Speaker 3: think is an interesting dark hose in the postseason. And

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Speaker 3: you know, we've certainly learned last year in this playoff format,

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Speaker 3: there are no guarantees. We thought we were gonna get

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Speaker 3: a Chicago Sky appearance in the finals. We didn't in

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Speaker 3: the end, Connecticut beats them in the Semis in five games,

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Speaker 3: five thrilling games, rather, but it definitely does seem like

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Speaker 3: we are on this collision course to get Las Vegas

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Speaker 3: and New York and frankly, I think for a lot

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Speaker 3: of people that is okay, these are the two best

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Speaker 3: teams talent wise, it's maybe two of the two best

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Speaker 3: coaches in the league, two great fan bases, two great

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Speaker 3: in arena experiences. So you know, if you're a fan

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Speaker 3: of the other ten teams, of course you want your

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Speaker 3: team to make it or the other six in the playoffs.

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Speaker 3: But it does seem like nationally we're gonna get a

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Speaker 3: Liberty Aces final, or that's what I'm thinking we're going

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Speaker 3: to get in the end.

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Speaker 1: Well, and that's been a spicy matchup as well. I

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Speaker 1: think they somehow ended up playing four times against each

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Speaker 1: other just in August. I don't know how the schedule

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Speaker 1: worked out that way, but it made it exciting to

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Speaker 1: see these two teams kind of like gearing up for

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Speaker 1: the playoffs, assuming they're going to take on each other. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: the Liberty took down the Aces and the Commissioner's Cup

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Speaker 1: Championship game, I saw them celebrating like they had just

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Speaker 1: won the WNB title. Stewe was saying afterwards, this is

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Speaker 1: our first piece of hardware. What's the biggest weakness for

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Speaker 1: the Aces, Because, like I said, first in offense, first

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Speaker 1: in defense. I know they're missing Candas Parker and I

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Speaker 1: haven't really seen an update on her return at all,

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Speaker 1: so I'm assuming she's out for the playoffs. But how

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Speaker 1: do you beat the Aces?

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Speaker 3: I mean, it still seems like on the Candace Parker

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Speaker 3: front that she is going to be out indefinitely, and

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Speaker 3: as a result, just their depth has been a little

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Speaker 3: bit more tested. Right Kea Stokes has slid into the

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Speaker 3: starting lineup, and she is a very good defensive center,

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Speaker 3: but she doesn't have the same impact nearly on the

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Speaker 3: offensive end of the floor. And someone like Stokes, who

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Speaker 3: was a valuable bench contributor at the start of the year,

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Speaker 3: has been a valuable contributor for them in the past.

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Speaker 3: You know, she slides into the starting lineup and the

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Speaker 3: bench gets even thinner, and so that is one real

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Speaker 3: differentiating factor in my mind, between New York and Las Vegas.

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Speaker 3: New York has a little bit more punch off the bench,

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Speaker 3: not only scoring marine johannas the French guard she can be.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 3: Becky Hammond described her as just like a gun. She

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Speaker 3: just comes into the game. She'll fire off eight straight points.

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Speaker 3: Boom boom, boom, boom boom. Becky made that sound. They

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Speaker 3: played a couple weeks back here in New York and

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Speaker 3: then she checks out of the game, has done her damage,

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Speaker 3: and that is her night. And New York just has

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Speaker 3: other places and pieces that they plug into the lineup

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Speaker 3: that I don't think Las Vegas has. So it's two

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Speaker 3: stellar starting lineups, you know, some of the best players

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Speaker 3: in the world. But the depth is really something I

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Speaker 3: think at this point is worth watching. It wasn't. It

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Speaker 3: didn't make a difference for Las Vegas during last year's

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Speaker 3: playoffs they still had a short bench, but I think

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Speaker 3: it might this time around, especially when they played New York.

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Speaker 1: Is Marien Johannah the coolest player in the league?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I think she might be. Certainly, she

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Speaker 3: does some of the most unexpected things of anyone in

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Speaker 3: the league. You know, Chelsea Gray herself might be the

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Speaker 3: best highlot machine. You know, She's thrown some incredible passes

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Speaker 3: this year. The one early in the year that was

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Speaker 3: a no look that I think went super super viral

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Speaker 3: my colleagues. Sabrina wrote about it and just all the

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Speaker 3: Aces players reacting about how they were so surprised that

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Speaker 3: Chelsea did it. But marine on a nightly basis, especially

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Speaker 3: on a per minute basis, you know, I don't know

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Speaker 3: how we would really quantify that staff, but you know,

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Speaker 3: she just checked in and it's like, here's a one

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Speaker 3: legged three, here's a no look pass, here's a you know,

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Speaker 3: a dribble underneath the hoop and scoop around, and you know,

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Speaker 3: throw some pass from an angle you've never seen before.

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Speaker 3: Like she is so so exciting, especially considering how much

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Speaker 3: or how little she plays in a game.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm sure she's thrown a regular pass at some point,

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Speaker 1: but I think I've seen one hundred percent behind the

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Speaker 1: back passes or something that's gonna end up in a

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Speaker 1: highlight reel I mentioned. The Liberty really turned it on

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Speaker 1: in the second half of the season. You follow the

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Speaker 1: team quite closely, You're really close to Barclay Center. What

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Speaker 1: changed for New York for them to go on this

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Speaker 1: run in the second half of the season.

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Speaker 3: I think it's a few things. I mean, I think

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Speaker 3: just going back to the start of the season. Not surprisingly,

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Speaker 3: it took Brianna Store the least amount of time to

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Speaker 3: kind of settle into her role. She immediately she did

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Speaker 3: everything for New York and almost was over extending herself

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Speaker 3: or was asked to score, rebound facilitate at the start

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Speaker 3: of the year because some of the other pieces they

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Speaker 3: brought in just hadn't started to fit yet. Then Corney

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Speaker 3: Vandersloute started to kind of acclimate and I think fgured

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Speaker 3: out how to play better alongside Sabrina and Yunescu, who's

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Speaker 3: come on super, super strong, especially in the second half

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Speaker 3: of the year, just record breaking three point numbers. And

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Speaker 3: then it was John Kula Jones and you know she's

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Speaker 3: a former League MVP won it with Connecticut. Was equally

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Speaker 3: one of these high profile acquisitions. Was going to come

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Speaker 3: in and both anchor New York's defense and also play

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Speaker 3: a huge role on offense. She was a little bit

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Speaker 3: slow at the start of the year, coming off a

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Speaker 3: foot injury. She eased her way back into training camp,

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Speaker 3: didn't practice a ton back in camp. Was kind of

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Speaker 3: seemed to be on a little bit of a minute

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Speaker 3: restriction early on in the year. Was a little slow

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Speaker 3: on defense, wasn't really fitting in spacing wise on offense,

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Speaker 3: and she's come on super, super strong, especially in the

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Speaker 3: month of August. She's just been a double double machine.

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Speaker 3: Sandy Broundello actually tasked her after one loss at the

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Speaker 3: end of July to just get a double double every night.

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Speaker 3: That she hasn't done that exactly, but she's oftentimes come

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Speaker 3: really really close or gotten doubles in a vast majority

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Speaker 3: of their games. And so now that she is really

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Speaker 3: settling in it, just the pieces have started to fit

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Speaker 3: much better. It took a full season, and I guess

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Speaker 3: we should have expected it to take bunch of time.

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Speaker 3: But now that we're here in September with the postseason,

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Speaker 3: the pieces do really fit together really nicely, and that

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Speaker 3: is a big reason why New York is where they are.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not surprised it took a bit longer for

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Speaker 1: John Quell Jones to get going. We've seen it time

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Speaker 1: and time again in the NBA when a big three

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Speaker 1: comes together, the third person is always kind of the

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Speaker 1: one figure out where their shots are going to come

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Speaker 1: for and trying to figure out a way to go

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Speaker 1: from having the ball all the time to being you know,

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Speaker 1: maybe more of a one point five option or something

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Speaker 1: like that. But she John Qwell Jones, was absolutely dominant

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Speaker 1: in that Commissioner's Cup game. I thought she just ran

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Speaker 1: wild inside and you could really feel the absence of

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Speaker 1: Canvas Parker in that game, in particular for the Aces.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, John Quell Jones seems to be a major

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Speaker 1: X factor if those two teams meet. But that's going

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Speaker 1: to be weeks from now. You mentioned it a little bit.

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Speaker 1: Maybe the Connecticut Sun would have a chance against either

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Speaker 1: of these two teams, if I'm not mistaken. They've made

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Speaker 1: two finals and two semi finals the last four seasons.

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Speaker 1: How does this team take the next step to get

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Speaker 1: past this this sort of wall that they keep running into.

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Speaker 1: I mean, they're running into good teams. They keep losing

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Speaker 1: to good teams. They did make finals a couple of times,

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Speaker 1: but they just seem maybe one piece away something like that.

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Speaker 3: It's funny that you use the wall analogy because Alyssa Thomas,

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Speaker 3: when you think about her, she is like running into

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Speaker 3: a wall or playing against a wall, you know, because

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Speaker 3: of her strength or physicality, and she just you run

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Speaker 3: into her and you immediately bounce back the way you

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Speaker 3: would if you were running into a wall. But for me,

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Speaker 3: it's all about guard play for them, right Like Alyssa

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Speaker 3: Thomas is gonna get her She's gonna create, she's gonna

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Speaker 3: push the ball in transition, she's gonna get steals, she's

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Speaker 3: gonna score on offense. But it seems like from a

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Speaker 3: just from a backcourt. If you look at the backcourt

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Speaker 3: that Connecticut has Tiffany Hayes, you know she is at

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Speaker 3: the latter stages of her career. She can certainly still

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Speaker 3: show flashes of getting to the rim of creating offense

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Speaker 3: for herself. She's done that a few times throughout the

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Speaker 3: regular season. But you know, I think she twenty games

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Speaker 3: this season when she scored between zero and nine points.

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Speaker 3: You know, this is a former All Star. She's turning

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Speaker 3: thirty four years old during this postseason. But if she

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Speaker 3: can explode during the playoffs, I think Connecticut's ceiling is

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Speaker 3: a little bit higher. Nietzchecha Heideman another one of their

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Speaker 3: guards in the backcourt. She played really well during last

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Speaker 3: year's postseason and especially in some of the biggest games,

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Speaker 3: their Game three first round elimination game against Dallas, Game

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Speaker 3: five against the Chicago Sky. She played really well. I

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Speaker 3: think she had fourteen in that one. The contest in

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Speaker 3: the finals when Connecticut beat Las Vegas, she also had

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Speaker 3: double digit scoring. So it's just can Connecticut's backcourt give

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Speaker 3: them enough of a boost to you know, help Alissa

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Speaker 3: Thomas to help the want to bonn her out. Those

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Speaker 3: are two players, two all star players who will be

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Speaker 3: reliable for Connecticut. But especially when you compare you know,

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Speaker 3: the Connecticut backcourt to Las Vegas Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plumb,

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Speaker 3: Jackie Young, when you compare them to Courtney van der

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Speaker 3: Sloot to Sabrina Yescu, that there is a difference there, frankly,

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Speaker 3: between what Connecticut has and what New York has. That

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Speaker 3: might just be the difference for now and until that

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Speaker 3: is upgraded. For Connecticut, I think their ceiling kind of

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Speaker 3: is what it is at least is currently constituted.

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Speaker 1: Well, third best team is still pretty good as far

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Speaker 1: as as far as the standings go. I gotta ask you,

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Speaker 1: I guess now, because I can't imagine they're going to

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Speaker 1: have a long run in the playoffs. Is there any

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Speaker 1: chance the Sky can win a game in this series

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Speaker 1: against the ass.

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Speaker 3: I mean, the Sky play really, really hard, They're super competitive.

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Speaker 3: Becky Hammond has actually talked about how they've given, uh,

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Speaker 3: you know, Las Vegas some trouble this year, and certainly

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Speaker 3: someone like Marina Maybray can go off. Kalia Copper, We've

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Speaker 3: seen it in big moments. We've seen her star. I

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Speaker 3: would bet not like you know, my guess, Las Vegas

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Speaker 3: is going to come out and just bring it like

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Speaker 3: they have been waiting all year for this postseason run.

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Speaker 3: You know, it is the area championship winning team we

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Speaker 3: certainly know in other sports. Not that Las Vegas was

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Speaker 3: complacent because we saw them become the number one seed

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Speaker 3: get off to a historic start in the regular season,

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Speaker 3: but the playoffs are a different animal. I would expect

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Speaker 3: them to come out really fast at the start of

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Speaker 3: the postseason on Wednesday night and continue to roll from

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Speaker 3: their Chicago. I think they can keep these games competitive,

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Speaker 3: but I just don't know if they have the talent

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Speaker 3: frankly to match up with the Aces for a series.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, because they traded or let all of their talent

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Speaker 1: from the championship team in twenty twenty one walk away

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Speaker 1: basically the last season, and then they traded three first

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Speaker 1: round picks basically to bring in Marina maybriy, Was this

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Speaker 1: a good season for the Sky? Like I said, they

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Speaker 1: made it into the playoffs the very last week of

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Speaker 1: the season, they finished below five hundred, and now they've

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Speaker 1: got their next three first round picks going out. That

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Speaker 1: doesn't seem right to me.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it's definitely a weird season for the

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Speaker 3: Chicago Sky. I mean I think you know, we did

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Speaker 3: a poll a round table among us as a staff

345
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Speaker 3: on the Athletic Online and we asked for what our

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Speaker 3: biggest surprise was, and for me, it was James Wade's

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Speaker 3: resignation mid season. Like I think all the other things

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Speaker 3: aside that have been on court and court, if you

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Speaker 3: were going to tell a fan of the Sky and

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Speaker 3: maybe a fan of the WNBA or anyone who follows

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Speaker 3: the league, like James Wade, the coach and general manager

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Speaker 3: of the team is going to resign abruptly in mid

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Speaker 3: July to take a job as an assistant coach with

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Speaker 3: the Toronto Raptors. I think that was the biggest surprise,

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Speaker 3: at least in my opinion, of the whole year. Certainly,

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Speaker 3: he made a big swing from Marina Maybrew, who is

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Speaker 3: a really, really good player mind you, and she had

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Speaker 3: a good year, but he traded all those picks and

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Speaker 3: then he kind of left mid season, so it's certainly

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Speaker 3: an accomplishment. They played really hard down the second half

361
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Speaker 3: of the year. Getting in the playoffs is no small feat.

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Speaker 3: They continue to bring it on a nightly basis. They

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Speaker 3: did not quit despite the coaching change. But I don't

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Speaker 3: know if it was a good season. It certainly was

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Speaker 3: a noteworthy season, a surprising season, a strange season, maybe

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Speaker 3: one of the strangest in the whole league.

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Speaker 1: Frankly, Yeah, when the GM trades away all of the

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Speaker 1: future and then leaves months into the future, that was

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Speaker 1: pretty weird. Wighed out one in Wayne Wade now a

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Speaker 1: part of the Chicago Sky So at least I'm feeling

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Speaker 1: pretty confident about that. But uh, yeah, I was. It's

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Speaker 1: tough to go from winning a championship almost getting back

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Speaker 1: to now scraping into the playoffs and not exactly knowing

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Speaker 1: where the next bit of help is going to come from.

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Speaker 1: But at least Colia Kapfer signed an extension, so that's

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Speaker 1: good because she is awesome to watch. Moving on, what

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Speaker 1: do you think is going to be the most exciting

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Speaker 1: first round? Series in the WNBA playoffs.

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Speaker 3: To me, it is dream wings. I just think there's

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Speaker 3: a lot of talent. That's the four or five series.

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Speaker 3: It's just two teams that have very interesting, kind of

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Speaker 3: up and coming rosters, a lot of young roster talent

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Speaker 3: on both sides. You know, Ryan Howard, Alisha Gray kind

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Speaker 3: of in Atlanta, they're back in the postseason for the

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Speaker 3: first time since twenty eighteen. And then you have Dallas.

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Speaker 3: Right Satu Sabili might win most improved players she's had,

387
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Speaker 3: you know, the best year of her young career. Arique Ogombawalle,

388
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Speaker 3: you know, one of the best bucket getters in the

389
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Speaker 3: w and Dallas, I think just interest places one of

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Speaker 3: the most interesting styles, can shape shift like few other

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Speaker 3: teams in the WNBA. Their front court is really their

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Speaker 3: strength or one of the things that really makes them

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Speaker 3: so unique. I mentioned Satusaboli, but they have Tierra McCowan

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Speaker 3: who's one of the best low post players on both

395
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Speaker 3: ends in the league. Natasha Howard, a former Defensive Player

396
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Speaker 3: of the Year. Also in that front court. Off the bench,

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Speaker 3: they have Awa Kwir who's one of the most kind

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Speaker 3: of intriguing young players. Another big who's super versatile, provides

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Speaker 3: some rim protection, can also stretch on the perimeter. And

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Speaker 3: Colonie Brown, who is another force, who's one of them,

401
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Speaker 3: in my opinion, on the short list of players for

402
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Speaker 3: most Improved. So they just throw big bodies at teams

403
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Speaker 3: and can really frustrate them. We saw them frustrate Atlanta

404
00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:41,680
Speaker 3: during their regular season that way. Dallas won all three

405
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Speaker 3: games in Atlanta, who is already a little bit mid

406
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Speaker 3: range happy, took more mid range shots against the Wings

407
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Speaker 3: than they did on average. I believe it was four

408
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Speaker 3: or five more on average. And so we'll see how

409
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Speaker 3: Atlanta chooses to attack Dallas. Can they get to the rim,

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Speaker 3: can they create But for me, these are just two

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Speaker 3: teams that have expectations, that have young talent, and it's

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Speaker 3: just a nutrition and clash of style. So that is

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Speaker 3: a series I have mine on. Maybe you have that

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Speaker 3: as well, being in Atlanta, or you're at least hoping

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Speaker 3: to get a game, you said, and see him in person.

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Speaker 1: That's exactly right. I was really happy to see Atlanta

417
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Speaker 1: work their way up to the five seed because if

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Speaker 1: they were playing Las Vegas or New York, I'm thinking,

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Speaker 1: ain't no way there's going to be a playoff game

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Speaker 1: here in Atlanta. For those that don't know the WNBA

421
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Speaker 1: playoff format, in the first round goes the higher seeded

422
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Speaker 1: team gets the first two games at home, and then

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Speaker 1: if the lower seeded team wins one of those two games,

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Speaker 1: the closeout Game three is in the lower seeded arena.

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Speaker 1: So it would be a huge game if the Dream

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Speaker 1: can somehow get the series back here. But I don't know.

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Speaker 1: Like you mentioned Atlanta zero to three versus Dallas this

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Speaker 1: season and then they got absolutely smoked on Sunday in

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Speaker 1: the season finale. I guess the game didn't totally mean

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Speaker 1: all that much, but not exactly how you want to

431
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Speaker 1: be going in to the playoffs against this team, but

432
00:19:57,000 --> 00:19:59,480
Speaker 1: at least they're back for the first time since twenty eighteen.

433
00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:02,320
Speaker 1: Make a prediction for me, though, Ben, Do you think

434
00:20:02,359 --> 00:20:04,200
Speaker 1: I'll get to go to a Game three in Atlanta?

435
00:20:05,119 --> 00:20:06,880
Speaker 3: I don't think so.

436
00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:10,040
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Well, shows over, get out of here, man.

437
00:20:10,359 --> 00:20:13,160
Speaker 1: I hate to hear that we'll see. Hopefully it turns out.

438
00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:16,359
Speaker 1: I will be excited to see those, and hopefully it

439
00:20:16,400 --> 00:20:18,000
Speaker 1: turns out that there's a game here in Atlanta. I

440
00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:20,680
Speaker 1: did want to ask you about Sun versus Links. How

441
00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:23,679
Speaker 1: are the Links tenth in the league in point differential,

442
00:20:23,840 --> 00:20:26,359
Speaker 1: tenth in the league in net rating, and still a

443
00:20:26,440 --> 00:20:28,240
Speaker 1: sixth seed in the playoffs. This is a team I

444
00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:29,720
Speaker 1: can't figure out. Well.

445
00:20:29,760 --> 00:20:32,840
Speaker 3: Partly it's because I think throughout the whole season, the

446
00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:36,280
Speaker 3: middle of the WNBA has been so bunged that frankly,

447
00:20:36,320 --> 00:20:38,600
Speaker 3: it has come down to a couple possessions here, a

448
00:20:38,640 --> 00:20:41,840
Speaker 3: couple possessions there. You know, the margins and the eventual

449
00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:44,200
Speaker 3: seating really didn't shake out the way it did until

450
00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:47,760
Speaker 3: the final week, final ten days of the regular season. Minnesota,

451
00:20:47,880 --> 00:20:50,199
Speaker 3: you know, could have very well seen themselves on the

452
00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:53,200
Speaker 3: outside looking in, but played pretty well down the stretch

453
00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:55,680
Speaker 3: of the season. They also do have one of the five,

454
00:20:55,800 --> 00:20:58,879
Speaker 3: six seven best players in the league, Nafisakllier, and she

455
00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:02,760
Speaker 3: had another great regular season. And because they have an

456
00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:05,720
Speaker 3: anchor like that who can again create her own shot,

457
00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:08,880
Speaker 3: can facilitate, can shoot it from the perimeter, can rim

458
00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:10,560
Speaker 3: protect it. You know, I think I had her on

459
00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:13,120
Speaker 3: one of my All defensive teams as well as on

460
00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:16,040
Speaker 3: my All WNBA first team because they have a player

461
00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:19,040
Speaker 3: of that caliber. When things break down, she is able

462
00:21:19,040 --> 00:21:22,679
Speaker 3: to bail them out and I think overcome some of

463
00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:26,600
Speaker 3: those statistical the notes you had, and again there really

464
00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:32,159
Speaker 3: was not a lot separating Minnesota and Chicago, and frankly

465
00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:34,760
Speaker 3: the Los Angeles Sparks, who find themselves on the outside

466
00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:37,919
Speaker 3: looking in, right, these two teams really did jockey for position.

467
00:21:38,040 --> 00:21:40,880
Speaker 3: So for me, it's just about fee and about making

468
00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:43,560
Speaker 3: plays in big moments, and that's something that she has done.

469
00:21:43,760 --> 00:21:45,840
Speaker 3: She did show Reeve one of the best coaches as well,

470
00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:49,160
Speaker 3: So I don't expect, though you measured, you throw out

471
00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:51,600
Speaker 3: some of the measurable stray You know they're playing Connecticut.

472
00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:54,800
Speaker 3: Connecticut was significantly the third best team by a significant

473
00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:57,840
Speaker 3: margin compared to Dallas, and was closer I think, to

474
00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:00,399
Speaker 3: the upper echelon group, so I also expect to sweep

475
00:22:00,440 --> 00:22:00,800
Speaker 3: in that one.

476
00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:04,879
Speaker 1: Frankly probably, I think the only playoff team we haven't

477
00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:07,320
Speaker 1: touched on yet is the Washington Mystics, and they're taken

478
00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:10,760
Speaker 1: on the New York Liberty and the first round. Any

479
00:22:10,840 --> 00:22:13,359
Speaker 1: chance of an upset there. I see. The Mystics are

480
00:22:13,359 --> 00:22:15,800
Speaker 1: fourth in defense on the year. They've obviously got Alena

481
00:22:15,840 --> 00:22:19,240
Speaker 1: Deladon back healthy. Ariel Atkins's play in Shakira Austin. I

482
00:22:19,280 --> 00:22:23,080
Speaker 1: know is a question mark right now. But they just

483
00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:25,640
Speaker 1: beat the Liberty on a buzzer beater, so that's got

484
00:22:25,680 --> 00:22:27,560
Speaker 1: to give them a little confidence going in. Is that

485
00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:32,240
Speaker 1: any any sort of upset threat coming from Washington?

486
00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:34,960
Speaker 3: I think it like maybe the Juicy a series or

487
00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:38,879
Speaker 3: the series with the most drama kind of storylines. You know,

488
00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:41,560
Speaker 3: if you were to tell someone preseason that Washington was

489
00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:43,440
Speaker 3: going to play New York in the first round, I

490
00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:46,760
Speaker 3: think people would be pretty surprised and something would have happened,

491
00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:48,600
Speaker 3: and something did happen. Washington dealt with a lot of

492
00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:51,360
Speaker 3: injuries and that caused them to stumble down the standings

493
00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:53,840
Speaker 3: a little bit during the regular season. The mystics are

494
00:22:53,880 --> 00:22:57,000
Speaker 3: not short on confidence. I think that is Foreshore guaranteed,

495
00:22:57,040 --> 00:22:59,560
Speaker 3: no matter who was on the court. We saw after

496
00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:03,159
Speaker 3: they after they beat New York this past Sunday, you know,

497
00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:06,440
Speaker 3: Natasha Cloud waved to the crowd almost to say bye bye,

498
00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:08,640
Speaker 3: bye bye, but the irony of course being that she's

499
00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:11,680
Speaker 3: coming back because Washington is playing in New York on

500
00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:14,760
Speaker 3: Friday and then will play again on the following Tuesday,

501
00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:17,840
Speaker 3: per Game two. So you know, it's it is a

502
00:23:18,119 --> 00:23:20,200
Speaker 3: It is a team that has really frustrated New York

503
00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:22,920
Speaker 3: throughout the regular season. They played early in the year,

504
00:23:23,040 --> 00:23:26,080
Speaker 3: the first game of the season, Washington beat New York handily,

505
00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:28,399
Speaker 3: and then they won Washington did the last day of

506
00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:31,280
Speaker 3: the season. But across their four matchups, New York is,

507
00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:33,680
Speaker 3: you know, a great three point shooting team. I think

508
00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:36,240
Speaker 3: they shot something thirty seven, thirty eight, thirty nine percent

509
00:23:36,359 --> 00:23:38,959
Speaker 3: during the year. They both took less threes when they

510
00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:41,200
Speaker 3: played Washington, they shot it I think five or six

511
00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:43,879
Speaker 3: a percentage points worse. And they also average I think

512
00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:46,320
Speaker 3: five more turnovers per game, and a lot of that

513
00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:49,280
Speaker 3: is just because of Washington's back Where you mentioned aaronl Atkins,

514
00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:52,639
Speaker 3: Natasha Cloud, Britney Sykes, these are three players from the

515
00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:55,679
Speaker 3: guard position who can frustrate anyone they play. These are

516
00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:58,359
Speaker 3: All League defenders in the past. Some might make an

517
00:23:58,359 --> 00:24:01,720
Speaker 3: All League a defensive team again this year. So their

518
00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:03,760
Speaker 3: ability to put some of the clamps on New York's

519
00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:06,520
Speaker 3: perimeter players and just be really switchable on the perimeter

520
00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:09,159
Speaker 3: is one of their biggest advantages. The injury stuff is

521
00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:11,880
Speaker 3: a question. New York is still the most talented team.

522
00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:16,000
Speaker 3: You know, it's not crazy to pick the Mystics to

523
00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:19,080
Speaker 3: upset the Liberty. Do I think it will happen. I don't.

524
00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:21,560
Speaker 3: I think the talent of the Liberty is supreme, and

525
00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:24,600
Speaker 3: I frankly think they took them a little while. I'm

526
00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:27,920
Speaker 3: not sure how motivated they were exactly for Sunday's game,

527
00:24:27,920 --> 00:24:30,440
Speaker 3: if you're going to give them some truth serum considering

528
00:24:30,440 --> 00:24:32,879
Speaker 3: how early they fell behind by double digits early in

529
00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:36,800
Speaker 3: that one. But it certainly is an intriguing series. I

530
00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:39,440
Speaker 3: could see both games, or all three games coming down

531
00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:41,720
Speaker 3: to the final couple minutes, but I do expect New

532
00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:43,119
Speaker 3: York to still pull it out.

533
00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:46,240
Speaker 1: Yeah. Maybe it's a classic hustlers move where you let

534
00:24:46,320 --> 00:24:48,200
Speaker 1: them get a little bit of confidence before you crush

535
00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:51,000
Speaker 1: them when it really matters. But yeah, let's see that

536
00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:55,119
Speaker 1: bracket again real quick. Jerome WNBA playoffs start tomorrow night, Wednesday,

537
00:24:55,400 --> 00:25:00,200
Speaker 1: September thirteenth. We're starting with The Aces and the Sky

538
00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:03,360
Speaker 1: and the Sun and the Links. The other two series

539
00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:06,280
Speaker 1: start on Friday of this week. I believe all those

540
00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:10,600
Speaker 1: are on ABC or ESPN or one of their associated networks.

541
00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:13,680
Speaker 1: The other thing I want to ask you about, Ben

542
00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:17,600
Speaker 1: before we get into the athletics. Anonymous player poll, Big

543
00:25:17,640 --> 00:25:21,320
Speaker 1: Time MVP race in the WNBA this season basically a

544
00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:24,359
Speaker 1: three player race between Asia Wilson and Brianna Stewart, who

545
00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:27,800
Speaker 1: we talked about quite a bit, also Alyssa Thomas. This

546
00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:30,479
Speaker 1: has been an awesome race, all three of these players

547
00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:34,720
Speaker 1: putting up historic numbers, but somehow not a toxic debate

548
00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:38,440
Speaker 1: about all of these players. It seems that everybody's making

549
00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:42,120
Speaker 1: solid cases for whoever they're pulling for, while also respecting

550
00:25:42,119 --> 00:25:44,919
Speaker 1: the cases of everybody else. How would your ballot go

551
00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:46,000
Speaker 1: when you're submitting?

552
00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:49,840
Speaker 3: I mean, I would first say, sometimes WNBA twitter can

553
00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:52,639
Speaker 3: get a little tense, So you know, I'm not going

554
00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:55,600
Speaker 3: to say it was fully without just clean, healthy together.

555
00:25:55,960 --> 00:25:58,840
Speaker 3: I think it was certainly tense at times. You know,

556
00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:04,159
Speaker 3: this debate, this also this MVP race. Rather, it was

557
00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:06,080
Speaker 3: really a matter of preference for a lot of people

558
00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:08,320
Speaker 3: of do you look at best player on best team,

559
00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:11,679
Speaker 3: do you look at best player and maybe those are

560
00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:13,720
Speaker 3: the same people, or do you look at most valuable

561
00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:17,840
Speaker 3: for me? In the end, on this one, I actually

562
00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:22,240
Speaker 3: slightly leaned Alyssa Thomas. Both Brienna Stewart and Asia Wilson

563
00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:25,040
Speaker 3: had historic seasons, and you know, as our poll suggested,

564
00:26:25,119 --> 00:26:27,080
Speaker 3: and I think just from watching the games, I think

565
00:26:27,119 --> 00:26:30,000
Speaker 3: Stewie and Asia are the two best players just in

566
00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:32,840
Speaker 3: the league, and they will battle out for MVP after MVP.

567
00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:36,440
Speaker 3: But the nature of Alyssa thomas seasons just the amount

568
00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:39,159
Speaker 3: of triple doubleish she racked up, but more importantly just

569
00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:43,399
Speaker 3: the on off splits related to her and Stewie in Asia, right,

570
00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:46,960
Speaker 3: there's so much talent around both on the Liberty and

571
00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:49,920
Speaker 3: the Aces that I did kind of struggle to parse through.

572
00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:53,920
Speaker 3: You know that those on off numbers, right, I think

573
00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:56,000
Speaker 3: Asia was if you took her off the team, in

574
00:26:56,000 --> 00:26:58,080
Speaker 3: the minute she was removed, the net rating of the

575
00:26:58,119 --> 00:27:00,560
Speaker 3: Aces was still like the fourth best in the WHO League.

576
00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:03,920
Speaker 3: If you took Stewie off, they would be the fifth

577
00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:06,159
Speaker 3: best team. I think Alyssa Thomas, if you took her

578
00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:08,080
Speaker 3: off the court for Connecticut, they were like a minus

579
00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:11,199
Speaker 3: twenty three per one hundred possessions. There was like a

580
00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:14,080
Speaker 3: thirty point difference in terms of net rating with her

581
00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:16,480
Speaker 3: on the floor. And she was like she I think

582
00:27:16,600 --> 00:27:19,000
Speaker 3: was second in the WNBA in minutes, Like she had

583
00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:22,320
Speaker 3: to literally do everything for the Connecticut Sun, and she

584
00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:25,679
Speaker 3: did it at such a supremely high level that in

585
00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:28,680
Speaker 3: this conversation, in this moment, I actually leaned with the

586
00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:31,960
Speaker 3: kind of most valuable. I did rest on that word,

587
00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:34,040
Speaker 3: which you know you can certainly quibble with, and I

588
00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:36,480
Speaker 3: don't necessarily always think is the right thing to do,

589
00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:39,320
Speaker 3: But I just found the numbers to be pretty stark.

590
00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:42,399
Speaker 3: There is so much talent around the Aces, on the

591
00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:47,040
Speaker 3: Aces and on the Liberty, Connecticut's roster just doesn't match up.

592
00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:50,400
Speaker 3: And she really did carry them their other all star,

593
00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:54,000
Speaker 3: Brianna Jones, she tore her achilles early in the season,

594
00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:57,399
Speaker 3: Connecticut had to reinvent itself and leaned even more heavily

595
00:27:57,400 --> 00:28:01,000
Speaker 3: into Alissa Thomas, and they were planning heading into the year,

596
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:03,520
Speaker 3: and so just a magnitude of her year, how special

597
00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:06,479
Speaker 3: she was, I actually went that direction. I don't know

598
00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:08,959
Speaker 3: if you disagree agree. I don't really think you can

599
00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:09,880
Speaker 3: go wrong with any choice.

600
00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:14,280
Speaker 1: Frankly, though, exactly right. There's like the three classic cases

601
00:28:14,320 --> 00:28:16,920
Speaker 1: for the MVVP. Like you're saying, best player on best team,

602
00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:19,480
Speaker 1: which would be Asia Wilson probably who I would choose,

603
00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:22,520
Speaker 1: just because I think she's the best player, even though

604
00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:26,360
Speaker 1: in the Athletics anonymous player poll and WNBA players think

605
00:28:26,359 --> 00:28:29,840
Speaker 1: it's Brianna Stewart, So that's another great case for her.

606
00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:33,240
Speaker 1: And then, like you're saying, the literal definition of valuable,

607
00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:36,480
Speaker 1: it's hard to argue against Alyssa Thomas thirty points per

608
00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:39,840
Speaker 1: one hundred possessions better when she's on the floor, that's

609
00:28:39,840 --> 00:28:42,880
Speaker 1: pretty influential. And like you're saying, they lost their second

610
00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:44,760
Speaker 1: best player as well, so for her to go to

611
00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:47,320
Speaker 1: that level I think is incredible. I also feel like

612
00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:51,400
Speaker 1: the WNBA does a pretty good job of spreading the

613
00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:54,160
Speaker 1: wealth for these awards. I don't think we've had back

614
00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:57,720
Speaker 1: to back WNBA MVP since the first two seasons in

615
00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:01,719
Speaker 1: the league when Cynthia Cooper won for the comments. So

616
00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:04,280
Speaker 1: I could see it going not to Asia Wilson and

617
00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:06,240
Speaker 1: maybe bucking that trend of the best player in the

618
00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:09,720
Speaker 1: on the best team getting the MVP. We know those

619
00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:12,080
Speaker 1: three will be one, two, three in some order. Who's

620
00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:14,160
Speaker 1: coming in fourth and fifth because there are other spots

621
00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:15,080
Speaker 1: on the ballot.

622
00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:17,160
Speaker 3: I mean, I like, if he's a Collier's case, I

623
00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:19,360
Speaker 3: think she will, you know, find her name up there.

624
00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:23,200
Speaker 3: Neka Gumikay also super deserving. I think those were the

625
00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:27,200
Speaker 3: final two players on my ballot. Someone like Satusaboli for

626
00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:29,880
Speaker 3: the Wings, I think will receive some votes and then

627
00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:32,480
Speaker 3: maybe like an ancillary piece or not so ancillary, because

628
00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:34,600
Speaker 3: these are incredible players and we're talking MVP baalt But

629
00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:37,680
Speaker 3: like Jackie Young, you know, she had a great year.

630
00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:39,360
Speaker 3: I wouldn't be shocked if she got some votes. But

631
00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:42,200
Speaker 3: I do really think when the voting comes out, it

632
00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:44,440
Speaker 3: will be pretty bunched up between one, two and three,

633
00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:46,640
Speaker 3: and then down ballot, I think it will be a

634
00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:50,280
Speaker 3: little bit more distance. Much like, frankly, the WNBA regular season,

635
00:29:50,360 --> 00:29:52,920
Speaker 3: right there was a big gap between one to two

636
00:29:53,080 --> 00:29:56,640
Speaker 3: and Connecticut was third, but you know, was pretty consistently

637
00:29:56,680 --> 00:29:58,760
Speaker 3: the third best team throughout the entire year, and then

638
00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:01,600
Speaker 3: four through twelve was much more bunch together. I think

639
00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:05,600
Speaker 3: we'll see something similar, frankly, in MVP voting when it's released.

640
00:30:06,800 --> 00:30:09,200
Speaker 1: Awesome stuff. Ben, If you've got an opinion out there

641
00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:11,760
Speaker 1: on who should be WNBA MVP, let us know down

642
00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:13,680
Speaker 1: in the comments, let us know here in the chat.

643
00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:15,800
Speaker 1: We're going to take a quick break here and when

644
00:30:15,800 --> 00:30:18,320
Speaker 1: we come back, we will talk about the athletics. WNBA

645
00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:23,400
Speaker 1: Anonymous player poll some good stuff back with no donks

646
00:30:23,480 --> 00:30:26,520
Speaker 1: talking to the Athletics, Ben Pickman. Ben, you just collaborated

647
00:30:26,560 --> 00:30:30,000
Speaker 1: with your co host Sabrina Merchant on an anonymous player poll,

648
00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:32,680
Speaker 1: asking a bunch of tough questions to all of the

649
00:30:32,720 --> 00:30:35,240
Speaker 1: WNBA players. So I wanted to pick your brain on

650
00:30:35,280 --> 00:30:37,600
Speaker 1: some of the most interesting stuff. We've referenced it a

651
00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:41,240
Speaker 1: couple of times already big question who is the best

652
00:30:41,240 --> 00:30:45,520
Speaker 1: player in the NBA? And the voting shook out a

653
00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:48,520
Speaker 1: little surprising to me, if I'm being quite honest, Ben,

654
00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:51,840
Speaker 1: Brianna Stewart fifty four percent of the vote, Asia Wilson

655
00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:54,160
Speaker 1: thirty one percent of the vote. No surprise those two

656
00:30:54,800 --> 00:30:57,600
Speaker 1: came in at the top. Yakaguo McKay came in with

657
00:30:57,680 --> 00:30:59,160
Speaker 1: nine percent of the vote, and then a couple other

658
00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:03,480
Speaker 1: players got a vote as well. Were you surprised to

659
00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:06,800
Speaker 1: see the gap that big between Breonna Stewart and Asia

660
00:31:06,840 --> 00:31:10,280
Speaker 1: Wilson almost two to one vote for Stewie.

661
00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:13,760
Speaker 3: You know, I was a little bit frankly, I will say,

662
00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:16,680
Speaker 3: just for context, we talked to just under fifty players,

663
00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:18,800
Speaker 3: so around a third of the league, so we certainly

664
00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:21,840
Speaker 3: didn't talk to all one hundred and forty four or

665
00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:23,720
Speaker 3: a little more or a little less, depending on who

666
00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:26,520
Speaker 3: was in it at a given time. I mean, I

667
00:31:26,560 --> 00:31:29,240
Speaker 3: do think part of it was just Brianna Stewart and

668
00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:32,880
Speaker 3: just on a nightly basis, you know, she was incredible.

669
00:31:32,920 --> 00:31:34,880
Speaker 3: But I guess I really don't have a reason as

670
00:31:34,920 --> 00:31:37,840
Speaker 3: to why I think that difference was what it was that.

671
00:31:37,920 --> 00:31:40,920
Speaker 3: You know, maybe it was just personal preference for a

672
00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:44,800
Speaker 3: player playing against Stewie when we talked to them. You know,

673
00:31:44,840 --> 00:31:47,280
Speaker 3: we we talked to at least two or three players

674
00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:50,000
Speaker 3: on every team, so we certainly spread it out. We

675
00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:53,200
Speaker 3: were you know, we tried diligently as we conducted the

676
00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:56,920
Speaker 3: survey to not just have a concentration of players, you know,

677
00:31:56,960 --> 00:31:59,160
Speaker 3: certain questions. You were not allowed to pick players on

678
00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:01,880
Speaker 3: your own team, and we were clear about that when

679
00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:06,560
Speaker 3: that was the context. So honestly, Trey, I wish I

680
00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:09,880
Speaker 3: had a better reason. You know, I think I think

681
00:32:09,920 --> 00:32:12,640
Speaker 3: All Star voting will be a little bit closer than

682
00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:16,040
Speaker 3: one our pole suggested in the end. But and Asia

683
00:32:16,120 --> 00:32:18,400
Speaker 3: might even be MVP. But maybe it was just the

684
00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:20,760
Speaker 3: personal preference of the players we talked with. I really

685
00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:22,840
Speaker 3: don't have a good explanation for you on that one.

686
00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:27,360
Speaker 1: Well, Stewey scored forty what four times, I think this season,

687
00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:29,040
Speaker 1: So I guess there's a good chance you may have

688
00:32:29,080 --> 00:32:31,880
Speaker 1: talked to the players she lit up after those games,

689
00:32:32,200 --> 00:32:36,040
Speaker 1: which would probably influence the voting. Like I mentioned, Gua McKay,

690
00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:39,120
Speaker 1: Alyssa Thomas, and Jewel Lloyd all got votes for best

691
00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:41,680
Speaker 1: player in the league, Yaka came in third, and then

692
00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:44,400
Speaker 1: Alyssa and Jewel also got a vote. Do you think

693
00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:48,080
Speaker 1: there's anybody else who would be deserving of showing up

694
00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:50,040
Speaker 1: in the other category at the very least?

695
00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:51,840
Speaker 3: I mean, if he's a Collier, I think would be

696
00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:54,120
Speaker 3: the other name. I think she's one of the players.

697
00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:55,959
Speaker 3: If you were, you know, starting a team, it wouldn't

698
00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:58,120
Speaker 3: be unreasonable to want to start a franchise around her.

699
00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:02,200
Speaker 3: We certainly see Minnesota right now building a franchise around her.

700
00:33:02,240 --> 00:33:04,480
Speaker 3: But no, I mean, I think those are really the

701
00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:08,200
Speaker 3: players you would target, the players that gms would target,

702
00:33:08,200 --> 00:33:10,040
Speaker 3: the players that fans would target, would be would be

703
00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:10,880
Speaker 3: the stars you mentioned.

704
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:14,200
Speaker 1: All right, that's the best player now. But another question

705
00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:16,560
Speaker 1: I really liked that y'all asked was who will be

706
00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:20,560
Speaker 1: the best player in the league in five years? Asia Wilson.

707
00:33:20,800 --> 00:33:23,760
Speaker 1: She did come in first in the voting here but

708
00:33:24,080 --> 00:33:26,040
Speaker 1: not by all that much. Thirty one percent of the

709
00:33:26,120 --> 00:33:29,560
Speaker 1: vote going for the Aces Asia Wilson, followed by twenty

710
00:33:29,600 --> 00:33:33,400
Speaker 1: seven zero point six percent for Elijah Boston. The rookie

711
00:33:33,440 --> 00:33:37,200
Speaker 1: for the Indiana Fever. Jackie Young got some votes, Satu

712
00:33:37,280 --> 00:33:40,080
Speaker 1: Sabai got some votes, as you mentioned, and then a

713
00:33:40,120 --> 00:33:44,960
Speaker 1: whole bunch of other players as well. What's the ceiling

714
00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:46,880
Speaker 1: for a Leah Boston. I know she's gonna win Rookie

715
00:33:46,880 --> 00:33:50,560
Speaker 1: of the Year pretty easily. This year, the Fever had

716
00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:52,960
Speaker 1: a chance maybe of making the playoffs if things went

717
00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:56,280
Speaker 1: their way more in clutch time. What's the ceiling for

718
00:33:56,320 --> 00:33:59,800
Speaker 1: a Leah because she seems like she's the best prospects

719
00:33:59,840 --> 00:34:00,760
Speaker 1: to Asia Wilson.

720
00:34:01,400 --> 00:34:03,440
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think the ceiling is what this

721
00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:05,560
Speaker 3: pole suggests. This ceiling might be that she could be

722
00:34:05,600 --> 00:34:08,719
Speaker 3: the best player in the league in five years. If

723
00:34:08,719 --> 00:34:11,200
Speaker 3: it even takes five years, I think she can be

724
00:34:11,640 --> 00:34:14,960
Speaker 3: that good. We saw her impact almost from the jump

725
00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:17,080
Speaker 3: from her very first game, from her first few games

726
00:34:17,120 --> 00:34:20,239
Speaker 3: with Indiana this year, that franchise took a ton of

727
00:34:20,239 --> 00:34:23,320
Speaker 3: step forwards on court, off court. I think they're investing

728
00:34:23,400 --> 00:34:25,799
Speaker 3: more than maybe they have in the past, and you know,

729
00:34:25,800 --> 00:34:27,520
Speaker 3: they have a real identity. You can see they put

730
00:34:27,520 --> 00:34:29,239
Speaker 3: out a lot more then these things matter, like a

731
00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:31,960
Speaker 3: lot more social content, a lot more stuff on social media,

732
00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:34,759
Speaker 3: more personality. They've really started to build around her on

733
00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:36,759
Speaker 3: all facets, the way you would expect a team to

734
00:34:36,760 --> 00:34:39,720
Speaker 3: build around their franchise player in so many different ways.

735
00:34:39,719 --> 00:34:42,080
Speaker 3: And so I think the ceiling is, you know what

736
00:34:42,120 --> 00:34:44,319
Speaker 3: that pole suggests. I do want to if you know,

737
00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:46,120
Speaker 3: you want to go back to that graphic or flash

738
00:34:46,120 --> 00:34:48,440
Speaker 3: it up or I can talk through it again, you

739
00:34:48,440 --> 00:34:51,120
Speaker 3: know that graphic. I think this question is one of

740
00:34:51,160 --> 00:34:53,239
Speaker 3: the most interesting we did in the whole pole, and

741
00:34:53,280 --> 00:34:55,080
Speaker 3: I just want to highlight two things on it. One,

742
00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:57,759
Speaker 3: you know the other Brianna Steart is an other on

743
00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:00,879
Speaker 3: this question, but she was the best player on the other.

744
00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:02,960
Speaker 3: And I think one of the reasons they jumped out

745
00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:05,960
Speaker 3: to me is that I think there is this perception

746
00:35:06,080 --> 00:35:08,640
Speaker 3: that she's so much older than Asia Wilson, when there's

747
00:35:08,640 --> 00:35:11,120
Speaker 3: really just a two year gap between the two. And

748
00:35:11,200 --> 00:35:14,279
Speaker 3: so to see this kind of stark discrepancy between best

749
00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:17,000
Speaker 3: player right now and who some players think will be

750
00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:19,720
Speaker 3: the best player in five years, when Asia and Stewie

751
00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:23,400
Speaker 3: are pretty close to contemporaries, or much more contemporaries than

752
00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:26,160
Speaker 3: say Asia and Aliah Boston are. I think that was

753
00:35:26,200 --> 00:35:28,279
Speaker 3: one thing that kind of surprised me as we were

754
00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:30,239
Speaker 3: doing the poll was just how few people frankly said

755
00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:32,880
Speaker 3: Brianna Stewart. And again maybe that's because of her achilles

756
00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:35,200
Speaker 3: injury also a couple of years back, and Asia obviously

757
00:35:35,239 --> 00:35:38,200
Speaker 3: hasn't had a significant injury like that yet. The other

758
00:35:38,239 --> 00:35:42,719
Speaker 3: thing is no college players, right, No Caitlin Clark, no

759
00:35:42,840 --> 00:35:46,000
Speaker 3: Angel Reese, no Camera Brink. You know we have there's

760
00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:48,319
Speaker 3: gonna be an incredible influx of talent coming into the

761
00:35:48,440 --> 00:35:51,759
Speaker 3: WNBA over the next couple of years. You could have

762
00:35:51,840 --> 00:35:53,759
Speaker 3: set a college player for this question, we would have

763
00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:56,680
Speaker 3: accepted it. No one went that route. I think a

764
00:35:56,719 --> 00:36:00,120
Speaker 3: couple of people pondered it, thought about it. Maybe there

765
00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:01,759
Speaker 3: is a college player I should go to, or there's

766
00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:04,719
Speaker 3: so many choices, but nobody went that route, which I

767
00:36:04,719 --> 00:36:07,040
Speaker 3: think was super interesting because a year ago at this time,

768
00:36:07,160 --> 00:36:12,760
Speaker 3: Aliah Boston was playing in college, so things happened really fast.

769
00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:15,040
Speaker 3: They think it will be super interesting in three years time.

770
00:36:15,120 --> 00:36:17,560
Speaker 3: Say if we ask this question again just to see

771
00:36:17,560 --> 00:36:18,239
Speaker 3: what people.

772
00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:21,960
Speaker 1: Say, Oh yeah, in three years time, do you think

773
00:36:21,960 --> 00:36:24,520
Speaker 1: Aliah Boston will still be the choice. I mean, she'll

774
00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:26,879
Speaker 1: be halfway through her five years at that point.

775
00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:28,680
Speaker 3: She might be and honestly, she might be the best

776
00:36:28,719 --> 00:36:30,319
Speaker 3: player in the league of that choice, I think, or

777
00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:34,840
Speaker 3: maybe it will be thirty thirty thirty Stuart Wilson Aliah Boston.

778
00:36:34,880 --> 00:36:36,319
Speaker 3: I think we'll have to see it, wouldn't be shocked.

779
00:36:36,400 --> 00:36:38,800
Speaker 3: Maybe Caitlin Clark also, who really knows.

780
00:36:39,840 --> 00:36:42,080
Speaker 1: Yeah, we shall see. You mentioned that on some of

781
00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:45,000
Speaker 1: these questions you had to tell the players they can't

782
00:36:45,040 --> 00:36:47,600
Speaker 1: include anybody on their own team, and that is the

783
00:36:47,640 --> 00:36:51,160
Speaker 1: case for most underrated player in the league, which has

784
00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:55,760
Speaker 1: a funny result because other came out as the champion.

785
00:36:55,800 --> 00:36:58,439
Speaker 1: So who's your choice here as the most underrated player

786
00:36:58,480 --> 00:36:58,960
Speaker 1: in the league.

787
00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:02,279
Speaker 3: I mean, I think this was tough because there is

788
00:37:02,320 --> 00:37:05,840
Speaker 3: a media angle to it, or like a public perception angle,

789
00:37:05,880 --> 00:37:08,839
Speaker 3: and I think Jackie Young, who was the player who

790
00:37:08,840 --> 00:37:11,240
Speaker 3: received the most votes, with a singular player that received

791
00:37:11,239 --> 00:37:13,759
Speaker 3: the most votes, like, I think she is still undercovered,

792
00:37:13,880 --> 00:37:17,480
Speaker 3: under discussed, maybe publicly, and that is why a lot

793
00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:20,239
Speaker 3: of players you know, ended up saying her, you know,

794
00:37:20,360 --> 00:37:22,920
Speaker 3: you don't see a ton of you know, tweets or

795
00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:25,839
Speaker 3: big talk shows or segments about Jackie Young, but cheers

796
00:37:25,880 --> 00:37:30,319
Speaker 3: someone who most improved Player, All Stars starter. You know,

797
00:37:30,360 --> 00:37:33,879
Speaker 3: she probably make first or second team this year, one

798
00:37:33,880 --> 00:37:37,040
Speaker 3: of the five to ten best players twelve best players

799
00:37:37,080 --> 00:37:39,160
Speaker 3: in the league. But because she is a little bit

800
00:37:39,200 --> 00:37:42,040
Speaker 3: more quiet as an outward personality, I think maybe doesn't

801
00:37:42,040 --> 00:37:44,640
Speaker 3: get the coverage she deserves. But she also was a

802
00:37:44,719 --> 00:37:47,600
Speaker 3: number one pick herself in twenty nineteen, and she just

803
00:37:47,640 --> 00:37:51,200
Speaker 3: had this kind of steady growth, this steady improvement year

804
00:37:51,239 --> 00:37:53,280
Speaker 3: over year. Now she is one of the best players

805
00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:54,680
Speaker 3: in the league. But I don't think she's kind of

806
00:37:54,880 --> 00:37:59,080
Speaker 3: talked about in that same group. So that answer didn't

807
00:37:59,080 --> 00:38:02,640
Speaker 3: surprise me. But Benija Laney another candidate who received a

808
00:38:02,640 --> 00:38:04,759
Speaker 3: bunch of votes, she has been super important for the

809
00:38:04,800 --> 00:38:07,560
Speaker 3: Liberty this year. She's really the Swiss Army knife defender

810
00:38:07,640 --> 00:38:10,239
Speaker 3: for them. She's far more than just a kind of

811
00:38:10,239 --> 00:38:13,200
Speaker 3: three and D wing. And when she can create offense,

812
00:38:13,239 --> 00:38:16,960
Speaker 3: when she can score the basketball, she makes New York

813
00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:20,000
Speaker 3: even more dangerous. They're starting five and their depth. She

814
00:38:20,120 --> 00:38:22,560
Speaker 3: often guards best players on their team, you know, on

815
00:38:22,680 --> 00:38:24,600
Speaker 3: a team of super teams. I think she often is

816
00:38:24,640 --> 00:38:26,800
Speaker 3: forgotten a little bit, but she just signed an extension

817
00:38:26,800 --> 00:38:28,879
Speaker 3: with New York to keep her there for the next

818
00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:31,680
Speaker 3: couple of years as well. So she's a little bit underrated,

819
00:38:31,680 --> 00:38:34,040
Speaker 3: and I think, especially as the postseason comes, she's a

820
00:38:34,040 --> 00:38:36,440
Speaker 3: player to keep your eye on as you're watching New

821
00:38:36,520 --> 00:38:38,680
Speaker 3: York because she'll play a big role in everything they

822
00:38:38,680 --> 00:38:40,560
Speaker 3: do in all the success that they may have.

823
00:38:41,920 --> 00:38:46,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, kind of similar scenarios for Jackie Young and Benijua

824
00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:50,120
Speaker 1: Lay being maybe the fourth player after the big threes

825
00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:52,279
Speaker 1: on their teams, which is crazy to say, like you're

826
00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:54,600
Speaker 1: saying for Jackie Young, she was a number one pick.

827
00:38:54,760 --> 00:38:57,400
Speaker 1: She's gonna finish top twenty in points and assists and

828
00:38:57,440 --> 00:39:01,920
Speaker 1: basically was fifty forty ninety this season and she's the

829
00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:04,520
Speaker 1: number four option and that tells you how stacked a

830
00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:07,279
Speaker 1: team like the Aces. Are a couple of things that

831
00:39:07,320 --> 00:39:09,680
Speaker 1: stood out to me that I like to see Cheyenne

832
00:39:09,719 --> 00:39:12,760
Speaker 1: Parker getting votes for most underrated player in the league.

833
00:39:13,480 --> 00:39:15,920
Speaker 1: Played a few played a handful of seasons in the

834
00:39:16,080 --> 00:39:18,239
Speaker 1: w but really turned it on this year for the

835
00:39:18,320 --> 00:39:20,919
Speaker 1: Dream giving them an interior presence. She made All Star

836
00:39:21,760 --> 00:39:23,520
Speaker 1: for the first time. I love watching her play. And

837
00:39:23,560 --> 00:39:26,200
Speaker 1: the other thing that kind of surprised me is no

838
00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:30,840
Speaker 1: votes for Chelsea Gray Finals MVP the point God, like

839
00:39:30,880 --> 00:39:34,279
Speaker 1: you're saying she's got highlights time and time again. I

840
00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:37,080
Speaker 1: was a little surprised that she didn't get any votes

841
00:39:37,120 --> 00:39:40,400
Speaker 1: just because she seems impossible to play against and a

842
00:39:40,480 --> 00:39:42,799
Speaker 1: guaranteed clutch basket when it comes down to it.

843
00:39:43,200 --> 00:39:45,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, but she just created a lot of highlights. And

844
00:39:45,200 --> 00:39:47,320
Speaker 3: I think a lot of this is just the perception

845
00:39:47,520 --> 00:39:50,840
Speaker 3: and people tend to know Chelsea Gray's name, so you know,

846
00:39:50,880 --> 00:39:53,600
Speaker 3: maybe that was part of true. But yeah, I mean,

847
00:39:53,680 --> 00:39:55,920
Speaker 3: you know, maybe Chelsea on another team if she is

848
00:39:56,360 --> 00:39:59,560
Speaker 3: the clear one A option, whereas you know in Las

849
00:39:59,680 --> 00:40:02,399
Speaker 3: Vegas she can be one A, she can be you know,

850
00:40:02,680 --> 00:40:05,279
Speaker 3: two A, two three A, or four A depending on

851
00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:09,759
Speaker 3: who is on the court. You know, maybe she's a

852
00:40:09,760 --> 00:40:12,600
Speaker 3: little bit underrated considering how good she is. But I mean,

853
00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:14,359
Speaker 3: we see a lot of Chelsea Gray. But I think

854
00:40:14,360 --> 00:40:15,960
Speaker 3: the Shrian Parker is another good show too.

855
00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:20,840
Speaker 1: I noticed you didn't ask most overrated player. That caused

856
00:40:20,840 --> 00:40:23,400
Speaker 1: a ton of waves in the NBA when the question

857
00:40:23,520 --> 00:40:25,359
Speaker 1: was asked and Trey Dung came back as the most

858
00:40:25,400 --> 00:40:27,520
Speaker 1: overrated player in the league. Who do you think would

859
00:40:27,520 --> 00:40:28,240
Speaker 1: have won that vote.

860
00:40:28,880 --> 00:40:31,440
Speaker 3: I will I will bite my tongue on that, but

861
00:40:31,640 --> 00:40:34,680
Speaker 3: I will say a lot of players also bit their tongues.

862
00:40:35,080 --> 00:40:37,520
Speaker 3: It was something we set out to ask a little

863
00:40:37,520 --> 00:40:40,640
Speaker 3: bit on. We set out to ask a little bit

864
00:40:40,880 --> 00:40:42,920
Speaker 3: about that, and a lot of players really did not

865
00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:45,399
Speaker 3: take to that question. I will say some had thought

866
00:40:45,440 --> 00:40:48,040
Speaker 3: about it, some did not take to it. I think

867
00:40:48,040 --> 00:40:51,319
Speaker 3: it's one. Frankly, it's like it is a tough one.

868
00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:54,160
Speaker 3: If you're not getting a fair sample on like to

869
00:40:54,320 --> 00:40:57,040
Speaker 3: just run. And that was something we wrestled with as

870
00:40:57,040 --> 00:40:58,200
Speaker 3: we were putting this both together.

871
00:40:58,239 --> 00:41:01,920
Speaker 1: I will say, all right, fair enough, moving on another

872
00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:05,200
Speaker 1: great question, which organization would you most like to play for?

873
00:41:05,600 --> 00:41:09,040
Speaker 1: And the Las Vegas Aces won this one pretty handily,

874
00:41:09,239 --> 00:41:12,640
Speaker 1: taking home twenty seven percent of the vote. The next

875
00:41:12,719 --> 00:41:16,200
Speaker 1: highest finishing team the Washington Mystics and Los Angeles Sparks,

876
00:41:16,560 --> 00:41:19,759
Speaker 1: both at twenty percent. What makes the Aces such a

877
00:41:19,760 --> 00:41:23,560
Speaker 1: special organization? They've been great since they joined the WNBA.

878
00:41:23,680 --> 00:41:27,040
Speaker 3: It's talent, but it's also investment. They have a sixty

879
00:41:27,080 --> 00:41:29,960
Speaker 3: four thousand square foot brand new practice facility that has

880
00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:33,360
Speaker 3: every amenity that you would want, every kind of recovery

881
00:41:33,400 --> 00:41:37,440
Speaker 3: tub and chamber, and food and you know, own beautiful

882
00:41:37,480 --> 00:41:39,960
Speaker 3: lockers and a practice court that you can access at

883
00:41:39,960 --> 00:41:43,719
Speaker 3: any time. It's just overall investment. I think it is

884
00:41:43,760 --> 00:41:45,520
Speaker 3: a big reason why a lot of players chose them,

885
00:41:45,560 --> 00:41:48,640
Speaker 3: Certainly playing in Las Vegas and it's fun and games

886
00:41:48,680 --> 00:41:50,839
Speaker 3: are fun, and the game ops are great, and they

887
00:41:50,880 --> 00:41:52,719
Speaker 3: do a lot of things to engage the fans. The

888
00:41:52,800 --> 00:41:55,040
Speaker 3: crowds are really into it. But you know, I don't

889
00:41:55,040 --> 00:41:58,080
Speaker 3: think it's a coincidence that some of the franchises that

890
00:41:58,120 --> 00:42:00,920
Speaker 3: were most said or in pole were some of the

891
00:42:00,920 --> 00:42:04,360
Speaker 3: ones that have owners who have invested or have success.

892
00:42:04,400 --> 00:42:07,800
Speaker 3: I mean, Washington a big thing. You know, they certainly

893
00:42:07,840 --> 00:42:11,440
Speaker 3: have used some of the Mystics facilities, amenities and have

894
00:42:11,560 --> 00:42:15,080
Speaker 3: access to the monumental Sports Group Los Angeles. A ton

895
00:42:15,080 --> 00:42:17,279
Speaker 3: of people said them frankly, they have a little less

896
00:42:17,320 --> 00:42:19,279
Speaker 3: investment than some of the other teams on the list,

897
00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:23,600
Speaker 3: but whether you know, playing in La playing in Staples

898
00:42:23,640 --> 00:42:26,440
Speaker 3: or Crypto dot com playing in that arena and the

899
00:42:26,560 --> 00:42:28,799
Speaker 3: kind of appeal there, though they don't have their own

900
00:42:28,840 --> 00:42:31,640
Speaker 3: practice facility like some of the others. And then New

901
00:42:31,719 --> 00:42:35,960
Speaker 3: York Location continued investment in the franchise, but Las Vegas

902
00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:39,160
Speaker 3: stands out because of the talent, the ownership, their commitment

903
00:42:40,080 --> 00:42:41,960
Speaker 3: to the product. I think that's pretty clear, and I

904
00:42:42,000 --> 00:42:44,359
Speaker 3: think it's not really a surprise that we saw them

905
00:42:44,400 --> 00:42:45,640
Speaker 3: at this point in this point. I think that was

906
00:42:45,640 --> 00:42:49,200
Speaker 3: the answer we were expecting and it's the answer we heard. Yeah,

907
00:42:49,239 --> 00:42:51,320
Speaker 3: I see these sky crept in there with ten percent

908
00:42:51,320 --> 00:42:53,840
Speaker 3: of the vote. You think that's the Dwayne Wade effect. Yeah,

909
00:42:53,840 --> 00:42:55,840
Speaker 3: that's actually a really good point. I think it definitely

910
00:42:55,840 --> 00:42:58,279
Speaker 3: could be. I think it could be because they're another

911
00:42:58,320 --> 00:43:01,080
Speaker 3: team that you know, they don't historically have the same

912
00:43:01,160 --> 00:43:03,799
Speaker 3: level of investment as say New York right now or

913
00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:06,840
Speaker 3: Las Vegas, or maybe even a Washington or someone like

914
00:43:06,880 --> 00:43:09,880
Speaker 3: Indiana who might be able to draw from some of

915
00:43:09,880 --> 00:43:14,120
Speaker 3: the NBA facilities or the NBA ownership groups. Yeah, Dwayne

916
00:43:14,120 --> 00:43:15,959
Speaker 3: Wade effect is a really good one. I think also

917
00:43:15,960 --> 00:43:18,399
Speaker 3: playing in Chicago is still appealing, and we certainly saw

918
00:43:18,480 --> 00:43:20,839
Speaker 3: during those finals runs, the final run that they had

919
00:43:21,120 --> 00:43:23,400
Speaker 3: that crowd is great, Like they get really into it,

920
00:43:23,440 --> 00:43:27,440
Speaker 3: they're super supportive of the team, and yeah, maybe things

921
00:43:27,640 --> 00:43:30,120
Speaker 3: are starting to change for Chicago. I think for a

922
00:43:30,120 --> 00:43:33,319
Speaker 3: lot of players's personal preference to whether location where they're from,

923
00:43:33,680 --> 00:43:36,960
Speaker 3: little factors like that that maybe they we wish they

924
00:43:36,960 --> 00:43:41,239
Speaker 3: wouldn't factor in as much, but their answers so.

925
00:43:40,680 --> 00:43:44,040
Speaker 1: So beeah, exactly right. I mean, you play forty games,

926
00:43:44,120 --> 00:43:46,160
Speaker 1: that's a lot of games, but there's three hundred and

927
00:43:46,160 --> 00:43:49,120
Speaker 1: twenty five other nights out there that you gotta worry

928
00:43:49,160 --> 00:43:49,719
Speaker 1: about as well.

929
00:43:49,760 --> 00:43:51,160
Speaker 3: Summers in Chicago not bad.

930
00:43:52,040 --> 00:43:55,680
Speaker 1: Summer's in Chicago not bad. But winters in Chicago, yeah,

931
00:43:55,719 --> 00:43:59,200
Speaker 1: they are bad. As it turns out. Change in lands

932
00:43:59,200 --> 00:44:00,960
Speaker 1: here a little bit. This is actual from a different survey.

933
00:44:01,320 --> 00:44:05,400
Speaker 1: ESPN also ask some WNBA players the biggest issue facing

934
00:44:05,600 --> 00:44:09,240
Speaker 1: the WNBA, and they came back with fifty three percent

935
00:44:09,239 --> 00:44:11,840
Speaker 1: of the vote saying that travel is the biggest issue

936
00:44:12,040 --> 00:44:15,200
Speaker 1: in the WNBA. I know, y'all just did a big

937
00:44:15,239 --> 00:44:18,640
Speaker 1: episode on the travel problem in the WNBA on The

938
00:44:18,680 --> 00:44:21,840
Speaker 1: Athletic Women's Basketball Show. Do you agree this is the

939
00:44:21,840 --> 00:44:24,880
Speaker 1: biggest question that the w has to figure out going forward?

940
00:44:25,520 --> 00:44:28,560
Speaker 3: I do. I also think it is one that is

941
00:44:28,600 --> 00:44:31,440
Speaker 3: really central to the upcoming collective bargaining agreements. And not

942
00:44:31,520 --> 00:44:33,759
Speaker 3: to get too in the weeds and get too nerdy here,

943
00:44:33,800 --> 00:44:36,000
Speaker 3: but I think it is one thing that the league

944
00:44:36,120 --> 00:44:39,000
Speaker 3: recognizes is going to have to change or players really

945
00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:40,600
Speaker 3: want to change. And I think it is something that

946
00:44:40,680 --> 00:44:43,399
Speaker 3: will change in the next two or three years when

947
00:44:43,400 --> 00:44:47,480
Speaker 3: the new CBA gets renegotiated and eventually comes into effect.

948
00:44:47,560 --> 00:44:50,600
Speaker 3: I mean, we see players on a nightly basis, especially

949
00:44:51,120 --> 00:44:54,320
Speaker 3: in this extended forty game season, talk about flight delays,

950
00:44:54,360 --> 00:44:56,920
Speaker 3: talk about travel issues. It's something that I think a

951
00:44:56,960 --> 00:44:59,439
Speaker 3: lot of people don't realize is there are so few

952
00:44:59,440 --> 00:45:02,560
Speaker 3: off days the WNBA because the day after a game,

953
00:45:02,680 --> 00:45:05,680
Speaker 3: a team is flying from one arena to the other.

954
00:45:05,719 --> 00:45:09,040
Speaker 3: And as anyone who travels commercially for fun, travels for work,

955
00:45:09,120 --> 00:45:11,920
Speaker 3: goes on trips during the summer recognizes, you know, a

956
00:45:11,960 --> 00:45:14,359
Speaker 3: travel day is not the same thing as an off

957
00:45:14,440 --> 00:45:19,040
Speaker 3: day getting in an airport, flying commercial, waiting in long lines.

958
00:45:19,400 --> 00:45:22,120
Speaker 3: You know, we did this big report in mid August

959
00:45:22,160 --> 00:45:24,680
Speaker 3: that I recommend people checking out. I talked to Kathy Engelbert,

960
00:45:24,840 --> 00:45:27,840
Speaker 3: the commissioner, I talked to the WNBPA had Terry Jackson

961
00:45:28,080 --> 00:45:30,280
Speaker 3: and more than a dozen players about just small little

962
00:45:30,320 --> 00:45:33,480
Speaker 3: solutions that they would want to see on the travel problem.

963
00:45:33,640 --> 00:45:36,120
Speaker 3: You know, A very simple one that some players talk

964
00:45:36,160 --> 00:45:41,200
Speaker 3: about is lounges, just having lounge access consistently. Delta American

965
00:45:41,239 --> 00:45:45,400
Speaker 3: Airlines United, being able to rest there, to recharge, to

966
00:45:45,440 --> 00:45:47,960
Speaker 3: separate from the general public, like that is something that

967
00:45:48,120 --> 00:45:51,959
Speaker 3: WNBA players don't even have when they fly commercial. The WNBPA,

968
00:45:52,440 --> 00:45:55,200
Speaker 3: they did launch this partnership with Priority Pass, which is

969
00:45:55,239 --> 00:45:57,680
Speaker 3: a kind of, I guess, a service that provides some

970
00:45:57,719 --> 00:46:01,040
Speaker 3: lounge access, but it's a mostly international service, so you know,

971
00:46:01,080 --> 00:46:03,320
Speaker 3: there are some markets in which teams could take advantage

972
00:46:03,360 --> 00:46:05,960
Speaker 3: of it, but not that many, and so you know,

973
00:46:06,040 --> 00:46:08,800
Speaker 3: travel is going to continue to be a big topic

974
00:46:08,800 --> 00:46:10,719
Speaker 3: of discussion. One other thing I would say on it

975
00:46:11,000 --> 00:46:13,400
Speaker 3: before you know, this is a long topic and we

976
00:46:13,560 --> 00:46:15,360
Speaker 3: talked a lot about it. As you mentioned Trey on

977
00:46:15,400 --> 00:46:19,239
Speaker 3: the podcast, is the w NBPA, all they really want

978
00:46:19,280 --> 00:46:21,600
Speaker 3: is choice and optionality, Like that is the big thing

979
00:46:21,640 --> 00:46:23,959
Speaker 3: they are pushing for. They're not necessarily right now saying

980
00:46:23,960 --> 00:46:26,440
Speaker 3: we want charters on every flights. They just want teams

981
00:46:26,680 --> 00:46:29,000
Speaker 3: to have the ability to charter as much as they can.

982
00:46:29,320 --> 00:46:31,400
Speaker 3: You know, if you want to charter three flights, five flights,

983
00:46:31,480 --> 00:46:34,719
Speaker 3: eight flights, whatever. Teams don't even have that choice right now,

984
00:46:35,719 --> 00:46:37,359
Speaker 3: and that is something that they really want to see

985
00:46:37,400 --> 00:46:39,719
Speaker 3: going forward. So I do expect some change on that though,

986
00:46:39,920 --> 00:46:40,760
Speaker 3: I'm going forward.

987
00:46:41,719 --> 00:46:44,799
Speaker 1: When is the CBA up and when the negotiations take place.

988
00:46:44,719 --> 00:46:47,440
Speaker 3: It will be basically two or three years is when

989
00:46:47,480 --> 00:46:50,239
Speaker 3: the opt out is and it all will coincide with

990
00:46:50,280 --> 00:46:53,239
Speaker 3: a new media deal coming into effect. So you know,

991
00:46:53,280 --> 00:46:54,960
Speaker 3: I think the league is saying, if we can get

992
00:46:55,000 --> 00:46:58,880
Speaker 3: a new media rights deal that creates this influx of money,

993
00:46:59,000 --> 00:47:01,279
Speaker 3: basically months later we're going to see is when the

994
00:47:01,360 --> 00:47:04,840
Speaker 3: CBA would be renegotiated or accepted or could be. I guess,

995
00:47:04,880 --> 00:47:07,760
Speaker 3: you know, they can always amend things and agree earlier

996
00:47:07,840 --> 00:47:11,920
Speaker 3: or later depending on what happens, But the timeline between

997
00:47:11,920 --> 00:47:15,080
Speaker 3: the CBA and the media rights deal are aligned. And

998
00:47:15,160 --> 00:47:18,320
Speaker 3: so I think, you know, assuming the NBA the WNBA

999
00:47:18,400 --> 00:47:21,720
Speaker 3: gets a deal that they want, I think the players

1000
00:47:21,760 --> 00:47:24,759
Speaker 3: will see some charter changes if they want. One other

1001
00:47:24,800 --> 00:47:26,799
Speaker 3: thing that I think will be really interesting to this

1002
00:47:26,880 --> 00:47:30,080
Speaker 3: audience in particular, is you know, the NBA doesn't actually

1003
00:47:30,080 --> 00:47:32,400
Speaker 3: require charter flights. Like if you go through their CBA

1004
00:47:32,560 --> 00:47:34,840
Speaker 3: passed and the new one, there's nothing in there that

1005
00:47:34,840 --> 00:47:37,920
Speaker 3: says teams have to fly charter. Teams are just given

1006
00:47:37,960 --> 00:47:42,040
Speaker 3: the option to fly charter. It's just become the standard,

1007
00:47:42,080 --> 00:47:44,160
Speaker 3: and every team does it. And if an NBA team

1008
00:47:44,440 --> 00:47:47,800
Speaker 3: didn't fly charter, you know I better. I think anyone

1009
00:47:47,840 --> 00:47:49,879
Speaker 3: would suggest they're not going to get the same level

1010
00:47:49,880 --> 00:47:52,759
Speaker 3: of free agents buy out guys are not signing with

1011
00:47:52,800 --> 00:47:55,600
Speaker 3: teams that are flying commercial at this point anything like that,

1012
00:47:55,840 --> 00:47:58,560
Speaker 3: Whereas in the w NBA CBA the way it's currently written,

1013
00:47:58,680 --> 00:48:03,200
Speaker 3: teams are really restricted. You're not allowed to book charter flights.

1014
00:48:03,239 --> 00:48:04,960
Speaker 3: Teams are not allowed to do that. You have to

1015
00:48:05,000 --> 00:48:07,520
Speaker 3: fly economy plus and if a player even wants to

1016
00:48:07,520 --> 00:48:10,160
Speaker 3: fly first class, they have to pay out of pocket

1017
00:48:10,200 --> 00:48:13,560
Speaker 3: to do that. So that's just one really interesting kind

1018
00:48:13,560 --> 00:48:16,359
Speaker 3: of CBA nuance. Again, we're getting into the weeds here

1019
00:48:16,560 --> 00:48:18,799
Speaker 3: late in this episode, but you know, I think it

1020
00:48:18,840 --> 00:48:21,680
Speaker 3: just speaks to again the WNBA just wanting the players,

1021
00:48:21,719 --> 00:48:24,680
Speaker 3: wanting some choice as they look for this to change

1022
00:48:24,719 --> 00:48:26,000
Speaker 3: going forward.

1023
00:48:26,600 --> 00:48:29,080
Speaker 1: I think that's an easy ask, just being able to

1024
00:48:29,120 --> 00:48:32,400
Speaker 1: do it, and like you're saying, that would separate organizations. Furthermore,

1025
00:48:32,480 --> 00:48:34,319
Speaker 1: the teams that are willing to take charters, that are

1026
00:48:34,360 --> 00:48:36,279
Speaker 1: willing to invest that money, are going to be able

1027
00:48:36,320 --> 00:48:39,240
Speaker 1: to lure even better players. So hopefully that comes about

1028
00:48:39,719 --> 00:48:41,359
Speaker 1: in the next CBA, which said will be a couple

1029
00:48:41,400 --> 00:48:44,960
Speaker 1: of years. I assume that's the earliest that the league

1030
00:48:45,040 --> 00:48:48,839
Speaker 1: could also address something from the Athletic Player Poll, which

1031
00:48:48,880 --> 00:48:53,600
Speaker 1: is expansion. You asked players if they would rather expand

1032
00:48:53,760 --> 00:48:57,240
Speaker 1: via teams or if they would rather expand via roster spots,

1033
00:48:57,320 --> 00:49:00,520
Speaker 1: though they're not necessarily mutually exclusive. Eight percent of the

1034
00:49:00,560 --> 00:49:04,480
Speaker 1: vote went for expanding rosters, forty two percent went towards

1035
00:49:04,680 --> 00:49:07,640
Speaker 1: adding more teams, Which do you think is more likely?

1036
00:49:07,680 --> 00:49:10,040
Speaker 1: Do you think either of these happen next time around?

1037
00:49:10,760 --> 00:49:13,760
Speaker 3: I definitely do. I think we'd see movement on both fronts,

1038
00:49:14,120 --> 00:49:16,680
Speaker 3: and as you mentioned, they aren't mutually exclusive, and I

1039
00:49:16,719 --> 00:49:19,359
Speaker 3: think roster spots is something that I think players hope.

1040
00:49:19,480 --> 00:49:22,279
Speaker 3: Why doesn't it happen before CBA negotiation because I don't

1041
00:49:22,280 --> 00:49:25,480
Speaker 3: even think it would take that a full CVA renegotiation

1042
00:49:26,120 --> 00:49:28,279
Speaker 3: to expand roster sizes. You know, one thing that is

1043
00:49:28,280 --> 00:49:31,400
Speaker 3: a little bit of a misconception is the WNBA. It often,

1044
00:49:31,520 --> 00:49:33,759
Speaker 3: you know, calls itself the one forty four, and you

1045
00:49:33,760 --> 00:49:37,960
Speaker 3: know there's some symbolic significance to that, or there's kind

1046
00:49:37,960 --> 00:49:41,680
Speaker 3: of power of the activism all the off court, you know,

1047
00:49:41,800 --> 00:49:44,040
Speaker 3: power that the players have kind of in speaking to

1048
00:49:44,080 --> 00:49:47,080
Speaker 3: social issues and political issues and using their voice. That's

1049
00:49:47,120 --> 00:49:49,319
Speaker 3: part of the one forty four collective. But on a

1050
00:49:49,480 --> 00:49:52,239
Speaker 3: WNBA season, across the league, at a given point, there's

1051
00:49:52,239 --> 00:49:55,080
Speaker 3: almost never one hundred and forty four players signed. Many

1052
00:49:55,080 --> 00:49:59,279
Speaker 3: teams only roster eleven players, sometimes even ten players. There's

1053
00:49:59,280 --> 00:50:01,759
Speaker 3: something called emerge and sy hardship contracts, which is a

1054
00:50:01,760 --> 00:50:04,919
Speaker 3: big thing in the WNBA and just makes things very

1055
00:50:04,960 --> 00:50:08,799
Speaker 3: messy in players kind of coming in on and off

1056
00:50:08,880 --> 00:50:11,799
Speaker 3: rosters at any given point, and so just expanding it

1057
00:50:11,840 --> 00:50:15,319
Speaker 3: to fourteen fifteen players, maybe it's two players who don't

1058
00:50:15,400 --> 00:50:18,560
Speaker 3: dress four games but can then be activated. You know,

1059
00:50:18,680 --> 00:50:21,000
Speaker 3: that can be twenty four more jobs, thirty six more

1060
00:50:21,080 --> 00:50:24,360
Speaker 3: jobs immediately. A lot of players in our poll, you know,

1061
00:50:24,400 --> 00:50:27,080
Speaker 3: when we asked this question, they said, you know, before

1062
00:50:27,120 --> 00:50:30,440
Speaker 3: we expand to more markets, can you just treat us

1063
00:50:30,480 --> 00:50:34,000
Speaker 3: better they treat the players you have better, make their

1064
00:50:34,040 --> 00:50:36,919
Speaker 3: experiences more positive. That was a common refrain we had,

1065
00:50:36,960 --> 00:50:39,480
Speaker 3: you know, tend to those people in your house before

1066
00:50:39,719 --> 00:50:42,560
Speaker 3: building a whole new house. Was to paraphrase one of

1067
00:50:42,560 --> 00:50:44,040
Speaker 3: the remarks from a player. And I think that's a

1068
00:50:44,040 --> 00:50:47,120
Speaker 3: super fair refrain, and I don't think there's a reason

1069
00:50:47,120 --> 00:50:49,640
Speaker 3: that there couldn't be you know, more spots right now.

1070
00:50:49,719 --> 00:50:52,520
Speaker 3: I always tell people when they're getting into the WNBA

1071
00:50:52,640 --> 00:50:54,759
Speaker 3: or comparing a little bit the NBA and the w

1072
00:50:55,040 --> 00:50:58,040
Speaker 3: IS watch garbage time in the WNBA, because even in

1073
00:50:58,080 --> 00:51:02,080
Speaker 3: a thirty point blowout game, teams, you know, front runners

1074
00:51:02,080 --> 00:51:05,000
Speaker 3: for the sixth player of the year, the seventh best

1075
00:51:05,000 --> 00:51:07,520
Speaker 3: player on a team, they still have to play garbage time.

1076
00:51:07,960 --> 00:51:10,439
Speaker 3: It gets a thirty five point game and they're still

1077
00:51:10,440 --> 00:51:13,359
Speaker 3: in the game, whereas in an NBA game you never

1078
00:51:13,400 --> 00:51:16,360
Speaker 3: see that, right, Like it really is, the concept of

1079
00:51:16,400 --> 00:51:19,520
Speaker 3: empty a your bench does not really exist in the WNBA.

1080
00:51:19,760 --> 00:51:22,759
Speaker 3: More roster spots would change that problem, but it also

1081
00:51:22,800 --> 00:51:25,880
Speaker 3: would have a much more have much more effects obviously

1082
00:51:26,480 --> 00:51:26,960
Speaker 3: than just that.

1083
00:51:27,880 --> 00:51:30,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, because at the start of the season it was

1084
00:51:30,160 --> 00:51:32,640
Speaker 1: a big controversy that all of these young players were

1085
00:51:32,640 --> 00:51:34,239
Speaker 1: trying to break into the league right and there just

1086
00:51:34,239 --> 00:51:36,839
Speaker 1: weren't enough roster spots to the point where number one

1087
00:51:36,880 --> 00:51:39,520
Speaker 1: overall picks are getting waived a couple of seasons into

1088
00:51:39,600 --> 00:51:41,960
Speaker 1: their careers, which is something like you're saying, you wouldn't

1089
00:51:41,960 --> 00:51:45,520
Speaker 1: see in the NBA. So adding you know, thirty more

1090
00:51:45,600 --> 00:51:48,240
Speaker 1: jobs would have a big time effect.

1091
00:51:48,239 --> 00:51:51,160
Speaker 3: I think yeah, And look, I think first round picks

1092
00:51:51,200 --> 00:51:55,160
Speaker 3: you usually get maybe a one season in which it

1093
00:51:55,200 --> 00:51:57,520
Speaker 3: feels pretty safe, and some in recent years we seen

1094
00:51:57,600 --> 00:51:59,719
Speaker 3: haven't even made it through that. But generally I think

1095
00:51:59,800 --> 00:52:02,319
Speaker 3: a first year for a first round pick is safe.

1096
00:52:02,400 --> 00:52:04,759
Speaker 3: But by year two, when that preseason, that training camp

1097
00:52:04,800 --> 00:52:07,560
Speaker 3: comes around, like you are fighting for your job just

1098
00:52:07,640 --> 00:52:10,120
Speaker 3: like any other player. We see it with second round picks,

1099
00:52:10,160 --> 00:52:12,359
Speaker 3: third round picks right off the bat. I think it's

1100
00:52:12,440 --> 00:52:16,240
Speaker 3: like why in our business sometimes doing WNBA draft grades

1101
00:52:16,560 --> 00:52:19,759
Speaker 3: like feels kind of silly because it's like, what are

1102
00:52:19,760 --> 00:52:22,480
Speaker 3: we really evaluating here? What are we really grading? Like

1103
00:52:22,560 --> 00:52:25,760
Speaker 3: what chance do these players really have of making the team.

1104
00:52:25,880 --> 00:52:28,319
Speaker 3: It's kind of it's a sad thing to say, but

1105
00:52:29,000 --> 00:52:31,120
Speaker 3: it is a little bit of the reality that one rookie,

1106
00:52:31,239 --> 00:52:34,400
Speaker 3: you know, maybe two will make a roster on occasion,

1107
00:52:34,520 --> 00:52:38,200
Speaker 3: three will make a roster if that and sometimes don't

1108
00:52:38,200 --> 00:52:40,359
Speaker 3: even have first round picks. It just makes you know

1109
00:52:40,400 --> 00:52:42,840
Speaker 3: it is really hard for rookies to break in. Expanding

1110
00:52:42,840 --> 00:52:46,200
Speaker 3: the rosters with help player development, and again, it would

1111
00:52:46,200 --> 00:52:49,760
Speaker 3: alleviate a lot of problems. You said too, train well.

1112
00:52:49,600 --> 00:52:53,120
Speaker 1: You mentioned fixing the house that you're in before building

1113
00:52:53,120 --> 00:52:56,719
Speaker 1: a new house. If the WNBA decides to build a

1114
00:52:56,719 --> 00:52:59,040
Speaker 1: new house, which city is the next to get a team?

1115
00:52:59,640 --> 00:53:01,719
Speaker 3: I mean, I think the front runners. A lot of

1116
00:53:01,719 --> 00:53:04,400
Speaker 3: people expect Toronto, which we saw a preseason game this

1117
00:53:04,480 --> 00:53:10,920
Speaker 3: year between Minnesota and Chicago, sellout crowd, amazing atmosphere. I

1118
00:53:10,960 --> 00:53:13,440
Speaker 3: think they just put out a w NBA branded court.

1119
00:53:13,480 --> 00:53:15,799
Speaker 3: I forget where in the city it is, but you know,

1120
00:53:15,840 --> 00:53:18,000
Speaker 3: if you can someone search on Twitter, it is a

1121
00:53:18,040 --> 00:53:21,759
Speaker 3: super super cool looking court. I think that city is

1122
00:53:21,840 --> 00:53:24,280
Speaker 3: primed and ready to go. I think the Bay Area

1123
00:53:24,360 --> 00:53:27,759
Speaker 3: is also another front runner. You know, maybe it's affiliated

1124
00:53:27,760 --> 00:53:29,959
Speaker 3: with the folks that own the Golden State Warriors. Maybe

1125
00:53:29,960 --> 00:53:32,200
Speaker 3: it isn't, but that is another market that I think

1126
00:53:32,280 --> 00:53:34,960
Speaker 3: is clamoring for WNBA team that I think a w

1127
00:53:35,160 --> 00:53:36,719
Speaker 3: NBA team would definitely succeed in.

1128
00:53:38,360 --> 00:53:41,960
Speaker 1: Awesome stuff. We will wait and see what actually ends

1129
00:53:42,000 --> 00:53:46,120
Speaker 1: up happening with travel, with expanding roster spots, with expanding

1130
00:53:47,520 --> 00:53:50,960
Speaker 1: the entire league in general. We're gonna head to tweet

1131
00:53:51,120 --> 00:54:01,040
Speaker 1: of the night tweet O the night Wow tweeted the

1132
00:54:01,120 --> 00:54:02,719
Speaker 1: night Post and then I call it what you want.

1133
00:54:02,880 --> 00:54:05,480
Speaker 1: Ben brought us something special. So walk me through what

1134
00:54:05,520 --> 00:54:06,760
Speaker 1: we got here from Ryan Howard.

1135
00:54:07,280 --> 00:54:09,880
Speaker 3: Yeah. Really, it is kind of the tweet of the season,

1136
00:54:09,960 --> 00:54:12,200
Speaker 3: and you know, the exchange of the season. It is

1137
00:54:12,320 --> 00:54:15,560
Speaker 3: going back to a game earlier in the year when

1138
00:54:15,560 --> 00:54:19,839
Speaker 3: Atlanta and New York played each other. Atlanta blew out

1139
00:54:19,880 --> 00:54:22,560
Speaker 3: New York on this I think it was June twenty third,

1140
00:54:22,640 --> 00:54:24,080
Speaker 3: was the night of the game, a thirty point game

1141
00:54:24,239 --> 00:54:26,919
Speaker 3: in Atlanta, and Ryan Howard tweets out July twenty seven,

1142
00:54:27,000 --> 00:54:29,720
Speaker 3: she has marked her calendar because that was the next

1143
00:54:29,719 --> 00:54:32,920
Speaker 3: time that New York and Atlanta. We're gonna play. Like

1144
00:54:33,000 --> 00:54:35,720
Speaker 3: any good Twitter story, this is a multi part drama.

1145
00:54:35,760 --> 00:54:38,280
Speaker 3: So if you go to the next tweet, the next screen,

1146
00:54:38,480 --> 00:54:41,360
Speaker 3: you can see on July twenty seventh, these two teams

1147
00:54:41,360 --> 00:54:44,719
Speaker 3: played the New York Liberty on their official account. They

1148
00:54:44,800 --> 00:54:47,960
Speaker 3: certainly knew that Ryan Howard marked her calendar. And as

1149
00:54:48,000 --> 00:54:50,319
Speaker 3: they said, like we said before, business is business. The

1150
00:54:50,360 --> 00:54:54,319
Speaker 3: New York Liberty handled Ryan Howard and the Atlanta Dream

1151
00:54:54,360 --> 00:54:56,880
Speaker 3: that night. They actually did it twice. They you know,

1152
00:54:56,920 --> 00:54:58,960
Speaker 3: did that kind of polo graphic thing that you often

1153
00:54:59,000 --> 00:55:01,040
Speaker 3: see a site like Clench. I don't even know how

1154
00:55:01,080 --> 00:55:04,840
Speaker 3: to describe that. The little screenshot in the tweet. Another

1155
00:55:04,920 --> 00:55:07,759
Speaker 3: tweet to reference Ryan Howard's Then Ryan said, you know,

1156
00:55:08,640 --> 00:55:11,439
Speaker 3: she kind of acknowledged that New York got the last laugh,

1157
00:55:11,520 --> 00:55:13,839
Speaker 3: and you know she said, no, it's cute like she's

1158
00:55:13,840 --> 00:55:16,080
Speaker 3: gonna redeem herself going forward. You know this is a

1159
00:55:16,080 --> 00:55:19,480
Speaker 3: three part play. She didn't have the opportunity to redeem herself.

1160
00:55:19,480 --> 00:55:23,600
Speaker 3: These teams won't meet in the postseason, I believe. I'm

1161
00:55:23,600 --> 00:55:26,120
Speaker 3: not sure. I guess I'm pretty sure or I feel

1162
00:55:26,239 --> 00:55:28,120
Speaker 3: very likely saying that they will not meet in the postseason.

1163
00:55:28,120 --> 00:55:29,680
Speaker 3: I'm not sure how the math breaks out. I think

1164
00:55:29,680 --> 00:55:32,120
Speaker 3: they're on other sides of the draw entirely. But it

1165
00:55:32,120 --> 00:55:33,920
Speaker 3: will wait until next year to see if there's a

1166
00:55:34,040 --> 00:55:36,320
Speaker 3: fourth act of this play, if there's any future resolution.

1167
00:55:36,560 --> 00:55:39,040
Speaker 3: Clearly no love lost between Ryan Howard and the New

1168
00:55:39,120 --> 00:55:41,800
Speaker 3: York Liberty and the New York Liberty social media staff

1169
00:55:42,880 --> 00:55:45,880
Speaker 3: because they also got engaged in this fun not just

1170
00:55:45,960 --> 00:55:46,480
Speaker 3: a players.

1171
00:55:47,480 --> 00:55:49,920
Speaker 1: Well. I don't know when Game one of the WNBA

1172
00:55:50,000 --> 00:55:52,160
Speaker 1: Finals is scheduled, but I'd love to see a Ryan

1173
00:55:52,200 --> 00:55:55,279
Speaker 1: Howard tweet calling out the New York Liberty I'll see

1174
00:55:55,320 --> 00:55:56,000
Speaker 1: you in the finals.

1175
00:55:56,080 --> 00:55:59,280
Speaker 3: Maybe she'll be wearing an Aces jersey sitting courtside.

1176
00:55:59,320 --> 00:56:04,480
Speaker 1: Who knows well this one backfired. But I do know

1177
00:56:05,080 --> 00:56:08,560
Speaker 1: Ryan Howard is good with callout tweets because she went

1178
00:56:08,600 --> 00:56:11,200
Speaker 1: to some Hawks games and she said, Trey Young, when

1179
00:56:11,239 --> 00:56:13,480
Speaker 1: do you come into a dream game? He showed up

1180
00:56:13,520 --> 00:56:16,920
Speaker 1: to a dream game in Las Vegas, if I'm not mistaken,

1181
00:56:16,960 --> 00:56:19,480
Speaker 1: Las Vegas or Los Angeles, and she's like, that's nice.

1182
00:56:19,600 --> 00:56:21,319
Speaker 1: How about a home game? And then he ended up

1183
00:56:21,320 --> 00:56:24,319
Speaker 1: showing up at a home game as well. So you know,

1184
00:56:24,400 --> 00:56:27,520
Speaker 1: sometimes it works and sometimes you get beat by the

1185
00:56:27,520 --> 00:56:29,520
Speaker 1: New York Liberty unfortunately. Yeah.

1186
00:56:29,520 --> 00:56:34,719
Speaker 3: But who's spiciest tweeter. It's Sidney Colson. Yeah, she would

1187
00:56:34,719 --> 00:56:36,759
Speaker 3: be the MVP of the whole season. I would recommend

1188
00:56:37,440 --> 00:56:40,640
Speaker 3: following Sidney Colson. She is a part time comic. Las

1189
00:56:40,760 --> 00:56:44,359
Speaker 3: Vegas Aces guard one of their reserves, but she is

1190
00:56:44,480 --> 00:56:49,200
Speaker 3: unafraid about tweeting tons of sarcasm at her humor at

1191
00:56:49,200 --> 00:56:51,520
Speaker 3: her teammates. I think on the night that Asia scored

1192
00:56:51,560 --> 00:56:53,760
Speaker 3: fifty three, she was like, fifty four would have been nice.

1193
00:56:54,120 --> 00:56:56,200
Speaker 3: The whole team pranked her at the start of the

1194
00:56:56,280 --> 00:56:59,520
Speaker 3: year and pretended that she had been cut. Becky Hammond

1195
00:56:59,560 --> 00:57:02,160
Speaker 3: even got it involved in the prank. I mean, she

1196
00:57:02,320 --> 00:57:05,319
Speaker 3: is tweeting out her teammates, poking fun at them. She

1197
00:57:05,520 --> 00:57:08,600
Speaker 3: is fully spicy, she is fully getting in the mix.

1198
00:57:08,680 --> 00:57:11,600
Speaker 3: She is lighting up on WNB Twitter, not afraid to engage.

1199
00:57:12,400 --> 00:57:14,560
Speaker 3: She might be the single player who is the MVP

1200
00:57:14,640 --> 00:57:16,560
Speaker 3: of WNB Twitter, and that might not just be for

1201
00:57:16,640 --> 00:57:18,480
Speaker 3: this year, but in recent years too.

1202
00:57:20,000 --> 00:57:22,640
Speaker 1: What was it like on Emoji Day for you, when

1203
00:57:22,680 --> 00:57:25,600
Speaker 1: Brianna Stewart was just tweeting out random strings of emojis

1204
00:57:25,600 --> 00:57:27,120
Speaker 1: and everybody was trying to crack the code.

1205
00:57:27,280 --> 00:57:29,480
Speaker 3: It was pretty crazy, Like I certainly didn't know what

1206
00:57:29,520 --> 00:57:31,160
Speaker 3: they meant. And it was one of the things that

1207
00:57:31,360 --> 00:57:33,560
Speaker 3: when I first sat down with Stewie in New York

1208
00:57:33,960 --> 00:57:36,160
Speaker 3: at the start of the season, we did an interview

1209
00:57:37,320 --> 00:57:39,480
Speaker 3: during training camp as the training camp was ending, and

1210
00:57:39,520 --> 00:57:42,360
Speaker 3: I had actually printed out all those tweets I recommend

1211
00:57:42,360 --> 00:57:44,800
Speaker 3: people reading this story on the Athletic and I just

1212
00:57:44,840 --> 00:57:47,960
Speaker 3: said to codey's for me, and she at certain points

1213
00:57:48,040 --> 00:57:50,160
Speaker 3: was like, I'm not really sure what this one meant,

1214
00:57:50,320 --> 00:57:52,440
Speaker 3: Like I genuinely don't know. I think I was discussing

1215
00:57:52,480 --> 00:57:55,880
Speaker 3: with people and I kind of respected it, like, you know,

1216
00:57:56,080 --> 00:57:57,720
Speaker 3: some of them made sense, some of them. She was

1217
00:57:57,760 --> 00:58:00,800
Speaker 3: trying to explain and then some were both at a loss,

1218
00:58:00,840 --> 00:58:02,400
Speaker 3: And I think that was kind of the fun of it,

1219
00:58:02,640 --> 00:58:05,000
Speaker 3: you know, certainly good for the drama. I think we'll

1220
00:58:05,000 --> 00:58:07,520
Speaker 3: see something similar this year. She harkened back to Blake

1221
00:58:07,560 --> 00:58:10,400
Speaker 3: Griffin and DeAndre Jordan and Chris Paul and that the

1222
00:58:10,480 --> 00:58:14,120
Speaker 3: famous what Clippers rockets locking in the house? Where's the chair?

1223
00:58:14,200 --> 00:58:16,520
Speaker 3: All the playing stuff? That was her inspiration, which I

1224
00:58:16,560 --> 00:58:19,360
Speaker 3: also thought was such a great callback for some Twitter

1225
00:58:19,440 --> 00:58:20,960
Speaker 3: emoji offseason battle.

1226
00:58:22,280 --> 00:58:25,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, very relatable. I mean, you and I are podcasters.

1227
00:58:25,880 --> 00:58:28,880
Speaker 1: There's a lot of times where we know exactly what

1228
00:58:28,880 --> 00:58:30,600
Speaker 1: we're trying to say, and a lot of times where

1229
00:58:30,600 --> 00:58:32,720
Speaker 1: we're just talking and some stuff is just coming out.

1230
00:58:32,720 --> 00:58:36,320
Speaker 1: It even happens to Brianna Stewart, which I suppose is

1231
00:58:36,360 --> 00:58:39,000
Speaker 1: good to know. Ben, thanks so much for joining me.

1232
00:58:39,320 --> 00:58:42,640
Speaker 1: Tell me a little bit about the Athletic Women's Basketball Show.

1233
00:58:42,640 --> 00:58:44,280
Speaker 1: I know y'all are just a couple of episodes in,

1234
00:58:44,320 --> 00:58:45,680
Speaker 1: but I've really been enjoying it so far.

1235
00:58:46,120 --> 00:58:48,200
Speaker 3: Yeah, thanks a lot. It's certainly been a ton of

1236
00:58:48,200 --> 00:58:50,960
Speaker 3: fun so far. Basically, twice a week, we're gonna talk

1237
00:58:51,000 --> 00:58:53,880
Speaker 3: a lot about the WNBA, much like we did today.

1238
00:58:53,920 --> 00:58:57,200
Speaker 3: It will be on court stories, what's going on around

1239
00:58:57,280 --> 00:58:59,360
Speaker 3: the league in terms of games, pre viewne playoffs, pre

1240
00:58:59,440 --> 00:59:01,680
Speaker 3: vieune matchup. It will also be something we do in

1241
00:59:01,680 --> 00:59:04,960
Speaker 3: the college season, previewing the on court, the on core game,

1242
00:59:05,000 --> 00:59:09,680
Speaker 3: what's going on. We'll also talk topics, travel, expansion, pay, inequity, nil,

1243
00:59:09,800 --> 00:59:12,360
Speaker 3: things like that. Last year I was lucky enough to

1244
00:59:12,400 --> 00:59:16,320
Speaker 3: go abroad. I visited a ton of w NBA players overseas.

1245
00:59:17,080 --> 00:59:19,040
Speaker 3: That's something I think we may be able to do

1246
00:59:19,160 --> 00:59:20,760
Speaker 3: or we may be doing again this year. And so

1247
00:59:20,920 --> 00:59:22,960
Speaker 3: we're going to talk a little bit about the WNB

1248
00:59:23,080 --> 00:59:26,240
Speaker 3: off season, overseas, international basketball, which is a really important

1249
00:59:26,240 --> 00:59:28,760
Speaker 3: part of the professional game. I think our hope is

1250
00:59:28,800 --> 00:59:32,880
Speaker 3: to just both educate, to inform, to entertain all different breasts,

1251
00:59:32,920 --> 00:59:35,600
Speaker 3: not just be on court, not just be topics, not

1252
00:59:35,720 --> 00:59:38,200
Speaker 3: just be America. We'll sprinkle in the international flair. As

1253
00:59:38,200 --> 00:59:41,160
Speaker 3: I said, we hope it's just a place that you listen,

1254
00:59:41,240 --> 00:59:44,320
Speaker 3: you learn, we talk about women's basketball. It will be.

1255
00:59:44,320 --> 00:59:46,240
Speaker 3: It's been a ton of fun to do and I

1256
00:59:46,320 --> 00:59:48,360
Speaker 3: think it will continue to just be a really enjoyable thing.

1257
00:59:48,400 --> 00:59:51,040
Speaker 3: So we hope people continue to follow a long subscribe

1258
00:59:51,080 --> 00:59:54,120
Speaker 3: follow like give us feedback, and yeah, looking forward to it.

1259
00:59:54,920 --> 00:59:57,280
Speaker 1: I definitely will be. Y'all are going to be covering

1260
00:59:57,360 --> 01:00:00,440
Speaker 1: college basketball as well, right because I have to. This

1261
01:00:00,480 --> 01:00:03,680
Speaker 1: is one of the most anticipated NCAA women's seasons that's

1262
01:00:03,680 --> 01:00:04,120
Speaker 1: ever been.

1263
01:00:04,600 --> 01:00:07,560
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly, super exciting women's season in college coming up,

1264
01:00:08,160 --> 01:00:09,840
Speaker 3: a ton of talent, and yeah, we'll be doing it

1265
01:00:09,880 --> 01:00:12,360
Speaker 3: throughout college twice a week then as well, so Ryan,

1266
01:00:12,520 --> 01:00:14,760
Speaker 3: you know, finish the WNBA season with us. We kind

1267
01:00:14,760 --> 01:00:17,520
Speaker 3: of started it as the postseason crunch time was going,

1268
01:00:17,560 --> 01:00:20,280
Speaker 3: and we'll flow right into the college season, so no

1269
01:00:20,360 --> 01:00:21,040
Speaker 3: breaks for us.

1270
01:00:22,160 --> 01:00:24,080
Speaker 1: Should be awesome. Make sure to check that out. It's

1271
01:00:24,080 --> 01:00:27,040
Speaker 1: called The Athletics Women's Basketball Show. You can find it

1272
01:00:27,080 --> 01:00:29,280
Speaker 1: on the Athletic app. You can find it anywhere you

1273
01:00:29,320 --> 01:00:32,760
Speaker 1: get podcasts. Ben, thank you so much for coming on,

1274
01:00:32,880 --> 01:00:34,880
Speaker 1: but no, thank you for saying that the dream are

1275
01:00:34,880 --> 01:00:38,000
Speaker 1: going to get swept. I will hold that against you

1276
01:00:38,080 --> 01:00:40,600
Speaker 1: until the next time we talk, which maybe we'll have

1277
01:00:40,640 --> 01:00:42,240
Speaker 1: to do something for the finals or something like that

1278
01:00:42,280 --> 01:00:43,080
Speaker 1: a little bit later on.

1279
01:00:43,560 --> 01:00:45,680
Speaker 3: Absolutely, I think you should just tweet out the date

1280
01:00:45,720 --> 01:00:47,320
Speaker 3: you want me to come back. Mark it on your

1281
01:00:47,320 --> 01:00:50,840
Speaker 3: own by Howard, and I'll come back to it when

1282
01:00:50,920 --> 01:00:51,960
Speaker 3: that time comes.

1283
01:00:52,480 --> 01:00:55,600
Speaker 1: I love it. We will have to talk then. As

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01:00:55,640 --> 01:00:58,760
Speaker 1: for No Dunk's Task is back tomorrow with a new

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01:00:59,000 --> 01:01:03,040
Speaker 1: episode of No on the Athletic Baseball Show Feed and US.

1286
01:01:03,240 --> 01:01:05,920
Speaker 1: No Dunks guys will be back next week at the latest,

1287
01:01:06,280 --> 01:01:10,200
Speaker 1: if anything happens in the NBA, because the biggest news

1288
01:01:10,240 --> 01:01:13,360
Speaker 1: right now is Boban coming back to the Rockets. Did

1289
01:01:13,400 --> 01:01:16,080
Speaker 1: you have a take on that one, Ben, Boban's.

1290
01:01:15,560 --> 01:01:19,400
Speaker 3: Back pretty surprising, honestly pretty surprising. But I'm excited to

1291
01:01:19,440 --> 01:01:22,200
Speaker 3: see that his NBA career is not over. Maybe his

1292
01:01:22,280 --> 01:01:24,200
Speaker 3: acting career also not over. We'll see about that.

1293
01:01:24,920 --> 01:01:29,440
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's exactly right. Until then, Clipper Brows, you heard

1294
01:01:29,480 --> 01:01:32,080
Speaker 1: it here first, have a great time, turn up, love

1295
01:01:32,080 --> 01:01:34,920
Speaker 1: you guys. Awesome, all right, embrace the day people. We're

1296
01:01:34,960 --> 01:01:35,360
Speaker 1: back soon.