Could be 1 more I'm hearing as training camp addition.

Anneli Maley has scored a well-deserved Chicago Sky training camp invite

Maybe sandy needs some glasses during opals camp.

Amy Atwell selected at #27 by Los Angeles in today's WNBA draft. Congrats!!

Jade Melbourne takes at #33 by Seattle

Whitcomb - Liberty - Regular
Melbourne - Storm - Rookie//Training camp/Stash
Wallace - Dream - Rookie
Atwell - Sparks - Rookie/Training camp
Talbot - Storm - Training camp
Allen - Liberty - Regular
Maley - Sky - Training camp
Smith - Fever - Training camp
Magbegor - Storm - Regular
Cambage - Sparks - Regular

Not a fan of sandy as a head coach but she killed this draft with Sabally, Cubaj and Kone
Needed bigs and got 3 studs

Chloe Bibby has scored a camp invite to Minnesota, according to The Pick and Roll.

Congratz but Odd choice, not sure what she could possibly bring to next level.

Confirmed by Chloe Bibby on Twitter

Chantel Horvat signed a training camp contract with LA

Link

Has more of a wnba skillset than Bibby but nowhere near getting a contract.
Looking at the rosters it appears asthough everyone is getting a chance. One team has 20 atm.


Atm
Whitcomb - Liberty - Regular
Melbourne - Storm - Stashed
Wallace - Dream - Rookie
Atwell - Sparks - Rookie/Training camp
Talbot - Storm - Regular
Allen - Liberty - Regular
Horvat - Sparks - Training camp
Maley - Sky - Training camp
Bibby - Lynx - Training camp
Smith - Fever - Training camp
Magbegor - Storm - Regular
Cambage - Sparks - Regular


Melbourne, Atwell, Horvat, Bibby aren't making a team.
Maley a slim chance, not many forwards to compete against.
Smith a slightly better chance behind No2 pick Nalyssa smith at pf.

ATL preseason game:
Kristy Wallace 17 minutes, 17 points (7/9, 2/2 3P), 2 reb, 0 ast, 3 to, 4 PF

The preseason period is ruthless in the WNBA so for her to score like that is huge. 4 fouls in 17 minutes is not a surprise, but not a bad thing either. No doubt she was going HAM as usual.

Maley 16 minutes, 9 pts (3/5, 1/3 3P), 5 reb, 1 ast in Chicago's pre-season loss to Dallas

4 offensive rebounds

Horvat waived

Chicago 75 - Indiana 79

Maley 19 min, 7 pts (3/4, inc 1/1 3P), 4 reb, 1 ast, 0 stl, 1 t/o, 3 PF
Smith 13 min, 6 pts (3/7, inc 0/2 3P), 5 reb, 0 ast, 1 stl, 3 t/o, 2 PF

LA 58 - Phoenix 61

Cambage 11 min, 4 pts (1/5, inc 0/1 3P), 5 reb, 0 ast, 2 blk, 5 t/o, 6 PF lol
Atwell 7 min, 7 pts (2/3, inc 2/2 3P), 1 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 1 PF

Atwell with 19?
https://twitter.com/johnwdavis/status/1520546244510113792?s=21&t=jC4nE4c7l8l81wREwmtAYQ

Sheeeeet.... I don't know what I was looking at before, but my apologies.

Way to go, Amy!!

Roster cuts now coming thick and fast with the season starting on Saturday morning (our time).
Chloe Bibby the latest aussie casualty.

Whitcomb - Liberty - Regular
Wallace - Dream - Rookie
Atwell - Sparks - Rookie
Talbot - Storm - Regular
Allen - Liberty - Regular
Maley - Sky - Training camp
Smith - Fever - Training camp
Magbegor - Storm - Regular
Cambage - Sparks - Regular


Atwell, Maley, Smith just hanging in atm.

Alanna Smith is locked in with the Fever

Atwell still there with 2 cuts to make.

Anneli Maley waived by Chicago, but apparently is a good chance to extend her stay there as a hardship exception. Fingers crossed.

Atwell makes the sparks roster, not sure for how long with players to return.

Not just making the roster, but will START for LA today. So good!

Maley on the sky roster for limited time only.

Congrats to her as well. Another impressive achievement. Hope she soaks up every extra day she has.

Atwell not shy early

Trademark Maley hustle is translating ok to the WNBA so far.

Certainly made the right choice cutting heal to get Evans.

First wnba points to Maley.... And she has more than A Smith this season :/

Quite the aussie fiesta today with the Storm about to tip off

sky v sparks into OT

Now that is a compliment - we're in OT and they sub Maley into the game

Any chance they can reverse their decison on Maley?

No, it's not something they can reverse as such. As a hardship exception her current contract ends once Chicago has enough players back. But that doesn't mean they can't make more changes if they want to keep her. Or that other teams won't also be interested if she keeps this up.

They have allemand, quigley, copper, Gardner and potentially li to come back.
Moving on davis, Taylor, Maley, krajisnik...

The only one they could move would be Gardner for 1 of Davis, Taylor or Maley.

Kristy Wallace got the start for Atlanta and is looking right at home in game 1, hustling all over the place as always.

Multiple wnba players making a good impact that have sat on the pine under chambers, brondello.

Not sure Wallace fits into that category though. She played a very similar role today as she plays in the Opals. If she can get that 3 point shot dropping she'll be a nice piece for Atlanta.

Anneli and Kristy both did well on their debut. Both hustled hard!

They really did. Very good opening weekend for the aussies.

Sami was a bit loose with the ball early today but ended up having a good game.
Talbot & Magbegor were both solid contributors in Seattle's win yesterday.
Cambage got called out by O'Hea on Offsiders.
About the only extra thing I could have asked for was one of Atwell's early triple attempts dropping.

Spot on Jenna well said and well handled. The hypocrisy of Cambage is astounding and team culture needs to be number one. We should stop listing her in any analysis of Aussies playing in the WNBA. If she wants to disown us then I have no issue with disowning her (or Simmons for that matter). Wonder how good a baller Ash Barty is?

Sami running the point at the WC in major minutes would be a bad idea.
8 games maybe in 10 days, no way! Not possible.

Have to test Lavey*, Rocci, Heal, Reid, Mansfield* etc in the next bunch of friendlies.

* not on the list for some reason...

^ agreed. It's more for an Opals thread but yes the WC schedule is brutal and we absolutely need another genuine ball handling guard.

Jenna is a class act! I can't believe some of Liz’s LA team mates are okay with what she did given their heritage...

They didn't know is why.

Article in The Age says Cambage has been contacted for comment. The three options are: 1. silence, 2. Admission of guilt and 3. Jenna is lying. What do people think? My money is on 1 (which really means 2 but not enough integrity to admit it).

Hi Weedy Slug, I reckon the reason Lavey is not on the list is that AFLW season is (so the scuttlebutt says) will start in August.

Lavey would give up a home WC spot for footy these days?

Hopefully they push wnbl season back then so we have no overlap.

Choice between a guaranteed gig that pays a fair bit (and again scuttlebutt says could be more) and one that is only a maybe and only really comes with accolades and not a lot in the way of the stuff that pays the bills. That is the life of pro (semi pro) female athletes these days and why we see so many departing basketball for AFLW. I think Bendigo are more amenable to the dual gig than the Opals but will be interesting to see Richmond's take this time around as the increased pay would come with increased commitment.

reports davis and Maley waived.
Krajnisik and Taylor still there.

Likely waiting on lis return to cut krajisnik and quigleys return to cut Taylor.
Evans likely to get the last spot now with allemand still to come in.

Alanna Smith elevated to the starting 5 today and is doing ok so far (considering she's being forced to play the 5 against Fowles)

Better as a small 5 than a 4. Was better at Stanford at the 5, has been pretty poor at the 4 for the opals and Phoenix.

The Chicago Sky re-signed Anneli Maley, the team announced today.

Resigned as hardship, I don't get it...
Like a game by game contract…

WNBA needs to extend their rosters. This is basically the same situation as NBA back in the 90s where you could only have 12 but if some were injured you could sign a replacement. I realise they're trying to keep costs down, but how much would it really cost to add 2, 3 or 4 minimum contract spots to each team?

When push came to shove the WNBPA preferred a pay rise for their existing players ahead of using the money to expand the rosters. Which is only natural I think.

The current system is erratic of course but that is highly magnified at the start of the season with so many players still making their way back from Europe. The prioritisation clauses in the CBA start to kick in next season and really start to bite hard the following season so that will clean up a lot of this early season mess.

Roster movements have been an absolute shamble.

Need contract assurances for first round draftees too otherwise the entire process and even is irrelevant.

Not sure Maley is comfortable on the wing.

I mean that has been the knock on her the whole time.
It says a lot about her hustle factor that she has managed to play multiple WNBA games despite having such tweener issues.

Nice night for the Seattle aussies though.
Ezi 8 points, 10 boards, and a career high 7 blocks.
Talbot 8 points and a career high 14 boards.

Why make her a 3 though, just play her as a 4 for the n.t too.
'Has to be 6'3-6’4’ Surely no one thinks this anymore after winning wnbl mvp as a 4 man.



WC depth atm

Reid 1
Heal 1
Rocci 1
Whitcomb 2-1*
Melbourne 2-1
Wallace 2-1*
Madgen 2-3
Nicholson 2-3
Talbot 3-2*
Allen 4-3*
Maley 4-3*
Froling 4-3
Blicavs 4-3
Garbin 4
Smith 5-4*
Magbegor 5-4*
George 5
Tolo 5*

* unavailable vs Japan.


Can probably cut
Cole 2
Aokuso 5
Scherf 5

Can probably add
Kunek 3
Jackson 5

I don't think the WNBL and WNBA are very comparable, especially in the front court.
Plenty of past examples of tweener problems that become obvious at WNBA level. Kelsey Griffin probably the most obvious recentish one. Bishop another. Ruef. Asia Taylor.

Magbegor playing very well.

Maley still looks lost outthere, guarding on the perimeter and sitting in the corner.
Wnba exp will help her game if she's ever to become a 3 but I have no doubt she’ll be a better 4 in fiba.

Great game by Ezi. Talbot was her usual solid & versatile self too.

A couple of nice Ezi moments from early in today's game
Link

Li Yueru is with Chicago now so Anneli Maley's hardship contract becomes void.

Good exp though for Maley.
Allen with a good game in another brondello lost. Whitcomb not good today.
Wallace was ok in a loss to the mystics.

I thought Whitcomb played pretty well. Shots didn't drop but they weren't bad shots, and and were shots the team needed her to take with no Laney. 9 assists. NY shat the bed in the 4th.

And yes great experience for Maley.

Pressure building on brondello.
1-5, last in the league.

Fever coached just fired on 2-7 start.

Coach'

Wow! I was surprised this didn't happen at the end of last season though tbh

I was a little surprised about that too. Clearly their #1 problem for a while has been their roster and their awful drafting.

Now that they've bottomed out and gone all-in on youth they've started to improve again. They're a pretty fun team to watch now even if they still don't win much.
So that does make it a strange time to get rid of the coach. Keep her for the tanking and then get rid of her once you start to come out the other side?

I'm surprised every year that the franchise survives and goes around for another season in Indiana tbh. No success and no support. Must have wealthy and generous owners.

What ever happened the Fever's previous coach the one before this one Stephanie White? Hyped up incessantly due to wokeness and now has disappeared from coaching completely. You just have to laugh.

What are you talking about?, explain....

Stephanie White is a lesbian.

While at the Fever mass media pumped up her ability based on sexuality rather than coaching acumen. Fast forward to the present and she's not even employed as a coach from what I can see.

Stephanie White is a commentator now, I don't recall them making a big deal of her being gay when she was coaching

Yes, but as I said they, specially ESPN, made a big deal about her coaching based on non-coaching factors.

especially*

Stephanie White is a commentator now

I don't remember any special big deal being made out of her. Any time you have a WNBA player who then goes into coaching and then eventually gets a WNBA head coaching job of course that is significant. I remember she was highly regarded as an assistant. As well all know good assistant doesn't always translate into good head coach.
But she can't have been too bad if she went on as a college head coach for several years after that.

Certainly will finish up with a better reputation than Cynthia Cooper

Sandy brondello...
Wonder if NY will keep her on if she keeps losing.

The expectation would be a better season than the last one, and they're off to a crappy start - both record-wise and eye test wise.
It's early days though.

Sandy can't seem to move on from her old school coaching, she’s playing Han xu and Dolson together ffs.

Just lost to an undermanned seattle in OT, not looking good.

Good fightback in the 2nd half with Sami playing a prominent role, but that first half was ugly af.

Sandy.... Ny have been terrible.

Alanna Smith waived by the Fever

Coates over smith is laughable.

Very small team now, reliant on n.smith, q.egbo at c, Vivian's, Engstler pf

Kristy Wallace quietly slotting in very nicely for the Dream this season. Another nice game today.

Bec Allen was good too. Very active at both ends helping NY get a rare win.

Should be the s5 locked in.

Whitcomb
Wallace
Talbot
Allen
Magbegor

LA Sparks have waived Amy Atwell - which was always going to happen once Kristi Toliver returned.
Great experience for Amy to get that stint in the league.

Sparks have also fired coach Derek Fisher, which was long overdue.

WNBA commissioner, Cathy Engelbert, when asked about Cambage

"When this happened in 2021, Liz wasn't playing for the WNBA. We made inquiries, asked for videos, [and the Australian Olympics Team] came out with that she was no longer playing for the team.
With the information 1-2 weeks ago, my general counsel's office is asking what additional information we can get. We've made requests & those inquiries are ongoing. You don't want to weigh in without having the facts, but we're certainly looking into the matter."

Sure...
Cover it up commissioner.

Just like BA.

Ezi Magbegor got some well deserved love in this week's edition of WNBA Dissected

Great read, thanks for sharing Luuuc

Better at the 5 spot, should be the same for the opals...

Some Penny Taylor -> Women's Basketball Hall of Fame content

Penny's lane: Phoenix Mercury legend joining Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame

A humble winner, persistent Penny Taylor joins Hall of Fame

12 games to go.

NY now with the wnbas second worst record. Pressure building on sandy, Sami and Bec haven't been great this season Imo. Some good games here and there.

The dream hanging onto finals contention, Wallace now the backup sg behind hayes. Not starting anymore.

Storm flying atm, third best record in wnba, Magbegor (leading league in blocks) and Talbot playing very well.

Sparks just hanging in, Cambage just ok, highest scoring aussie in the wnba atm Avg 13-7, (Magbegor 12-7)

Los Angeles Sparks center Elizabeth Cambage is departing the team, multiple sources tell The Ball Out. Sources spoke on the condition of anonymity since it won't be made public until Tuesday at the earliest.

She will have nowhere to go soon.

Focusing on DJing and clubbing is my guess. Hangin with her celebrity pals.
She is a multi milliionsire, no need to work again.

You're assuming Cambage saves - during the pandemic she complained her mortgage repayments couldn't be made.

But then she started her Fans Only career.

Wallace has been awful this game, lost her mind. Several turnovers and stupid decisions.

NY steamrolls CHI in the final minutes of game 1 to start the playoffs with an upset

How's the assist that started the 13-0 run

Click and enjoy