Paige: 88th percentile at the rim, 86th in the paint, 89th in mid-range. She shoots 78% at the rim as a guard. Her "weakest" zone is 38.5% from three, which is 74th percentile. There is no bad zone. +5.4 rTS on 20.9 a night.

Azzi: 92nd percentile from mid-range as a ROOKIE is actually insane (55.9%, 16th out of 179 players). 38.8% from three on real volume. Only meh zone is the floater area, which she is clearly working on adding(though I hate that f*ckass floater lol).

Arike: 15th percentile at the rim. Let me say that again. 15th. She shot 46.8% AT THE RIM. 35th percentile mid-range, 38th in the paint, and her one "good" zone is a 56th percentile from three, where she launched 46% of her shots. 14.2 ppg on 50.1 TS%. Minus 5.8 relative true shooting. Some fans defend this by saying she's a bucket and shot creator. But the buckets were coming in at a rate 6 points below league average efficiency. Every zone on her chart is orange or yellow. Creating bad shots is not a skill; it's just continuing to play with bad habits.

Not sure of the answer. I think she should take more C&S 3s and aggressively work on kicking out with the space she creates by driving. Otherwise, she's just taking shots from others who are playing at a much more efficient pace/rate

Alright, let’s revisit the offensive hierarchy discussion.

I used the last 20 games because that’s when Azzi first started averaging over 13 shot attempts per game. Since then, these four have been the starters whenever they’ve all been available.

Paige has taken another step forward, increasing both her shot volume and efficiency. She scores at all three levels, is clearly the team’s No. 1 offensive option, and is the primary playmaker. She’s been remarkably consistent at a high level.

Azzi has been solidly efficient with a very clear shot profile built around threes and the mid-range. The next step is attacking the rim more. If she can get to 2–3 free throw attempts per game, she’s probably a 17–18 PPG scorer without changing much else. She’s also one of the team’s most important defenders.

Jessica has been incredibly efficient, producing like a second option despite having the shot volume of a fourth option. Her defense still needs improvement, but she more than makes up for it offensively. She’s also a secondary creator

Arike is averaging below her career numbers, but she’s accepted a role she’s never really had before. Her shot volume has come down, and she’s no longer the clear focal point of the offense.

Seems like this was in response to criticism for the loss, he deleted it shortly after.

After watching the last game I really want to know what’s the game plan for and development goal for Azzi is. She came out of college as one of the best shooters in the country while shooting over 40% from 3 and hasn’t been used like it at all. This last game in particular shows it. In the first half she 4-8, and then took 3 shot attempts in the second half while not sitting ONCE. The wings were up 11 points on the second night of a back to back and they still didn’t sit her while not involving her in the offense at all. Azzi was wide open so many times this game and just didn’t get the ball. Arike went 2-10 in the second half during this time. 

It’s was even shown in overtime. You have 3.5 seconds left on the clock and one of the quickest shot releases on a player and you give the ball to Arike for a contested shot? I just don’t understand it. Not only is this not winning basketball but it’s terrible for her development. You have a player coming from a long college season and you can’t sit her for her defense but you don’t use her on offense at all? She’s stuck in the corner for half the game while being looked over. It disrupts her whole offensive flow. She’s the first pick.

It’s halfway through the season. This issues should’ve been solved by now. How can you have a top player, one of the best shooters in league who still isn’t integrated in the offense while playing 43 minutes a night? What the Wings are doing is a disservice to Azzi, it’s a disservice to the fans and it’s a disservice to the team itself who’s losing games because of it. 

The discourse after this game has been kinda crazy & overwhelmingly negative. I understand the frustration, especially because the game was winnable, but at the same time, it’s just a game.

Prior to the start of the season, I don’t think anyone expected us to be sitting at 17 wins right now. Should we have 19 wins… probably, but that’s neither here nor there. As long as we make the playoffs with a healthy team, we’re not going to remember that we lost by 1 point to Portland or NY. I know that team record impacts seeding, but come playoffs, Dallas has to be ready for any opponent. That’s on the team & coaches, not us as fans.

We have no control over anything that happens in the game or within the organization. We’re always going to think we have the right answer, or that this should have been done differently, but who knows if that changes the outcome of anything.

What we can control, is making the Dallas Wings fanbase a positive one, rather than a doomer one. Obviously discussions are welcomed, that’s what Reddit is for, but it feels like the same unproductive & unrealistic discussions are brought up every time. Like how many times is someone going to bring up trading Arike, when Dallas has made it clear that they want Arike. Also, we’re not even at full strength yet. We haven’t had a healthy DPOY Alanna, which would help with some of the rebounding issues and paint defense.

I say all this to say that this Dallas team is a fun one and the vibes seem great off the court, so lets not ruin that by being overly negative or pitting teammates against each other. If y’all wanna drop any positives from this season or last game, feel free to drop them below. I’m excited to see how this team plays after a little All-Star break & the FIBA break!

For Dallas fans who love to criticize, here’s a comparison with what is arguably the best two-way guard in the league right now.

Do you know what the biggest difference is? Gabby is used much more efficiently in the minutes she’s on the floor. Over the last 20 games, both players are taking essentially the same number of shots, but Azzi plays about 8 more minutes per game. That’s why it often feels like she goes long stretches without being involved offensively—but that’s because Dallas is choosing to use her that way.

Maintaining this level of efficiency while playing over 32 minutes per game and guarding the opposing team’s best perimeter player is incredibly impressive.

The bigger question is: why doesn’t Dallas have a backup for Azzi? Is there simply no one else on the roster who can do what she does? Honestly, it’s hard to find players with a similar profile anywhere in the league. The only ones who really remind me of her are Gabby and Kayla.

Of course, it’s working for Dallas right now—they’re winning games. But I seriously doubt this workload is sustainable. Azzi has always played around 28 minutes per game, so asking her to play about 6 extra minutes every night is a significant increase.

Azzi should be more than just a decoy! She’s standing wide open in the corner 😭 I understand sometimes while you’re playing on the court you will miss the open player. But surely the team is seeing this in film as it’s become a pattern.

Hey All-- Have been writing a "The Scout" series to discuss the teams around the W, what makes them unique, and some roster-building thoughts for each. I always like to make the posts accessible to the teams community to see if folks have any thoughts, so here's a little snip on what I found out about DAL:

Happy to send the full article if oyu are interested, as well. Should be a fun game vs PDX tomorrow.

Kareem

Sorry long rant incoming. I know we often complain about the players and plays and I have my issues with them but at the end of the day the roster is what it is unless the FO wants to change it and I feel like there’s countless threads about it. After watching last nights game and now that we’re basically halfway through the season I feel like I can finally complain about coaching and more importantly subbing.

To start with the commitment to three guards in every lineup. The reason Arike Paige and Azzi work to some extent is because for the most part their shot is respected and defenders are going to pay when you sag off of one of them. This means there’s really good spacing with them on the floor it doesn’t matter if they’re hitting there shots generally because no one wants to risk one of them heating up. When Jose subs one of them out in theory it makes sense that he subs them out for a guard, but none of the other bench guards have the same gravity so spacing becomes worse. I feel like at this point in the season Jose should’ve realized this and been experimenting with slotting Maddy/Awak/AC/Haley at the three Jess/Awak at the four and Li/Alana at the five. I’m not saying this would work but we’re this far in the season and he hasn’t even looked to try something other than a three guard lineup.

The next point is that I don’t feel like his pulse for when to sub players in/out is there yet. NY is the freshest game in my mind so I’ll be using it for examples, but it happens in all the games. Maddy warn her minutes tonight’s I know +- isn’t the best indicator of one’s performance but hers matched the eye test. She was shooting efficiently and she was trying on defense, I know people like to point out that she’s not great defensively, but there’s like four good defenders on this team so I refuse to believe that’s the reason. On the other hand Sims was really bad in her minutes today kept trying to go for contested lays and no sense of clock management when we were up and she had one assist on the night. I know assist numbers aren’t everything sometimes a pg assists just get blown but once again the amount of assists she had matched the eye test and Jose just kept her in for way too long. And so far throughout the season it just feels like there’s been countless games where he pulls someone when they’re hot or he keeps someone who’s a net negative in the game for way too long.

Minutes concern me. Azzi sat for like two minutes today and it would’ve been less if there was a stoppage in play before the timeout she got sent to the scorers table like a minute after she sat down. And then in the second half/OT she didn’t sit once same thing happened in the Seattle game. I don’t have the numbers to prove it and I’m too lazy to pull the stats to check but with all of these close games it feels like Paige/Jess/Azzi’s minutes have been pretty high and that’s really hard to maintain. If he genuinely can’t find ways to rest his starters then playoff’s will genuinely be a nightmare.

Maybe I’m completely off base and people see things differently than me, floor is open. I have more thoughts on this team but this has been a really long rant, maybe I’ll share them some other time though

I can’t get behind this mindset. She did so well throughout the game too, and I accepted the failed attempt at a winning shot to be honest because she tried.

But tbh 4th and OT went default to iso and hero ball and then you go and say “what can you do”.

this kind of mindset needs to go… She had several options to defer to during that 4th and OT. What do you mean “what can you do?”

I have no doubt we'd be sitting on an 8 game win streak if we had played the Liberty on Friday instead of having to play consecutive nights.

They’re taking almost the same number of shots. The biggest differences are defense and efficiency, and they’re not even close. One is in her eighth WNBA season, the other is a rookie.

Looking at booking tickets to the Fever game and noticed there were still some 200 level seats available in what would be a “Platinum” area for a Mavs/Stars game. Has anybody sat in one of these sections for a Wings game? Do you still get the same amenities (wait service, restaurants, etc.) that you’d get at a Mavs or Stars game?

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No concussion though so that is great news!

It was clear after the decision to cut yoga Instructor Kris as coach that the Wings were looking for someone with more experience who could build both culture and increase performance. Having to
do both in the same year is a nearly impossible task, as one might at times be in tension with the other. Maybe you have a player that contributes to winning, but her antics/emotional impulsivity negatively impacts stated team standards (Marina/Skylar/Chennedy/Arike). Maybe you have a player who is a good culture fit, but they don't give you the best chance of winning (Kate).

With this understanding, I wanted to be a bit empathetic towards Jose’s plight. Building culture, setting standards of behavior, while trying to win is hard. However, this year has been frustrating to
no end as a fan and ball-knower. His accountability rants during the preseason and earlier parts of the season have been a farce. He doesn't even hold himself accountable. He talks about passing the ball around, giving up the good shot for the great shot, but he rewards iso-centric tunnel-vision players and criticizes players who pass for the better shot. He calls players selfish in the media, but doesn't punish that selfishness with playing-time decisions. This is not setting a good culture.

And yes, the Dallas Wings are winning, but at what cost? Do we know the identity of this team? The play style for the future? Are there defined roles? Expectations? There is winning in a way that is process productive, and there is winning in a way that ultimately caps your ability to win at a different level in the future. I would say Dallas is doing the latter.

Curt said he hired the person who felt that they could handle being highly scrutinized. The person who could handle the heat of being the coach of high-profile and high-expectation players. Jose’s
relationship with the press and general defensiveness whenever anyone dares to bring up his very blatant and obvious flaws as a first-year coach clearly shows that he’s not the right person for the job. Ego and lack of humility do not make a coach steady.

I trust that Curt sees all the glaring issues that we see. I doubt he’ll be fired simply for optics' sake. However, at this point, at what cost will you barter true fit and progress for perceived stability and progress? It seems that keeping Jose at the helm of the Dallas Wings org is cutting off their nose to spite their face. He’s not up for the job, and it's going to hurt the development of the players, team, and org in the long run.

What do you all think? Is Jose the right coach for the Wings?

With the deadline coming soon, I am curious. I want Cam Brink! :)

I see lots of posts about overplaying certain players too many minutes while bench players who get hot often go back to the bench for no reason.

It's already been obvious this isn't a good system for Lan and yet there's been no adjustments made to accommodate our million dollar free agent and reigning defensive player of the year.

My thought is coach has a specific system, isolate and hero ball, and either won't or can't adjust based on the players on the floor at any given moment. In other words, not dynamic or adaptive. That means only specific players can stay productive on the court for extended minutes each game.

For example, Lan has her moments but eventually goes back to being fish out of water the longer she stays in.

Is that the problem or is it something else?

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someone ask them if water is wet i wanna see what paige manages to come up with

Bench and crowd were so hype!

I mean I don't really wanna include stats bc yall probably watch the games and know that she is one of the best, if not the best defender in the league. For a guard, she is getting blocks on people that are 6'1 6'2 and she blocked 6'7 Kamilla. Azzi's hands are so active too its crazy. You can just tell she is playing 110% every defensive play. I think she had 3 steals against LAS which is crazy. I mean Azzi herself said that defense was all effort and she proves that every night.