Heal currently on mock to New York. She was #21, #18, #11 and now #6.
Mangakahia dropped way down, was #9 and now #27 to Atlanta. looks like it will be some time before she she gets her conditioning back. Won't make a roster this year, wnbl bound.

Wallace maybe training camp at Atlanta?

She wasn't ready for WNBL. You would think maybe a hit put in NBL1 is more appropriate.

The fact that atlanta picked her up 3 years ago at #16 and the coach is still in regular communication with her plus they have kept her rights means they have a future for her. If Dietrick didn't have a great season last year, maybe she would have had more of a chance this season.

At the moment they have Carter as starting pg, dietrick as backup pg and Williams as a cg, Laney as sg/sf and no other guards. Surely they will go for a guard in the draft.

Arellan guriantes a sg is the target according to the mock for Atlanta.

Montgomery retired from dream but they will get cazorla coming over.

Mangakahia will have another year of eligibility as this season does not count. Syracuse will want to keep her it just depends if she wants to stay. But i think that would make her close to 26 years old playing against 18 and 19 year olds.

Tiana said herself she's only 80%, I personally think she should test herself in wnbl, not wnba calibre based off this season.

18/19 was a completely different player to this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzII9uuUZlI

Mangakahia missed out sadly ,though
It was going to be a huge stretch at her age, she's already done 8 yrs in college .... at 26 yrs of age , she’s not exactly a young promising option that a team can develop .

Mangakahia is a great fit for Townsville now that Heal will be gone to either Sydney or Europe.

Will go well with Nicholson.

Townsville have Reid

So they wouldn't want someone who is better than Reid?

Tiana needs to get back into shape 17/18 > 20/21 night and day difference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzII9uuUZlI

This was wnba calibre.

Handy that head coach is also Opals head coach

Think Reid is actually better than Mangakahia, the college career she had hasn't exposed her to senior play, 26 and playing in a college league is unheard of side .

26 next week, get back to fitness. Should be a fringe opal,for 4 years. Heal, Rocci and Wallace likely ahead of her.

I dont think Wallace plays basketball anymore ......

She was on the lightning roster last year but didn't make it, maybe injury.

Was still australias best guard prospect, drafted into the wnba.

Mangakahia had a train g camp choice between minnesota and Phoenix

Smith/taurasi/peddy or
Hartley/xargay
Nurse/Cunningham
Turner/smith/Walker or
Griner/Vaughn

Cant see her making it even if Hartley is out for awhile.
Potential for next season maybe if she can get her conditioning back and play well in wnbl.

With Hartley injured for a while and paddy not playing, opens the door for tiana this season behind diggins and taurasi

Magbegor in Seattle (talbot to miss out? Laksa and gorecki were good)
Whitcomb and Allen in NY
Cambage in Las Vegas
Smith and Mangakahia in Phoenix
Mitchell in Washington (borderline could be cut for youth)
Heal in Chicago

The mystics have a problem at pg, cloud, Mitchell, n sutton were all terrible.

Next year maybe when fully fit.

Game 1

Whitcomb 6/5/2 27 mins
Smith 0/0/0 42 secs
Mitchell 0/1/3 22 mins
Cambage 16/5/0 19 mins
Magbegor 7/4/0 14 mins
Talbot 6/4/1 17 mins
Allen DNP
Heal DNP

Why? It's generally a different audience. How many of the SBS audience would be interested in the WNBA?

Mitchell is done, if sandy picks her, it'll be because of personal relationship and not who’s best for the team or who’s in form.

Don’t forget sandy chose Mitchell n Mansfield for the WC, both injured they moved ebzery n Madgen to the 1. We won a silver medal... After this sandy goes back to Mitchell again...
Every tournament from Asia qualifiers, Olympic qualifiers and Asia cup with Mitchell at the helm we have lost the tournament. Multiple losses to China, Japan and beaten by France. Scraped past Brazil. Could not keep up with wang, motohashi or epoupa. Teams we will face at olympics....

George’s lack of mobility at the 4 was also a problem and should be the backup c from now on.


The new s5 should be...
Ebzery
Talbot or whitcomb
Allen or Talbot
Magbegor
Cambage

Ebzery 1-2
Talbot 2-3
Allen 3-4
Magbegor 4-5
Cambage 5

Heal 1-2
Madgen 1-2
Whitcomb 2-1
Nicholson 2-3
Ohea 3-2
Smith 4-5
George 5-4

Magbegor's lack of lateral movement on defence at the 4 will hurt us big time

More than george?

Magbegor is the least of our worries

013 trolling, I see you

Cambage got fit to do her photo shoots then got big again before the season, shows her priorities.
Restricted to 15-20 mins a game.

Mitchell is 36y.o in 3 weeks and her age is starting to show.
She stripped diggins once but was horrible on defense the rest of the game and she has no one to pass it too in the post bar Charles, needs della Donne back and Meeseman.

Shocking start for Mitchell shooting 6% from the field this season avg 25 mins.
Avg 1/4.7/1.7.
Could be headed to end of bench soon.

Mitchell another terrible game.
Allen n Whitcomb pretty good.
3 mins for heal debut.

ERly days But heal did struggle to get the ball over half court.


Mitchell - 4 games
25.3 mins avg
2-23 fg - 8.7% fg
2-18 3pt - 11.1% 3pt
1.5 pts
3.8 ast
1.5 rbd
1.5 stl

Deep doo doo.

Heal will not be able to play at that level.

Back to WNBL you come.

Heal is I think the second youngest in wnba. Need to see her progression over a full season.

Very early days for Heal, come back in two years.

I think she'll struggle tbh, the guards in the wnbl are no where near the level of wnba.
The athleticism, speed, size just smothers heals 5’6 stocky frame. The Liberty are not even the best defensive side.

Heal will be fine, she has time on her side and is only 19! She has the perfect situation, soak up all the knowledge from Vandersloot for the next 2-3 years before she takes over.

It's a real close race for the future aus pg.

Next season
Mitchell probably done, Mansfield 33, Ebzery 32, Madgen 32, Seekamp gone, Lavey 29.

Next is
Mangakahia 27
Wallace 26 needs time, likely a year to get back.
Rocci 24
Heal 21

No one else ready, some good youth though.

Liz managed to get a coach fined 10k and suspended a game because he used some mean words.

10,000 for calling her 300 pounds

Yeah, 10k is a lot for calling someone 65 pounds heavier than her normal weight.

Coles a sg.
AFLW starting earlier means you can't play both wnbl/afl
Shelley is overated, hence why she was moved on, fallon further down bench.
Both Mangakahia and Wallace need to get back into game shape.
Heal and Rocci both need exp, maybe Asia cup first.
Reid a step below these 2 atm, so too antoniadou. Both backups in wnbl, not starters like heal, Rocci

Antoniardou?? You lose all credibility with that one. Look no further than Kristy Wallace, Rocci, Melbourne, Heal and Georgia Amore.. in 2024

Melbourne will be good for sure after asu.
Amoore pass, too small, lacks speed.

Mix n match for next 5-10 years...
Mangakahia - when back in shape
Wallace - when back to full fitness
Rocci
Heal
Melbourne - after college, 4 years.

Loughridge maybe down the track can enter the fold.

Amoore too small??? Heal and mitchell are small.
She is killing it at VT.

Antoniardou?? You lose all credibility with that one. Look no further than Kristy Wallace, Rocci, Melbourne, Heal and Georgia Amore.. in 2024

Obviously you haven't watched Antoniadou lately ,
Wallace has yet to prove she can stay the distance, she hasn’t played in almost 4 years
Amore is in a low div college , never played against older players ..... and yes too small for international play
Mitchell only made the international scene after Mark Wright picked her up fir ads denying and Brendon Joyce saw her as a Harrower replacement ..... and she’s been ok, but struggles against taller international opponents

Wallace is in nbl1 with the tigers, played 1 game, restricted to 15 mins.

Wallace didn't play this weekend , one quick 15 minute outing does not really count yet lol
Be interesting to see if she returns

Better todaythan first game though.

Whos skys backup though, quigleyis a sg, parker n dolson out are posts. They need another pg

Yeah, wnbl guards v wnba guards. Her best attributes have been nullified.
Still young, but won't be a long term wnba player imo.

We still thinking she's the 'face of the Opals’ for the next 10-15 years? Folks need to stop buying Hammers PR BS

I think maybe in 4 years she'll be an ok backup. Wnba expansion of 2 teams looks likely so that helps her. What doesn’t is all the international guards that opted out this season.

Her left hand needs a lot of work, does carry quite a bit.

She's one of the PG’s in the mix for future opals along with Rocci, Mangakahia and Wallace. Atm, no one else is close. Nobody knows who will replace the current 4 who are near the end of opals tenure.

Mitchell is crap atm and already should have retired from opals. 20% on the season shooting.
Ebzery is 31 and has max 3 years left, so too Madgen.
Lavey at 28 is not a future starter either and with aflw starting earlier, she’ll have to make a choice soon.

When you look at the draft board now, geez..

Richards at 17, Williams at18, carrington at 20.

Heal should have remained around the 15-20 pick.

Wnba teams suck at drafting players. Gorecki now with the Mercury and was picked 31st last year.

I don't see Heal as one of our best PG prospects. She’s not a PG, she doesn’t lead, she scores and she does that well, but she’s too small to do that at an international level and her D is poor. Rocci, Melbourne, Mangakaia, Shelley, Amoore,Reid, all are better PG options imo

Shelley ain't a pg either, Amoore is smaller than heal, reid ain’t a distributor.

Mangakahia and Wallace are the only 2 distributors.


Melbourne probably our best all round but still 4-5 years away

Lol, Amoore is not smaller than Heal. Reid is a pass first PG, she can score (well) when needed. Not 100% sold on Shelley as a PG

Hate to tell you but Amoore is 1 inch smaller than heal.

https://hokiesports.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/georgia-amoore/10483

Splitting hairs now mate

Shortest to tallest...

04 Loughridge 5'5 165
01 Amoore 5’5 165
96 Reid 5’6 167
95 Mangakahia 5’6 167
01 Heal 5’6 168
98 Rocci 5’6 169
03 Deeble 5’7 170
02 Melbourne 5’10 177
96 Wallace 5’11 180

From an Opals standpoint, we really need Wallace back on track and if not, Melbourne. 5,5 & 5,6 are both small

Wallace has the the whole package really except for penetration and elite speed.

Mangakahia played pretty well in wnba preseason. Just got to get back to her 18/19 level of conditioning.

Tiana plays first time tonight in nbl1 north 5est for Northside against brisbane.

Don't expect much from tiana or kristy this nbl1 season tbh.

Cole came back from multiple knees and has been good for a while now.

Mangakahia played pretty well in wnba preseason. Just got to get back to her 18/19 level of conditioning.

If last nights game was anything to go by, she's a long long way off

Looked very Slow and sluggish ,, not like Brisbane has any star guards to challenge her, but they did ... 8 turn overs!, and thats being kind as they missed at least 3 others , can’t say she’s been out as she’s just come from a college season straight into WNBA camp and preseason , shot at 25% FG

Lots of hype comes from college ball, but often found wanting once out of that environment.

Commentators and club are doing their best to continue the hype with the "focus on the positive (13 points) and ignore the negative (8+ to)

Be interesting to see how she travels in this league

Probably not going to be a great day today either facing Logan.

Very embarisding for heal, lost all,confidence.

At the point where you can't have her on the floor.

The coach has definitely lost confidence, rightly so. She won't have though because she’s her father’s daughter. She wasn’t ready for this level, maybe in a year or two?

Chicago added another guard to the roster today and Heal DNP

Looks like only get gametime if they win by 20.

Once again...
Absolute disgrace that Whitcomb was not taken over Mitchell.

Allen killin it today.

has anyone actually taken a step back and had a real deep think about why Whitcomb has not been selected ahead of others? Maybe she is just not a great team mate or really high maintenance. Maybe Sandy can only deal with one of these types of players in the team and she already has Cambage. Forget her talent, being a team first team mate is a big thing when you spend weeks at a time with each other.

155,Sami is one of the most selfless. Her assists have increased significantly over 5 seasons.
It's sandys relationship with Mitchell over several years ultimately is the reason why she is on the team.

16/2/1/2 -Allen
14/5/5/1 -Whitcomb

12/6/1/2 -Cambage

Eat shite wade, hope he's fired.

Where u watching it?

Several wnba games are blacked out I think to cbs

This season so far...

BEEN EXCELLENT
Whitcomb
Talbot

BEEN GOOD
Allen
Cambage

BEEN BAD
Smith
Magbegor

BEEN HORRIBLE
Mitchell
Heal

Talbot could be on track for 30 the way she's going.

Talbot mvp season in wnbl and still knew her wnba career was on a knifes edge. Went hard at training and it's showing. No way she ends up without a team next season.
Allen was the same.

Don't think many would have thought mabrey would transition to the wnba so well. Always been a hot head but has under control.

Lots of mediocre college kids turn out good wnba players and superstars in ncaa struggle.

Ezi looks to be carrying extra weight, as the backup c, maybe they have tried to make her stronger.

Like Magnay at pelicans, bad idea Imo. Leaner is better.

Opals need her developing as a pf.

4+ pounds heavier than listed last year, what's that almost 2kg?

83kg, that's 3-5kg more

" Mabrey is such a troll" what does that even mean Luuuc?

TiBo trying to put more minutes into Mitchell first half but it ain't working. 14 mins 1-4. 3 points.

Cambage good first half. 16 pts, 6 rbds.


Charles been awesome this season, before start of season they thought she wouldnt make Olympic team, should be a starter now.

Vegas win

Cambage 24/11/2 11-17 27 mins
Mitchell 6/0/1 2-6 24 mins

Whitcomb 9/5/2 19 mins
Allen 14/2/0 23 mins

Could Mitchell be cut? A few other pgs looking for a contract on the FA list.

" Mabrey is such a troll" what does that even mean Luuuc?

It means she has an innate talent for getting under the skin of opponents.

Thanks for clearing that up. I've never heard 'troll’ used as a positive. I think what you’ve described would usually be called clever, wiley, sneaky, etc. in any case, I agree with you that she’s messing with opponents heads and having a great season this far.

Cunningham sucks and won't last beyond this season or next.

Cunningham is struggling. Dallas are great to watch and have a really solid young lineup. If they can get going and make it to the playoffs, they will be dangerous.
I also think Bird fouled on that last Dallas drive in OT and received a 'goat' free pass. Dallas should have walked away with that W as awesome as Lloyds buzzer beater was.

Why didn't australia naturalise Jones, would have covered c after liz.

Expect a lot more usa type players poached for other n.teams.

Here it takes 4 years, other places 1 week.

Ogunbowale huge down the stretch for Dallas in the Seattle rematch, awesome to watch

If laney played another season of wnbl would she be up for Aus citizenship?
She's played for dandenong 18/19, Bendigo 17/18, Perth 15/16 or do you have to be in country for 4 years continious or a permanent resident.

How handy would she be though given our shooting guard situation going forward. Still just 27.yo.
She was ok but last 2 years has gone super Saiyan.

Laney would make such a difference, dreamin though....

2024 Paris olympics - outs Mitchell 39, Ohea 37, Whitcomb 36, Griffin 36, George 35, Tolo 35, possibly Madgen 34, ebzery 34.

New team...

PG? 3 of... options
5'6 Heal 23, 5’6 Rocci 26, 5’11 Wallace 28, 5’6 Reid 28, 5’6 Mangakahia 29, 5’8 Lavey 31
SG 6’0 Laney 31 / 5’11 Nicholson 31
SF 6’2 Talbot 30 / 6’2 Blicavs 31
PF 6’2 Allen 32 / 6’4 Magbegor 25 / 6’4 Smith 28
C 6’8 Cambage 33 / 6’4 Aokuso 26


Even this new team is getting old... the transition over the next 5 years will be crazy.
The following major tournament could see only 4 players remain.

Geez, the opals aren't holding onto 2nd place ranking for long it seems.

Mitchell again not good. 0/1/2 0-2, 20 mins.
Shooting it at 21% over 8 games. Season avg 3/1/3, 22 mins.

Wtf is sandy doing....
Playing her s5 players way too much. Could see how tired they were getting...
29-37 mins s5, bench veteran 2 players 15 mins, 1 player 7 mins.
Has not played smith hardly at all. Never played gorecki, cunningham avg 4-5 mins a game.
No taurasi, no Hartley.

Samuelson should not be starting.

Very clear so far this wnba season, opals s5 should be..

Ebzery
Whitcomb
Talbot
Allen
Cambage

All 4 wnba aussies have been excellent.

Luuuc, you agree on the opals lineup, cutting Mitchell, moving George to c?

Feel bad for smith

Ebzery-Madgen-Lavey
Whitcomb-Nicholson
Talbot-Ohea
Allen-Magbegor-Smith
Cambage-George

Reserve
Blicavs
Tolo


Who knows what Cole, Kunek could do in 5x5
Heal n Rocci will have to wait. Reid may enter the pg frame also.
Another guard naturalised + Wallace healthy would be great.

Reid is really killin it atm, eager to see how she does starting for the fire.

Reid is really killin it atm, eager to see how she does starting for the fire.

Let's hope so. This is my issue with Wilson at Caps. Hopefully Fire don’t recruit over Reid instead of giving her the opportunity that she has earned, and at the same time potentially giving us another option for Opals in terms of the PG spot in the future

Reid is really killin it atm, eager to see how she does starting for the fire.


You need to look at the competition she plays against, and who she plays with, when your taking the bulk of the shots on your team, it would stand to reason that your stats would reflect this , shooting percentage is very average

Mitchell 3/2/1 1-5 15 mins

Reid nbl1 north

Avg
6 games
36 mins
28pts
6rbds
2.5stls
5.33asts
51.3%fg
83.3%ft
37.7%3pt


Shooting percentage average... what u smokin?

Why is Reid in a WNBA thread? Talk about optimistic!!

It was just an off topic about opals current woes at the pg position since Mitchells stats are the worst in the wnba pmp

Sandys demise this year...
I predict she'll be fired from both the Mercury and the opals.

It's very clear that she has been lucky, as the big 2 vets have aged and superstars departed, she has gotten worse year on year since 2014. Loves the vets likepeddy, Vaughan, no eye for the future at all.

Her press conference earlier this week spoke volumes when they asked her about minutes and not playing bench.

Big day of wnba hoops.

Mitchell 8/2/2 2-6 20mins

Sami making a point right now

Sami is running the point which sandy said she couldn't do at all. Hopkins thinks she can as a backup.

Yes agree but you wouldn't need Lavey andcould add Nicholson.

Ebzery-Madgen
Talbot-Whitcomb-Nicholson
Allen-Ohea
George-Magbegor-smith
Cambage-Tolo

That should have been the lineup without Mitchell.


I would have Allen at the 4 and start sami at 2 personally.

Likely sandy will stay with

Mitchell-Ebzery or Madgen-lavey
Talbot-Madgen or Ebzery
Allen-Ohea
George-Magbegor-smith
Cambage-Tolo

Whitcomb has 12-3-6 1/2 way in the third.

Avg Sami 11/5/3/1 on the season in 28 mins
Avg Allen 8/2/3/1 19 mins

8/3/1/1*

#134 I like your Opals lineup, except I'd switch Darcee Garbin or Zitina in for George. George is cooked

It's likely to happen after next years home wc. I’d say George will stay as center, Tolo gets cut.
Opens spot for Aokuso, maybe bunton comes back too.

Dam Laney is lookin good right now.

Sandys gone, no doubt. see the minutes the starters are playin.

14/3/6/3 for Sami
7/5/1/3 for Bec

Finally some gusto from Mitchell
11/5/3/2 32 mins

Im not sure sandy will keep her job for vey long and taurasi alone won't save her.

She's said in 3 presses that she should play bench more, but never does. Started cunningham last game and the team improved slightly.

Whitcomb 17-9-3- > 37 mins
Allen 19-6-3-3-3 > 38 mins

Again no announcement from sandy that she fked up the selection.
Watching the eurobasket, will we even make the top 5 in Tokyo?

Certainly her best game yet, was good on offfense but struggled on d

Having another good game today, hopefully an upward Trend

26 points including 6/8 3P awesome game from Leilani

Geez I hope she can carry the form of last 2 games into Tokyo.

Yes Allen out would be very bad.
Mitchell was ok today too.

Last game still a week away.

28-6-5-2

Blicavs the alternate for Allen, Sami or heal alternate for Mitchell

Those are the 3 alternates. Lavey or Madgen or Ebzery replacement

Mitchell looks very slow today.
Both Sami and leilani with slow starts.

whitcomb is currently a mere 5 FT% away from sitting on a 50/40/90 season.

Half season averages

Sami
28 mins
12.3 / 5.5 / 2.8 / 1.2
85.7% ft
45.5% 3
50.3% fg

Lei
27 mins
7.7 / 2.2 / 3.1 / 0.8
90.9% ft
37.9% 3
36% fg


Mitche'll has really recovered her percentages over last 3-4 games. Was shooting it at 21% at one stage.

Assist/TO ratio
Mitchell 2.17 Whitcomb 1.52 still too careless

Yes, thanks for the bad news.

I hope in the lead up,someone asks sandy why she chose Mitchell over Whitcomb.

Yeah ok

Glad all her issues were resolved within such a short time frame. Miraculous work by her team of healthcare professionals

Once again Sami showing why she should of been on the opals since 2018.

26-5-8 for Sami.

Whitcomb goes down with injury.
Allen, Talbot Magbegor play well.
Not a good day for Mitchell.

Avoided major injury, out 2 weeks with ankle sprain.

Toot toot, there goes that karma bus

Sky v Mercury in the finals. Top effort by Sky who had a terrible start but have turned it around since cutting Heal.

Evans made all rookie team without doing anything, I'm sure heal, coud have also done nothing.