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The opening weekend of the 2018 WNBA season is here, and initial rosters have been set for all 12 teams. While there are a few teams who will still make adjustments, the teams are for the most part established. With some franchises amidst a rebuild, several other have well-established rosters full of players with around a decade of experience, which I break down below. Keep in mind that this data is based on current rosters, which will undoubtedly change. For example, the Chicago Sky have temporarily suspended Courtney Vandersloot and Astou Ndour. Vandersloot brings seven years of experience to the team. To bring either playerRead More →

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The WNBA released its 16th annual GM preseason survey results. The full survey ranges from predictions about postseason results and player awards to more general questions about the league’s players and coaches. The full results can be found here. I’m going to dive in to some of the major results, and, in particular, how the predictions have played out throughout the years. Note: The initial version of this post was referencing incorrect data for the 2013 WNBA GM Survey results. The post now reflects the corrected data. Additionally, the initial version only included data from 2008 and onward; data from 2003 – 2007 is nowRead More →

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In: Milestones, WNBA

After having explored potential player and coaching milestones coming in the 2018 WNBA season, it’s time to dive in to franchise milestones. The league has had 18 different franchises since its start in 1997, and 12 remain in the league today. Of the eight original teams, four are still active. Cleveland (2003), Charlotte (2006), Houston (2008), and Sacramento (2009) folded after varying lengths of time in the league. The defending champion Minnesota Lynx come in to the 2018 season looking to repeat in the Finals to become just the third team to win back-to-back championships. The Houston Comets won four straight in the first fourRead More →

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In: Milestones, WNBA

Following up on the feature on 2018 regular season player milestones, there are a number of head coaching milestones to keep an eye out for this season. Again I’ll focus on WNBA regular season milestones, so all numbers given are regular season statistics unless otherwise noted. This summer will mark the first games as head coach for both Katie Smith and Nicki Collen, who will lead the New York Liberty and Atlanta Dream, respectively. Both will step on the court for their first regular season games as head coach on May 20th, when the Liberty will be in Chicago against the Sky, and the DreamRead More →

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In: Milestones, WNBA

The WNBA season tips off in a little over a week, and one thing to keep an eye on this abbreviated regular season is movement up the WNBA leaderboards. To continue my feature on WNBA players, I’ll focus first on players’ career milestones. Over the next week I’ll also take a look at franchise and coach milestones before the season officially starts. Of course, there are a number of statistics to potentially dig in to, but I’m going to focus today on the big 5: points, assists, rebounds, blocks, and steals. Additionally, I’ll hone in on regular season statistics, so preseason and playoff numbers doRead More →

Katie Smith coaching

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In: WNBA

The transition from basketball player to basketball coach is not uncommon. In the 2018 season, one of the WNBA’s most prolific players becomes the latest former WNBA player to take the helm of a team as WNBA head coach. Katie Smith played 15 years in the league before retiring at the end of the 2013 season and joining the New York Liberty as an assistant on Bill Laimbeer’s staff. This summer, she will lead the staff as head coach of the Liberty. To continue featuring storied players, in this post I am focusing on WNBA players who have also been the head coach of aRead More →

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In: WNBA

Throughout the league’s history, teams have typically found a home and stuck there. Though preseason and playoff games are sometimes played at nearby sites due to prior commitments or promotional opportunities, most teams have had no more than a couple of homes for their regular season games. However, the 2018 season is the center of a number of notable movements: The biggest move is due to the relocation of the San Antonio Stars to Las Vegas to become the Aces. The franchise previously played its regular season home games in the AT&T Center in San Antonio but will begin playing in the Mandalay Bay EventsRead More →

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With the 2018 WNBA Draft behind us, we slowly ease into the 2018 WNBA season, the 22nd for the league. As part of the journey through the remaining offseason and this summer, I will be working on filling in missing information on the WNBA’s players and draft selections. Most players have a Wikipedia page with most of their information filled in, but many are incomplete if not missing entirely. For the first pass through, I will be focusing on ensuring the following pieces of information are filled in for each player and draftee in their basketball biography: Birth date/place Height/weight (latest professional stat listed) HighRead More →

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In: Timelines

The women’s basketball community was rocked over the weekend by the passing of Lady Vol great Daedra Charles-Furlow. Charles was a key member of the 1992 and 1994 USA women’s basketball national teams and was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007. To honor her place in the history of women’s basketball, below is a timeline of major events in the basketball life of Daedra Charles. Click on the thumbnail for a full-sized view.Read More →

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In: WNBA

And now, it’s time to put a bow on the 2018 WNBA Draft. I’ve been exploring data surrounding the past drafts, and now we can add in data from this year’s draft. Let’s see how it fits in to history. First of all, congratulations to A’ja Wilson of South Carolina who was selected by the Las Vegas Aces with the first overall pick. The Aces are now tied with the Phoenix Mercury with three top draft picks each. Only the Seattle Storm has more; the Storm have selected first four times: in 2001, 2002, 2015, and 2016. This is the first top pick from theRead More →