Best Player on Each WNBA team? | The Boneyard

Best Player on Each WNBA team?

bbsamjj

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With the season coming to a close, thought it would be an interesting exercise to pick the best player on each team. Some teams, the answer is pretty clear (Seattle). Others (Chicago), you could go in a million different directions.

Atlanta: This is a tough one; since Tiffany Hayes, when healthy, is likely their best player, but she hasn't been healthy for them. Rhyne Howard I think will be a very good WNBA player, but with a 36%FG, she's not there yet. So I'm going to say for now, it's Cheyenne Parker, who has regained the form she had before her pregnancy, and has proven to be a capable, consistent starting center in the league.

Chicago: You could pick Copper/Parker/Emma/Sloot and I wouldn't put up too much of an argument. I'm going to go with Emma though. She is consistent, efficient, and rarely makes mistakes on either offense of defense. One of best pure shooters in league too (shooting a Nneka-esque 56% from FG), and a fantastic passer.

Connecticut. I think this is a choice between Jonquel and Alyssa thomas. It's a nail biter, but I'm going to go with Alyssa, because of how she can impact the game at every level, and is a triple double threat every night. No one causes more disruption on a court than her.

Dallas: Arike is still likely the most dangerous scorer in the league. But I'm going with Alisha Gray here, who is a great two way player, a very good rebounder for a guard, and is now shooting nearly 40% from 3-pt range.

Indiana: Kelsey Mitchell is actually having a low key amazing year in Indy (18.4ppg, 4.2apg, 41% 3-pt), and no one will notice because she plays for the Fever. If she was on almost any other team in the league, she'd be talked about as one of the best guards in the league. She deserves better.

Las Vegas: As great as a year as Plum has been having, you have to give it to Wilson, who has been great ever since she got to the league, and has stepped it up as a defender this year. Top 5 in the league in points, rebounds, blocks.

Los Angeles: Nneka.

Minnesota: With Napheesa out, and maybe even with her in, you got to go with Fowles. In her final year, she is still arguably the best pure center in the league.

New York: Sabrina.

Phoenix: DT can still be DT, but she can also disappear and is now a streaky shooter (38% FG). The answer is SDD, who is having a Cappie Pondexter-esque season: 20ppg, 5.8apg, 4.3rpg. Truly elite.

Seattle: Stewart.

Washington: Even only playing 2/3 of their games, it has to be EDD. She's eerily close to another 50/40/90 season. Best shooter in league history.
 
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With the season coming to a close, thought it would be an interesting exercise to pick the best player on each team. Some teams, the answer is pretty clear (Seattle). Others (Chicago), you could go in a million different directions.

Atlanta: This is a tough one; since Tiffany Hayes, when healthy, is likely their best player, but she hasn't been healthy for them. Rhyne Howard I think will be a very good WNBA player, but with a 36%FG, she's not there yet. So I'm going to say for now, it's Cheyenne Parker, who has regained the form she had before her pregnancy, and has proven to be a capable, consistent starting center in the league.

Chicago: You could pick Copper/Parker/Emma/Sloot and I wouldn't put up too much of an argument. I'm going to go with Emma though. She is consistent, efficient, and rarely makes mistakes on either offense of defense. One of best pure shooters in league too (shooting a Nneka-esque 56% from FG), and a fantastic passer.

Connecticut. I think this is a choice between Jonquel and Alyssa thomas. It's a nail biter, but I'm going to go with Alyssa, because of how she can impact the game at every level, and is a triple double threat every night. No one causes more disruption on a court than her.

Dallas: Arike is still likely the most dangerous scorer in the league. But I'm going with Alisha Gray here, who is a great two way player, a very good rebounder for a guard, and is now shooting nearly 40% from 3-pt range.

Indiana: Kelsey Mitchell is actually having a low key amazing year in Indy (18.4ppg, 4.2apg, 41% 3-pt), and no one will notice because she plays for the Fever. If she was on almost any other team in the league, she'd be talked about as one of the best guards in the league. She deserves better.

Las Vegas: As great as a year as Plum has been having, you have to give it to Wilson, who has been great ever since she got to the league, and has stepped it up as a defender this year. Top 5 in the league in points, rebounds, blocks.

Los Angeles: Nneka.

Minnesota: With Napheesa out, and maybe even with her in, you got to go with Fowles. In her final year, she is still arguably the best pure center in the league.

New York: Sabrina.

Phoenix: DT can still be DT, but she can also disappear and is now a streaky shooter (38% FG). The answer is SDD, who is having a Cappie Pondexter-esque season: 20ppg, 5.8apg, 4.3rpg. Truly elite.

Seattle: Stewart.

Washington: Even only playing 2/3 of their games, it has to be EDD. She's eerily close to another 50/40/90 season. Best shooter in league history.
Eerie how much I agree with your assessments (and a few posters on the WNBA thread), since in general many of my opinions are considered contrarian. The only one that I slightly disagree is Chicago. 2 weeks ago I would have agreed, but Sloot & Copper have come on recently and I anticipate that to continue through the playoffs (Copper has won how many MVPs in the last year including overseas?). Even though they beat CT on the road without Parker, she will provide so many intangibles and versatility come playoff time that I might even have Emma an extremely close 3rd or 4th on this balanced team.

I wouldn't expect most to have Parker over Howard, even at this stage of their careers as well as A Thomas & A Gray over the reigning MVP & one of the most elite scorers respectively. Also, there has been growing push for Plum for MVP, especially after her big 2 games vs the Fever, but if you look at reb + ast, steals, blocks, defense, leadership, more productivity per minute, I think A'ja is clearly more valuable. Kelsey earned winning player of the year over Wilson in 2017, even considering the title, and deserves MIP and to be a 1st-teamer.
 
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nwhoopfan

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I won't argue Plum over Wilson, but the one thing I will say is that KP has been more consistent this season. Wilson has some games where she just completely disappears. I don't think you see that from Plum.

edit--I will argue Plum over Gray though; Chelsea has really come on strong recently, but she has been quite inconsistent overall this season.
 
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I won't argue Plum over Wilson, but the one thing I will say is that KP has been more consistent this season. Wilson has some games where she just completely disappears. I don't think you see that from Plum.

edit--I will argue Plum over Gray though; Chelsea has really come on strong recently, but she has been quite inconsistent overall this season.
Answer me this .....Take plum off vegas and what would their success rate be W/L wise ?
Now take Wilson off Vegas and keep plum and what would their success rate be W/L wise ?

There's your MVP .
 

nwhoopfan

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Answer me this .....Take plum off vegas and what would their success rate be W/L wise ?
Now take Wilson off Vegas and keep plum and what would their success rate be W/L wise ?

There's your MVP .
How do we know? It hasn't happened. I get the point, but it's conjecture.

Can you honestly tell me you think Wilson is more consistent than Plum?
 

bbsamjj

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Win share is far from a perfect stat, but Wilson's Win share is 5.5 compared to Plum's 4.1 (and Jackie Young's 4.7).

Emma has most win shares for Chicago.
For CT? It's actually Brionna Jones.

 
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Win share is far from a perfect stat, but Wilson's Win share is 5.5 compared to Plum's 4.1 (and Jackie Young's 4.7).

Emma has most win shares for Chicago.
For CT? It's actually Brionna Jones.

Win shares is 1 advanced stat, but I just went to the WNBA website and the 1st 2 that I saw included Efficiency, which had Candace 1st on the Sky and net rating (off rtng minus def rtng -- lower is better for def rtng) and Vandersloot was 1st for the Sky and Emma was 4th. There are many other stats, but I just think that Copper had to reacclimate (distorting her stats) when she initially came back from a long European tour, but her game has been much better recently and I anticipate her intensity and aggressiveness will continue.

I think that Brionna is the most underrated player in the league and their 4 front court players bring so many different qualities to the table that I was very surprised that they blew leads in the 4th and OT vs the Parkerless Sky in CT.
 
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How do we know? It hasn't happened. I get the point, but it's conjecture.

Can you honestly tell me you think Wilson is more consistent than Plum?
Wilson has been consistent recently. Her last 9 games she scored: 23, 25, 20, 22, 23, 24, 22, 13, & 22. That's a tight cluster. This doesn't include the Commissioner's Cup where she had 17 & 17. The 13 was in the 2nd game of a back to back against Indiana where she played sparingly and only took 3 2nd-half shots in a 25 point victory.
 
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I won't argue Plum over Wilson, but the one thing I will say is that KP has been more consistent this season. Wilson has some games where she just completely disappears. I don't think you see that from Plum.

edit--I will argue Plum over Gray though; Chelsea has really come on strong recently, but she has been quite inconsistent overall this season.
just know coaching change can affect a player. When A'ja was the best player in the Wnba her hc was a big man so off course she relates to him more, now they have a guard as hc and off course she's gonna favor to guards.
 

nwhoopfan

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Answer me this .....Take plum off vegas and what would their success rate be W/L wise ?
Now take Wilson off Vegas and keep plum and what would their success rate be W/L wise ?

There's your MVP .
I thought about this some more, had to come back to it. Obviously without Wilson they are a totally different team and lose a bunch more games.

But think about what it means if they have no Plum. Williams has missed half the season, so she wouldn't have been available as a replacement starter. You're looking at Colson, Sheppard or Bell for half the year. Or a big lineup with either Stokes or Plaisance, but that's a further hit to front court depth. And of course a huge hit to back court depth, of which they don't have much. Gray and Young would have to be playing a lot more minutes, and producing a lot more in various offensive categories. Both are probably running pretty close to doing as much as they can already. When Williams has been in the lineup, she just simply hasn't been as good as last year. I'd say if you look at their roster and what Plum has brought this year, she's irreplaceable for them. I simply don't think they could collectively make up for her 20 ppg, and there's absolutely zero chance they could make up for her league leading 97 made 3's (at a very respectable 42%). Next closest is Young at 42 treys, and then it drops down to 26. I don't think this is as cut and dried as you seem to be suggesting. Take either player away and they lose a bunch more games.

Plum's also in the top 10 in assists, in addition to be #2 in scoring.
 
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I thought about this some more, had to come back to it. Obviously without Wilson they are a totally different team and lose a bunch more games.

But think about what it means if they have no Plum. Williams has missed half the season, so she wouldn't have been available as a replacement starter. You're looking at Colson, Sheppard or Bell for half the year. Or a big lineup with either Stokes or Plaisance, but that's a further hit to front court depth. And of course a huge hit to back court depth, of which they don't have much. Gray and Young would have to be playing a lot more minutes, and producing a lot more in various offensive categories. Both are probably running pretty close to doing as much as they can already. When Williams has been in the lineup, she just simply hasn't been as good as last year. I'd say if you look at their roster and what Plum has brought this year, she's irreplaceable for them. I simply don't think they could collectively make up for her 20 ppg, and there's absolutely zero chance they could make up for her league leading 97 made 3's (at a very respectable 42%). Next closest is Young at 42 treys, and then it drops down to 26. I don't think this is as cut and dried as you seem to be suggesting. Take either player away and they lose a bunch more games.

Plum's also in the top 10 in assists, in addition to be #2 in scoring.
It's very Cut and dry . LV does not have a bench so there would be no replacement it would be
Gray
Plum
Young
Hamby
Plaissance

Plum gets a lot of her shots and driving lanes bc the defense is focusing on Aja ...its cut and dry .
 
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With the season coming to a close, thought it would be an interesting exercise to pick the best player on each team. Some teams, the answer is pretty clear (Seattle). Others (Chicago), you could go in a million different directions.

Atlanta: This is a tough one; since Tiffany Hayes, when healthy, is likely their best player, but she hasn't been healthy for them. Rhyne Howard I think will be a very good WNBA player, but with a 36%FG, she's not there yet. So I'm going to say for now, it's Cheyenne Parker, who has regained the form she had before her pregnancy, and has proven to be a capable, consistent starting center in the league.

Chicago: You could pick Copper/Parker/Emma/Sloot and I wouldn't put up too much of an argument. I'm going to go with Emma though. She is consistent, efficient, and rarely makes mistakes on either offense of defense. One of best pure shooters in league too (shooting a Nneka-esque 56% from FG), and a fantastic passer.

Connecticut. I think this is a choice between Jonquel and Alyssa thomas. It's a nail biter, but I'm going to go with Alyssa, because of how she can impact the game at every level, and is a triple double threat every night. No one causes more disruption on a court than her.

Dallas: Arike is still likely the most dangerous scorer in the league. But I'm going with Alisha Gray here, who is a great two way player, a very good rebounder for a guard, and is now shooting nearly 40% from 3-pt range.

Indiana: Kelsey Mitchell is actually having a low key amazing year in Indy (18.4ppg, 4.2apg, 41% 3-pt), and no one will notice because she plays for the Fever. If she was on almost any other team in the league, she'd be talked about as one of the best guards in the league. She deserves better.

Las Vegas: As great as a year as Plum has been having, you have to give it to Wilson, who has been great ever since she got to the league, and has stepped it up as a defender this year. Top 5 in the league in points, rebounds, blocks.

Los Angeles: Nneka.

Minnesota: With Napheesa out, and maybe even with her in, you got to go with Fowles. In her final year, she is still arguably the best pure center in the league.

New York: Sabrina.

Phoenix: DT can still be DT, but she can also disappear and is now a streaky shooter (38% FG). The answer is SDD, who is having a Cappie Pondexter-esque season: 20ppg, 5.8apg, 4.3rpg. Truly elite.

Seattle: Stewart.

Washington: Even only playing 2/3 of their games, it has to be EDD. She's eerily close to another 50/40/90 season. Best shooter in league history.
You have a pretty good list there. A couple could go either way but I still put Parker as the lead in Chicago and Alyssa Thomas for the Sun.
 

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Answer me this .....Take plum off vegas and what would their success rate be W/L wise ?
Now take Wilson off Vegas and keep plum and what would their success rate be W/L wise ?

There's your MVP .

The question though was best player, not most important.
 

nwhoopfan

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It's very Cut and dry . LV does not have a bench so there would be no replacement it would be
Gray
Plum
Young
Hamby
Plaissance

Plum gets a lot of her shots and driving lanes bc the defense is focusing on Aja ...its cut and dry .
That's weird. I've seen several teams send a double team at Plum just past mid court. They don't do that with either Gray or Young. Seems like she's getting a lot of attention from defenses. Also, don't you think her 3 point shooting is opening up a lot of room for Wilson to operate? It absolutely works both ways.

And again, if there's no Plum, there's no WNBA caliber player to replace her in the starting lineup for half of the season, and even when Williams comes back she isn't playing at a starter level this year.

They would not be nearly as good without Plum. It's okay for you to admit it. It's quite obvious.
 

nwhoopfan

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just know coaching change can affect a player. When A'ja was the best player in the Wnba her hc was a big man so off course she relates to him more, now they have a guard as hc and off course she's gonna favor to guards.
Wilson's not that far off from her career high scoring average. Her 2 lowest scoring seasons were the 2 when she played along side Cambage. That pairing was never ideal for Wilson.
 
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Wilson's not that far off from her career high scoring average. Her 2 lowest scoring seasons were the 2 when she played along side Cambage. That pairing was never ideal for Wilson.
Having a great post player isn't a great championship idea. Cambage has none, Griner has 1, and Fowles has 2.
Fowles also had Maya, Whalen, and Augustus, 3 Hall of famers on her team.
 
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Having a great post player isn't a great championship idea. Cambage has none, Griner has 1, and Fowles has 2.
Fowles also had Maya, Whalen, and Augustus, 3 Hall of famers on her team.
Lisa Leslie won a back-to-back (and a 28-4 the prior year) as a clear leader and pure post
 
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That's weird. I've seen several teams send a double team at Plum just past mid court. They don't do that with either Gray or Young. Seems like she's getting a lot of attention from defenses. Also, don't you think her 3 point shooting is opening up a lot of room for Wilson to operate? It absolutely works both ways.

And again, if there's no Plum, there's no WNBA caliber player to replace her in the starting lineup for half of the season, and even when Williams comes back she isn't playing at a starter level this year.

They would not be nearly as good without Plum. It's okay for you to admit it. It's quite obvious.
Which teams did this ? Im dying to know and go back and watch plum being double teamed at half court leaving Gray , Young , Wilson and Hamby either one left open ? Aja is double teamed and triple teamed every game and also led LV in scoring in more victories than plum . If you dont like Aja just say that but its clear shes the most valuable player on that team. Take her out and Vegas is nowhere near top 2 or Commissioner cup champs lol
 
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I think this recent Aces/Mystics game is a perfect example as to why Wilson is the best player on her team. For the first 3.5 quarters Wilson got touches and helped will the team to a tight game. Then in the last few minutes, the guards and in particular Plum starts playing Hero ball leading to the Mystics pulling away with the poor decision making down the stretch. Even Plum admitted to such in the post game interview.

Plum is having an amazing year but there's more to the game than offense. Wilson has great all around game and currently leads the league in blocks, 2nd in rebounds and 5th in points. Personally I don't think there's no debate between the two.
 

nwhoopfan

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Whoosh. It's like some just can't get the point, no matter how many times it get repeated.

Aces without Wilson is much worse, no debate.

Aces without Plum is also much worse. Why is there a debate about this?
 
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Whoosh. It's like some just can't get the point, no matter how many times it get repeated.

Aces without Wilson is much worse, no debate.

Aces without Plum is also much worse. Why is there a debate about this?
Bc the aces were without plum a few seasons ago and made the finals lol
 
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Lisa Leslie won a back-to-back (and a 28-4 the prior year) as a clear leader and pure post
That was in the early years of the league, Laureen Jackson won in 2004, and 2010 with Sue. The league has changed a lot since then and Laureen who was a combo 4, and 5, started a trend. Parker, EDD, and Stewie, A'ja, JJ.
 
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That was in thevesrly years of the league, Laureen Jackson won in 2004, and 2010 with Sue. The league has changed a lot since then and Laureen who was a combo 4, and 5, started a trend. Parker, EDD, and Stewie, A'ja, JJ.
True, but then the sample size is lower for pure posts. I was never a huge fan of Cambage's impact on her team. That Minnesota every other year dynasty was loaded -- don't forget Brunson.
 

nwhoopfan

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Bc the aces were without plum a few seasons ago and made the finals lol
That was an ENTIRELY different team than the current make up of the Aces. Wilson, Young and Hamby are the only 3 current Aces who played that season. That team had some other capable perimeter scorers in McBride and McCoughtry who are long gone. Talk about an apples and oranges comparison you attempted. Nice try.
 
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That was an ENTIRELY different team than the current make up of the Aces. Wilson, Young and Hamby are the only 3 current Aces who played that season. That team had some other capable perimeter scorers in McBride and McCoughtry who are long gone. Talk about an apples and oranges comparison you attempted. Nice try.
Okay we will agree to disagree lol You think the aces are still champ favorites without wilson LOL and i think they are nowhere near close to be a championship team without her. Discussion over lol
 

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