The Defense Rests

Last week, the magic number was 27.5%. That was our shooting percentage again NY. This weekend, it's 62.3% and 52.2, the game shooting percentages of the LA Sparks and Seattle Storm against our hapless Lynx ladies. Just as a low shooting percentage won't win you many games, neither will allowing a high shooting percentage. That the Lynx kept it close in LA and was in it to the end was the stuff of moral victories, but with the Seattle loss, it's just another indication of how far this club has to go before it can reach mere competence.

Let's start with the positives though; on offense, they are shooting and sharing better. I can only believe this is because of the insertion of Abrosimova and Raymond--when healthy--into the rotation. (Raymond was a DNP last night; I don't have any information on her status.) Though those two are huge disappointments in terms of being impact players, they play the game the right way, having come from a great UConn program. The increases are also a result of the team simply knowing each other better.

Consistent mid to high 40 percent shooting might get the job done--if your defense is sound. Here's where the rub is. To put it bluntly--we're terrible. The Lynx are the worst in the league in FG percentage allowed (49%), and second in points per game allowed (82.6 ppg).

The negatives continue to be overwhelming. Two key players on offense, Harding and Ohlde, are shooting in the mid 30's, percentage wise. That ranks them 53rd and 54th in the league in shooting percentage. Nicole is shooting 33% so far for the year. For a post player, this is terrible. By comparison Christi Thomas--the Sparks center--is shooting 62.5% for the season. A small sampling of other front court players in the WNBA, as of Saturday, June 9th:

Tangela Smith/Phoenix -.425
Jessica Davenport/New York -.476
Margo Dydek/Connecticut - .450
Cheryl Ford/Detroit -.550
Swin Cash/Detroit - .563
Chasity Melvin/Chicago -.346
Michelle Snow/Houston -.594
Lauren Jackson/Seattle - .441
Janell Burse/Seattle - .474

The front office apparently made the determination before the season started that Ohlde would be THE front court go-to player, and team up with Augustus and Harding to be the "Big Three" on the squad. In the last few years they allowed Janell Burse and Adrian Williams to move to other teams. To date, this has proven to be a major front office error, especially with Burse, who has improved in Seattle.

Ohlde is second in scoring with 13.2 a game and third on the team in shots and minutes played with 112 and 260, respectively, as of 6/9, before the Seattle game. She's 54th in FG percentage, 24th in the league in rebounding and 51st in efficiency, for essentially the third wheel and primary front court player for the Lynx. The simple fact is that if a post player plays that many minutes and shoots that much the production and efficiency has to be better. She's been a career low to mid 40's percentage shooter, so I assume the thought is she'll get better as the team develops, but we've seen the same inconsistency and lack of development for three years. Much like the Wolves with Mark Blount, there seems to be a high level of cluelessness about the quality of bigs on Glen Taylor run basketball operations.

I'm not picking on Olhde personally. This is more about personnel management--what pieces a team needs to build a winner. Harding has also been very inconsistent. That she's a rookie and comes from a great basketball pedigree gives her some cover for now, but SA was beginning to rip up the league at this time in her rookie season. Last night Harding was 1 for 8 with only 3 assists in 26 minutes of play. As much as a winning team needs an effective front court, the point guard position is also key. Again, similar to the men's team, we invest heavily in a point guard who so far hasn't cut it. The difference between Mike James and Lindsey Harding is obviously Harding still has tremendous potential, while James is who he is.

The bottom line is here that objectively speaking, one would think a team with two overall league number one's and three team first round picks in their starting rotation would have more than one win, despite their youth. With one of the league's top scorers, you would think that one way to help a younger team build confidence is to focus on defense, developing the potential for easy baskets and transition scoring, especially from Augustus. She didn't have it going last night, which gave the Lynx no shot in the game whatsoever, especially after the 2nd and 3rd quarters. Playing consistent quality team defense is more a matter of effort than talent. That the Lynx coaching staff is not able to coax any swagger out of this team--given the college programs they've come from--speaks louder than anything I could write or say.