Who Makes the Las Vegas Aces Opening Day Roster? Can the Liberty Run it Back to the Finals? & more

Hello everyone, welcome

back

to another Coast to Coast episode on the Your Hoops Stats Podcast. I'm cre Mustafa alongside Calin Wetzel and as we mentioned last week, we're finally into the WNBA season, we're going to make some previews for you. We are going to face three teams each week for the next four weeks to prepare you for the upcoming 2024 season. Today we will cover the Las Vegas Aces, New York Liberty and Connecticut Sun, the three best teams from last year, Cal, are you? Ready, I'm very ready for the season. It's great that we have these four weeks to relax and preview these teams.

I'm like I'm ready for women's basketball to come

back

. I know we have other things about the three of us. in three what you were telling me about off the air but ready for the WNBA yeah shout out to 3x3 basketball the FBA women's series starts this week so as you'll hear this episode on Tuesday will be the first stop in Springfield , the number of Canada. one seed, they're defending back-to-back champions that they won the last two years, so I don't know, just stay tuned, but for those who have also been following our college basketball coverage, Haley van lith and Cameron Brank.

They'll both be playing for the USA so those are some names you might know if you want to tune in and you can watch all of that on the FIFA uh 3x3 channel. Okay, let's go to the WNBA, of course, where is better? start than the defending champions, the Lost Vegas Aces and we've touched a little bit on what they might look like next season, we touched a little bit on who's on the

opening

day

roster

last week when we were talking about the WNBA draft and all these players they selected the

aces

, but when we really look, let's take a look at this list and I think we can agree.

Asia Kelsey Chelsea Jackie Alicia Clark are locks for this team, they all have protected contracts. they are the core of the Aces and I in my locks here I have, of course, Kia Stokes Candace Parker Megan gustaffson who they traded or signed a trade for, it was a trade. I don't even remember how much free AG they signed. as a free AG, they hired her, I mean, props for the

aces

because they keep doing really cool things and Sydney Coulson, who's like her hoops stats are like she's on a trade camp contract, but we know her importance to this Asus . team, we've talked about it several times, so yeah, I have her as insurance for this team and that leaves three spots for Cal, so if you were to look at the Aces and the people that have signed now. of the draft and like training camp contracts, what this

opening

day

roster

will look like before your eyes, there may only be two spots depending on how they play this due to cap space, they have a maximum of three spots, but they could Yes , keep two and then leave a little room for flexibility throughout the season to sign someone mid-season or if just the two they want to keep turn out to be two that have a slightly

more

expensive deal than that.

It's not exactly where the math doesn't add up because their cap space is 218k according to our salary sheets in their stats and without getting all the math that will bore people, it's basically borderline whether they can fit three in that slot or not. uh they could keep three if they want, they have Kirsten Bell, I think she's one of the favorites because obviously she's been with this team for a couple of years now, they also brought in Bria Harley during the offseason and then you have some rookies, you have Asia. Right, you have Kate Martin, they signed Bria Beal to a training camp contract, no yeah, exactly a rookie, but I think she would count as a rookie if she made the team and played this season.

She was part of the draft class a year ago. so there's a lot of options very interested in seeing where they go, like you said, Sid Coulson is a lock, you know, I like that you put a lot of locks in here for these ones that aren't technically on protected contracts because obviously the first group is they're basically your starters. and your protégés and then the next ones, but Sid Coulson is the face of the league, he is the heart and soul of the team, it's for sure. Megan Gustofson is very excited about what she is going to bring to the table, I think she was. a really underrated offseason deal around the league because she's not a Big Splash in terms of an All-Star or anything other than what this team needs and to replace Kayla George in that role, I think she's going to be are huge, so they did a lot of good things and now we get to see how they complete the finale in the next few weeks, yeah, and you know, with training camp starting next week, I'm interested to see how quickly they do.

It's like announcing these moves because with such limited spots remaining on this Aces roster and with training camp starting in the next week, it could give some of these players a chance to try out for other teams that may have

more

places and I would be more willing to see them because you look like the players they drafted in Kate Martin um Thea Fair and you know they're both part of the Kelsey Plums class of dog um it's like it's interesting because there are so many options Bri like you said and then so few spots so I'm really interested to see who ends up on the AC roster and what the rest of the players do because unfortunately, some of your favorites are going to be cut, but this Off season and as the season begins for the Las Vegas Aces, there are a lot of different factors as they are defending champions once again everyone is just playing to compete against the Las Vegas Aces like we said adding Megan was huge for them and then I also said Intro is Candace's last run because that was a one of the biggest questions we had before she announced she was signing another contract with the Aces.

Obviously I was injured for most of last season, so we didn't really do it. You'll be able to see her play aces a lot, but she was very vocal on the bench. Having Candace like that was one of the best moves the Aces made last year, being able to hire her. What do you expect from this team and maybe? Now Candace, you know, I hope I'm healthy for this, maybe one last push for her in the W. That's exactly what I'm hoping for. That's what I didn't share my notes with Karina beforehand, but that's what I had in my notes. is what I'm hoping for is that Candice is hopefully getting healthy now and healthy is relative when you're the second oldest player in the league, she turned 38 the other day, happy birthday to Candace, by the way, she's not However, the age doesn't, the figure doesn't decrease, you're absolutely right, uh, but we'll see her miss a game or two here or there, you know, nobody expects her to play 40 games, that's how it works, but unlike the last. year where you have a season that ends with a mid-season injury and it's more of a long-term thing.

I really hope that all we see this year is that kind of load management here or there and that she really is still at full strength. as much as possible at the end of the season and when they get to the playoffs because that's when the aces are so fun anyway, but that's when we saw when you put Candace in that mix too, how entertaining this team is and What It's cool to see one of the greatest players of all time play alongside some of these players who are going to be some of the greatest players of all time and who are still at an early stage in their careers, so that's what I look forward to it. to the max and then I'm also looking forward to what we already talked about about how they fill the end of the bench and how that maybe impacts the depth which has always been the biggest question for them during this type of Dynasty run that they really haven't needed much of. depth and last year, when they finally needed it at the end of the

finals

, it worked out well for them.

Sid Coulson played big minutes and Cayla George did too late in the

finals

, but for the most part, they've been able to get away with playing their starters pretty heavy minutes, but it'll be interesting to see how they fill that depth on the field. training, like we talked about, yeah, sure, especially like some of these. Other teams that we're going to talk about continue to make moves for kind of a battle as well, obviously, Chelsea Gray also got hurt late last year, but she seems to be back in the gym and getting ready for another season like Kia Stokes.

Well yeah, I'm really very interested to see what happens and just as a last step before we move on to our next team because as we know the news about Kaitlin Clark and her exclusive photo shoot came out and rightfully so people He was wondering, do you know why? Hasn't Asia Sho come out yet and like everything we talked about in terms of the media disparity in coverage and treatment of these different players and shout out to Cece eight for the above deal? Can I have some of that because I need to? I would like that, but I saw people go too far in the other direction and just start disrespecting Asia Wilson, like calling her things that aren't marketable, no one knows her and I was like, wait, pause, wait, wait. , like, let's just stop. because what do you mean you don't know who AEL Wilson is or what do you mean he's not marketable?

Because that to me just tells me that you're being blatantly disrespectful and don't understand marketing or just like covering for gamers in general. um Everyone posted their praise on Twitter and yeah, first of all, she already has one of the best resumes and she's just starting her peak um and we have a lot of Asia Wilson left to see, but I think it's also the things that she does. Outside of basketball, I think that

makes

her the person she is, I even posted when all this was happening. I did a Q&A with her in 2021, she was doing this Drive for Kids thing in Las Vegas.

She was in collaboration with Dick Sporting Goods and they were giving things to the community, like sports equipment, all these different resources and she participates and has this initiative to just give back to her community and be someone who gives back on a regular basis and does it with so much grace that she's always fantastic in the media like she's herself like there's just so many good qualities that make Asia Wilson who she is and someone that we talked about that she could be the future goat um when we did this. It's all said and done in her career and it's like seeing how she compares to some of the other Legends in the game, so I don't know, I just have to say that, people need to just relax.

Respect and enjoy players for who they are, just because a player you know gets an accolade or gets something, that doesn't mean you start degrading all the other players around them, especially in women's basketball where there is a lot of room to be much more. It's equitable in terms of the coverage you're giving each player because each player has a different story and I think that's what we tend to forget sometimes. I was so happy when I saw you put that in the notes because Asia Wilson is the definition of marketable and it's all the things you said, she puts a lot of good into the world and you can list everything she's done on the basketball court, that's great, but who she is is a person and she's fun, she has incredible energy, she lights up a room and she lights up, like you said, press conferences and anyone who talks to her, she rightfully has so many fans, so, including me to me and I know that you, K would too if she got a shoe, you would be the first to go buy it right away. so I don't know what we're doing here Caitlyn Clark deserves a shoe and also Asia Wilson can't wait until it happens because it has to be just a matter of time I hope but I don't know how anyone looked at Asia Wilson on or off the court and I thought Nike couldn't promote what it is.

She's one of the most marketable people on the planet and last thing before we move on, I saw her blonde hair in the photo shoots she was playing for USA Basketball and Aces and I just want to say she's better than the blonde hair is still there when I train because I'm AB. I love it and it's so light, these are my last words on this. I love it. but hey, that was the Las Vegas Aces, let's move on to the New York Liberty here in just a second. Well, last season's number two team, the New York Liberty, they lost in the finals to the Aces, as we just mentioned, I think looking at this team.

In this upcoming season, the way I want to attack is kind of the big picture for Liberty. Can this team run backwards? What are some expectations we should have for them for this upcoming season? The same team for the most part that they had last year with some changes on the bench, but when you look at last year, for one, they weren't as close when you look at the fact that the aces were missing some. key pieces and still entered the New York building and beat them in the fourth game, on the other hand, New York was basically one shot away from having a winner for the finals, so they weren't that far away either and when you start the season. the way in whichthey did, with chemistry still developing and not having much practice time with all the new pieces they brought in with some of the injuries.

John Quell was coming off that injury from the finals the year before and things like that. It really took them a while to get the ball rolling and when they did and then they got to the playoffs and Brianna Stewart played probably, to be honest, the worst month of basketball we'll ever see her play and I don't see that happening again. I know she had a lot of things to do. and I'm not reading that, I think they're going to make the playoffs this year and she's going to look a lot different, so they're there, they're clearly number two, the aces have built that gap, but the Liberty are are within enough distance of attack so they can definitely step back to answer your question and, you know, they lost some pieces on the bench, but they also brought in some interesting pieces that we can talk about here in a minute as well. but I think they have every chance of being at least as good as they were last year, yeah, and on that Stewie front I also write this in my notes in terms of specific developments I want to see with the roster and you mentioned that it was the worst month of basketball we've seen Ste play, but I think it's also a hole for the Expos in the way the Liberty play their offense, because when things don't work out, they just would. give the ball to Stewie and expect her to just believe from it and no matter how hard you try because she's a superstar on your team and we know who Stewie is as a player, when she's not on, it doesn't work and I think in terms To create chemistry with the team, Liberty was at its best when they shared the ball and everyone was moving and everyone could get theirs because having a superstar is important and we talked about that too.

The Las Vegas Aces are so good that it's the pieces around them that make it all work, although you might consider Asia the superstar of the Aces, like you need a Chelsea Grey, you need a Kelsey Plum, you need a young Jackie, how do you need these High. Caliber players that if someone has a bad night, you know you can give it to someone else and let them work or just keep finding these open blitzes and I think that's what I'm looking for with Liberty, I think with everyone that comes into this. knock on wood season to be healthy and have the opportunity to play again I think that's also one of Liberty's strengths is that when they play together you see the palpable growth in the chemistry and being able to play together, so I think I think it's going to look even better than last year and get to the final like you gained experience with a team that everyone was talking about was new and they hadn't played much with each other so I think it still plays a big role and maybe also some of Additional motivation from the way they came out in the WNBA Finals, don't underestimate that they could come for it.

I don't know, yes, well, definitely and from your point of view. the chemistry, I'm glad you mentioned that because I think it's a very important thing, when you look at it, one of the factors among many why aces are so good is because of the chemistry that they've been able to develop. Several years ago and they weren't, they were always good and always talented, they weren't what they are now just a few years ago when they were still developing that and they will always have more chemistry than Liberty because who they are, aces are one of anyone Let that be the adjective for chemistry, that's what aces among all sports teams.

I think the Aces have as much chemistry as basically anyone you've ever seen, but the Liberty are definitely going to take a step forward. that department now, which is a big deal because, like you said, the Liberty are at their best when they move the ball and when you see the ball explode, especially at home, and that crowd gets excited and you start taking shots all over the place parts. spot because when the ball is spinning, someone has an open shot and there are always shooters out there so that's when the Liberty are really tough to beat and we even saw them beat the Aces a couple of times, you know, in the regular season , of course. and once in the playoffs, when they were playing like that, that's what it's going to take to get to that level more consistently and looking at the rest of this roster heading into training camp, are there any remaining moves you want them to make?

I wrote in my no. I guess both Niara and Marisha are on the list. There are a couple of changes as you said. Marines doesn't look like Marine Johannes. He may not come because of the Olympics. I don't know if he would be there. allowed in the second half of the season. I'm not really sure what the rules are. I think this year is also an Olympic year, it's kind of interesting because a lot of players have said, well, I'm just not. I will be able to come because my commitments this year will be with my respective national team, so I think that is also going to play a very interesting factor in terms of how certain teams perform and which players can play. kind of hold, but are there any remaining moves you want Liberty to make or maybe any thoughts on who they have on the roster right now?

Yeah, I don't know if there's anything big they need to do, but in terms of the end of this roster, like you said, Nar sa is probably going to make the team and you have Marquisha Davis, who they drafted. There are some other places. I think Ivana Doic has a decent chance to make the team and she was talking. Miles Erck talked about this the other day, our Liberty expert friend, follow him for all things Liberty, so he gave me the rundown here. Shout out to Miles, Leone, someone I wasn't as familiar with as someone following college. and the WNBA much more than the international game and, maybe for many listeners, that's the case as well, but someone who thinks and once I looked into it, I agree with him, he has a very good chance to make an impact this year, someone who put up some Elite numbers in terms of shooting in international games and overseas and also someone who can create out of bounds, someone who can come in with that second unit and really help that offense when they do what you He said, they get stuck from time to time. so he has a good chance of making the roster as well and maybe even being a big part of this rotation, and then someone who I personally think I don't know will have room for, it seems like As for the salary cap, probably not, a Unless one of those players we just listed isn't on the roster, but Jaylen Sherad wasn't even selected in a camp trade deal.

I think he's someone who could have a big impact on this team once he gets some. of WNBA experience if she made the roster. I said it's difficult. You know, I wish we had a little bit bigger roster, like bigger rosters in the WNBA. I wish we had 14 15, a little bit bigger cap, but someone I'll be watching because I think she can have an impact somewhere and I think this would be a good team for her to come in and have a few minutes at a time and really just change the pace and change the look so that's what I'm looking for at the end of this list but like you said Marine isn't coming back she'll look a little different but I still think she's just as dangerous yeah I do I know, I'm very sad, but at least we can see her play for France during the Olympic year.

I'm excited to see it because Marine overseas and with her local crew is a completely different beast and I'm really excited for people to see it. the biggest stage, but okay, let's move on to our last team for this week and that's the Connecticut Sun. They were third on the season last year, taking a look at this core, which is kind of a big question that revolves around them, Bri Jones. She is going to return, since we know that the sun did not have her last year, she had that season that ended with an injury. First off, how excited are you to see Bri reunite with Danana Bonner and Alyssa Thomas?

So excited, this is an incredible front court when you put them all together and when we haven't had the opportunity to see them all together as much as we would have liked, but now we can hope that throughout the season that remains the theme, knock on wood, cheers , health, health, blah, blah, blah, but Hopefully we have it all year, and then when I look at this roster, what's interesting to me is that the backourt looks very different than in the past because they still have that front court Elite with your MVP candidate and Alyssa Thomas and then of course.

Danana Boner, who is another one who looks like she will never be the MVP of my fantasy team last season again, so yeah, at 37 years old or however old she is, I was laughed at when I picked her and ended up having the last one, he laughed last exactly. uh, but what I'm interested in is the backcourt, the backcourt, because they brought in Mariah Jefferson, who I think is a great move. I'm a big fan of Mariah Jefferson and obviously Tiffany Mitchell, uh, Rachel, some old timers, but you too. I have some young pieces in Ty Harris D Carrington who I could easily see at least one of those two having a great year on this team with the way the defense is open for minutes among that group, uh Joselyn Willoughby as well, with a training camp contract, Shea Petty, on a training camp contract, a lot of interesting pieces in the backcourt, no kind of breakout star, Mariah Jefferson maybe at the top of the list, but it will be very interesting to see I think about how they develop the roster specifically in the backcourt and then also how Steph White forms the rotation in the backcourt because I think there are a lot of different directions you can go in and I think it's going to be a feel process from the beginning.

Throughout the year, see who fits in parts, who doesn't and also maybe from game to game, you know who's playing well and who's not. I think you have a lot of different options with this back court, your front court, you have your big three and that's who you're playing with and then the back court, who knows, any day it could look different, which I think will be a lot of fun to follow. as this team progresses throughout the year, yeah, and obviously they lost Buck. Allen in the offseason, I'm curious to know your opinion on how much that hurts them.

Olivia Nelson continues to have perhaps a larger role depending on how healthy this team ends up being, when you look at this roster. I hope so because I think she has a lot of potential and has obviously been playing behind some Elite frontcourt players her entire short career, but in terms of Beck Allen and them also losing Natia Heidman, that's a big loss. being retired forgot about that TI exactly, the entire B court was handed over last year to this year with this team, so it will look very different. I think Beck Allen in particular 3 and D is like my favorite type of basketball player and and she embodies that, so big B for Mercury will obviously feel the void of her for the Connecticut Sun, but it's up to Steph White to figure out how to replace that production with this group of players that we just got on the list and she is the coach of the year, so obviously she can do it to be announcer of the year too with all these concerts that she would have, yeah, no joke, by the way, the love as a broadcaster, just a side note, I really enjoy listening to Steph White over any basketball game.

I think she does a great job and her analysis is always spot on, so she just wanted to slip that in there. No, she's cool, like she's reserved and busy. I feel like she hasn't stopped to take a breath. uh this solar team better be ready for training camp because she'll be in them she'll be ready coach of the year very excited to see what she does especially with Bri Jones returning to the lineup um last question before That I conclude when you look at these three teams, the aces, the Liberty, the sun. I know you know we've talked about the early rankings and our opinions on them and they might not even end up mattering, but if you were to rank these three teams.

Going into the season, where would you have them, even if it's like you still have the one, two, three, but is there any team that would be much higher than the others if that

makes

sense? Well, yeah, it does and this, uh, we only have a few weeks left in the season, so it's not that early, it's not the same as ranking college teams. Yes it's correct. I think the order we covered them and the order they finished last year is the order they'll finish again. This year in my opinion, but of these three teams, Ace is Liberty Sun, but I'm not sure if The Sun will be third again, I think with what they lost in the back court and more importantly for me, what Storm did and I get to them next week or maybe I forget when we covered maybe it's the next week when we talk about the storm and our previews obviously that team changed drastically with what they did and I think the storm Overlook.

The Sun, so in terms of the overall ranking, I think last year I felt like the big group was in the middle of theranking, but it was clear who was number one, it was clear who was number two and it was clear who was number three, I think that's the case again this year for me, except that for me the storm is the number three team quite clearly and then you start to get that group four five six seven and so on and the sun might be towards the top. from that level I still think, uh, but and the storm might take some time to start like the Liberty did last year, but I think the sun still looks a lot like playoff contenders and could host a series playoffs potentially um.but we'll see that Steph White definitely has her hand in trying to replace backt's production and keep them, you know, at the top of the stadiums and it's funny because I saw D Carrington, I think he tweeted something like Caitlyn Clark goes to be the best passer in the W this season and Alyssa Thomas made her go back on Twitter to say just don't play with me and now she's saying I'm back just because of this so when we talk about motivation in that fire um I think Alyssa Thomas will come for his stuff again this season, as we know he was in the top MVP conversations last season and the fact that he returned to Twitter only to say, "Hey, teammate, uh, no, don't say." this about I don't do that, don't do that that's how you know it's serious, get her on Twitter DB's on Twitter again Alyssa Thomas is on Twitter again I feel like WNBA Mondays are about to be really, really fun next season um , I'm really excited about all the stories, so yeah, it was Las Vegas Aces New York Liberty and our Connecticut Sun previews for the upcoming season.

We'll wait to see how the rosters are tweaked as we head into training camp next. week and I think, as was said last week, the final date for rosters is May 13th, which is one day before the regular season starts, so we may have drama until the end, but we'll see , but we will return next time. week with more team developments heading into the season, so be sure to stay tuned to Coast to Coast on their hoops stats podcast network. You can follow us on social media in your hoop statistics. Myself in Karina mm Calvin in se w31.

Subscribe wherever you are. Get Podcast for your hoops stats and subscribe to YouTube because that's the place to be. We always love reading all the comments and engagement so yeah, see you next week and this has been coast to coast.