Chasing the Center of Gravity

On this week's episode, Amanda and Bonnie talk Liberty, some of the most interesting stats around the league, which players can be considered brolic and a special double OT segment.

Transcript

Amanda 0:07

Welcome back to another episode of Chasing the W. I'm Amanda.

Bonnie 0:11

And I'm Bonnie. How are you, Bonnie? Good. How are you? I'm okay. It's so ugly and gloomy out. But you know what? We're sitting here in our Liberty gear because we're going to the Liberty game today. They're playing the wings at 3 30 Eastern. PB5. AZ Fud.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Yeah.

Amanda 0:31

I was like, what's AZ's number? It's 35.

Bonnie 0:34

35. Yeah.

Amanda 0:35

We're seeing the girls today.

Bonnie 0:38

Layla just bit me.

Amanda 0:40

I told her to be nice to you before you got here.

Bonnie 0:44

Come on. You want me to come up?

Amanda 0:46

Layla's my cat, listeners. Listeners. Layla's the cat. She's my daughter. And she has not been a very good girl in the last 12 hours. She got into the catnip and like she went on a bender last night, as Bonnie said. Sometimes you gotta do it. Bonnie is okay with the bender.

Bonnie 1:04

Yeah, as long as you don't OD. What's wrong with a little bit?

Amanda 1:10

And as a punishment, Layla got her nails clipped this morning. She was pissed the entire time.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

But she probably feels better. Yeah, she got it out of her system. Yeah. And now she's gonna have to she's gonna go through withdrawals. She's not gonna have any more catnip. I'm not buying any more for her.

Amanda 1:26

Nope. That's what happens. It is what happens. So what I was gonna ask what you've been up to, but really you've just been with me all week. Yeah, we've just been hanging out. Yeah, I've been Ubering the wives around.

Bonnie 1:39

Yeah.

Amanda 1:40

They sit in my back seat.

Bonnie 1:42

Yeah. We were gonna buy you a meal today, but you bought gummy worms instead. Well, which is a meal.

Amanda 1:49

Yes, gummy worms are a meal, but you know, as we discussed, some people call themselves glizzy gobblers. And so perhaps the glizzy's in my future. I don't know. I'm not hungry right now, but who anything anything is possible? I mean, we could get you a glizzy at the gate. Anything is possible. Okay, I'll keep that in mind. You can't, I guess you can't be a glizzy gobbler. They have vegetarian. They do? Yeah. Okay. Well, I guess we'll see.

Bonnie 2:20

Maybe you'll I think it's more for the experience, you know what I mean? Yeah. Because what isn't a hot dog? Don't ask. Yeah, don't ask.

Amanda 2:27

You asked me that yesterday, and I don't I don't ask, and I never tell. I just eat it. So anyway, let's get right into it. There's no like real crazy strategic plan for this episode, but before we really get into everything, I need to make a core agenda to our way too early predictions from last episode. Rikia Jackson, I'm so sorry. Please get better. Get better for those who live under a rock. Rikia tore her ACL. It was bad. It was really fucking bad. Was it against the Lynx that it happened? It was against it. I don't think it was Dallas. I I'm fairly certain it was the Lynx.

Bonnie 3:13

I think it might have been the Lynx, yeah. It yeah.

Amanda 3:17

But as soon as she went down, it was a no-contact injury. That's how you know. Yeah. And her knee went like there was some vibrations in there. That's how you know if it's an Achilles or an ACL. No contact, and you go down immediately, wrong step. Yeah. Yep. It's really tough. And then Tosh Cloud. Listen, I'm not I'm not a Tosh Cloud hater. I wouldn't exactly put Tosh in the same category that I would put Sat to currently. But said it once and I'll say I'll say it again. She's not from Philly, first of all. First. First and foremost, she's not from Philadelphia. So she needs to relax. Second. Second, she just be saying stuff sometimes, and it's really like, I don't know. She went on this whole tirade. I feel like tirade is my SAT word lately. I've been saying that. I thought corridendum.

Bonnie 4:09

Corridum. Corrigendum? Corrigendum was yours at word.

Amanda 4:13

Well, that too, because listeners, I had to look up what the word was because I knew the word for addendum, but I didn't know how to say correction in Latin. And it is in fact corridum, so you learn something new. Anyway. Anyway. Tosh, she just be saying stuff sometimes. Like she went on this whole rant during her press conference where she was saying that this is all on the refs because they're not like calling the fouls, they're letting the game be too physical, da da da. And then you watch the fucking replay, and nobody did shit to Rakia. She just stepped wrong, and that's unlucky sometimes. I just sometimes I just feel like one thing about Tosh that I really admire is that she is vocal about like Palestine. She's vocal about you know human rights and all of that stuff. But sometimes I'm just like, you can shut the fuck up too, though. Like you don't always have to be the one speaking up, especially when you're being loud and also fucking wrong. Yeah. I don't know. And I don't like the refs. I don't like the refs. We talked about this. The officiating has been terrible, but it's also just like just shut the fuck up, bro.

Bonnie 5:17

I just think that like the two didn't correlate. Like, yes, they were they were calling bad calls and whatever. Um, but yeah, like we said, it was a no-contact injury for Rikia. It was just like really unfortunate.

Amanda 5:32

It was really tough because I man, I really think she would have gone on to win most improved player.

Bonnie 5:38

Yeah.

Amanda 5:39

I mean, she was hooping.

Bonnie 5:40

Now she will next year.

Amanda 5:42

She was hooping. I know. That's the worst. Not to say that she and I are the same, but I was also hooping when I went down with a bone contusion.

Bonnie 5:50

What is a bone contusion?

Amanda 5:51

It's just like a bruise.

Bonnie 5:53

Oh, okay.

Amanda 5:53

Like a bone bruise.

Bonnie 5:54

Yeah.

Amanda 5:55

But I was like having an incredible season. In fact, Brenda even said, you know, I've been having a lot of fun going to your games, and she's never said that before. So she only said it when I was hooping for it.

unknown 6:06

That's fine.

Amanda 6:06

And then I went down and she's never said it again. She's never said it again.

SPEAKER_00 6:11

She's never said it before that either. It was great. Okay. I get it though.

Bonnie 6:15

Well, next season for you and for Rikia is gonna be a great season. Brenda's gonna love, love it.

Amanda 6:21

Yeah, Brenda's gonna be having a great time with my new jump shot.

unknown 6:25

Thank God.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

Because I've been working on it.

Bonnie 6:28

I know. I'm excited for you. I'm not. It's really hard. I know, but it gets hard until it gets easy again. You know what I mean?

Amanda 6:36

My coach has been kind of being part-time too. She really wasn't focused. She didn't have an eye on the prize yesterday at Swish.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

Uh oh.

Amanda 6:44

Anyway. Anyway. Yeah, so get better, Rikia. Get better, Rikia. I'm really sad.

Bonnie 6:50

I wish we could send a card. We probably could. We could. Okay.

Amanda 6:55

We'll figure it out offline. Okay. Now that we've made the core agendum.

Bonnie 7:00

Yes.

Amanda 7:02

Let's talk about the Liberty. We're calling this segment C Foam Spotlight. So you know, the Liberty, I would say we've talked, they've they've looked decent.

Bonnie 7:14

They've looked pretty good. They've looked decent. Yep. Top on the Eastern Conference. Yeah. And and then what day was that that we went to that game? Was it Thursday? Yeah. Thursday. Against the Valkyries. The Valkyries. Oh my god. They got demolished. They really shut us down. It was. We couldn't get past their defense at all. It was embarrassing.

Amanda 7:38

It was so bad. And and and here's I think some of the most embarrassing stuff. Satu started. Why? Why? Why? Why? Literally. She was out there so out of game shape that it looked like she was running in slow motion. In fact, social media was asking in the replays, is this in slow motion? Really? I didn't see that. I swear, I thought I replied to this comment because I typed it out and everything, and I said, No, this is real. I saw it with my own two eyes, unfortunately. I yeah. I don't know why she started, especially for her first game back. She was just so hesitant too with her shots, but she was like, she looked at like me out there. She was over there jogging at half pace, up and down a court. I was like, girly pop, just sit down then. Rip for real. But that wasn't the only thing. No, that was just one of many that Marine? What the fuck was she doing?

Bonnie 8:35

She couldn't score anything. She was like over three. She couldn't score any fucking points, especially three-pointers, which is like her thing. Over three.

Amanda 8:43

And I'd like, but that's never stopped her before.

Bonnie 8:46

Also, she doesn't play defense, which we know. But like this is the time where she really needed to play defense. If you're not playing offense, you gotta play defense.

Amanda 8:53

It was really bad. There was a point early in the game where she was guarding Gabby, and I was just like, I know that Marine Johannes guarding Gabby Williams. Right? She'd just stand in there. She was just standing there looking at looking at Gabby's arms. Mesmozed.

SPEAKER_00 9:07

Yeah.

Amanda 9:07

Me, I and me too. How how would I be able to guard Gabby? I wouldn't. She literally, she'd probably breathe on me and I would like fly across the room. She's so fucking strong. True. Crazy. That wasn't even the worst part. What was the worst? I think to me, to me, the worst part is I can't count on one hand how many times I saw JJ at half court just watching other people rebound. I said, and girl, what the fuck are you doing over there? Seriously. She was standing there.

Bonnie 9:36

She was not getting back at all, which was crazy. She was pissing me off. And she missed like, I think, 300 layups. I'm gonna be honest, I think it was 450.

Amanda 9:47

I think she missed 450 layups.

Bonnie 9:50

You're probably right. You're probably right. But yeah, she was fucking not moving. I mean, JJ's not our fastest player, but she does hustle. She was not hustling on Thursday.

Amanda 10:01

She was not, and you know what? I was definitely in a place where I didn't think we needed to re-sign JJ if I'm being totally honest. I thought on Thursday or no, I mean before. To bring her back. And I'm not saying she's not a good player, but do I think that Alana Smith should have been in New York instead of JJ? Instead of Satu. Oh, actually, yeah, fuck it. Instead of Satu. I'm sorry, JJ.

Bonnie 10:25

But I mean the thing about JJ is that she can have a really mediocre regular season. But once playoffs come around, she like really kicks it into high gear. And she fucking better. She better. JJ?

Amanda 10:39

Yeah. I mean, shout out to you though, JJ. You was probably tired. Yeah, shout out JJ. But I just, I just I don't want to be embarrassed like that.

Bonnie 10:50

No, and it was bad too. Like Pauline Ostier, she would like literally drive all the way to the basket, have an open layup, and then kick it out. She in the beginning, she was good.

Amanda 11:01

Like I was like, oh, she's the only one with animal, which is like uh, you know, like uh energy. Thank you, Brenda. I would just be knowing Spanish, but I don't know how to translate it.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

That's right.

Amanda 11:11

But she was the only one with animo, and then it was just like, okay, well, you gotta make the layups though. Then if she's the only one getting through the paint.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

Kia Stokes was draining threes, Kia Stokes!

Bonnie 11:27

Kia Stokes should not be draining threes. Kia Stokes is ass. She's not that bad. She's not that bad. She's just not a three-point shooter. She's not a three-point shooter. But I feel like Valkyrie's is better for her than um the aces.

Amanda 11:45

Yeah. I think so because you're kind of competing for like touches in Vegas, because respectfully, I remember I had Kia Stokes maybe last sea last season for fantasy, and she wasn't doing shit for me. She wasn't playing that much, probably. So I don't know. I just I didn't I don't like being embarrassed in that kind of fashion, and it was so bad that Brenda and I left early because we left early too.

Bonnie 12:10

When did you leave? Like five or seven minutes early. That's wait, that's when we left. We kind of like looked at each other and we're like, we should go.

Amanda 12:19

Yeah, honestly, Brenda had just come from the office just like Eliza, and I said, My wife is tired and she doesn't deserve to be subjected to this fucking ball.

Bonnie 12:27

Also, I feel like that's the first time I saw Barclays, like the energy really like just got deflated from the whole place. It was bad. I looked around and there were so many empty seats, and I was like, damn, this is bad.

Amanda 12:41

This is how you know we've arrived though. I know sometimes you gotta send the message. I'm not finna stay in this fucking seat if you're gonna play like this. Right. You don't get to benefit from the crowd if you're not gonna play with animal.

Bonnie 12:53

It's true.

Amanda 12:55

Anyway.

Bonnie 12:55

Anyway, hopefully we're better today.

Amanda 12:58

Yes, because today, like we said, we play Dallas, and it's gonna be an exciting game, I think, because Sabrina's coming back. Sabrina, Sabrina. Thank God, because I'm not gonna lie, after that game on Thursday, I'll say, ooh, if she don't put the damn uniform on, I'm gonna yeah, yeah, it was not gonna be good. And she better not piss me off. She won't. No, she won't. You're right. She won't. Bonnie's like, and she absolutely won't. She won't. She won't. She won't. Yeah. Um, she fucking better not. And Satu better not piss me off either. She might. She will. She will. She will. Uh, I just know this. I just don't know why we're starting her. I don't know, bro. Like, it's okay if you're not in game shape, but why you get to start? Why not get to start?

Bonnie 13:47

Here's what I think we should do. Tell a bench Satu and start Pauline at the one.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

You know what I thought you were gonna say?

Bonnie 13:58

What?

Amanda 13:59

I thought you were gonna say like an iteration of start bench cut or like date Mary fuck. That's where I thought we would, but it's okay if we weren't. I think we bench Satu.

Bonnie 14:12

I think we benched Satu.

Amanda 14:13

I think we also probably cut Satu.

Bonnie 14:14

I think we cut her after this.

Amanda 14:16

I think we bench and then cut. And then what do we do? Well, we make a trade offer for Alana Smith.

SPEAKER_00 14:25

I think we send Satu back to Dallas. Yes. And oh my god, we're seeing Alana Smith today, too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 14:34

It's gonna be a great game. Most of the Multi's today. I think most Annalie Maley.

Bonnie 14:40

Oh, yeah. We'll talk about that later. She's coming back.

Amanda 14:42

Yep, yeah. We'll cut that. We'll sorry, we'll cut that. I just I don't know. No, we don't have to cut it.

Bonnie 14:45

Okay, well, if it doesn't make sense, we cut it. Okay, all right.

Amanda 14:48

Um well I forgot Alana Smith was coming. Actually, I've been watching a lot of Dallas games, and Alana Smith is not looking like co-defensive player of the year, Alana Smith. Dallas's defense is fucking booty cheeks. And so what I want to see, I want to see JJ chest up, ass out. Backing her down. Box out, JJ. Yes. Back, I want her back down on the paint. I want a post up every time we go down the court.

Bonnie 15:18

JJ needs to be, yeah. She needs to be strong down there. Every time. Mm-hmm. I'm kind of scared of AZ though, because she like. Are those clips of her of people like trying to like Georgia Aymar trying to get away from the city?

Amanda 15:30

Well, she's a f she's a fucking wall. Yeah. She's a wall. She's not going nowhere. And she like she kind of looks like if you know when like birds don't see glass?

Bonnie 15:41

Yeah.

Amanda 15:42

Like that. That's what that's what people running into Azy look like because she don't even move. It's true. She'd be standing there. I want to be Braulic like AZ. Brawlic. Okay, another S T S A T word. No, Braulik is actually. If we take a little detour, it's actually hood slang based on a character in Dragon Ball Zine named Brawly. B-R-O-L-Y. B-R O L L I. If you look him up, you'll understand how we've derived Braulik as an adjective.

unknown 16:07

Okay.

Bonnie 16:08

Brawly?

Amanda 16:09

Oh, yeah, okay, okay. Oh, Brawly in Australia means umbrella. Well, in New York, that's not what that means.

Bonnie 16:15

Wait, does he get bigger when he takes his shirt off or something? No, he's just fucking big. Okay. Because he looks like there's two brawlies, one with dark hair and a shirt on. No, he's got like blonde hair. Green? Maybe green, yeah. Okay, because this other one has green and then he's really big.

Amanda 16:32

He's brolic. He's brolic. Yeah. You see what you see? You see how we've derived it? That is urban science. There you go. Yeah. Anyway, yes, I would like to be brolic just like AZ. She just actually, you know who's actually more brawlic than than Azy just because she's more defined? What? Gabby Williams. True. I saw her warming up and I was just like, damn. She's more mature. Yeah. She is so mature for her age, babe.

Bonnie 17:01

Um, for Gabby Williams and her arms. Damn. Gabby's hair looks really cool right now, too. Yeah. It's like a grayish purple. Gabby's perfect. This is a Gabby Williams fan podcast. It really is. Also, okay, I know we did bad at our game on Thursday, but um the jersey colors, like our little like rebel jersey green. Yeah, the sea foam. Sea foam and the lavender. Damn. It was really pretty. That was nice to look at. It was nice to look at. The colors really complimented each other.

Amanda 17:38

One last thing on Gabby Williams here. One just one last thing. Gabby Williams is so nice to look at. She's brollic. And Brenda said on Thursday that Gabby Williams could punch her in the face. And to that I say, me too.

Bonnie 17:54

Me too.

Amanda 17:55

Me too. Let's get in line. Let's get in line. Because all baddies line up for a punch in the face. Yeah. For from Gabby and maybe like a high five from Martin. Yeah. Yeah. Marine's too shy to punch. Yeah, actually, one time I was standing in the high five line and Martin did not give me a high five. I was at the end of the line. If we're just basing this off of brolliness, I would say Jackie Young could too. Oh shit. Jackie Young. Yeah. Actually, yes. Important note from the producer in case it was too muffled in the background. If we're talking on a on a scale of brawlicness, bral I'm like, can I say like br brilosity? On the scale of brawlicness, Jackie Young is definitely up there. Yeah. And I mean it would hurt if Gabby punched us in the face, but I don't know.

Bonnie 18:52

I feel like I think it would definitely hurt.

Amanda 18:55

Yeah. It would really hurt though if Jackie punched us in the face.

unknown 18:59

Yeah.

Amanda 19:00

Is there anyone? Who else? Is there anyone more brolic?

Bonnie 19:04

Hmm.

Amanda 19:05

Natasha Cloud is pretty brawlic, but she's like a she's like a lean brawlic.

Bonnie 19:09

I was gonna say I feel like she's more like scrappy than yeah, but she's got she's got some definition. She's got definition, yeah.

Amanda 19:15

I think it might be between Gabby and Jackie for real.

Bonnie 19:17

Yeah, I can't really think of anyone else.

Amanda 19:20

Because I feel like Asia is not Asia's toned, but she's not brolic. And also like Asia's like silly goofy. Yeah. Yeah, okay, that's fine. Okay, so we're factoring in personality, muscle tone and personality. Yeah, so I think it's definitely between Gabby and Jackie. Yeah. Because I love I love Marina, but she's not brolic. No. The personality is that she's not brawl. Yeah, she's just a girl.

unknown 19:47

Yeah.

Amanda 19:47

She'd give it to you though if you'd like pull your hair. Yeah. I think so.

Bonnie 19:52

Yeah. She's scrappy. She's from New Jersey. She's scrappy. Okay, moving on. So let's talk about some interesting stats from the last week. Okay, yeah, because I have a lot of thoughts. Go.

Amanda 20:04

I said Cameron Brink for Defensive Player of the Year. Yep. And I just wanted to, I don't know. We've talked about this before. I just feel like Cam gets a lot of like. Is it flack or slack? Flack? She gets a lot of flack? I think it's flack. Okay, she gets a lot of flack. Whatever. People be talking shit about her because of her injury, which is out of her control. But Lynn Roberts, head coach of the LA Sparks, said that she needed Cam to produce because she wasn't producing enough. And ever since then, in the four games following uh Coach Roberts' comments, she's she as in Cam has shown a significant leap in confidence or performance. Like she's averaging 10 points a game, which is up from under six a game. Her shooting efficiency is at 59% uh from the field in general, and she also is drawing fouls a lot. She's getting to the free throw line. And on defense, she's averaging two and a quarter blocks a game. Let's go. Including what we talked about last episode when she told Caitlin to get that fucking shit out of here.

Bonnie 21:07

Out of my period.

Amanda 21:09

She did like a matumble. She should have done the finger wag. Ew, did you see Caitlyn do that? Yeah, and I don't know why she did that because she's not nothing special, but that's fine. Also, as a result of her playing really well, she has gotten more uh playing time. That's great. She was playing eight minutes and now she's averaging over 19 a game, which is I'm really happy for her. Really? Yeah, I'm really happy for her. I feel like Unrivaled really helped her develop her game as well. Agree. I think it was good for her to like ease in that way. Not that Unrivaled is any less challenging, but at least there's like a little bit more space to work on your individual game.

Bonnie 21:41

And I feel like there's more focus on like, you know, honing in on your skills, getting more touches. Um yeah. No, she had an amazing game against the aces last night.

Amanda 21:51

Yeah. And speaking about the aces, Kennedy Carter, I said it last time. She's still hooping. This girl cannot miss. Like, she just like shooting. facial threes over people.

Bonnie 22:02

Yeah.

Amanda 22:03

Like contest doesn't matter.

Bonnie 22:06

It doesn't matter. She's really good. She is really good.

Amanda 22:09

One thing though about Kennedy, like and watching the Sparks and Aces game last night, this really like upset me. I just the commentators kept saying Kennedy Carter again and she wasn't in the league last season. But I feel like Kennedy Carter she didn't play in the league last season not because she wasn't good enough. Right. It was because of other bullshit that was also probably just amplified by that interaction in the middle of the game with the fever against Caitlin where all of a sudden everyone is saying that she assaulted Caitlin Clark. It's fine. It was a flagrant one. It is what it is. It's fucking basketball. But they even had like state legislatures calling for her arrest saying that she assaulted Caitlin and da da da it was like fucking crazy. And that shit wouldn't have happened if she wasn't black. And so I don't know it like for me like I'm not saying Kennedy Carter's perfect because I think there are better decisions that she could have made along the way but at the same time I do really feel like it's racially charged. Like if if if she was a white player she wouldn't have been uh what's it called ostracized yeah from the league in my opinion. I mean look at Caitlin she's over here cussing her her coaches out on the on the bench just because her coach said play better defense.

Bonnie 23:31

And not yeah the coaches which is like seen all over social media and every single ref she's like cussing every ref and other players she doesn't get text.

Amanda 23:40

Yeah I don't know why she decided to get into into Tiffany Hayes's uh face your favorite player Bonnie it's so like no I was on Tiffany's side that obviously yeah sorry Siri just started she's like uh Siri we're not talking to you um I just feel like it's so nauseating to like watch Caitlin try to be tough because that it looks like an AI generated hey Siri shut the fuck up damn damn Siri talking to her I don't know how to respond to that she wanna fight the crazy thing is that she doesn't listen to us like any other time sometimes Brenda will be talking to her and she'll ignore her anyway anyway you said it's nauseating yeah I just feel like Caitlin has this like weird like when like when she did the Matumbo finger wag and like when she was like you and me to Tiff uh Hayes the other night I'm just like you look AI generated but the thing that's like a robot trying to emote you know what I mean that's a bar you said you don't even look real you're not even human yeah yeah I agree with that but also one thing that drives me crazy about Caitlin Clark is if you're gonna run your mouth say it with your fucking chest stop backing away stop hiding behind your teammates say it with your chest or don't say anything at all.

Bonnie 25:09

Yeah respectfully don't be a pussy respectfully finish when you start yeah she starts and then you know she got her teammates come in in the in the middle also did you see like when her and um Janelle salon I think it was got in like a little yeah thing she got a tech for that I believe yeah I think they both got texts which is stupid but there was like three secure like extra security guards that swarmed the court and like tried to protect her and I'm like why does she need all this she could listen like is it because she's mega a MAGA princess? I really feel like there's some kind of conspiracy um I know Megan mentioned it like the timeline of events where it's just like there are people online who are who are what is the word I don't know what are you trying to say there are people online who are speculating oh speculating yeah yeah thanks they're speculating that Caitlin has actually been suspended yeah more times than she's been injured pretty much but it's always showing up on the injury report last minute and they think that she might actually be getting suspended but instead they're listing it as injury so that they don't upset her fan base which is fucking suspended for like being a bitch I think so yeah for being a bitch hell yeah well she deserves it because she is a bitch agree I'm just like if she's suspended then say that I know like why are we trying like why are we trying so hard to protect her image when like her image is destructive to other people in the league you know black players black fans like it's just um really sad to be honest and like I'm just tired about I'm just tired of the narrative being about her like the her being the face of the WNBA because it just is not true and I don't know how to stop it. I wish I could stop it.

Amanda 27:13

No I know I mean it's pretty it's pretty frustrating honestly yeah and the last thing I'll say about her this episode is that she said that she wrote a picture book and to that I say how do you write a picture book? Yeah and and then we can move on. And then everyone ponder that yeah everyone ponder how you can write a picture book. Okay so let's talk about let's talk Valkyries.

Bonnie 27:35

Yeah okay so this week it came out CNBC um noted that the Valkyries became the first team in the league to be valued at one billion dollars which is pretty cool because they're like literally two years in not even one and a half seasons in and um the team's owners I don't know some random guys originally paid just some guys they originally paid a then record of $50 million um in an expansion fee in 2023 meaning that the franchise's value has multiplied roughly twenty fold in just a couple years so they brought in a record revenue of um 78 million in their first season which is like they just paid for their fee in like one season which is amazing. At the at Valhalla she like came up with that term and like is really like giving it ownership she's like done all the partnerships with like Sephora and is clear I know isn't that cool that it works high key it works for both the Warriors and the Valkyries.

Amanda 28:48

Right that's tough.

Bonnie 28:50

But they like they're so independent from the Warriors like they don't depend on them for anything and like I don't know I just feel like it's such a cool thing and model for an expansion team to like be valued at a billion dollars which is a record no I think it's sick and I think soon they'll be more valuable than the Warriors because I think the the sun is setting on the Warriors dynasty.

Amanda 29:13

They just haven't really Steve Kerr just it's as his contract is done so who knows if he comes back yeah and Steph is getting old and I was gonna say Steph has got to retire soon.

Bonnie 29:23

Yeah all right next thing Annalie Maley is back you heard it here lesbians lesbians rejoice lesbians can have their holiday because Annalie Maley is back in New York we dropped Alex Fowler who for the who fucking knows why did we even keep her I don't know I I think it was just like uh they kept her for Eliza another Aussie yeah but like why didn't we keep Ann Lee I didn't know it was bad.

Amanda 29:52

And Alex Fowler had like three air balls in that game against I know and she kept shooting I was like girl pass.

Bonnie 29:58

Yeah you know how they say oh yeah you know shoot or shoot she's just gonna keep shooting no babe don't shoot no more yeah don't shoot no more I'll I'll take the shots respectfully Fowler you tried but it wasn't good enough yeah you're gonna have to join that practice squad get some more reps in because that was not great go to the G the new upshot league G League anyway so Annaline Maley's coming back we'll probably see her later on today but her journey has really been an emotional roller coaster this season.

Amanda 30:27

I mean look listen to this timeline May 3rd she's on the Liberty she's the second top scorer in our preseason game and then May 7th she gets waived the day before our home opener corny corny the day after our home opener May 9th she's claimed by Phoenix on the waivers wow and then May 10th plays for the Phoenix but a week later May 17th waived by Phoenix yeah and then May 23rd picked back up by the Libs Jesus Christ this all happened in a 20 day span I know literally 20 days three weeks like Eliza and I were talking and I was like I hope she didn't go back to Australia in between that time of like getting waived by Phoenix and then picked up by us because I was like she's gonna be tired flying 30 hours back well no because she couldn't have because she No she didn't she stayed no yeah she couldn't have I've I'm just looking at the the time difference like because she would have been with the team geez I don't know but it was less than a week between I know and at that point I would have if I were her I've been like okay I guess it's not my time you know yeah I mean like you don't really know if you're gonna get picked up again for the third time that means you gotta stay ready so you don't have to get ready. It's true. So wow what a what a rush for Annalie Maley I feel like when she shows up on that big screen at the game it's gonna go wild it's gonna be hella screams in there.

SPEAKER_00 31:54

And I hope she feels the love.

Bonnie 31:55

I hope she does she will yeah she will she will and she will and then the other thing I wanted to bring up is that uh Maybrie and Sykes are you know the two leading stars of Toronto Tempo and I feel like they made the best career move of all time. Not only are they making millions now because they're at that level I mean money Maybury. Yeah yeah but there was a stat comparison that I thought was interesting from 2025 to this season already and Maybury's stats in 2025 um she was shooting four point fourteen point four points per game four point two rebounds per game four assists per game and this year she's already up to twenty point eight points per game uh rebounds are the same we at least 4.2 and then assists are a little bit down but like it's because she's the scorer it's because she's the scorer you're right um so she's already trending higher in in points and obviously making that cash and then Brittany Brittany Sykes 2025 she was shooting she was scoring 14.1 points per game 3.2 rebounds per game and four assists and she was with DC right no yeah but maybe not for the whole season I feel like she was she was I think yeah she was oh you're right she was with the Mystics and then she got traded to the store in midseason right because then they gave her they gave Alicia Clark to Washington which was crazy because I thought they have really good chemistry in DC with Britney Sykes down there.

Amanda 33:32

I know it was it was a very strange move anyway. So how's she doing in 2023?

Bonnie 33:37

So 2026 already 25.6 points per game four point six rebounds per game and four point eight assists per game and I just feel like they're like an amazing duo and Sandy's gonna make them stars I did just see that in the notes and I thought that was really cute.

Amanda 33:56

Sandy is going to make them stars yeah and they deserve to be they do deserve to be sometimes I mean we talk about this often but there are so many limited spots in the WNBA that really everybody kind of has to be a dog and it has to be the right scenario right environment for them to actually get the opportunity it's just like Kia Stokes. Right how can Kia Stokes be Kia Stokes and play her best game when she's a backup right to Asia Wilson.

Bonnie 34:30

It's true you would never play why would you play I mean it's also like what we saw with Kayla Thornton when she moved to the Valkyries like she was our sixth man I miss you KT.

Amanda 34:39

I know but like she really leveled up when she was given more playing time sometimes you just need the opportunity yeah they need to be utilized correctly and respectfully that's why I feel like I I like what I'm seeing from Chris DeMarco excluding that last game just because I feel like they're moving the ball more Marina's being utilized much better so I am very interested to see how Marine and Sab look together on the court today. Yes KT is also Brawlic. I was gonna say that too Brenda yeah KT also brolick I feel like man KT to me is like a bowling ball. Yeah she's tough I feel like I'm getting the fuck out her way and that's why I can't be in the W. Because if they coming at me with the ball I'm gonna be like nah go ahead you got it. Yeah I'm like you look good take a shot yeah no I'm just like the ball is up in the air for a rebound I see JJ big ass coming to get it you got it yeah honestly I had that same thought actually during the Valkyries game though when we played like shit because there was one possession where both JJ and Stewie jumped and Stewie ended up getting the block but I said if I seen JJ and Stewie jumping at me I'm falling to the floor I'm not even giving you a chance to make contact here you got it you can have the ball yeah it's cool no I'm the same way.

Bonnie 35:59

Yeah I'm and that's the only reason why we're not in the WNBA. Yes it's just because we're vertically challenged yep well you know what listeners it's time for overtime it's time for overtime and special edition yeah we've got like double overtime double overtime period OTOT first up I wanted to talk about Olivia Miles because she's the rookie who's already breaking records. Wow yeah um so she hasn't had an ex a historic start she's become only the third player in the W to record at least 10 points and five assists in each of her first three games joining Subert and Candace Parker um veteran Courtney Williams like she is really respectful and like loves playing with Olivia Miles and called her the captain of the ship for the the Lynx offense saying that for her to be a rookie and coming in and doing it the way she's doing it that girl gonna be a problem. She already a problem she's a lethal passer. I know she's so good. It's really fun to watch her play.

Amanda 37:06

Yeah it's and it honestly she's like a really good player and I uh I feel like I understand why Dallas didn't take her because you already have a PG yeah in page and so how do you how do you manage that so but also Dallas had the first pick she was oh I guess no but yeah you see what I mean like because I I don't know I just again this is more like AZ talk here too but like I don't think like that's more evidence right right for why it did like it didn't make sense for them to take Olivia Miles but Olivia Miles also could have been the first pick it's just how the cookie crumbled well it's also interesting because Olivia deliberately skipped the 2025 draft passing up on being a top two pick partly to wait for the new CBA and potentially earn that's a smart girl more yeah essentially earn more money.

Bonnie 37:57

But um it was obviously a gamble because she didn't know what was going to happen during that season and um it worked out on multiple level levels. Like she landed you know on the Lynx and got paid more so um and then the Lynx angle Minnesota had actually traded for the right to swap draft positions with Chicago back in 2024. So they didn't even know that Miles would even be in the 2026 class. So it really just kind of like worked out stars were really crossing for them. When the skies two years of struggle turned that trade into the number two pick the Lynx essentially won that lottery.

Amanda 38:33

Yeah I mean it's kind of I I kind of like it though I feel like it's meant to be like you know the Lynx are the ops but yeah they really didn't have a point guard.

Bonnie 38:42

They didn't and I feel like Cheryl is like really tough on point guards. Um but I think she's gonna be great under Cheryl Yeah yeah she's like publicly come out and said she wants to be patient with Miles and like let her do her thing so I think it's gonna be a good dynamic for them to work together.

Amanda 39:01

Yeah I think it I think it could be fun. I also know there's obviously like rookie of the year conversations. Yeah I do feel like it's a little too early to make that call especially I I I feel like we're seeing a little bit of evolution too from Aisy yeah in in Dallas where she is not just settling for the three she's also doing pull up middies like I think she just needs to find like what her sweet spot is agree and I think it's gonna depend on the success of their respective teams.

Bonnie 39:32

Yeah but I do kind of feel like I mean this draft class had like a lot of amazing players I I really loved watching Gabrielle Jacques as well. She's decent yeah but I feel like it might like I mean this is an early prediction another one oh oh I feel like it might come down to those two though but for rookie of the year AZ or Olivia. Yeah I think so I think it'll depend on how com how much more comfortable AZ can get um but it's like we talked about before that built-in chemistry between her and page is it's gonna be it's gonna be good it's gonna benefit them I think yeah so now we're moving on to double overtime wow okay a guest a guest appearance guest overtime Amanda's showing her face yes I just wanted to talk about what gravity means in basketball analytics because we were watching the aces and sparks last night and they were talking about Kelsey's Kelsey Plum's gravity which I had never heard this before.

Amanda 40:32

Yeah they were talking about her gravity and so I was just like I like it what like what are we talking about? So in basketball analytics gravity measures how much a player attracts defensive attention even when they don't have the ball so the easiest way to think about it is that gravity is how much a player bends the defense simply by existing on the floor it came it became popular in NBA analysis around players like Steph Curry who's shooting threat force defenders to stay attached to him far from the basket opening opening up space for teammates because as as we all know I feel like Steph Curry is somebody he's like an energized money he's running all over the fucking court he's never not running and the number of defenders who have to chase him around the court just hoping that they can stay on top of him because he just needs that little tiny teeny window just to release the ball for a three. So in the WNBA the league's AWS powered gravity metric tries to quantify that effect using player tracking data. So here's what it actually measures and what it doesn't. So gravity is not points per game it's not efficiency it's not usage rate and it's not who's the quote best player. It specifically measures how defenders position themselves because of where you are standing on the court um how much defense how much help defense shifts towards you. So for example if you're playing a zone are people going to be leaning more in your direction how tightly you're guarded so are they face guarding you are they giving you a little space whether defenders abandon normal positioning to account for you. So essentially always making sure they know where you are on the court and them knowing you so well that they are kind of anticipating what your next move is going to be. And then finally how much how much space your presence creates for your teammates. So are you drawing the defense so much that you're drawing a double team every time you get the ball and then that opens up obviously for other people and that's actually something that a lot of players have to work on like you have to learn when and how to pass out of a double team depending on your gravity ranking. I like this a lot yeah so a player could have really mediocre box score stats but elite gravity because defenses are terrified of what could happen should you be open enough to do something with it. Love that so if we look at the two major types of gravity this one I think is very straightforward it's shooting gravity this is the most famous version duh players with elite shooting gravity pool defenders far beyond the three point line force trap and traps and blitz and they are creating space without touching the ball so in in NBA terms a good example would be Steph Curry. In WNBA terms good examples would be Caitlin Clark because as we know she launches that shit from the fucking logo Sabrina and Kayla McBride McBuckets yes we know this and if a defender refuses to help off of a shooter that opens up driving lanes space in the post and weak side passing windows that is gravity okay the other type of gravity is rim slash paint gravity so some players bend defenses inside instead of outside the perimeter really great examples Asia Wilson student of that girl university then we also have Stewie Stewie honestly the way she's playing this season she's not she doesn't have a shooter's gravity but what she does have is an inside gravity she's got she's got paint gravity you gotta jump her if you don't want her to make that shot when they touch the ball players like Asia and Stewie double teams come quickly, weak side defenders collapse, and rotation shifts, which creates open corner shooters, offensive rebounding lanes, and cuts behind the defense. This type is kind of harder to measure statistically than perimeter gravity just because things are constantly in motion. Right. And this is just, I think, an assumption on how uh this WMBA AWS model works in terms of measuring the gravity. So the proprietary formula isn't public, but there is tracking-based gravity models that generally analyze defender distance. So how close defenders stay to a player? So for example, the average defender distance of two feet equals high gravity, whereas six feet is low gravity. So that's like distance between you and who you're guarding. Interesting. Um, then there's help defense distortion. So how much is the defense shifting towards one player? So example, weak side defenders might inch towards Caitlin Clark 30 feet from the hoop. Um, and then that movement obviously helps create open space for players like Aalio Boston, Kelsey Mitchell.

Bonnie 45:02

Right, right.

Amanda 45:03

Then there's off-ball attention. So is there a defender that's top locking you? Do they trail aggressively around screens? Do they deny passes? These behaviors indicate gravity. I would say on the Liberty, one of our players or our top player who would be the gravity defender is probably Bit Nigelini. Yeah. Which is why it was really ass for us to not have her against the Valkyries because we have no defensive identity without her. It is so, so, so bad. So the last the last piece here is around uh how much of the defensive resources are being used. So does a team trap pick and rolls? Do they hedge hard over a screen? And what that means for those who maybe are not super into basketball, hedging means just essentially playing above the screen. Um and then switching preemptively. So that's switching on a screen. So if I'm guarding Bonnie, Eliza sets a screen for her, is my teammate switching to guard Bonnie and I'm picking up Eliza, or am I trying to follow Bonnie through the screen?

Bonnie 46:08

That's a good question.

Amanda 46:09

Yeah.

Bonnie 46:10

I think that's really interesting. I haven't really thought about that, but it's like makes so much sense now that you're breaking it down.

Amanda 46:16

No, it's really interesting. So essentially, the more resource resources being used to defend you, yeah, means you have more gravity. It's kind of like you got motion, yeah, you got aura. You got animal. Yeah, that's right. That's right. So this is in terms of like why uh gravity is being measured analytically. Um I think traditional stats that already exist kind of miss that enormous offensive value because even though gravity is not really a number, right? It's not really tangible. Like it does actually influence the game. Yeah. Because you're drawing defenders away from your teammates, which is opening up the ability to score. So essentially, gravity explains why some offenses look elite even when stars aren't shooting much, and why spacing heavy lineups work and role players suddenly shoot better around stars. Actually, I think a really good example of um offenses that have looked elite because of a player's gravity are the links. Yeah. Because with the links, when when fee's healthy, you gotta be on her. Right. She could score from anywhere. Yeah, like she cannot be stopped. And so, what happens when you double team Fee? McBride. Yeah, she's got McBuckets, she's got Courtney Williams. Like, this is how it works. And so I'm interested to see how this looks for us if Satu starts to play better. Because in theory, Satu should command some gravity, Sabrina commands gravity, Stewie, and JJ should also command some gravity. Yeah. And so what do you do when you've got four players with an extreme gravitational pull? What do you do? And that's a bar. And that's a bar. That's a bar. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 47:58

I think I can't I can't say anymore.

Amanda 48:06

I'm just looking to see if any of this is. Is there anything to wrap it up?

SPEAKER_01 48:12

No. No, I think that's it.

Bonnie 48:17

Okay. Well, that's a really interesting way to look at it. Like, I'm gonna be looking for that too now. That's it.

Amanda 48:22

I feel like it's all I'm gonna see today. Yeah. Because of crazy gravity too.

Bonnie 48:27

Yeah, obviously. And then Kelsey Plum last night.

Amanda 48:30

Yes, Kelsey Plum, Kelsey Plum scored 38 points against her former team, and thank God she did, because bro, in fantasy, fantasy this week is the battle of the wives. Wife on wife crime. Bonnie's playing Eliza, I'm playing Brenda. Brenda was beating the shit out of me. And then Kelsey Plum, boom, 38. Banger, and now I'm back up. Now you're back up. But Brenda got a lot of players playing today. It's the last day of the matchup. So Brenda probably finna come up unless they all play like shit. Because I don't have anyone playing. I don't have anyone playing today.

Bonnie 49:02

Yeah, that's tough.

Amanda 49:03

Yeah.

Bonnie 49:04

It's really Sky players plus Kelsey Plum. Yeah. I have I have the Chicago Sky plus Kelsey Plum.

Amanda 49:13

Literally.

Bonnie 49:15

Oh man. Wow. That was good. That was a great episode. Episode 16, y'all. Our podcast could drive.

Amanda 49:26

Yeah. Oh my god, yeah. License, well, permitted to drive. Not licensed. Permit. But permitted, yeah. Learning permit. Wow. This was a really good episode. I'm really excited to kind of look um at all of the games coming up to see what this gravity looks like because I don't think there's a clear gravity ranking because it's still such a new stat. So maybe, maybe next time, next episode, maybe we can come with our thoughts on who has the highest gravitational pull in the W. Nice. I have a feeling that it's Asia, but yeah.

Bonnie 49:56

But I'd like to see it with their own eyes. Yeah, yeah. And I feel like, okay, if Asia's obvious, like who else?

Amanda 50:02

Maybe let's let's figure out who the top top five to top ten. Okay. Yeah, we can see. If maybe we won't have enough data for a top ten, but we might. We might. Anything's possible. Okay. Well, thanks for listening. Thanks for listening.

SPEAKER_00 50:18

Thanks for listening. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you, guys. This has been another episode of Chasing the W.

Amanda 50:27

Wow, we're getting really good at this.