The Summitt Slack Summit: Breaking down the biggest news around the trade deadline and more

Howard: And yes, Ari, the Frese Effect

Lindsay: I talked to Coach T before the game, and he suggested that Cloud might be out for a few more games — she provides a great defensive spark off of the bench.

Howard: I think Ivory Latta has another gear, and tbh I’m excited to see it

Lindsay: I think Ivory Latta has endless gears.

Arielle: She didn’t seem like much of a factor against ATL

Howard: True. Her new book is a huge hit in our house, by the way.

Arielle: Awwwh yes for her book

Howard: It’s true though, Ari, and I think a lot of it has to do with shots

She’s back at her typical career rate shooting, especially from three

But she’s simply not playing as much, and she is the definition of a volume shooter

Now without Hill or Cloud, Thibault needs her more

Arielle: You’re right. Emma seemed to outshine all of the shooters that night to be honest

30 points

Howard:  And I suspect quantity and quality will go hand in hand

Emma is an absolute star, and it is good that she reminds us of this periodically

But Washington continues to not win games with offense the way I certainly expected they would

And so either the defense needs to tighten up or the offense needs to approach preseason expectations

Lindsay: Their three-point percentage has been very, very average — if that.

I think that there’s been a bit of an issue of there being so many weapons right now, nobody knows when to step up.

Howard: It’s true! They are ninth in the league

Ninth isn’t in the realm of what I thought possible, when they entered the year with three of the top six shooters from last year

Lindsay: but their rebounding has been far better than expected — so it’s just been a weird year.

Howard: 31.4 percent

Yes, though they have been playing big, so I see why

It’s just- two of their bigs are Meesseman and Delle Donne

So you’d think the threes would follow. I still do, frankly.

Mike: Washington reminds me somewhat of the Lynx in 2010. A team in the midst of a refit trying to make sense of the new pieces.

Howard: Bottom line: you think a year away Lindsay? Or that they put it together by playoff time? Mike Thibault remains Mike Thibault, so it seems likely…

Lindsay: My gut right now says a year away from truly being a contender, but a lot can still happen — really, Emma and Elena have only played together for about 3 weeks at this point in the season. And they’re still adjusting to life post-Tayler.

Arielle: valid

Lindsay: But, and this is obvious I know, they simply have to start being more efficient on offense.

Howard: Something that I feel like will define much of the contours of the remaining season. Same with Los Angeles, though, a team that figured things out. We’re actually closing in on the next Lynx-Sparks matchup on 8/11. Ben, do you think this one will be closer?