Drop Off: Why Wings, Mercury make for exciting opener

The Dallas Wings and Phoenix Mercury will face off in the desert with the opening night of the WNBA season all to themselves. The Wings sure have come a long way since arriving in Dallas via Tulsa, and the Mercury have retooled around Diana Taurasi as Brittney Griner continues to get better with each passing year.

Why Friday’s opener is so intriguing, starting with the key matchup up front:

Seeing eye-to-eye

Brittney Griner and Liz Cambage are two of the toughest players in the league to go up against no matter how you stack it up. Their size and length alone elevate them into their own tier. But both these players are skilled, too, and Griner’s recent growth in particular has been noteworthy. She has seemingly mastered her turnaround jumper and is an intimidating shot-blocker on the other end capable of regularly playing 38-40 minutes.

The former makes things downright unfair for teams with centers as many as five or six inches shorter. Those opponents often have no choice but to double her to force the ball out of her hands. That jumper turning over her right shoulder becomes a practice shot, but reacting to it comes with a price. Griner can see right over the top of those outstretched arms coming at her to find her open teammate.

Cambage is one of the few players that actually stands a chance of moving her off her spots and even altering shots with her length. Her return to the WNBA for the first time since 2013 immediately became one of the biggest storylines of the offseason.

Look for these two to guard each other straight up inside. Who wins those battles? Forget longterm implications or even the outcome of this one game. Those possessions are going to be fun.

By the way: What is Dallas going to look like offensively? Will they set aside possessions to play through Cambage in the post, or will they largely remain a go-go pick and roll team looking to drive, get to the free throw line and hoist open three-pointers?

More quick hitters on Friday’s opener:

• Phoenix sure has options to throw at All-WNBA point guard Skylar Diggins-Smith. Leilani Mitchell, Briann January and Yvonne Turner are all capable. Will they extend their pressure and look to wear her down or get the ball out of her hands more often?
• Who knows how much they’ll end up guarding one another, but this game will also feature Diana Taurasi and 2017 Rookie of the Year Allisha Gray. Gray has stated she wants to make an All-Defense team. Dallas will need to stay disciplined to limit Taurasi’s three-pointers in front of what will surely be a fired up Mercury home crowd.
• DeWanna Bonner in part is such a fascinating player because at 6’3, she too has a ridiculous height advantage over so many players. I’m eager to track all minutes she plays at the four this season, which would really make that team a nightmare to matchup with.
• Finally, what will Dallas’ offense look like whenever Diggins-Smith rests? They opted to keep just two point guards. Saniya Chong is entering year two. She is a bit undersized but has good feet and plays hard. Dallas has more bodies on the wing than than they can afford to play. One nice way to alleviate that — make Kaela Davis a part-time de facto backup point guard. She did it some in the preseason more out of necessity, but she’s got a nice feel for how to use her size against smaller guards. Whatever her version of bully ball is, I’m all for it, and the Wings need her shooting to goose their three-point percentage (31.9% in 2017, 9th worst in the league).

Links I Like

Here’s league President Lisa Borders on the Sport Techie podcast.

Here’s Neil Olstad with his preseason tiers and awards picks.

Per the Norwich Bulletin, Jonquel Jones expects to arrive in time for the Sun’s season opener.

Related Story: Yesterday's Drop Off on roster cuts, value of versatile three-point shooters

Here’s Jessica Luther’s latest on why everyone loses when women’s sports are ignored.