12 Things: Wiese, Gulich, a possible Sun shakeup

In this look at the past week in the WNBA, let’s start with the Aces’ win over the Sun, setting the stage for a pivotal tiebreaker next week in Connecticut.

Giving ’em a different look 

As more teams put their centers on Alyssa Thomas, the Sun need Morgan Tuck (or Theresa Plaisance) to give Curt Miller no other choice but to put them on the floor more often with the starters.

Opponents funneling the ball to Thomas have to like their chances to stay home on shooters and getting help to the rim in time or forcing her into a tough runner or floater. She’s shooting 33.9 percent on non-restricted area shots in the paint and taking almost five of them per game.

See if you can spot the difference in the range of outcomes with Thomas on the floor…

…and with Tuck or Plaisance in her place:

Nobody’s looking to tear Thomas down. There will be nights where more of those shots fall. When they don’t, the added versatility Plaisance and/or Tuck bring is too valuable not to unleash.

Those two players do need to play well enough in other areas for it to be worth it. Look no further than Tuck’s late-third quarter run in the same game. She drilled a pick-and-pop 3-pointer then blew by Carolyn Swords and goofed an uncontested layup the next time down.

Leaning into those stretch options also opens more doors for Jonquel Jones to be the primary pick-and-roll partner with a fourth player out there that can open up the lane.

Connecticut is almost doing opponents a favor anytime Thomas rolls with Jones also camping out near the basket. The two bigs can swap assignments on the fly. And because Vegas and Minnesota have been slotting their 4s on Jones, the player crashing down on Jones to keep her off the offensive glass becomes Liz Cambage or Sylvia Fowles.

Even mildly contested shots at and around the rim generally just aren’t as valuable for Thomas, the reverse Benjamin Button of free-throw shooting, as some of her peers.

Vegas has the best defense in the league for a reason, largely because of their ability to protect the front of the rim and keep you from getting all the way there. When the writing’s on the wall that Thomas might be in store for a similar performance, Connecticut needs to go down trusting Tuck and Plaisance to make open shots from the perimeter and make good decisions to kick off more drive-and-kick sequences that’ll get somebody else a wide-open look.

Sugar off the bench 

Attempting to score—or just get a shot up—in the halfcourt remains an adventure for the Aces with Cambage and Kayla McBride off the floor. Here’s a fun look at a two-player action with Hamby and Sugar Rodgers.

Rodgers started toward Hamby to receive the handoff, then slammed on the brakes to get a clean look from deep.

A signature win for Lynx 

Read more about Minnesota’s blowout win over the Sun in my weekly breakdown for our Patreon subscribers, which touched on how the Lynx are able to muck things up with their switching, Napheesa Collier’s role in making that possible and more positive wrinkles made possible by the return of Seimone Augustus.

Wiese elevates L.A.’s attack 

We don’t talk about the varying degrees of impact versatile shooters can have on teams enough.

Is Sydney Wiese hitting these shots as a rookie? Tough to say with absolute certainty, but probably not.

A run-of-the-mill spot-up shooter isn’t making those shots. The Sparks already have three stars plus a few others that can create their own shot efficiently.

Wiese can add value standing 25 feet from the rim doing nothing. Those shots keep her from becoming a hiding place for an opponent’s most limited perimeter defender and make it easier to drive or cut to get something even better:

Fever’s three-pronged attack 

Here are Indy’s three biggest scoring threats at three different positions tugging at Washington’s defense all at once.

Nobody wants to give Kelsey Mitchell the freedom to take one clean dribble around a screen and pull an open triple. Teaira McCowan is rolling to the rim looking to seal somebody and back them all the way into the stanchion, and Candice Dupree—one of the league’s most efficient midrange shooters—is camped out between them looking to make a play.

Atkins scooting down the baseline 

Ariel Atkins only needs the threat of a 3-pointer and a hard straight-line drive to twist people in knots.

It’s amazing that a late first-round pick can already be pointed to as a shining example of the type of contributor every team should be looking to add every offseason. As her career progresses, it will be fun to see the next building blocks—perhaps some more one-dribble pull-ups or similar proficiency driving and finishing with her right—and how they continue to lift an offense that’s already pushing the game forward.

Gulich shines in Vegas 

What a night for Marie Gulich. Atlanta isn’t in a position to take much heart in an almost-win, but a young reserve being a big part of it is worth celebrating.

She knocked down 3-pointers with confidence, put the ball on the floor to get to the foul line in the closing minutes and even drilled a jumper coming off a baseline screen.

The Dream have plenty of time left this season to commit to the development of their younger players. Gulich hitting from the outside would provide an element the team will need to get back into contention next season on a team-friendly deal. The 2020 season will be the third of her rookie-scale deal—a must for a team slated to return five starters at or near the max.

The other C. Parker in crunch time 

On the surface, this is a big bucket for Cheyenne Parker and the Sky at a big moment in the game.

Beyond that, it’s a fun look at how well Chicago’s roster is built to let her play one-on-one in the post. Look at how cautiously Cambage is toeing the line between wanting to crash down and staying home so that Stef Dolson doesn’t get off an open triple.

This look with this specific group is something the Sky will probably need to lean on even more with Jantel Lavender shelver for two-ish months with a foot injury.

Gray area 

In addition to hitting the 3-pointer that immediately preceded the Anigwe-Griner tussle, Allisha Gray cashed in two three-point plays at the expense of Leilani Mitchell on Saturday. The Wings need her to continue to improve her handle and create more of these opportunities for herself.

While Mitchell’s an extreme example, opportunities to size up smaller guards should be there playing next to Arike Ogunbowale and Kayla Thornton on the perimeter.

The BT-BG pairing 

Once Griner returns, it will be interesting to continue to track how many opportunities she has to drop lob passes in for Brianna Turner—introducing a big-to-big vertical element most teams don’t force you to guard every time down—when teams send a hard double. Anything near the rim would suffice.

But when Turner isn’t already set up down there, some of the same questions persist. Griner’s decision tree gets messier with a player hanging out at an elbow.

New York’s 30-plus club 

According to Basketball-Reference, Tanisha Wright and Brittany Boyd have the league’s two highest (30.9, 30.8) turnover percentages among players that have played at least 130 minutes. (Honorable mentions: 33.8 for Courtney Paris in 129 minutes; 31.6 for Jessica Shepard in 112 minutes.)

Can Marine Johannes just be the point guard?

She’s the most creative passer on the roster by far and can draw two defenders regularly with her off-the-dribble shooting. New York should be hellbent on maximizing their lottery odds with two top prospects that would address obvious needs.

But Johannes should be seen through a similar lens. Without assuming she isn’t pleased with the scope of her current role coming off the bench, wouldn’t it be in the franchise’s best interest to give an international player every reason to want to come back with an Olympic year on the horizon?

Old reliable 

Alysha Clark’s use of the glass will always be fun.

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