1. Per<\/a> Massey Connecticut Sun<\/p>\n If the season ended today, who would be on the All-Rookie team? Obviously Paige Bueckers<\/a>, Sonia Citron<\/a> and Kiki Iriafen<\/a>. Monique Akoa Makani<\/a> ought to be on there, given she\u2019s fourth in points and third in scoring efficiency among qualified rookies while being arguably the best guard defender in the class.<\/p>\n The last spot could go to Janelle Sala\u00fcn<\/a>, who has been inconsistent but hit some big shots for Golden State. Or Saniya Rivers<\/a>, already a borderline-elite defender who has been tasked with shot-creation duties for Connecticut. If you\u2019re not too concerned about playing time, one of a few Dallas players like Aziaha James<\/a> or JJ Quinerly<\/a> (who I will discuss in the coming weeks) or Luisa Geisels\u00f6der<\/a> have good cases.<\/p>\n But a different Sun might have a strong case by season\u2019s end: Le\u00efla Lacan. The No. 10 pick in the 2024 class was a draft-and-stash last year and a late arrival this summer while finishing up obligations on the Euro side, but immediately stepped into Connecticut\u2019s closing lineup. Much like her fellow first-year teammate in the backcourt<\/a>, she opened her W career giving Chelsea Gray<\/a> and Jackie Young<\/a> hell at the point of attack, while adding a couple being shots for good measure.<\/p>\n Want even more women\u2019s sports in your inbox?<\/strong><\/p>\n Subscribe now to The IX Sports<\/a> and receive our daily women\u2019s sports newsletter covering soccer, tennis, basketball, golf, hockey and gymnastics from our incredible team of writers. That includes Basketball Wednesday from founder and editor Howard Megdal.<\/p>\n Readers of The IX Basketball now save 50% on their subscription to The IX.<\/p>\n In Lacan\u2019s second game, she had some great reps defending Skylar Diggins-Smith<\/a> and spent much of the fourth quarter running pick and rolls with Tina Charles<\/a> to torment the Storm by creating both driving shots for herself and kick-out threes for Jacy Sheldon<\/a>.<\/p>\n Lacan is now averaging 8.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.2 steals on 52.1% true-shooting in 24.8 minutes. The 3-pointer has been rough, with her shooting just 3-for-19 from deep. That should even out; we had pre-draft concerns about whether she could be a good shooter<\/a>, but after hitting 31.3% from deep over the past three seasons in the French league, she\u2019ll almost certainly be better\u00a0than this. But the defensive versatility we saw has certainly showed up, and her ability to get to the rim and finish has been excellent. Things are still plenty rough for the Sun, but the backcourt core is one of the better young groups in the league.<\/p>\n Indiana Fever<\/p>\n I\u2019m not saying Stephanie White has lost her fastball. But she\u2019s been making some odd decisions this season.<\/p>\n For starters, she has been having the team hedge as their primary ball screen coverage. That\u2019s certainly a coverage Natasha Howard<\/a> is comfortable in, but it asks a lot more from Aliyah Boston<\/a> and Damiris Dantas<\/a>\u2019 lateral coverage in space than she is capable of. The Fever guards aren\u2019t necessarily made for that coverage, but they aren\u2019t made to hold up in space alone the way they have to after the hedge recovery. Perhaps Boston isn\u2019t as good playing primarily drop coverage than the flashes she had last season, but the very traditional push coverage (where the screen defender plays up to touch) has been leaving the driving lanes wide open.<\/p>\n Even when there are positive defensive plays in the reel below, they require a defensive highlight from a help defender who shouldn\u2019t need to have that level of play just to stop an easy offensive opportunity.<\/p>\n White also insisted on subbing Caitlin Clark<\/a> out in end-of-game defensive possessions, at least when Clark was still healthy in the early going, while using Kelsey Mitchell<\/a> as her point of attack defender. The issue is that Clark has been better defensively this year than Mitchell, the latter having been one of the worst defensive guards in the WNBA for years.<\/p>\n In recent weeks, White insisted on trying to make lineups with Clark and Aari McDonald<\/a> work, despite the fact that McDonald does not work well off the ball and isn\u2019t the type of traditional floor general that would help take advantage of Clark\u2019s off-ball shooting gravity. The two had -6.0 net rating in 36 minutes together, per PBP Stats<\/a>, and Indiana was +8.3 when one played without the other.<\/p>\n White also called a timeout against Connecticut last week in the middle of a play just to complain to the refs about a no-call when the ball was being brought up the court, much to the Fever players\u2019 visible confusion.<\/p>\n New York Liberty<\/p>\n And lastly, in today\u2019s installment of \u201cMike Thibault is a wizard,\u201d Natasha Cloud<\/a> wasn\u2019t bad at St. Joseph\u2019s, but she was a bad scorer; her best season by scoring efficiency was a 47.1% true-shooting senior year. Since 2017, two years after he drafted her in Washington, she hasn\u2019t had a true-shooting under 50.1%. That is a truly ridiculous level of offensive development. Thibault may be capable of true sorcery. <\/p>\n
2. Seattle owns Los Angeles\u2019 and Las Vegas\u2019 picks
3. Minnesota owns Chicago\u2019s pick
4. Chicago owns the rights to Connecticut\u2019s pick if the Sun finish worse than the Mercury<\/p>\n
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