WNBA All-Star Weekend & Olympics Best Bets and Insights
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00:00Welcome to our number two on this Friday live right here on
00:07the early line on Sports Grid. It's Ben. It's Donnie. It's our
00:10coach James Young. JY from the very start of this second hour
00:15as we approach All-Star weekend in the WNBA out in Phoenix. We
00:20will see Team WNBA All-Stars versus Team USA tomorrow night
00:24in the desert before Team USA looks to win yet another gold
00:28medal in Paris and the other players get a long awaited
00:32break. The Olympic break will take us all the way to August
00:3515th. So we have a while until regular season action resumes
00:40JY, but we'll get your early looks at what the second half
00:43of this year in the W will have in store. Thanks for being here
00:47on this Friday on TEL. There's nothing better for the coach to
00:53get a workout in with his trainer and come in with the
00:56dynamic duo to start my weekend. Good morning, fellas.
01:01Good morning to you, JY. We appreciate the activity on this
01:06Friday. So as we have said in Major League Baseball, similar
01:11story here in the WNBA. Yes, the All-Star break, the long
01:14Olympic break, but most teams around the W have played near
01:18twenty-five games past the halfway point technically of a
01:2240-game regular season, but let's go to JY's scouting
01:26report and his watch list in the WNBA. Let's start
01:30individually here, JY with your player to watch in the home
01:34stretch trying to lead her team to glory this year in the WNBA.
01:39Who would that player be? You know, Sabrina Onescu has been
01:43on an absolute heater. She was I think player of the month at
01:46the Eastern Conference in June. She just got a player of the
01:50week that just this past week announced last night, even
01:54though Caitlin Clark had a twenty-four nineteen game. She
01:57has been absolutely dynamic. Her ability to shoot the ball
02:00from three. People can forget how good Sab was at Oregon
02:06because part of it was people weren't watching as much and
02:09then obviously her senior year was COVID and it canceled the
02:12NCAA tournament, but Sabrina Onescu is one of the most
02:15dynamic guards. If you look at Caitlin Clark, you look at
02:18Sabrina Onescu, a little bit different a game, but a girl
02:21like Sab who is getting 19.4 points per game, top ten in the
02:25WNBA, 6.2 assists per game. Remember, she's primarily the
02:28two-guard, but had to move to the point when Sloot went out
02:32with injuries and missed about ten games and rebalanced the
02:34ball. Simply put, Ben, she has with a team, with Courtney
02:39Vandersloot, a team, with Benonja Laney-Hamilton, with
02:43Jon Quell, with Stewie. Ben, she has been the best player
02:48for the New York Liberty. She's gone on some incredible
02:52run this last month, month and a half, and if the Liberty are
02:56going to win the WNBA championship, I get worried
03:00about Stewie because they load up on her. If Sab can play like
03:04this, this gives the Liberty a great chance to win a WNBA
03:08title because of her ability to score from three and create
03:12off the bounce, not only for herself, but for her teammates.
03:16Take a look at the top standings here in the WNBA. Four
03:19teams coach with 17-plus wins on the season, the Storm, the
03:22Lynx, the Sun, and the Liberty, and I see there a team to watch
03:25here would be the Connecticut Sun sitting at 18-6. What are
03:29we looking for from the Connecticut Sun once we return
03:32in about a month post-All-Star and Olympic break? Can the
03:37acquisition of Marina Mabry do what I think it's going to do?
03:42Which is have someone that can make shots. Listen, I know
03:47Marina is only shooting 35% for the year from three, but she's
03:52also made more three-point attempts per game than anybody
03:59in the history of the Connecticut Sun since Katie
04:01Douglas in 2006. Yikes! That's a long time. So if you have
04:06someone like Marina that can knock down shots, she's tough
04:09as nails. She's a two-way player. And let me tell you
04:13something. She's a Jersey kid. So of course, Coach Jugg is
04:17going to have a little bit of that Jersey bias that she's
04:19down the way from men's squad. I've known this kid since she
04:22was about 10 years old. I've known her family for over 20
04:25years. This girl is as competitive as they come, and
04:28she fits what the Sun needs perfectly in regards to
04:31toughness, in regards to defense, but she gives them
04:35what they need the most in shooting. If she can make shots
04:38and run the point, that makes things easier for people,
04:41especially like Alyssa Thomas, who doesn't shoot from three,
04:44but can punch the gap and get open looks. It's something that
04:47is needed for Connecticut. One of the worst shooting teams
04:51from three in the WNBA got one of the best shooters in the
04:54league in Marina Mabry. One of the best defensive teams in the
04:58WNBA, that's Connecticut. But to JY's point, the additions
05:01offensively, Marina Mabry, a huge spot for the Sun. An 8-1
05:06price on Connecticut. That is the third best number to win a
05:09WNBA title behind both the New York Liberty and the Las Vegas
05:14Aces that enter the All-Star and Olympic break as co-favorites
05:17at plus 155. Now let's talk award races, JY, before we get
05:23your title prediction. To win the MVP award, it seems as though
05:27Asia Wilson has already grabbed it, her second in the last three
05:32years. Minus 3,000 to win the MVP. So JY, I'm not going to
05:37ask you, who's going to win the WNBA MVP hardware this year?
05:41I'm going to ask you to highlight the best of what Asia
05:44Wilson does for Las Vegas. What is it that works so well for
05:49the Aces? I was getting excited because I was going to go on the
05:52limb and go chalk and say Asia Wilson to be MVP. I don't think
05:57that's really much of a value play. There's no value in that
06:00whatsoever. Now when you look at Asia Wilson, Ben, it is her
06:03ability to absolutely control the boards. She is a rebounding
06:09machine. Her post play is scintillating. She's able to use
06:14her power to kind of get people off her. She's got a nice stroke
06:19and she is competitive. I don't know if you guys saw this. They
06:23lost their last game to the Chicago Sky. And Usher was at
06:29the game. And a bunch of her teammates wanted pictures. And
06:34Asia Wilson was not too happy. She let it know that it's on
06:39social media. And I think that may be the biggest thing. She's
06:42competitive. She wants to win. This is about her legacy. She
06:47wants to win another championship. And she's got to
06:50do more in regards to leadership because I honestly
06:54think, Ben, people may not think so. I think they miss
06:57Candace Parker. I think Candace Parker being in that locker room
07:00even though she was hurt second half of the year, she got them
07:02to play the right way. She got them to play defense. She took
07:05pressure off of players like Kia Stokes. Asia Wilson is now
07:08taking that mantle of the leader of this team and she will drag
07:12all of them to the finish line even in games like against
07:16Chicago where their defense started to lapse. Take a look
07:21at that rookie of the year marketplace here, coach. And
07:24looks like we're getting a runaway now. Just about a week
07:26and a half ago, while that double double streak was intact
07:28for Angel Reese, we're looking at price points here for Caitlin
07:31Clark, minus 550, minus 600. After that double double streak
07:35was broke, it quickly rocketed up to minus 1,000. We now see
07:38this price point at a minus 2,000 here. So my question to
07:41you is not like, will Caitlin Clark win this award? Is this
07:44award going to get shorter or is it just a runaway from here
07:47where we might be looking at some off the board once we get
07:50back to action in the WNBA? Listen, the only way this thing
07:55becomes any kind of story is if Caitlin Clark goes through some
07:58kind of serious slope. They're playing so much better
08:01basketball. You can argue right now that Caitlin Clark's a top
08:0310 player in the WNBA right now. Like I didn't think so
08:06beginning of the year, but right now you can't name five
08:11players playing better than this kid right now. So it's over.
08:14It's done. And you know what? As soon as this thing happened
08:18when she won that game versus the Liberty, it was hold my
08:22beer and then Caitlin Clark basically shut the whole damn
08:26door shut with that performance versus Dallas. That had nothing
08:29to do with them not playing defense. She was unbelievable at
08:33what I watched. What do you want to call her? Larry Bird,
08:36Steve Nash, Tina Pinchero. I don't care. Put them all
08:40together. Make a pot of gumbo. That's how good she was. She was
08:44unbelievable. She's a top five player in the board and don't
08:47even try betting on Angel Reese when rookie of the year.
08:5119 assists for Caitlin Clark, albeit in a losing effort
08:55because of the poor defense from Indiana on Wednesday night
08:59in the Fever's final game before the All-Star and Olympic
09:02break. That the most ever in the history of the WNBA in a
09:06single game. I think there's an argument to be made that after
09:09this long Olympic break and some rest for some of the top
09:11rookies that played last year in college basketball, they
09:15might even come out better than they were before. We'll talk
09:18more about the W All-Star weekend. All-Star weekend in
09:23Phoenix in the WNBA. One final piece of the scouting report
09:27from our coach, JY here for a second consecutive segment
09:31before we look at what all of the festivities All-Star
09:34weekend has to hold out in the desert. JY at the bottom. We
09:37ask for your title prediction this year in the W. You see a
09:42rematch of last year's championship set between the
09:45Liberty and the Aces, but maybe a different outcome. What is
09:49it about this year's Liberty team that will lead to a title
09:53victory over the Aces unlike a season ago? Well, number one, I
09:57think the improved play of Sabrina Inescu is probably the
10:01biggest takeaway that I have. Number two, I just look at a
10:05team like Las Vegas and maybe they turn it on, turn it off.
10:08They have some weird losses and they give up when they lose.
10:13They give up a boatload of points, Ben, and who comes in
10:16as one of the best offenses in the WNBA? Yes, that would be
10:19the New York Liberty. Number three, they have a problem with
10:24John Quell Jones. This girl absolutely shreds them every
10:30time they see them. I don't know what I don't know what
10:34Becky Hammond could possibly do unless they make a trade. You
10:37could turn around and you can put Asia Wilson on obviously
10:42John Quell. Now, what that's going to do is that's going to
10:45unlock Stewie and Stewie, I still think at some point is
10:49going to put together a better than a three for seventeen game
10:53four performance is the last time she faced off against the
10:57Aces in the playoffs. I think you get a better version of
10:59Stewie and I just look at this Liberty team is they have to
11:02get over. This is the only if I'm not mistaken, the only
11:06original franchise in the WNBA that does not have a WNBA
11:11title. All they had was a commissioner's Cup title that
11:14they won at Las Vegas last year. I do believe in this team
11:19and honestly, they better win it because there could be
11:23changes with next year with the expansion. Could people be
11:27moved? There's always talk about it when they go to the
11:29bay. Sabrina's from out by the bay. Does she end up going
11:33there? So they're running out of time, Ben and their time is
11:36now catching lightning in a bottle is what the WNBA is
11:40doing. They have the all-star game on Saturday night and you
11:43couldn't pick a better format coach team USA versus the WNBA
11:47all-stars. We look at the line. It's a five and a half point
11:50number as a favorite towards team USA. The initial look for
11:53me would be that's absolutely crazy because theoretically
11:56you're supposed to have the top fifteen players on one side
11:59versus the rest of the league. It should be a runaway, but now
12:01as we set up, it's Angel Reese. It's Caitlin Clark trying to
12:05make a you know, like basically even the playing field by
12:08saying we should be on this WNBA team USA. What is the deal
12:13in this all-star game and quite frankly, who wins this bad boy?
12:17First things first, I'm going to say this and this will be
12:22the highest rated women's event in the history of this
12:26country because this is where the narrative comes in. You
12:29have obviously team USA. Then you have the greatness of
12:33Caitlin Clark, who some people believe rightfully so should be
12:37team USA. So now you have all these things coming together
12:41playing the game Saturday night, 830. Perfect spot. I
12:45think there's going to be plenty of eyes on this game and
12:48listen, Diana Taurasi kind of already put it out there saying
12:52we have a lot to prove. They have a lot to prove and a
12:55couple of things. Number one, they're just getting together.
12:57Number two, they're looking at a girl across the floor who many
13:00think should be there. These are very competitive women. I
13:04think this is going to be honestly, this ain't going to
13:07be the NBA all-star game. This is going to have some juice.
13:10This is going to have some sizzle. This may even folks,
13:13this may even have some defense in there. But that being said,
13:17the length, the experience, it already has moved a little bit.
13:20I think it was the four and a half. I think we're the first
13:22game. I'm up to five and a half. I do like team USA because
13:26they got to get up to a good start. They have a lot of time.
13:28I do like them to cover the spread in the game Saturday
13:31night. JY, if the Saturday night WNBA all-star game
13:36outdraws the national championship game in the
13:38women's NCAA tournament between Iowa and South Carolina at 18.9
13:43million viewers, I will Venmo you $18.90. There's not a chance
13:48in the world. It outdraws them from a TV viewership
13:51perspective, but it might be the highest WNBA all-star game
13:55ever in its rating. Let's talk about the actual game itself.
13:58You mentioned it's going to have some juice five and a half
14:01point spread 194 in a hook. Is that over under how would you
14:05approach it from a handicap perspective in terms of laying
14:09down a wager tomorrow night? Well, I think it's going to be
14:12team USA minus supports because I think their experience and I
14:15think the fact that for them, they've also been in this
14:18Olympic. They've been in this pool together. So they've
14:22actually had practices and stuff over the last two and a half
14:24years leading up to this. This isn't just roll the ball out
14:27first time this person. A lot of these ladies have been on
14:30the floor together. They've been in the Olympic pool training
14:32and working together in the offseason. So I do think that
14:35is where you like it, you know over under I probably will just
14:39go to over for team USA because I think they'll be able to score
14:43and score at will versus the WNBA all-stars and Ben you may
14:50be right 18.9 million vote viewers, but Caitlin Clark has
14:54dragged this league at the heights that we've never ever
14:57seen and there is a narrative that a lot of the Caitlin Clark
15:00supporters are going to watch this game because they want to
15:03see how she does. I think you get the other side of the
15:07people that want to see can she do it? So I mean you may sit
15:11there and say there's no chance. Maybe it's not 18.9
15:14million viewers. I think it surpasses every yes WNBA also
15:18game. I think it's the best of every WNBA game period on
15:21Saturday night. It will be fun to watch and also you'll see
15:25team USA certainly come together there. You see team
15:27USA the men's basketball side doing fairly well in Abu Dhabi
15:30right now looking at that odds market team USA is a heavy
15:33favorite just like the men's even more so at a minus 1800
15:37France, Belgium, Japan and China followed behind. Are we
15:40worried about team USA women's edition here this summer or is
15:44it going to be a cakewalk like typically it's been in the
15:46past? No, who are you worried about? I mean, it's different
15:54with the men with the fact that you can line up how many of the
15:56top ten players in the world are actually non-US, right? You
16:01line up the top women's basketball players in the world
16:03and even if I'm going to take a woman because even if she plays
16:06in Nigeria, she is an American. I'm going to take a bunch of
16:10those players that could be played across for another
16:13country. Simply put, we probably have the best 12 players in the
16:18tournament. Not even close. They're going to blow people
16:21out. It's just a matter of how much are they going to win
16:24games by? Yeah, absolutely. So, those spreads are going to be
16:28ridiculous. Team USA has won seven consecutive gold medals
16:33dating back to 1996 at the Olympic Games. More on the
16:38early lineup next.