WNBA Longhorns

Joyner had a strong season (17.8 ppg, 7.5 rpg) overseas with Ariel.

 

Her Dallas teammate on the other team Arike Ogunbowale's reaction...

 

Nice shot.

 

Ariel atkins in the news!

Ariel Atkins returned to Team USA for second stint with an increased role

 

Thanks for sharing the article. Sounds like Team USA just loves the way Ariel Atkins plays on both ends of the court.

This reminds me all the hullabaloo when Mike Thibault and the Mystics drafted Ariel 7th overall and skipped over Victoria Vivians.

I don't ever hear Victoria Vivians even getting a sniff from Team USA in any training camp or tryouts.

Atkins:
2018 WNBA All-Rookie Team
4x WNBA All-Defensive Second Team
1x WNBA All-Star
2x Team USA (Olympics/World Cup)

Vivians:
Nothing yet.

 

So Ariel was actually playing on a Ukrainian professional team but posted on instagram that she is not there but is worried for her teammates.

 

Any word on Joyner? She and Ariel are playing on the same Ukrainian EuroBasket team - BC Prometey.

 

I’ve not been able to find anything about Joyner but I’m hoping she’s safe wherever she is

edit: found a USA Today story that all WNBA players playing in Ukraine are out of that country

 

I read that the Team owner put the players up in another country a week or more ago. Team lost in Eurocup round of 8 last night.
Edit: in Bulgaria.

 

Thanks. I saw the tweet from the WNBA about all players being out of the country but forgot that Joyner had signed with Connecticut so I didn't think that included her.

 

While not a Longhorn, it appears all but one WNBA player got out of Russia and Ukraine. I assume everyone has heard the news by now that Brittany Griner has been detained by Russian officials allegedly having vape cartridges in her luggage containing hashish oil which can carry a 10 year prison sentence there. This must be a traumatic time for Brittany, her family, teammates and friends and I hope she will be ok.

 

Further reports on Griner say Russian officials will only say she was detained “last month”. The last game she played was January 29 and last seen on social media February 5th. Speculation it’s possible she could be used by Russia as a “high profile hostage” for a valuable bargaining chip with the US to gain some kind of leverage, prisoner swap, implicit threat or blackmail etc. Yikes!

 

A lot of Dallas fans are saying ‘we already have Charli’ but Teaira is a true 5 unlike the lengthy list of stretch 4s Dallas has accumulated in recent drafts (Charli, Awak Kuier, Bella Alarie, Satou Sabally and Isabelle Harrison). Of those Harrison is the closest to being able to play at center. That being said, I don’t see how Dallas doesn’t move Charli or one of the others in a trade.

 

My thoughts exactly on this latest Wings transaction

 

Wow... I was telling a friend last WNBA season that if I were the Dallas Wings I would trade every one of those picks for Tierra McGowan.

 

After taking time off for law school and being waived by the Wings, Imani signs a training camp contract with the team that originally drafted her.

 

I think we've improved without her largely because whenever we got in trouble last year, we'd just stop and toss the ball in Collier's direction. I don't think she was being selfish or ballhogging or anything, I just think teammates were using her as too much of a crutch too often.

Noticed this too, probably used to being so much bigger and stronger than everyone else she played against that it took some adjusting. Suspect she'll continue to improve and make a decent pro, if nothing else as a solid defense / boards role player.

 

Ariel gets some good press
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/05/27/ariel-atkins-mystics-olympics-breakout-season/

 

Ariel on TV vs Yvonne Anderson - Good to see Yvonne getting some minutes. (NBA TV or streaming on WNBA)

 

Thirtysomethings, a No. 1 pick and a Fever foursome: Ranking the top 10 WNBA rookies
Yvonne coming in at #10. She’d likely be higher if she was a traditional rookie.

 

Now I wish I would have seen Yvonne play. Frankly, I lost interest in WBB during that period. GG was underwhelming in that way.

 

She was tenacious and still is. She was small - has added some muscle.

 

I watched a Connecticut Sun game the other day and Joyner came in with about 3 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter and looked so lost. Her teammates were yelling and pointing at her where to go. She usually only comes in late 4th quarter in a blowout and they were down 10. I was guessing Curt put her in to test her, he was, and she failed. It continued for like 3 or 4 plays you could visibly see that she did not know what to do; it was really obvious. I had a thought that man, she is not going to last if she can’t get it together.

She was waived last night.

I remember posting her senior year that she was not WNBA ready and I stand by it.

Kurupt, I have come to enjoy your posts and really like what you have to say, you gave me a lot of crap for saying it and called me uneducated for saying she wasn’t pro-ready.

she is not pro ready

 

Boy, you can really tell someone wants to be right so bad. I had forgotten that I even had a discussion with you about Joyner it was so long ago. And I never said that anyone was uneducated, so try again.

But if she's not "pro ready" what was she doing on a WNBA roster to begin with? Seeing that there are so few spots available in that league. And I notice that you were quiet and didn't post anything since she's been on that roster, interesting.

Also, keep in mind there are a tons of great college players and players in general that have been waived by WNBA teams or have never played a minute in that league. And that the WNBA isn't the only PRO league out there. Sug is currently playing in one of those PRO leagues. So I guess they also aren't or werent "pro ready".

 

Joyner actually had a good season overseas playing with Ariel. She was getting decent though limited minutes until Jonquel Jones returned from EuroBasketball. The Sun also waived Yvonne Anderson a few days ago - only 1 Longhorn left on a WNBA roster now.

 

Atlanta Dream picked up Yvonne Turner

 

Connecticut Sun signed Joyner to a 7-day contract yesterday

 

Ariel Atkins named WNBA All-Star for the 2nd season in a row