Monday, June 18, 2007

Quarter Season Review

Since we are now a little over 25% through the 2007 WNBA season, I thought it was worth a look at the team to see where they are in terms of statistics.

Most Effective Offense


PlayerOff. RtgFloor%Eff FG%Pts Produced
Lauren Jackson130.8558%57%20.42
Janell Burse116.9058%54%11.58
Katie Gearlds113.1246%49%5.43
Iziane Castro Marques105.2647%49%11.39
Sue Bird102.8144%49%11.80
Betty Lennox100.1145%42%11.20

Palmer and Ely are the next two on the list but neither even close to Betty. Of interest is that the offensive numbers are higher than last season, with Betty posting her highest offensive rating as a Storm player (up 7 points per 100 possessions) and Katie Gearlds exceeding the best bench player (Barb Turner) of 2006 by 9 points per 100 possessions. Janell is up about 12 points, Sue is up a point and surprisingly, LJ is down three points. Up to this point in the season the offense is looking much better than last year. Five players are over 10 points produced per game as opposed to only four last season. LJ and JB are up in that category with the perimeter players down from last season. As far as shooting goes, Sue and Betty are doing better than last year and the rest are down, particularly Tanisha who is off quite a bit from last season, almost 10%. Gearlds is around equal overall to Barb's contribution on offense, though her rating is 9 points higher due to slightly better eFG%, though Barb got to the line more meaning more points and higher Floor%. Ely is an offensive improvement over Shaun Gortman, but we may be missing that bench defense.

Individual Rating and WNBA Efficiency

PlayerIndiv. RatingEff. Rating
Lauren Jackson113.0827.5
Janell Burse98.7117.00
Iziane Castro Marques91.5512.11
Sue Bird90.5311.22
Katie Gearlds90.456.11
Betty Lennox84.9610.00

Here LJ and Sue are down and Katie is just below Barb Turners numbers from last year, but everyone else on the list is up. Those off the list, Tanisha has dropped her ratings significantly, and the others are under the ratings from last year. The bench looks worse than last year overall, while the starters are looking better.

Plus/Minus

PlayerNet +/-Net40Net per Game
Iziane Castro Marques+127+19.24+14
Lauren Jackson+124+19.76+16
Betty Lennox+71+12.85+8
Sue Bird+69+9.75+8

Janell Burse was the only other positive Plus/Minus player and she was not even close to these four. Izi had the second best Plus/Minus value last season, but she was not this close to LJ.

Most Effective Lineups

LineupNetNet40
Bird-Lennox-Castro-Jackson-Robinson+30+67
Bird-Lennox-Castro-Jackson-Burse+27+96
Bird-Gearlds-Castro-Jackson-Burse+15+21


Most Used Lineups

LineupMinutesNetNet40
Bird-Lennox-Castro-Jackson-Burse97+27+11
Bird-Lennox-Castro-Palmer-Burse24-3-5
Bird-Geralds-Castro-Jackson-Burse21+15+29
Bird-Lennox-Castro-Jackson-Robinson18+30+67
Bird-Lennox-Gearlds-Jackson-Burse17-5-12
Bird-Gearlds-Castro-Jackson-Palmer14-3-9
Bird-Gearlds-Castro-Palmer-Robinson12+4+13
Wright-Gearlds-Ely-Robinson-Fluker12-23-78

Coach Donovan may not listen to me, but she obviously saw the same thing I did, she has been playing my favorite lineup more of late (Bird-Lennox-Castro-Jackson-Robinson) and reaping the benefits. Katie clearly plays better at the two guard spot paired with Izi than at the three paired with Betty, but I think that is the improved defense on the perimeter that results. Wendy seems best paired with Ashley and the starters, but I think that is because she can focus on offense and rebounding knowing that Ashley is such a solid help defender and isn't looking for her shot.

Player Pairs

Player PairNetMinutesNet40
Jackson-Castro+85180+19
Bird-Castro+61231+11
Jackson-Lennox+59178+13
Bird-Jackson+58204+11
Lennox-Castro+55163+14


Izi, Izi, Izi! She may be the single most important player on the team so far this season. I think her perimeter defense is the number 1 reason she tops this list. Other teams are free to score from the perimeter when she is resting. It might be interesting to see Ely get more minutes when Izi sits over Gearlds who seems more suited to the two guard spot.

Well that is all the analysis that I have for the moment. We'll see how the rest of the season progresses. The toughest challenge of the season thus far is in front of the Storm as the league leading and reigning champion Detroit Shock invade the Key on Wednesday. Unless things change in the east, Detroit is the team to beat to earn a championship.

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