Hoops

Opals squad for Rio Test Event

Correction to something I posted previously. Nat was not 29th in the WNBL in rpg, she was 26th.

Totally agree. Shouldn't be anywhere near the squad.
And where the hell is penaluna?

She is not a good rebounder. Despite being a starter all season she finished 29th in the WNBL in rebounds per game, and was 4th on her own team. Not only did Louella out-rebound her (there's no shame in that), but so did Betnijah Laney and also 5'10 Sami Whitcomb.
She's also a terrible free throw shooter. 54% this past season is bad for a player with a role of running the floor. Perfect illustration - 2014 game vs USA she runs the floor in transition, receives the long pass with just Sue Bird guarding her so Bird is forced to foul. Burton misses both FTs.

I remain perplexed by her continued selection.



Now let's take a properr look at the legend of that great performance of hers against the USA.

1st Quarter [5:17 playing time]
She misses 2 free throws as mentioned above. Totally blows a defensive assignment on Dupree to give her an open layup, and later Dupree hits a J in her face, which was at least properly contested.
Rebound 1 is an O-board from a Snell airball landing in her hands. Rebound 2 wasn't even a rebound, but she was the last Opal to touch the ball before a USA player batted it into teammate who was out of bounds.
She made 2 post entry passes to Tolo. One was a nice play but Tolo unfortunately missed a gettable layup. The other was a poor pass behind a cutting Tolo that resulted in her getting blocked instead of getting an open layup.

2nd Quarter [3:55]
Rebound #3 is a solid defensive rebound off a USA miss. Rebound #4 is a long bounce out to her off an unsuccessful Moore 3 point attempt.
In the same sequence she gets an offensive foul for running through Moore in the keyway.
She jacks up a FGA from just inside the 3 point line with 10 seconds still on the shot clock, a predictable brick for a player whose reliable range is about 2 feet.
She gives up an O-board to Ogwumike with 2.5 sec left in the half and then fouls her, costing 2 points entering the long break.

3rd Quarter [1:26}
Offensive foul for a blatant moving screen on Taurasi right when the Opals have some momentum. The resulting USA possession sees Taylor pick up her 4th foul and have to sit. Joyce sits Burton too.

4th Quarter [4:45]
She checks in in garbage time with the deficit at 19.
Nat plays some nice D to trap Moore in the corner and force a USA shot clock violation.
Rebound #5 is a solid defensive board under the hoop.
Jacks up another very long 2 attempt, with 11 still on the shot clock. Another brick.
Makes an open layup off a set play from a baseline inbound pass.

I'll happily debate anyone who claims her play in that game was anything special.

"We have established previously that she played well against second units in blowout games in a tournament 2 years ago, that hasn't changed."

You've established her 5 boards in 14 mins against the USA was against a second unit in a blowout game?

The simple fact is she was the leading rebounder for the Opals at the WC and a good contributor in the most important game. Does that mean she should be an automatic selection for Rio? Absolutely not. Does it mean she should be in the mix? Without doubt.

Watch out Japan, Burton is ready to run up those lanes!!!

Mansfield for Mitchell..... Absolutely no way, mitchell has proved her worth time and time again, her experience alone is what this team needs,

Wasn't much point adding Kesley to the squad and then cutting her at the first opportunity.

She probably didn't fit his preferred 'type' of player - which is that they look like a great athlete.

Also @paul

You write for fiba.com, the website that puts out propaganda pieces for Joyce on how good Burton is. You write real articles on the NBL (piece on NZ for example) although everything you and fiba.com write BA related is garbage.

We have established previously that she played well against second units in blowout games in a tournament 2 years ago, that hasn't changed.

Joyce?
Phillips/Mitchell
Taylor/Allen/lavey
Jarry/Talbot
Hodges/burton/tolo
Cambage/batkovic

Imo
Phillips/Mansfield
Taylor/jarry/ebzery
Talbot/Allen
Griffin/George/tolo
Cambage/batkovic

Fancy cutting Kelsey Griffin. Joyce really has no idea about some things

"Try again mate.
Top rebounders against the US were Tolo & Taylor with 6 each."

Correct, Burton was the leading Aussie rebounder for the entire tournament (equal with Tolo but in 36 less minutes) but had five against the Americans.

Our performance against the USA in Turkey was close to our best ever. I think if we're going to beat the US in the foreseeable future this is our chance.

^ edit - Blicavs in...

Does this mean this likes of;
Kunek
Griffin
Mandsfield
Cumming
Blicavs
Others

Are cut from the team?

The Jayco Australian Opals squad for the warm-up tour in Japan:

Rebecca Allen, SEQ Stars, Suzy Batkovic, JCU Townsville Fire, Sara Blicavs, Jayco Dandenong Rangers, Natalie Burton, Perth Lynx, Elizabeth Cambage, Shanghai, Katie-RaeEbzery, Brydens Lawyers Sydney Uni Flames, Cayla George, JCU Townsville Fire, Rachel Jarry, SEQ Stars, Tessa Lavey, Perth Lynx, Tess Madgen Deakin, Melbourne Boomers, Leilani Mitchell, MAC Adelaide Lightning, Stephanie Talbot, Canberra Uni Capitals.

Injured/unavailable: Abby Bishop — Seattle Storm (injured). Marianna Tolo (injured). Laura Hodges — Bourges (France) — unavailable. Erin Phillips — Dallas Wings — unavailable. Penny Taylor — Phoenix Mercury — unavailable


via - http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/swoop/rio-olympics-2016-opal-side-named-for-japan-minus-four-big-names/news-story/a2224215bec328610866ea6774cfa6c5

... and yes, realistically we are playing for silver. The gap between the US and us has been widening each year for at least the last 5 years.

"Burton (4/5) but mainly 4. Runs the lanes and was leading rebounder at the worlds, before haters type,she had the most rebounds against the US. Great defender."

Try again mate.
Top rebounders against the US were Tolo & Taylor with 6 each.

I disagree that having Cambage in the middle means we can get away with a smaller PF.
Liz is not a great rebounder for her size, and her tendency to chase blocked shots often leaves her in poor rebounding position. Whoever plays the 4 needs to be a committed rebounder.

Having said that, Griffin is a good rebounder for her size.
Still don't know why Penaluna isn't there, because she'd fit very well at the 4 spot alongside Liz IMO. Cayla George could work too in that she is a pretty good rebounder and can then space the floor well on O. But she's an average defender and so is Liz so that aspect is a concern.

I could see Burton & Liz coexisting ok at the defensive end. In offence though it is 2 players who you'd rather were taking nothing further out than layups.

Called "coaches choice" ".............only needs to make sense in his world!

It's baffling to say the least when a player averaging 7 pts, 5 rebounds & .5 assists can make an Australian team. What message does that send to all the other players?
Just doesn't make any cohesive sense at all.

Phillips was a bit of a surprise to me too, considering she recently ruled herself out of the whole WNBL season.
If she does pull out, there's still plenty of guards in that team, so yeah it kind of does look like a team picked for Erin to be able to withdraw from if needed.

If that happens then hopefully Penny will be feeling good enough to join the group. She's playing great in China right now and was originally due to be finished there some time this month. I wonder if her not being named is due to Maya Moore's knee not being as fast to come good as originally hoped, thus extending Penny's stay over there. Would be great if she could make it to Rio even on restricted minutes.

Hopefully the root of everyone's passion and opinions here is a desire to see the Opals achieve the best results they possibly can. They're a world class team and a medal threat at every tournament they go to, they're a great bunch of people, they represent the country with pride and class wherever they go, so we all want to see them reach their full potential.

So let's not get trashy here. It's possible to support players without having to bag out other players in the process.
I've appreciated Nat's work from the first time she suited up for the Waves a few years ago, and it's great to have her back home at the Lynx this season contributing to us being top of the WNBL ladder.
Would she be in my personal Opals 12? No, as I implied above, I think Penaluna is performing at a higher level and is a more multi-dimensional threat. But that decision is on Joyce & Co, not on Nat. I just hope he is selecting people for the right reasons.

This is far from an important tournament, but at the same time I'd like to think he's picking something relatively close to his "real" team from who is actually available. Time together like this in the actual Olympic venue is gold.

At the end of the day whoever puts on the green & gold has my total support and I'm sure everyone else's too. But until then it's a fact of life that debate will continue about who should be there. Realistically there's probably still close to 20 players in that conversation. Let's keep it tasteful hey.

Lol post from anonymous at 8:24pm, gold mate, gold! Poor Nat Burton she is probably a lovely chick. So bad that I laugh at her expense, but as soon as the team was announced I came straight to this forum to read the posts. Classic

Having said that Lavey has proved herself and I don't read much hate, so the table has turned, maybe Nat will have a corker of the rest of the WNBL season...... I said maybe.

Not sure how much more arse Penaluna needs to kick to get a look in.
16.6 points & 8.6 boards per game not enough, evidently.

LJ & Tolo can't play atm so I'm not sure what those questions are about.
This is the squad for 3 friendlies in January.

Just posted on Adelaide Now. Sentenced to 9 years with 4.5 years non parole. The judge described him as despicable.

Adelaide Now article

(Mod: No comments please.)