#fivebuckdq

unpopular opinion: i enjoyed watching azzi play today. i’m not really seeing the fear or timidity that most people are talking about.

3s: she’s an amazing shooter but the looks just weren’t there from deep today. part of notre dame’s game plan was to deny her 3pt opportunities and run her off the line, which they did well. this was a VERY rare low-volume game from her but not in a worrisome way, she has a high iq and smart shot selection. if she felt like she had space to pull, she would’ve pulled it. her gravity as a shooting threat also opened up some great looks for sarah and blanca.

mid-range: her middies off the dribble showed that she wasn’t scared to shoot, she was just taking what she saw. this is the first game i can recall this season where the dribble hand offs and screens didn’t work to create space for threes, her ability to adapt to that when it hadn’t happened yet this season impressed me.

turnovers: all i can really complain about were her turnovers, but to be fair, notre dame does a great job at pressuring the ball and baiting teams into hard passes. azzi’s not a point guard even though she has a handle and pretty decent passing ability, so i grant grace there. she averages less than 2/game, so high turnover games like this one are usually only when she’s in a position where she handles/playmakes more than usual. (4 assists, game high for all players today)

defense: her defense was as solid as it usually is. her assignments struggled all game with finding good looks for shots and passes. big fan of how she manages to guard effectively without catching foul calls, especially with notre dame’s ability to sell contact.

TL;DR scheduled this after the sky game

1. we’re 5 games into a long season. but yes, we have a problem.

2. we need to use everybody better in order to use azzi better.

3. having the green-light isn’t always good

4. azzi’s played better when she’s shot less. no, that doesn’t mean i want her to shoot less.

Preseason vs Now

azzi’s preseason averages (2 games)

35/14/75 shooting splits on 17 shots

8/0/1 pts/reb/ast

azzi’s averages over the past 2 games

66/66/100 on 15 shots

12/1/2 pts reb ast

50% increase in PPG while shooting less on better splits. she shot more and was way more free in her selection in the preseason. but she’s playing way better right now.

instead of shooting at a higher volume and lower efficiency, she’s pivoted to shooting higher percentage shots at a lower volume.

she’s not the type to shoot and miss the same shots until something goes in. she adjusts and shoots the shots she’s confident in to build a rhythm, then she loosens up. notice how she shot a few 2s then let the 3s fly? notice how they both went in?

Potential Usage Progression

pauline astier’s FGs in order from first game to most recent: 4/5,2/4,6/10,10/14,7/12

this is the linear progression i expect azzi’s attempts to make.

pauline started out with low volume high efficiency, azzi is doing the same. pauline saw an increase in usage and shot the ball more while still shooting well. azzi is also seeing an increase. the past two games she’s has played more minutes than odyssey sims (a starter). minutes ≠ usage, but a decrease in both sims’s minutes and usage has proven to lead to an increase in azzi’s.

Operation Use Your Team

azzi’s off ball movement isn’t the same as it was at UCONN (not for a lack of ability). her ability to cut and lose defenders was what got her good shots. so far in dallas, she tends to space to the corner, then float about the 3 point line. because of the differences in personnel, azzi probably won’t be able to get open by making her defenders chase her, simply because the space and orientation on the court won’t allow for it.

this is where we need alanna, awak, maddy, li, and AC. awak and maddy can’t rot on the bench under any circumstances. jess’s role as a passer sometimes pulls her away from being able to set screens and other off-ball actions. our other bigs need to be used to open the floor up better and free up azzi. especially since they have size and can ALL shoot threes (let’s see that spain pick and roll). she’s our only guard that isn’t ball dominant and she gets guarded super closely. she’s gonna need sets and actions to get more shots.

The Green-Light Curse

“having the green light” refers to a player being allowed to shoot what they want, when they want. this term inaccurately gets used in reference to players that shoot at a relatively high volume, but not necessarily a wild selection.

for some rookies this has been working out well. olivia miles shoots anywhere from 10-15 shots a game at 47% while averaging 16 points. olivia’s a point guard, the game runs through her. her go to shot is a drive layup, generally a high percentage shot. she has a seasoned coach and if she plays rough courtney williams is there to fill her role. if she doesn’t score high her team can still win if she contributes in other ways. she’s in a perfect spot.

flau’jae is very talented, was efficient in college, and is a super hard worker. so why is she averaging 11 points on 27% overall shooting? why has she gone 3/14, 3/10, and 3/12? because even if her shots don’t fall, she has to keep shooting to at least give her team a chance. who’s gonna fill her role if she doesn’t?

this is an example of what i call the green light curse. we see rookies like flaujae shooting high volume and we think “man, i wish azzi got that many shots”. this is flawed thinking. anybody can shoot and miss. the last thing you want is for your star rookie to be in a “do or die” situation.

this is how the same players that we tend to complain about are CREATED. as good as arike is, she gets criticized for being a “selfish shot-chucker”. same as odyssey sims. they were both drafted to struggling teams where they had to shoot high volume or else. once you build this habit/mentality of having to play superman it’s hard to break out of. it makes you not trust your teammates, even if they can hoop.

even paige shows flashes of the green light problem at times (stemming from last season’s troubles). her and arike have to settle into the new reality of having reliable scorers around them. once they do, they’ll feel less inclined to “carry the team”.

(i feel as if they’re trying super hard to pick up the slack from lan and odyssey’s lack of scoring. spread the workload guys.)

the “selfishness” on the team is indicative of how cutthroat the wnba is as a business. odyssey is an older guard trying to prove she still has a place in the league. zaza is trying to prove what we already know about her, that she got better during the offseason. but she’s so eager to put up stats that she’s straying away from doing what makes her good.

and honestly, i can’t even blame them entirely. neither zaza or odyssey are passers, they shouldn’t be trio’d with azzi so often. i guess jose’s solution is to put jess out there with them? but how can she distribute the ball if they shoot the first look they get? i digress.

however, these aren’t bad teammates. these are players trying to stay on a roster. unfortunately, the overly aggressive way they’re going about it is hurting the team more than helping. this is why we’re seeing their minutes trend down, changes are being made.

How ass is our -ketball?

i know we look rough at times, but this is a good basketball team. we’re only 5 games into the season. last year it took us 10 games to win the amount of games we’ve won so far. we can’t become above trusting the process just because we’re a better team now.

this is an almost entirely reconstructed roster under a new coach, who is new to the league entirely.

we won’t look the same all season. hell, we could look different friday. It’s very rare for a team to end the season exactly the same way they start it. remember how bad the aces were last year? they ended that season with new hardware on the shelf.

azzi got the ball stripped on a drive in the preseason game against the fever and a decent bit this past season at uconn. mostly because she’s a relatively tall/long guard. pulling out this move tell me she’s been really working on slashing in practice and workouts. this might seem small but it’s VERY promising!

opinion: the best of azzi fudd is yet to come, stay tuned!

went down a rabbit hole of azzi’s old highschool film late last night and it’s got me thinking, we definitely haven’t seen the best of her ability yet.

interior scoring: looking back at her high school and early uconn years (think ‘21-‘23 seasons), azzi showed that she has no problem maneuvering into open space and getting to the rim, ability wise. more recently she hasn’t been too eager to drive into the paint, which makes perfect sense all things considered. however, she still has that same impressive ability to get to the soft spots in the defense and pull up for a midrange jumper that she had in high school. the only difference is, she’s even better at it now.

physical shape: azzi has always had very solid muscle mass and great speed + lateral quickness, but now she’s pure lean muscle. that added with the fact that her torn ACL has been replaced with a patellar tendon graft (which is 70% stronger than a natural ACL), has set her up to be explosive in her movements. from my perspective watching this season, she doesn’t move like someone who’s suffered the injury history she has.

there were glimpses this season of azzi being more confident driving in for layups and pushing pace/controlling the offense. it’s got me thinking: with the new offensive system in dallas, her strength and speed, and her potential for consistent development i can see azzi gradually reverting back to her natural 3-level play-style. are the best fudd hoops we see gonna be in the pros? i think so!