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lmaoooo plz. Where would you prefer she went instead? I can be baffled by the Sparks' choices over the past couple of weeks AND also recognize this is by far the best place for Kate to not only get on a roster, but also get good playing time alongside solid vets. Plenty of great players are sitting at home right now without a team.

Yeah I would genuinely love to know where anon thinks Kate should have gone? The reality is that she wasn't picked up on waivers- VERY few players who get cut after rosters are finalized are. There are excellent players- Sutton, Jones, Bibby, McDonald- not on rosters right now. She was offered DPs and took the one that she felt was the best for her, no doubt with a lot of input from people like her agent and manager who know way more than we do. She is playing already more than half the Sparks bench- that's not nothing. Most DPs haven't seen the floor at all, and even some who have been upgraded have barely played. I saw a stat the other days that Kate and one of the Lynx's DPs have seen the most minutes of any DP. Even some players on full contracts on other teams haven't seen the floor. This is the W, there are SO many great players. Playing time is hard to come by whoever you are. Aaliyah Nye is a champion and excellent shooter and she has just been collecting DNPs for Atlanta, and I'm sure that's not because of her, it's just that Atlanta is an absolutely stacked team. Kate isn't a star, she isn't going to just walk onto any team and be handed 15 minutes a game no matter who the team is. I know it's frustrating watching LA not upgrade her but at the end of the day she is playing, she is being trusted, she is being impactful and she has people like KP saying she should be upgraded. I think we're forgetting that she was cut only just over a month ago. She's come so far in such a short a space of time. This time last month we didn't even know if she would even be playing in the W this season! We need to take the wins and acknowledge that things take time. She's doing fine.

exactlyyyy

park is 16%fg and 0% from 3 this season and gray is 28% fg and 22% from 3 this season like upgrade kate already

tbf it's a veryyy small sample size (I think Park has only attempted like 6 shots), but yes, they should upgrade Kate.

I know Lynne or the GM isn't going to lay out their entire plan for Kate, and that they have to keep a lot of things under wraps, but I would be so curious to know what their long-term plan is. Because anyone with eyes can see that Kate's been really strong, even despite the fact that she's had like no consistency to her season.

Nakase was all love and compliments with Kate till she got cut to put two players that basically didn't play all of last season in the roster, I don't put my hand on the fire for those coaches and organizations. Kate's situation is very strange the minutes she's given are awfully low for what she has produced in the past and for the Sparks. Kate needs a real role and a real team, Sparks aren't that. Kate made the worse choice possible and is impossible to not see that

lmaoooo plz. Where would you prefer she went instead? I can be baffled by the Sparks' choices over the past couple of weeks AND also recognize this is by far the best place for Kate to not only get on a roster, but also get good playing time alongside solid vets. Plenty of great players are sitting at home right now without a team.

And fwiw, I believe Natalie does love Kate; the Valkyries were forced to make a very tough decision. But, as much as I love Kate, they made the right call to put Kaitlyn and LA on the roster given the circumstances.

honestly I’m kind of glad with the sparks almost losing yesterday. I think they didn’t activate kate because they didn’t want to waste a game and wanted to give other players a try and that just didn’t work out at all. Instead, they just played Park 1 minute and everyone else had to play heavier minutes. Hardly effective. IMO it showed that they do need kate. No she’s not going to win them the game and take over, but she takes a lot of pressure off the starters while they get a breather and is a key bench piece with her scoring and defense. No disrespect but neither park nor gray were effective yesterday. Gray is getting better and looking much more confident so I think her place in the rotation is safe but the others on the bench I really don’t know what’s going on there. I will take kate not playing in a game they scrape a win if it means they realize how impactful she is for them

I think Gray has been relatively solid for being a rookie. Her shooting isn't quite there yet, but she's definitely shown a lot of potential and doesn't make a ton of rookie mistakes. But ya, it's sooo clear and obvious that their 4 players coming off the bench should be Cam, Rae, Kate, and Chance. Like DUHHHHHHHHH!

The whole thing is truly bizarre and makes me a little nervous on if they even plan on upgrading her. I still think they probably wouldn’t have used 7 games this early on if they weren’t considering it, but they then do things like last night where she isn’t activated and they play Park (only for 2 min though). I still think they have to realize Kate is better than half their bench but the fact that they haven’t done anything yet is so confusing to me.

I know Lynne or the GM isn't going to lay out their entire plan for Kate, and that they have to keep a lot of things under wraps, but I would be so curious to know what their long-term plan is. Because anyone with eyes can see that Kate's been really strong, even despite the fact that she's had like no consistency to her season.

The sparks losing to this Storm team is awful. They could have really used Kate because Lynne doesn’t use that bench at all

haha well the Sparks managed to get it done but ya, this whole bench situation is so weird to me. why do they have people on the roster they truly never play, but at the same time they have someone in their DP spot they'd probably give 10 minutes a game to? truly bizarre situation lol.

if i was the GM of this team, I would've cut Park right after Kate's second game (where she scored 11 points), upgraded Kate to the active roster, and then signed Park to a DP contract. That would've kept the gang together, but would've given the Sparks the ability to use Kate every game and save those DP games for when they really need them. But maybe that just makes too much sense!

Honestly, I said this a couple of days ago, but the Sparks is the right place for her at the moment. She has the potential to get a lot more playing time...if she were on the Valkyries, she'd be shoved to the very end of the bench.

yeah I think two things can be true at the same time. Kate is in the right place for her this season and the Valkyries for sure are having issues with their bench. And kate still being there would not necessarily solve them. They have Salaun and Thornton playing the 5 because they lack depth at center, and they are continuing to play Veronica heavy minutes (37 last night) with Chen and Jocyte getting very few minutes as her backup. They still have a logjam of wings and yes while kate is out shooting a lot of them we have to remember that she is also putting up fewer shots because she’s isn’t required to be as big of an offensive weapon with the Sparks because they have the best offense in the league when KP plays. I really think things are working out the way they were meant to for kate and I love that we get her and Veronica being the tiniest bit more open about their relationship now they’re not teammates

Ya, Kate wouldn't solve any of the Valkyries' issues. In fact, it seems like they're figuring out how best to rotate their players (same with the Sparks too, to be fair lol).

I just personally like Kate with the Sparks more because I dont feel like there's as much pressure on her.

as bad as the front office for the sparks is I think what the coach is saying is the biggest clue. She has said herself that it’s not fair on the players to have kate play some games and not others as they’re building chemistry. And as bad as the coach can be with her rotations she’s still a professional coach and she’s not dumb. Playing someone that much for 12 games and then never playing them again would be coaching malpractice. The fact she plans to play kate so many minutes a game is telling. She has obviously made her decision about kate and it’s just up to the front office when they do it. I’m sure there’s financial reasons we’re not aware of that they haven’t done it yet but all the players with DNPs are on unprotected contracts so they can cut any of them at any time. I really think they will use her 12 because it gives them the option of 13 players on the roster basically and then make some decisions

Right, exactly. It would be one thing for them to be running through all these games with Kate if the Sparks were down several players due to injury or whatever, but she's getting playing time when everyone is healthy. I really don't think they'd do that if they didn't see her with the team long-term. In fact, it's kind of weird that the couple of games Kate didn't play in were when KP was out. I guess they're OK with just burning through all of her DP games, which I don't really understand, but whatever!

I also think the first handful of games Kate played in they were still assessing her vs others. Because Kate would play one game, Park the next. Latson played in a couple when KP was out. Now I feel like they are at the point where they know Kate is above those players (hence the two games in a row where she played and others didn’t). My guess is they either use her 12 games and then do it or after this 3 game road trip. There is no way they play her this much and build chemistry not to upgrade her. Also KP’s comments hold a lot of weight imo.

ya i would genuinely be shocked if they didn't upgrade her at some point, especially if they continue to play her and not play half their bench

LA getting all these DNPs for the Valkyries, still dont understand why they cut Kate for her. 🤔

I am kind of surprised LA's not played at all the last couple of games, but tbh, if Kate was on the Valkyries, she'd probably be the one with all the DNPs too 😕 They picked LA over Kate because the team desperately needed size after Rupert's pregnancy announcement and they already had a surplus of wings/guards.

Honestly, I said this a couple of days ago, but the Sparks is the right place for her at the moment. She has the potential to get a lot more playing time...if she were on the Valkyries, she'd be shoved to the very end of the bench.

Not sure what the front office is waiting for lmao

wondering same. But this is the same FO that traded Rickea 🙄 I think they’ll use all of her games before they sign her. I watched the video and roberts says she doesn’t know if Ziegler will ever play because it depends on injuries so I think if they didn’t see kate as part of the team long term she just wouldn’t be playing. It seems silly to me to have someone be 7-8th player off the bench and then suddenly have her stop playing and expect the team to do without her for the rest of the season when they’ve built chemistry so it’s obviously just a matter of time. The trade window opened today so maybe they want to wait and see what happens with some of their DNPs although I doubt anyone is trading bench players

So true. Though I agree, I don’t think they’re going to be able to trade away any of their bench (but I guess we’ll wait and see!)

The other dev pool player had nice things to say about kate, talked about how they help each other with extra workouts and how kate’s stepped up as a leader despite being a DP (kate is being interviewed in the background so we’ll wait on that one)

love that!

Coach Roberts was interviewed after practice today saying that she intends to play Kate more and that her plan has been to play kate 15 minutes but things go awry and so she has to change the sub plan for whatever reason but that they plan to try and increase kate's minutes. She was asked about upgrading kate and she said 'that's a front office decision' but smiled slightly so I think she's trying to stay neutral officially but I think her slight smile said a lot

Not sure what the front office is waiting for lmao

Kate finally driving to the basket again but she needs to be making those free throws 🥴 and hopefully bring back her midrange a bit

im not worried about her free throws, she's only taken 2 lol

something that i've also noticed about kate's game so far this season is she's doing a good job of finding ways to score that aren't just 3 pointers. she's driving to the basket, getting fouled, etc. i honestly think she improved in this area during unrivaled, so it's nice to see her bring it into her W game this season

totally agree!! the last couple of games she's been able to knock down a three, but she's also scored in the paint too. I hope she's able to keep that up!!

you know what anon, I actually agree! Lynne Roberts is a frustrating coach, and I dont understand her rotations or distribution of bench minutes 90% of the time, but I think this team allows Kate to do what she does best.

completely agree. Kate isn’t a star player, we know that. She is at her absolute best supporting stars. And that is a skill in itself. There’s a reason she played so well alongside CC, A’ja, Chelsea, Jackie and now KP, Nneka etc. like KP said, kate is always in the right spot. She does all the little things teams need to get their stars open or defend well and she can knock down shots or drive to the basket when needed. Kate herself also said that she really likes the style of basketball than Lynne Roberts wants to play. She said ‘we like a fast paced offense, paint and spray. It’s a great offense for people who like to shoot the basketball and I’m one of those people’. And as much as the rotations make no sense, Kate’s obviously already part of it above several other players. She fits in really well and the praise KP and Rae both gave to her after the game shows that her teammates see it

yes, I think Kate is definitely at her best when she is able to support the stars around her.

i have a hot take - despite not getting a ton of playing time, I think this Sparks team is a much better fit for Kate than the Valkyries

you know what anon, I actually agree! Lynne Roberts is a frustrating coach, and I dont understand her rotations or distribution of bench minutes 90% of the time, but I think this team allows Kate to do what she does best.

With the Valkyries, I think she felt a lot of pressure to jack up threes and be a constant scoring threat for them, but as we know, that's just not really Kate's game. And, because the Valkyries didnt really have that go-to scorer last year, I think Kate was put in some positions she wouldn't normally be in (taking late-in-shot-clock shots, being a high-volume shooter etc). With the Sparks, the offensive focal point is obviously KP, but also Dearica, Nneka, Ariel etc. Kate is able to come in and bring energy and hustle, but is also not expected to put up 10+ shots a game. She's also been taking higher-percentage shots because a lot of the defensive focus goes towards the players previously mentioned. I mean, just take her 3 from last night's game....KP smartly drove the ball into the paint, brought 3 defenders to her, and then kicked it out to Kate for a pretty wide open 3. And, though it's still a small sample size, I also think that's why we're seeing Kate shoot the ball a lot better so far this season. She's just getting better looks.

Next steps are that she gets on the 12-player roster and then plays like 15 mins a game. That would be the sweet spot for her, I think.

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