Hannah and the draft

judzeehawk said:
Oh yes you are correct. The overseas market will be defunct of a lot of American players. I did notice in the WNBA draft there were quite a few foreigners. Mostly Spain, Germany and France with a few others sprinkled in. I miss understood you. Sorry.
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All good after I reread what I wrote I totally see how you took it like that. Yeah the foreign influence on hoops with women is increasing too. Lots of ball is played over there all over. UCLA had a player from New Zealand get drafted. About as far away from the US you can get
 
How come we're not seeing anything about Hannah at least getting signed to a training camp roster? i'm seeing nothing. Anybody know what's up?
 
 
Sorry...Just is not gonna happen.
Why? So teams can watch her eat basketballs driving to rim or clanking any shot outside 6' ?
Hannah was a loyal, valuable Hawkeye. She just is not WNBA talent with her current skill set.
 
There must be something up with Hannah. I'm guessing she's either injured or ill. The W training camps are all in full swing now and there's no reason under normal circumstances that she wouldn't be in one.

I'm sure it will all come out.
 
Zstatman said:
There must be something up with Hannah. I'm guessing she's either injured or ill. The W training camps are all in full swing now and there's no reason under normal circumstances that she wouldn't be in one.

I'm sure it will all come out.
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My guess is she just isn't good enough. Far superior Hawkeyes (Logic, Doyle, Gustafson) failed to stick in the WNBA right away (Gustafson developed enough post-grad to make it). That league is pretty much All-Americans, or players with an elite combination of size and athleticism that teams will take on as a developmental piece. While there are more spots now (more teams, expanded rosters), there has also been a massive influx of international talent recently, so the pool has expanded more than the spots. Hannah was a very good college player, but that doesn't cut it. If she gets a shot, it will be via the Gustafson route: playing internationally and expanding her game.

Going into the season, I thought Hannah would get a shot with a WNBA team doing exactly what she did with the national team last summer: coming off the bench, playing great D and hitting the boards, and being an effective ball-mover on offense. She had a good senior season, but her FT shooting regressed (it needed to improve), and her ability to finish creatively around the rim improved, but not enough. Her assignment is the same as it has always been: get that FT% consistently north of 70, and figure out how to finish effectively over, under, and around taller players near the rim. If she can really grow those areas playing internationally, she is worth a WNBA shot.
 
Maybe both are true. Maybe Hannah has a lingering injury that has not completely healed. And maybe WNBA teams are not interested in Hannah right now. I think the advice to play overseas for a couple years might be the best option right now.
 
I saw online that Hannah is engaged to Kyle Denning, remember him?

I don't know if you can believe this, seems more and more you can't believe most of the stuff you see online.
 
CP87 said:
My guess is she just isn't good enough. Far superior Hawkeyes (Logic, Doyle, Gustafson) failed to stick in the WNBA right away (Gustafson developed enough post-grad to make it). That league is pretty much All-Americans, or players with an elite combination of size and athleticism that teams will take on as a developmental piece. While there are more spots now (more teams, expanded rosters), there has also been a massive influx of international talent recently, so the pool has expanded more than the spots. Hannah was a very good college player, but that doesn't cut it. If she gets a shot, it will be via the Gustafson route: playing internationally and expanding her game.

Going into the season, I thought Hannah would get a shot with a WNBA team doing exactly what she did with the national team last summer: coming off the bench, playing great D and hitting the boards, and being an effective ball-mover on offense. She had a good senior season, but her FT shooting regressed (it needed to improve), and her ability to finish creatively around the rim improved, but not enough. Her assignment is the same as it has always been: get that FT% consistently north of 70, and figure out how to finish effectively over, under, and around taller players near the rim. If she can really grow those areas playing internationally, she is worth a WNBA shot.
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The more I think about it, the more I think you are right, Hannah just isn't good enough.

Hailey Van Lith was waived by the Chicago Sky today. A couple years ago when she was playing for LSU with Agnel Reese against CC and the Hawks she semmed like a lock for a fuure in the W. So I guess you just never know.

With the new CBA and players making more money than ever, more Europeans are coming to the W, there are just more good players trying to make the rosters, make the money. You've gotta have game.
 
Zstatman said:
The more I think about it, the more I think you are right, Hannah just isn't good enough.

Hailey Van Lith was waived by the Chicago Sky today. A couple years ago when she was playing for LSU with Agnel Reese against CC and the Hawks she semmed like a lock for a fuure in the W. So I guess you just never know.

With the new CBA and players making more money than ever, more Europeans are coming to the W, there are just more good players trying to make the rosters, make the money. You've gotta have game.
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I am surprised HVL got waived, I had not seen that. But it just goes to show how good you have to be to stick in the WNBA. This makes it all the more impressive what Megan Gustafson, Kate Martin, and Lucy Olson have done in recent years.
 
By most standards, Haily Van Lith had an outstanding college career, making it to the elite 8 with multiple teams with decent stats. Then she was on the 3x3 Olympic team USA.

But when you consider she was ranked in the top 7 of her 2020 recruiting class along with Caitlin Clark, Paige Buekers, Angel Reese, Cameron Brink, Kamilla Cardoso and Diamond Johnson, then HVL unfortunately is probably the 2nd least successful of possibly the greatest recruiting class ever, with Diamond Johnson being the only one in the top 7 who did not make it to the WNBA.
 
I see the Sky wasted no time in filling HVL's spot, signing Natasha Cloud. Cloud is 34, 6'4" and has solid W experience.

Ashley Joens also comes to mind at this time. Iowa City native, good career at Iowa State, she seemed to be the last players cut from several W teams and could just quite never catch on. I see she is now the head coach at Ankeny HS.
 
Kate Martin was released today by Golden State. Martin may be signed to the team's last remaining developmental spot if no one claims her on waivers.
 
Zstatman said:
The more I think about it, the more I think you are right, Hannah just isn't good enough.

Hailey Van Lith was waived by the Chicago Sky today. A couple years ago when she was playing for LSU with Agnel Reese against CC and the Hawks she semmed like a lock for a fuure in the W. So I guess you just never know.

With the new CBA and players making more money than ever, more Europeans are coming to the W, there are just more good players trying to make the rosters, make the money. You've gotta have game.
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If Naz Hillmon is a starter in the W then Hannah is good enough to play in the W also. I read somewhere ( can't remember where ) that Hannah was invited to the WNBA tryouts but declined so she good get healthy.
 
judzeehawk said:
If Naz Hillmon is a starter in the W then Hannah is good enough to play in the W also. I read somewhere ( can't remember where ) that Hannah was invited to the WNBA tryouts but declined so she good get healthy.
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Prolly still in the "not W skill set" as posted above but, holy crap, can't imagine her worse than Hines Allen, Dantas, Timpson or even Billings in the Fever! They're just plain bad at receiving and finishing anything thrown their way nor even efforting on boards.
 
CP87 said:
I am surprised HVL got waived, I had not seen that. But it just goes to show how good you have to be to stick in the WNBA. This makes it all the more impressive what Megan Gustafson, Kate Martin, and Lucy Olson have done in recent years.
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Hell Lucy might be on the chopping block. I see she's getting a lot of DNPs lately. She played more last yr I'm not sure what's up with that.
 
Hawkfnntn said:
Hell Lucy might be on the chopping block. I see she's getting a lot of DNPs lately. She played more last yr I'm not sure what's up with that.
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Yup, The Mystics have been in developmental mode the last 2 years, which means they are playing a lot of rookies and seeing who develops. Lucy had her chance last year to prove herself. Now the Mystics are playing a new set of rookies this year.
 
CP87 said:
I am surprised HVL got waived, I had not seen that. But it just goes to show how good you have to be to stick in the WNBA. This makes it all the more impressive what Megan Gustafson, Kate Martin, and Lucy Olson have done in recent years.
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I think way back to the Iowa-LSU game in the elite 8 where HVL could do nothing but shrug her shoulders trying to defend Caitlin Clark, and I knew then HVL was not going to last in the WNBA.
 
There are only 15 WNBA teams, with only 12 roster spots per team…making a roster spot if you are a fringe player is very difficult. Not that familar with the CBA, so I don’t know how many developmental players are allowed per team. I want to say 3, but I could be wrong. Without a women’s developmental league in the US… I am assuming overseas is the next best option.

Not advocating for more teams, rosters spots or a developmental league…just stating I understand the numbers crunch…only so many teams, only so many roster spots.
 
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