Good Follow - Are Expectations Too High For Angel? Is the Aces Dynasty Over? + Valkyries Recent Success & More
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Upfront payment of $45 for three-month plan equivalent to $15 per month required. New customer offer for first three months only. Speed slow after 35 gigabytes if network's busy. Taxes and fees extra. See mintmobile.com. You're listening to DraftKings Network. What's up, everyone? Welcome to Good Follow presented by DraftKings. I'm Roz Goldonwede, and that is my girl, that's my co-host, Logan Hackett. Logan, the bell is back. Oh, no. It's bell time.

It's bell time because we've got announcements to make. Logan, I know you're going to get to them. But before we even get there, let me give you the show menu. We've got so many great topics to talk about today. We're starting off with were expectations too high for Angel Reese? The sky.

The sky is falling in Chicago. The Liberty's historic start and Jonquil Jones is injury. How troubling will this be? We beg the question, has the Aces window closed in Las Vegas and those Golden State Valkyries there onto something we're going to discuss their recent success and of course,

Coco golf's come back to win the French open. Oh, it's a good show, Logan. Yes. And as for the big announcement, the bell is absolutely needed. We'll not be dropping new episodes twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday. So we're coming at you double the amount now. And as always, thank you all for subscribing, commenting, liking, following our socials, clicking all the buttons. And now you'll get to do that two times a week. But anyways, as for the show for us, are you ready to get into it?

Do I look ready? Let's do it. So I want to start with the Chicago Sky, who you already mentioned are a bit down bad. After a 27-point loss to the Fever, they are now 2-5 on the season with their two wins coming to Dallas, who are the last place team. But to make things worse, they lost salute to an ACL tear. Absolutely tragic, especially given that I believe this was going to be her retirement year.

And then we also have Angel Reese who is struggling. While she is averaging nine points per game, she's shooting just 30% from the field and averaging almost four turnovers with 2.6 assists per game. Now, all of this led to a conversation about Angel and the game against the Fever this weekend. And I'm keen to hear your thoughts on it, but it was basically posing the question, were the expectations or are the expectations for Angel Reese too high too soon?

You know, I think it's all of the attention that comes with Angel Reese that puts her on this pedestal. You know, she gets the attention of a superstar. But at this very moment, Angel Reese is not a superstar basketball player. She's not a franchise basketball player yet. That doesn't mean she won't be. She certainly has the motor, the work ethic, the upside to be that.

But right now what I see is a young player that still needs quite a bit more time and development. And same for Camila Cardoso, both of them. And they were named as the cornerstones of this franchise. But I think it's important to just make that statement and kind of walk back maybe all of the pressure being put on those two and very specifically Angel Reese and Tyler Marsh, the coach actually said that himself. He said, I

I don't think Angel struggled tonight. I think we struggled as a team. It's not about Angel being better for us. It's about us being better for Angel. And that was after they lost by 27 points to the Indiana Fever. And so I think that's important. You've got a young player who's on a team. The entire team is struggling. I mean, the Sky can barely hold onto the ball long enough to be able to enter the ball into one of their post players, Angel Reese and Carmelo Cordoza. They had...

19 turnovers on 18 made field goals. So they have more turnovers than they had shots made. That's just an issue. Remember, you brought in all of these vets, these veteran players to surround these younger bigs and take some of the pressure off of them. And they're struggling. They have not been pressure relievers. There was nobody in the game against the Indiana Fever that scored in double digits.

So you're looking at Kia Nurse. You're looking at Ariel Atkins and saying, hey, they need to bring more too. And now you lost Courtney Vandersloot to a season-ending ACL injury. I mean, that loss against the Indiana Fever without Kaitlyn Clark, without them having Sophie Cunningham, without even their coach, Coach Stephanie White, being there on national TV, losing by almost 30, no one in double digits, and you lose Courtney Vandersloot. I just don't know if it could have been any more devastating.

But that also means maybe the only way to go from here is up. Exactly. And I think a big takeaway from the expectations of Angel is the fact that ever since that championship game a few years ago, I feel like her and Caitlyn, though they play different positions, have been kind of put on the same trajectory and given these same expectations when that's not the same case at all. I mean, we have to remember Caitlyn...

first overall Angel went seventh and coming in a lot of people didn't have those expectations but I think to the media and based on what you see from social media you would put her at the same level but in the conversation the big conversation I also had this weekend it came up about everything that she does off of the court and having pretty much her own life and profession that she's made for herself off of it so do you think that there's too much pressure and distractions coming from everything that she's doing outside of the W yeah

You know, if you are just following any of the sports accounts and you're part of the just kind of sports and entertainment algorithm, you probably saw...

You know, that angel was getting clowned on social media for pulling up to that game against the Indiana Fever. And she did a whole photo shoot. She had her fur hat on and the black fit. She looks great. You know, she's got the boots on, all the things, and she's posing for the camera. This is not like your walk through to the locker room from the bus. This was a full-on photo shoot, like step and repeat moment. And she got clowned because after doing all of that,

You know, she had four points. They lose by basically 30 points on national TV to an Indiana Fever team without Kaitlyn Clark. In many cases, I do think that Angel Reese is unfairly discussed. But in this case right here, I just think this ain't no bullying. This is part of the territory. Yeah, if this was a guy, we would be...

Absolutely clowning an NBA player for this kind of tomfoolery and behavior. And that being the result, like it comes with the territory. And I think, you know, look, if you're going to be flashy and let let me be very clear, I will always fight for your right to be flashy. I will die on a mountain hill for your right to protect your right to be flashy. But you know what that means is you've got to back it up.

Because you put yourself out there in that way. And so, you know, Logan, I remembered when Asia Wilson started to wear white tees and sweats to the games. You remember that? Absolutely. That was iconic. Yeah. It was like she was basically like she didn't like the way the team was playing the aces. She didn't like the way she was playing. And she was like, yo, I'm forget a fit.

I'm here to handle business. And for Asia and the Aces, I really liked that moment and they did get back on track. Do I think that Angel Reese has to do that or take a page out of that book or diminish the things that she's about? I will always caution against policing joy and confidence and especially that of a black woman. And in particular, Asia's whole business and ecosystem

Part of that is storytelling, is social media, is being fabulous. And all of that is hard work, by the way. All of these extra things that she excels and thrives in, it's hard to execute all of this and everything she's doing. What I will say is I think the meat and potatoes business for Angel is,

It's being an elite Hooper. It's being an elite basketball player. And I think that that has to be at the foundation. It is at the foundation of all of the other things that can offshoot off of the foundation of you being an elite basketball player. So, you know, she's always going to have to handle her meat and potatoes business. She needs to stay true to herself and do it the way she needs to do it. But I think the takeaway point is that the sky as a team is,

have a lot of improvement to do. This is a team issue. The whole team needs work. And individually as well, Angel Reese, I think she'd raise her hand and admit that too. She has room for improvement as well. So it's just, it's all of that at once. And I don't think there's anything wrong to say that. Yeah. And with that room for improvement, actually losing Slu is a huge component, but how much do you think they will miss her on the court?

Oh, my gosh. Any team with Courtney VanderSloot misses her. I mean, you're Tyler Marsh called her the engine, the captain, the leader. It's a huge blow. You're talking about somebody who is all time leader in Chicago in games played points, assists, steals. You know, she she brought ten and a half points, five assists, one and a half steals. But more importantly, what Sloot brings is.

Veteran leadership, she's highly competitive. Even though the Sky were struggling, I know that it's Sloot in there that's communicating to them what urgency looks like, what they need to be or be doing to be the kind of team that they aspire for. Where I'm more concerned is, hey, Sloot's 36 years old.

you know what does this this injury mean now for her career at 36 it's a season-ending acl injury this is somebody who's already won the two championships

She and her wife, Allie, welcomed a baby girl to the world just recently. I know last season was very trying for Courtney VanderSloot. Her mother passed. This was supposed to be a homecoming in Chicago. And now we just heard that Allie Quigley, her partner, officially announced her retirement. Now, she hasn't been playing for years, and I was kind of like, oh, I thought she did already retire. But she officially announced it right after this injury, so I'm imagining maybe we –

Might hear something from Sloot as well, but we don't know. Either way, I'd be interesting to see how Sloot reacts to this injury at age 36 at this point in her career. I think with her being such a facilitator as well, they're almost going to have to go back to the drawing board and hopefully something positive can come out of this. Haley Van Lith getting more minutes, but you will need a facilitator like Sloot as she was putting up about five assists per game. And maybe if...

If, you know, Haley Van Lith may get more time or if the fever can't hold on to Aerie McDonald, who was dynamite for them in their two recent wins. Hey, the rest of the league, including the Sky, I'm sure have their eyes on her.

Absolutely. And you were just mentioning Asia and the white t-shirt sweatpants combination. They might have to go back to that because this past weekend they suffered their worst loss of the season, which was a shocking 95 to 68 defeat against the Valkyries. And the Aces shot just over 35% from the floor while committing 13 turnovers. And we've talked about this many times on the show, but we have to talk about it again. I'm going to ask you the question, Roz, is the Aces dynasty over?

Honestly, probably yes. Look, windows in sports are small. Teams got a lot better this offseason. And the Aces continue to have some of the same problems that they've always had. Depth issues, spurts of bad defense issues, more than spurts, just bad defense issues, etc.

Their surrounding cast this season is inconsistent in scoring and production around Asia Wilson. It's getting harder and harder to hide issues. And, you know, over the years, they've lost a lot as well, too. They've lost Kelsey Plum. You've lost Tiffany Hayes, Alicia Clark. These were like veteran players who really understood their role and executed that. We're not even just talking about player personnel.

You lost high-level assistant coaches that are now head coaches, Tyler Marsh, Natalie Nakase. So I think the entire team is feeling that and reeling. And it's almost a little bit like the Aces are kind of a shell of themselves. And Becky Hammond called her own team out. She said, we're soft.

And here's where I was most concerned, Logan. Becky said, we've got a heart issue that's becoming a head issue. I would avoid and run anything becoming a head issue as fast as possible. That's concerning. Against the Valkyries,

It was absolutely about effort. They were out-efforted, out-hustled, out-toughed, out-rebounded. Everything for the Aces is so hard. When they started to finally score, it was like these hard one-on-one plays. You know, Chelsea Gray...

These are the same shots she's always taken, but they go they used to go in a lot at a higher clip. I still very much believe in Chelsea Gray, but boy, it's a whole lot of dribbling to get that shot to go. And even for Asia, you know, she's got a crowd around her every single time. And you don't have to be a rocket scientist defensive mind to realize that Kia Stokes literally is not going to take a shot.

And then it compounds it when Jewel Lloyd and Jackie Young are both combined for two for 14 from the field where they're shooting poorly.

And you could almost mask maybe poor offense if you were going to play some defense. But the Aces, in transition defense, there was none of it. They allowed three-point shots and assists. And the Valkyries in the second quarter in particular just continued to push the pace on them, the pace on them. So defensively, they struggled. I don't think that this means that the Aces will be a bad team this season. But you asked me, did their championship window close?

Maybe, yeah. Other teams got a lot better and the Aces seem that they didn't. And you mentioned it, but I think it's also a testament to just how much A.C., Sid Coulson and Kelsey Plum impacted this team, especially Sid Coulson kind of holding them together like the glue. And then the fact that Minnesota and New York have been rising and they put pressure on the Aces and almost dismantled their system.

Well, also the Aces have not changed their system to kind of keep up with that play. But I want to move on to the Valkyries who have kind of been moving up. They beat the Sparks by nine last night in overtime. And now they're on a two game win streak for the second time this season with a four and five record. Now, when talking in preseason, most said that they want to be killers. And in my opinion, their drive and tenacity is what's propelling them right now. But does the Valkyries recent success surprise you in any way?

I didn't even know what to expect from the Valkyries, you know? So I don't even know if I could be surprised, but what I will say is I am impressed. And what I'm most impressed with with the Valkyries is that this is not even just like a new team of new roster. It's like a completely new franchise. Like everything is blank slate. And already at this early point of the season, I see a Valkyries team that has a clear understanding of their identity and culture.

And if they're not, and they're already exhibiting that and they understand who they are and where they want to be. And they're executing that they are a tough team. They are fast. They want, they work hard on defense. They make it hard for you on offense. They're selfless. They run off of their rebounds. They crash the glass. They're all of that kind of like blue collar grit effort. And kudos to Natalie Nakase, the coach for,

having the team be able to buy into that identity so soon. And at first we were talking about their spicy young players, international, you had Carla Leight, you got Janelle Salon, but this recent surge of just like strong play, two wins now,

Against the LA Sparks in overtime, a gritty win, right? And then you've got a dominant blowout win that you had over the Aces. It's been the veterans who have shined. It's been the veterans who have led the way. Kayla Thornton has a career high, 22 points, 11 rebounds versus the Aces. Then she hits that dagger three.

in overtime against the Sparks. Like, it's so exciting to see Kayla Thornton have this opportunity to come out there and just shine, to be the go-to at the end of the game. That's not the role she had last year with the New York Liberty. And now she's like an end game go-to. Veronica Burton is shining with added opportunity. She's one of the top candidates, in my opinion, for most improved player. I'll give you the numbers that can support that.

Points per game, she's almost tripled them from 3.1 to 12.8. She's more than doubled her assists from two to five. She went from like one and a half rebounds to like four and a half rebounds. I mean, just jumps. And she's made the most. It's only it's been an extra 16 minutes per game since last season. And I think she like as she goes, so does this team. She makes them go with her drive and penetration. She pushes the pay. She's going to kick it out. She's been great.

And shout out to our girl, Monique Billings, friend to the show, who's really kind of just settled into this role coming off the bench now where she's like,

Instant impact. She changes the game. Her energy's crazy on offense and defense. She had a huge block against Asia Wilson. She's getting steals. She's stretching the court. She's hitting threes. Like, she's doing all of the things. And I think, actually, Mo might be making a case for sixth woman of the year if she continues like this for the Valkyries. Other veterans who are killing it. Temi Fagbenle is going to work. Zanda Lassini is having a very nice showing. She just hit a whole bunch of threes the other day. And Tiffany Hayes...

She's not even back yet from the nose injury. So I think this Valkyries team has been very impressive. And especially as of late, it's been the veterans. And you briefly mentioned her, but Janelle Solani, she is playing like a vet. Like she looks so incredibly good. And last night she put up 21 points. Amazing. But the last team I want to touch on is the New York Liberty and they take on the Chicago sky. Now New York has been looking better than ever. I mean, they are the front runner this season by far. However,

However, Don't Call Jones is questionable tonight with an ankle injury and they did say it was minor. So hopefully it's nothing big. But fun fact, she's currently the only player in the league to average a double-double this season. So with her being out or if she's out tonight, how does that impact them? Yeah, I think with...

with jonquil jones you can make an argument that she's the most important player on the liberty i mean you could do that for a couple of players on the liberty they have at this moment i think there's four all-star caliber players on the liberty they are so deep but jonquil like the numbers don't lie the liberty don't lose when she's averaging when she has a double double she's averaging that they're undefeated um and historically when the liberty have lost jj's been less engaged in those games um

She just sets the tone for them defensively. She's in the paint, grabbing rebounds, stabilizing rebounds, rebounds that allow the team to run, to play up tempo. She's changing shots. She's blocking shots. She's strong in there on offense. There is always an advantage to exploit if JJ's on the court. She'll pop from three. She's mobile, put it on the floor, face up, step back.

with the mid-range, or you could just meat and potatoes, put her in there on the paint, post her up, and let her finish inside, which is actually my favorite. I think it's important for her to establish the paint, but...

But I think, look, it's a huge loss with JJ being hurt. And when she went down, my concern wasn't, oh, when does she come back against the Mystics? Or will she play against the struggling Sky on Tuesday? I'm more concerned big players and foot injuries are always concerning, you know? And I just hope it doesn't linger on into the season. The Liberty also have to think about the...

Their depth, it'll be really tested. Niaris Sabli, Leonie Phoebus will be going to Eurobasket. But look, I think against the Mystics, it was the next line of depth that really changed the game and helped the Liberty hold on without Jonquil Jones. Isabel Harrison, I was on the call. I mean, she was ready when her name was called. She came in.

was great around the rim, finished there, was active, got rebounds. She, Kennedy Burke, Rebecca Gardner changed the game with the pace they played with, the intensity that they played with on defense, the deflections that they started to get. They were defending so close to the other player, like they got up in your shorts and made you feel them.

And I thought those three made it happen. And Kennedy Burke is a sixth woman of the year candidate. Rebecca Gardner looks comfortable, but their depth will continue to be tested right now with Eurobasket. And we'll see what's the latest with John Quayle Jones. Well, y'all coming up, I make my DK game pick of the week and we have some quick hits for you. We'll be right back. We'll be right back.

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Welcome back to Good Follow. Today's episode is presented by DraftKings. DraftKings, the crown is yours.

It is now time for the DraftKings Pick of the Week presented by DraftKings. Kicking off this weekend of NWSL games is the San Diego Wave going up against the Houston Dash. San Diego is currently coming off their first loss since April 12th, but their offensive production has still been amazing, leading the league in passing and netting the second most goals in the league. I have a good feeling about Ken Zadali this week who has started in every game, but has been a

bit quiet only having 1 goal and 2 assists this season. With her recent snub from the French national team's Euro roster, she'll be looking to prove a point. As for Houston, they love to move the ball as well but just haven't been able to score. Their team is a mixed bag but I definitely keep my eye on 22 year old Maggie Graham leading the team with 3 very clutch goals this season. If the game is close, I'm counting on her.

I do feel like this will be surprisingly close, but I'm going with San Diego to get the win. Make sure to follow along and tweet us your predictions at Good Follow Show. This segment is presented by DraftKings. DraftKings, the crown is yours. Crown is yours, Logan. We both had it.

It's that time of the show where we get to quick hits and headlines. What you got? Yes. So the biggest one, probably the story of the weekend is Coco Gauff won the French Open and she is the first American to do so since Serena Williams. I feel like she's just following in Serena's footsteps at this point. Those are some really great shoes to fill.

Oh, absolutely. And another big story this weekend was the College Softball World Series. They had three of the most viewed games in history. And it was great with Najri Kandy, the million dollar pitcher, and then Texas, who ended up winning their first ever title. So congrats to Texas. Hook'em, baby. Wait, what is it? Hook'em? Yeah.

My timeline was going crazy over this. It was so, so good. But actually, another thing that was good, quite a heartwarming story, was French woman Lois Boisson. She moved up 296 spots in the WTA rankings after having a crazy semifinal run at the French Open. And if you looked at all the semifinalists side by side, it was world number one, world number two, world number five, but previous world number one. And then Lois, who was like 314 at the time or something.

Oh, wow. That's a great story and life lesson. Stay with it, folks. Absolutely. And then as for the last two, the PWHL expansion draft kicked off and Vancouver was just raking all of the players in. And then Angel Reese's Reebok shoe, Pretty Gritty, is now out. OK, thank you so much, Logan. I appreciate all the hits and headlines. And of course.

We appreciate you at home or wherever it is that you're getting and viewing and listening to your podcast. We appreciate you rocking out with us because that's the end of this one. Yes. Our episodes now are two times a week. It's shorter, but it's compact. It's power packed, if you will. Um, and we're dropping Tuesdays and Thursdays. So make sure you stay with us. Stay locked in, tell your friends, things have changed up, but it's still the same crew. Um,

Subscribe, all the things. Follow us on socials, comments. We're building this thing together. Logan, anything else? Love you. Yep. We love you. Have a great week. We'll catch you on the next one. Oh, and good follow? Yep. We're presented by DraftKings. We'll see you next time. Bye, y'all.