First, Leite and Johnson discussed Las Vegas’ slow start to the season, and what has caused these early losses to pile up:
“It’s kind of been a progression of something we’ve seen over the last couple of years,” Johnson explained. “Back when [A’ja Wilson] really came into her own, they had Jackie Young come into her own as well. They were able to bring in Chelsea Gray and then they had Candace Parker for a short time … so that was the era of the “super team”, and that’s what we heard thrown around a lot. You don’t really hear that term anymore, for good reason, and I’m very relieved for that, because, as has been discussed a lot in the WNBA, everyone’s kind of a super team when you only have 150-ish roster spots. Like you’re gonna have the best of the best everywhere. And so I think that the Aces were a little bit ahead of the curve as far as really identifying, picking up and developing that top talent, where they were able to accumulate a lot of stars, but they’ve been kind of behind the curve on filling out the rest of the roster in the way that many of the teams we’re seeing have success now have done, where they’re identifying their specific needs, the gaps that they need filled, getting those role players into the exact spot that they need. And so a player like Aaliyah Nye that they were able to get from the draft [is] … really big for them, but they need more of those kinds of players, and that’s where I think they’re being separated from some of those top competitive teams right now. Their stars are still great, but it’s the down the roster where they’re floundering a little bit.”
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Then, the two went deeper into the specific problems that lack of depth has caused the Aces, and where they might still be able to raise the bar as the season continues. Particularly, they focused on a recent string of three losses in a row to Phoenix, Minnesota and Seattle:
“For one, having A’ja Wilson out for two of those three games hurt quite a bit,” Johnson said. “But beyond that … they were the ones that were stacking up the talent before a lot of other teams were, and so you should have other players that can step up in her absence. And that simply was not there. … the issue was, against Phoenix, you look at it and you say, ‘okay, Chelsea Gray had 20 points. Jackie Young had 15. Jewell Loyd had 17.’ Finally, you have some people stepping up. You even had Kirsten Bell coming off the bench for eight points. But you give up 76 on 46% shooting from inside the three point [line] … against Phoenix. You just have too many opportunities coming on the offensive glass when you give up 14 offensive rebounds. They had 10 steals that Phoenix got against them. And so there’s just kind of down the line of not taking care of the ball, not being able to secure rebounds well enough. … on top of that, 22 turnovers by the Aces. So that was kind of the issue there.”
“And then you have this bit of a swing against Minnesota where you go out there and really no one could score the ball. You had 12 points from Jewell Loyd, who was your leading scorer, and then you had Tiffany Mitchell coming off the bench for 10. And so there it was really an offensive issue. And that’s not exactly shocking against a team like the Lynx, where you have a very, very strong defensive identity. They are a team that is going to make it really difficult for you to get to what you want to do, as well as very solid offensively, they had a lot of really significant contributions, and that’s even with Napheesa Collier leaving the game early,” Johnson continued.
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Tune in to hear more analysis of the Aces’ performance so far from Johnson and Leite, as well as how the Draft lottery might benefit them in the long run, should they miss out on the playoffs this year. Make sure to subscribe to the Locked On Women’s Basketball podcast to keep learning about women’s college basketball, the WNBA, basketball history and much more!
