← The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Good Follow - WNBA All-Star Reserves Announced, Wings Rookies Ballin + Liberty Struggles Continue & More
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- [00:01]
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- [00:28]
Raz Golden Woode
With.
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- [00:33]
Raz Golden Woode
You can Venmo that.
- [00:34]
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- [00:44]
DraftKings Network
You're listening to DraftKings Network.
- [01:06]
Raz Golden Woode
What's up, everyone? Welcome to Goodfellow, presented by DraftKings. I'm Raz Golden Woode, and that is my girl, Logan Hatchett. Bom diabom gia. Basically, I'm trying to say what's goody from Portugal.
- [01:21]
Logan Hatchett
I'm so jealous of you right now, girl.
- [01:25]
Raz Golden Woode
I just got to Portugal. I actually, like, am learning words as I go. So apparently bom dia is like good day, you know, hello. But Brazilians would say bomia in Portuguese. Yeah. Okay.
- [01:40]
Logan Hatchett
So, yeah, their dialect. I've been trying to learn, like, Brazilian Portuguese because my number one on my bucket list is to go to Brazil. But I'm just so fascinated with the way that their mouth moves when they say certain words.
- [01:52]
Raz Golden Woode
It's such a beautiful language, Portuguese. I enjoy it. And so I'm like trying to pick it up as I go. But I just landed in Portugal. I just got to the hotel room and I was like, yo, we are going to do good. Follow. Because we're worldwide. No matter what, we bring the latest in women's sports to you. And I'm on my personal vacation. I'm so excited. Like, this is like my first moment of the summer where there's no work involved. I mean, I'm working right now, but being beyond the show of Goodfellow, I'm just excited to have a nice vacation.
- [02:22]
Logan Hatchett
So here I am for you.
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Raz Golden Woode
Yay. But since we are here with good follow, I have a nice menu for you. You ready to go?
- [02:34]
Logan Hatchett
Ready.
- [02:34]
Raz Golden Woode
All right. Take you through the lineup. Yeah. They announced the all star reserves. Yes, they did. And we know there were some snubs that must be discussed. And then those Dallas wins rookies, they're balling. It can't be denied or ignored. We Discussed. Oh, boy. The New York Liberty. Ooh, they are struggling still. Okay, we'll discuss that. And then in Wimbledon, it's madness. The top seeds have been knocked out at Wimbledon.
- [03:00]
Logan Hatchett
And y', all, don't forget, you can catch new episodes not once, but twice a week. One on Tuesday and one on Thursday. And as always, thank you for all of the love, liking subscribing, commenting, and please continue to keep doing so. But, Roz, are you ready for this show?
- [03:15]
Raz Golden Woode
Obrigada. Obrigada. I don't know. I don't know if it's an O or an A at the end. I think it's an A because I'm a girl. But anyway, Obrigada. Thank you in Portuguese. It sounds good.
- [03:25]
Logan Hatchett
It sounds amazing however you're saying it.
- [03:28]
Raz Golden Woode
I'm trying my Thursday show. I'm gonna have it together. All right, let's get it. Let's get it.
- [03:34]
Logan Hatchett
Let's do it. While the All Star reserves were announced, and it was a huge announcement. I swear, every single social I open, it was just this one poster of all the players smashed together. But the players announced for Sonia Citron, Skyler Diggins, Ryan Howard, Kiki Irifin, Kelsey Mitchell, Kelsey Plum, Angel Reese, Alyssa Thomas, Kayla Thornton, Courtney Williams, Gabby Williams, and Jackie Young. Now, there are some names that I was really surprised to see, but I feel like this shows two things or to Nazi. I feel like it shows two things. One, the depth and how much star power there really is with all the All Stars. Because I was thinking, I personally would have loved to see someone like Alana Smith on it, but when you think of her kind of off the court, she's not super flashy, and she doesn't garner a ton of attention from anyone other than links fans. And there's a few other snubs in here. So, Roz, do you think the league got it right or were there some clear snubs?
- [04:29]
Raz Golden Woode
You know, it's hard to have these conversations. Like, first of all, congrats to all of the All Stars that made it. All of the reserves that were announced. Like, how special. I think. I mean, yes, there's obviously snubs. For me, the loudest snub is Brittany Sykes. How they gonna do that to slim out of the Washington Mystics? Did you see crazy? It's crazy. Did you see Derickah Hamby's tweet?
- [04:56]
Logan Hatchett
I didn't.
- [04:57]
Raz Golden Woode
Oh, basically, Derek and Hempy got right on Twitter and said, y' all don't even. You don't even have to Say nothing about me getting snubbed. Like, forget about me. She. She was like, definitely shot fire. Like, she definitely took shots at this whole process because she was like, The Mystics got two All Stars. They're a sub.500 team. And she said they didn't even take their best player. And I find that hard to disagree with, you know?
- [05:21]
Logan Hatchett
Absolutely.
- [05:22]
Raz Golden Woode
Brittany Sykes is the best player in my opinion on. On the Mystics. Would you agree with that?
- [05:27]
Logan Hatchett
Yeah, 100%. I'm loving how she's playing right now too.
- [05:31]
Raz Golden Woode
It's actually kind of disrespectful. It's like gaslighting. I'm like, is this propaganda? I mean, it's a nice storyline for the league almost that they have, you know, these three rookies in the All Star game or, you know, just pushing the rookies out of. Out of the Mystics. But respect for slim justice for slim. Okay, she leaves the lead the team in points. She leads the team and assists. And we're not Talking about like 3 is a 4.6 assists a game. She's making a lot happen for other players. And then both of those numbers are career highs for her. Those are statistically significant stats over the history of her career. There also would have been a beautiful story of this, like, breakout season. I don't think she's been an all Star, so like to do that with the team healthy. And then she's clearly the veteran, one of the veteran voices and leaders of this overall, like, kind of younger, less experienced team from a lot of the contributors. She's also obviously been known for her defense over the course of her. Of her career, she's often defending the other team's best player. So on top of all of this offensive responsibility that she has, defensive responsibility, plus the leadership, plus the way she's showing up every game. The only thing you can knock slim on is her field goal percentage, which is low. It's like 36% from the field. But I think that's because they're asking her to do so much. So if she's what's making this team go, how did she not get a reserve position as an all Star?
- [06:55]
Logan Hatchett
To think she's been in the league for nine years and she's putting up her pretty much career numbers. What more does it take for her to have to become an All Star?
- [07:04]
Raz Golden Woode
Yeah, I think. I think the team has been a pleasant, you know, has had some really surprising moments to start the season. They fizzled a bit. But I mean, she's like kind of like making them. Making Them go alongside Kiki and Sonya. I'm surprised about that. And you know, often in these conversations people will say, well, who would you remove in order to make Sykes an All Star? And I think for one, you know, the Sonya Citron, her own teammate, get in there before her. I think Kiki, Kiki area Finn is the reserve. And I said that in a past show. I think she's a reserve All Star. I'm not really concerned about that. Plus positionally they're different. But you know, could it be Sonya? And if it's not Sonya, I don't, I don't. Because I can't really see a sub 500 team putting three players in the All Star game. Right. So it kind of has to be right. But the other player that you might mention maybe is Jackie Young, only simply because of the inconsistency and rough season that the Aces have had. And it's just been a lot of inconsistency of play, you know, and where the Aces are, it's certainly been a little bit of disappointing first half of the season. That's not rocket science for me to say that that's coming out of Becky Hammond's mouth. So I think, I think those are areas where, you know, when someone kind of pushes back at you and tries to cross examine you and say, well, where who would come out? I think those are positionally places that could happen.
- [08:27]
Logan Hatchett
I completely agree with you on that. Even I was looking at the list and Jackie Young was the, I guess, second name that came up.
- [08:34]
Raz Golden Woode
Oh, I just, you know, obviously I always have my kind of Liberty glasses on as a color commentator for the team. But I will say I thought Natasha Cloud, John Cole Jones for the New York Liberty had cases but understand that they didn't get in. But you know, obviously it's funny because Brianna Stewart and Sabrina Unescu are All Stars, deservedly so. But you could make a case that Jonquil Jones in her absence has shown you just how important she is to the Liberty success. Now she hasn't played enough games. I totally get why Jonquill, you know, might not, might not have gotten in there because of just how much she's missed with injury. And Natasha Cloud started the season red hot, but also was a little up and down for a second there, has picked it up lately with her scoring. But yeah, I think those are two players that I was kind of like, oh, I wonder if they'll sneak in there. But they didn't.
- [09:27]
Logan Hatchett
It'd be cool to kind of correlate the time of voting and the players, consistency to see kind of what the big names are, the Snubs and then the players that we'd probably replace with the Snubs how they were performing. But you were talking a lot about rookies and there was a big rookie showing with Dallas and I really want to talk about it. They have been balling out and in last week's game they started four rookies against Phoenix. Now Phoenix is a pretty good team. It was the first time four rookies have started in a game since 2000. And I mean when you look at all the injuries they have, to be fair, it was a back against the wall moment, but they really proved that they are there to play and they're capable of pretty much carrying this team. Paige Becker's, Isaiah, James, JJ Corner, Lee, all finished in double digits and they defeated Phoenix by nine points. It was interesting to see, especially with all the talk with Enrique, what it was like to not see a Rike in that game and in that starting position. But it was also very much a case of playing completely team ball. Now with where the Wings are right now in this season, do you think that this could be the starting lineup that they run with for the rest of the season or for the time being?
- [10:37]
Raz Golden Woode
I think it's an interesting point you made. Like, given where they are, it's almost like, all right, you know, do we run with this squad and kind of just like invest in the future? It's interesting. What I will say that that game against the Mercury showed me and I think was a message to the organization, the coach, to basketball, you know, WNBA world and fans, that this is a young group that with opportunity made the most of it, that they're hungry, that they're certainly talented. And I also think this goes a long way. They got good vibes, you know, and you know, for Isaiah, I was really impressed, but not surprised. I saw, I've always saw her as someone, even in college that could create her own shot, you know, very confident. That three point shot sets up so much. And she went, I think, five for nine, five for nine from three, you know, and I don't know if the formula is the same success as having any of these rookies not named Paige Beckers taking 20 shots a game. But in that game, 20, it was, it was a Zion's game, you know, she took 20 shots. I think JJ Quinnerle, they're very confident players and a group that really plays well off of each other. And I think a key is they're very unselfish. You look at the stat line from that game. It's Paige Beckers with, with five assists. It's Isaiah with six assists. It's JJ with seven assists. Seven assists. Like the assists are up there. And even just the personalities of it, like look at Paige Beckers post game. She said something, she was like, you know, obviously this was a game like you know, just kind of so self deflecting, so willing to give the praise and the light to someone else. Paige wasn't bad. She had 23 points, four rebounds, like. But she's okay with it not being about herself I think because there's a confidence in knowing that like, you know, she is who she is. And so that leadership I think is contagious too. And ultimately this was a rookie group that had every excuse in the world to go up against the Mercury with their entire big three present. The all of them was there. Kyle was there, Alyssa Thomas was there. Satusavily was there. Kaz going at them for 33 points. Like you had every reason in the world where you could have just ducked your head and just taken the L. 5 rookies, 4 started, they only had 8 players with their down bodies. All of your big names are out. And instead what they showed was guts, grit, a whole lot of pride. And I think, do I think that it's a long term solution just to now just go with your rookies? No. But it's certainly a signal that they should be getting more minutes. JJ and is I should be getting more minutes. Like I think they've earned that. And I also think it's got to be a mix of bets. Like you need those. Those are all stars. Some of those players are all stars. You were talking about Ari K. These are important players. The wings need them to be great as far as this season to make anything happen, you know, you can't. You need it all. I hope that this sends a message within the organization that like sets a fire under the veteran, under the vets, motivates them, you know, lets them know that, you know, there, there's some competition but also like there's something worth playing for here. Let's, let's go for it together. So that, that's what I think I got out of that.
- [13:55]
Logan Hatchett
It's a huge case that they can experiment going forward too because I feel like there might have been a fear for some reason even then when they were like 2 and 11 to kind of move around different pieces and try things out. I feel like there was a really big push for like, hey, this is what we have. Let's try to make it work, but we've clearly seen that that's not the case. And something I've really been thinking about and pretty much dead set on this whole season is this year's rookie class versus last year's rookie class with the Wings currently balling out and then three rookies making the All Star team for the first time since 2002. I want to come back to the question that I ask you probably every other show. Is this rookie class better than last year's?
- [14:34]
Raz Golden Woode
I need to see more. I don't know. I will say what I'm willing to say right now. This rookie class was way underrated. And I probably raised my hand and say I probably thought last year's rookie class blows them out the water. That's really not clear right now. I think it's got to be a body of work that we see over the course of time and seasons where we can compare them. If you asked me at the beginning of the season, I'd have been like, girl, you crazy. And I think I did say that. Say that. Oh, the class of 2024 was legendary and historic and they still are. But we highly underrated the class of 2025. You know, Sonia at Notre Dame, like you remember, Notre Dame slumped heading into the tournament. They didn't have a triumphant finish to the season. So it was like hard to maybe like, tell. We knew she was solid, but we didn't realize how solid and pro ready she was. Kiki did not. Perhaps it wasn't the perfect fit at USC for Kiki because Kiki, she looked like Kiki at Stanford when she was breaking out. But perhaps USC didn't highlight all that we're seeing now. And it's a bigger conversation maybe about the transfer portal and just like how you got one year to figure it out and sometimes the grass could be greener on the other side. It's not to say that her tenure there wasn't a success, but again, fit matters. And then you've got these small windows to make it work. And don't forget we're talking about Isaiah having this huge, you know, game right now for Dallas and breaking out. Saniyah Rivers is doing her thing in Connecticut too. Now the. The sun are not having a great season, but Saniya is showing what she can do. So that's another rookie to keep your eye on. Don't forget the rookies, rookies over in with the Valkyries in the bay, you know, coming out from overseas. So I don't know, time will tell.
- [16:27]
Logan Hatchett
I Think you could make a good case right now for depth of this class? But as you mentioned, I think the picks this year were really good. Like the players are fitting into their teams really well and they are given an opportunity to excel, which maybe we haven't seen in the past. But the last topic I want to get to is your New York Liberty, who are a bit down bad right now after losing to the Storm on Sunday. They've now lost six of their last nine games and we're starting to get players back. Sabrina Unescu and Leonie Feversh are back, but John Cal Jones is not. And I think. Well, personally I feel like this is a huge testament to how much of a role she played on this team before she was injured. They allowed 31 points in the paint and now without her, they're at A League high 41. Along with that, they're the fourth worst team in points allowed since she got injured. And she is such a key piece to this team. And I think you were trying to argue a few weeks ago that she could be the best player on this team, the most needed player, but they have a game against the Aces coming up. How the heck do they get back on track?
- [17:34]
Raz Golden Woode
Look, in this game against the Aces, I don't even know who needs the game more. Who needs to get back on track more, the Liberty or the Aces? This is an all hands on deck game. Both teams is over there doing this like. But yeah, I think for the Liberty I'm not. So I'll just start this off by saying I'm not worried about the Liberty. And that's an odd thing to say when it's. Any team, no matter who you are, loses six of nine, you know, but I think with the. And I say that because of championship experience goes a long way. This is a group that's very veteran and confident, that's very unselfish. And I think, I do think a lot of this is health driven. Like putting the pieces of the puzzle together matters. I'll start with. To echo the points being made here. JJ's absence only puts on a loudspeaker just how important she is to this team in every way possible. I think it starts defensively, just how she changes shots, block shots, contest them, how she rebounds. Her rebounding presence allows for pace. Like when you get a defensive rebound, you can go the other way. You know, her, her ability to stop the bigs on the other side and also allow Stewie, you know, and other bigs not to have to bump and bang as much like she's a very strong body in there and a strong defender, too. And then offensively, there's always a mismatch to, you know, take advantage of when you have John Coel out there. But I love when she's establishing the paint and they're going inside or she can attack you on the move and of course, stretch the court from three. Plus, you can, like, pressure release with Jonquil. Like, people are up on the Liberty right now, but, you know, she's a great screener. You can run your offense through her. She's a very smart player. So there's so many ways that it's broken down without her. Plus, I think, you know, Jonquil, when she speaks, people listen. She knows, like, what the team needs. She's been very selfless and, like, being whatever the team needs. And people like her. So they miss her presence. And I think it is big. But even beyond that, it's no excuse. Look, they've been without in a lot of these games. Leonie Febush as well, and sometimes Sabrina one askew. And even when she was back, I'm not sure that neck was 100%. So they've been down three starters, three legit all star players or. Yeah, three players and, you know, top players in this league. I think if three starters left any team, it'd be tough. And they also had a tough schedule. They were on the road. A lot of these games have been against the Mercury and the Storm over and over again in the dream, like, it's been a tough schedule and like, they got to get through this now. We talked about the Liberty's depth and I would, you know, that was something I was raving about at the top of the season. I was like, oh, the Liberty are so deep. They're so deep. Well, the depth was tested and in seeing the test, here are some thoughts that I have coming out of it. Niara Sablee. I'm not exactly sure what the health is with Niara. Her knee was bothering her and perhaps she needs more time, but the Liberty have needed more from her and so they've gone to Kennedy Burke, sub it in for Jonquil Jones. Izzy Harrison has come through big, but I think the expectations were higher there and then for Natasha Cloud. Just more consistency because she's. She was red hot to start the season. She still makes impact even if her scoring isn't there. She'll get assist, she'll play defense, but just consistency there and then I've heard from coach Sandy Brandello, like, she just wants more aggressive offense from Marine Johannes and that doesn't have to be shooting. It could be playmaking. And Leonie Fibish, I know she just got back, but they are open to her being even more assertive as a scorer as well. So I think for that depth that we raved about, we could squeeze. The Liberty could be squeezing even more out of that and that's something that they can work on.
- [21:28]
Logan Hatchett
Yeah, consistency is a huge thing with them. Even just take Marin Johannes. I feel like a lot of the time she's up and she's down and she's making plays and then one game she's absolutely silent and I think once she builds her consistency and gets on a hot roll, then she is going to be such a key player as she has been. I feel like I've only seen her be that type of player in playoffs, but I want to see it all the time. But y', all, we are running out of time. So coming up, I make my DraftKings pick of the Week. We'll be right back.
- [22:07]
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- [22:19]
Raz Golden Woode
Let's go.
- [22:20]
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- [22:29]
Raz Golden Woode
That's it.
- [22:29]
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- [22:47]
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- [23:15]
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- [23:42]
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- [24:11]
Raz Golden Woode
Foreign.
- [24:21]
Logan Hatchett
Welcome back to Goodfellow. 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. This weekend the Washington Mystics head to Seattle for their first matchup of the season. Washington has been on a bit of a roller coaster and at the time of recording are currently in 9th place with an 8 and 10 record. This team is super fun to watch, but I really enjoyed watching Brittany Sykes have arguably one of her best seasons in her nine year career. She's currently leading the team in points, assists and is definitely the one to look out for. As for Seattle, they are on a roll and starting to reach their peak in perfect timing. They're currently sitting in fourth and have the potential to climb even higher this week. My player to watch here is one of my favorites, Gabby Williams and she was recently named an All Star, is leading the Storm in steals and sitting third in points behind Schuyler Diggins and Neko Gomukay. With the way Seattle's been playing recently, I'm going to go with them to take the dub at home. This segment is presented by DraftKings. DraftKings. The Crown is yours.
- [25:19]
Raz Golden Woode
Oh that's right Logan, the crown is yours. And shout out to Brittany. Psych. Okay, shout out to Slim. But now I know we're at the point of the show where you have headlines. Quick hits for us. What you got.
- [25:32]
Logan Hatchett
Yes. So the U.S. women's National Team was on a roll and they closed out their international break with a three nil win over. Personally I hate to see it. Love it for the U.S. women's National Team, but absolutely hate it for Canada. And then next we have Faith Camp Yegon who is back to breaking world records. This one was crazy. She ran her 1500 meter in 3,4868. Mind you, this is just a week after she tried to do breaking four. Attempted breaking four. And I think she's getting closer and closer because that's like 12 seconds difference for 100 meters. So hopefully she'll get there soon.
- [26:06]
Raz Golden Woode
I love all the inspiration here. Just keep going for it.
- [26:09]
Logan Hatchett
Yeah, right. And actually kind of on the down slope, Wimbledon has been absolutely crazy. Coco Golf and Jessica Gula were out in round one. And then if you look at the site, it's really interesting because the 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 9 seeds all lost in the first three rounds. It literally says lost, you, lost you, lost you, lost you. And they were all complete upsets.
- [26:30]
Raz Golden Woode
Oh, my God. Pandemonium.
- [26:33]
Logan Hatchett
Literally. And lastly, we have the WMBA Pennsylvania rejecting their first CBA deal, which we do talk about in more in Thursday's show. So be sure to tune in. But that's quite a crazy way to start negotiations.
- [26:47]
Raz Golden Woode
Yep. And that's a good reason it's happened for Thursday show. We will be diving into that topic even more into negotiations, the CBA and all the things. But that's actually going to do it for this Tuesday show. We thank you guys for tapping in and rocking with us for this show. We're worldwide, whether we are in the States, traveling or on vacation or coming to you from Portugal. I'm actually on vacation. Just want to make sure we're always, you know, locking in with you guys that good follow show. So thank you for rocking with us. Subscribe do all the things. Follow us on socials. We drop Tuesdays and Thursdays. Good Follow is presented by DraftKings and DraftKings. The Crown is yours. All right, Logan, we out.
- [27:27]
Logan Hatchett
Bye all.
- [27:29]
Raz Golden Woode
Ciao, Sam.