Thought I'd share a gift link to this good piece in The Athletic on the Valkyries: Inside the Golden State Valkyries' billion-dollar success that's setting a new WNBA bar

For those interested, Eric Apricot posted another great explainer video.

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We break down how Chicago repeatedly exploited the Valkyries' initial game plan and how Coach Natalie Nakase made adjustments to fix the defense to allow the Golden State Valkyries to come back to blow out the Sky. The video explains pick-and-roll basics and the defensive terminology (over/under, drop, deep drop, swiping/walling up) as well as analyzing the changes that forced tougher shots and disrupted Chicago's rhythm. Plus an analysis of three-point celebrations.

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2027 All Star game will be at Ballhalla. No surprise really...why not???

All Star Game will be in SF in 2027

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In Year One, the Valkyries made history by reaching the playoffs and becoming the most valuable WNBA team, thanks to fan fervor surrounding the team. According to Sportico's recent report, the Valkyries have a $850 million valuation making them the most valuable WNBA team a second year in a row.
"The opportunity to bring this jewel event to the Bay Area and to celebrate what we've built not for just Ballhalla, but for all of the WNBA, it felt like the right time," Smith said. "It's a great responsibility, and we feel really deeply that we want to get this right, and we want to celebrate with our fans."
Touting the city's team and the arena, Lurie said, "There is no better sporting experience in the country right now than going to a Valkyries game."
"The Valkyries have taken the sports world by storm," Lurie told CBS News Bay Area. "And now we get to show the entire country with the WNBA All-Star game. Next year is going to be just so exciting for our city and for the Valkyries."

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Veronica Burton has to be the best all-around point guard in the W at this point. So good on both sides of the ball. So glad to see her stellar play recognized this week.

Good overview of how the Valkyries got where they are so quickly.... BTW, guess which women's college basketball team was mentioned by name first in the video??? (hint-not Stanford). Go Bears! (also the first college crowd is at a full Haas Cal v Stanford too).....mentions/photos start around 1:25 but entire video worth watching....

Fascinating story. Thanks for sharing.
Let the playoffs begin!!

Go Valkyries! Go Bears!

CalWSportsFan said:

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Veronica Burton has to be the best all-around point guard in the W at this point. So good on both sides of the ball. So glad to see her stellar play recognized this week.

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I love Burton--her poise, her smarts, her willingness to lead in any situation, however tough.

For Valks fans, here's a great in-depth piece on coach Nakase's roots and the evolution of her coaching philosophy. A good read: https://clutchpoints.com/wnba/golden-state-valkyries/exclusive-natalie-nakase-tokyo-apache-roots-valkyries-coaching-philosophy

Call me crazy but uh.... shouldn't Arike have been ejected when she went for the throat of Tiffany Hayes? Not to be soft here but when you do that and i'm the ref, you're getting tossed.

SFCALBear72 said:

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Remember all the buzz Haley Jones created when coming out of high school. Then she locked in on Tara and Stanford with her commitment. She had a very successful and productive college career.

Fast forward to today. She now sits on the end of the Dallas Wings bench and has barely seen the court against the Valkyries in the playoffs.

What happened?

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The modern game requires perimeter players to shoot and make threes. Haley Jones, unfortunately, cannot do that.

She is also a little slow for the WNBA level, so the combination of no outside shooting and some defensive liabilities have made her a borderline player.

One note: It is very difficult to see on TV, or even in the stands, just how big, strong, fast, skilled and competitive WNBA players are. We can't help but compare them to the men that we see from the same perspective, so they look slower and less athletic (which of course they are). But sit courtside or actually play against a WNBA player and you'll quickly realize this is a very, very high level of basketball.

The fact that Haley Jones can't quite compete at this level is more a reflection of how good the women's game is rather than any kind of failure on her part.

wow.. what a game tonight. great series

Games like these are not heart healthy.

Lordy, lordy, I thought BearBloke was going to faint during that fourth quarter; I told him it was just preparation for Cal's next season. I think the Valks might get a game off the Aces, if only because their fans are willing them to do so.

(Still can't believe that it took so long to get a W franchise in the Bay Area; we were so clearly ready, willing and able to support one, and support it passionately.)

Las Vegas is not very deep, and the schedule calls for four games in eight days. Huge advantage for GSV.

ClayK said:

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Las Vegas is not very deep, and the schedule calls for four games in eight days. Huge advantage for GSV.

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True. And the first two games are at Chase/Ballhalla.

I will be there today as a friend of mine offered me a baseline seat. I'll be the guy with the white hair on the visitor's end of the court.

wvitbear said:

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Clay, ever since I've known you, you have had white hair.

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Coaching girls' JV basketball in my 30s was all it took ...