00:00:05
Speaker 1: This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
00:00:11
Speaker 2: What is up? Straight fire fight? It's me Jason McIntyre. Straight Fire for Friday, May this sixteenth. Oh boyd, did we have a good one today? Oh baby, you're gonna love this. So not only do we get Denver forcing a game seven, thank goodness, and we've got NBA action on Sunday that matters. Denver okase game seven Sunday at twelve thirty pm Pacific, So I guess through thirty Eastern we talk about that game. But also, folks, this sneakily is right this weekend. Are you ready the WNBA season starts? And yes, we are actually previewing the WNBA season, although you know, technically it's not the WNBA. We're more previewing Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever. They tip off tomorrow against Angel Reese in Chicago. It's almost as if the WNBA is paying attention, saying, oh guys, hey, hey, we got a load up on primetime matchups, big time games, get them on TV, and it should be a good one Saturday. So Ben Pickman will be joining us. He covers the WNBA for The Athletic. Also covers women's college basketball, but we mostly focus on Caitlin Clark and the thing I love. And again, I don't know how much the audience, i e. You guys care about this, but you know everybody loves to talk about ratings. People love to talk about ratings for the NBA, NFL, baseball, blah blah blah. So if you listen into the interview, Ben says, in the off season they were doing they were writing about coaching changes and player movement, and it was setting every record in the book at the athletic people actually cared about the WNBA off season. Folks. That's the first time I ever paid any attention to the WNBA off season. I mean the fever. They only have five players back from last year, totally new team, rebuilt around Caitlin Clark. I'm excited. I'm not gonna lie now. Obviously, this is a busy weekend after Mother's Day weekend. You know that last weekend was for the moms. Now we kind of get back to running around, chasing kids and doing all that fun stuff. Your boy may be playing basketball three days in a row. I don't know if the body will hold up. I'm starting to wear down. I need to go back on CREA team. You know, it's just like, oh, man, bodies really her shoulder me nothing major, but yeah. So I'm hoping to get in a lot of hoops this weekend and then it will pivot to volleyball as the weather warms up. Out of here anyways, So I do want to talk about the NFL story, but we're not gonna do it today. And that's the Caleb Williams didn't want to go to Chicago. I'm sure you guys saw it. It's in a book by Seth Wickersham. Now I've known Seth Wickersham probably for fifteen years, dating way back to the Big Lead. So as soon as the story came out I read it, I was like, oh boy, this is big, Seth, you gotta come on the pod next week. So next week I have Seth wickershamon to talk about Kayleb Williams trying to dodge the Bears. But it goes to a larger picture really, And you know, when you come out of college, if you're coming out of a good school and you're at the top of your class and you have good internships, you get to go wherever you want. You get to go to the best. Okay, in the NFL, you've got to go to the worst, which usually is not just the worst team, but the worst organization, the worst owner. Usually that's how it works. And in this story, Kayleb Williams's dad is like, this is so screwed up. It's messed up. Basically, he not only has to go to the worst team. And the Bears have never done quarterback right in their history. I'm fairly certain they've never had a passer or throw for four thousand yards. They've just never figured out quarterback. Now it could be partially that they play in Chicago, but whatever, here's the weird part. Once you're drafted, you're essentially locked into them for at least seven years, possibly eight given the franchise tag. And people don't think of it like that, but think about this. If you come out and you're twenty one, twenty two, and you're locked in for seven eight years, it's like they got you for your pretty much your prime. Now players are starting to play deeper into their forties or sorry, thirties. Only one guy went in his forties, and maybe there's a world where, hey, these players are going to play better like Steph Curry in the NBA, Lebron, these guys should not be putting up the numbers and doing what they're doing. Now. Tom Brady playing until you know, he's fifty eight years old. Just kidding now, Aaron Rodgers of course is old, but he had the Achilles not the same. Bottom line is like it is kind of messed up that not only do you get drafted there, but you're kind of pigeonholed for a while. And what's interesting is this is why Lebron left the Calves the first time, and all these losers going after Lebron for leaving the Calves. They couldn't build around him. Why should he stay because they because they just happened to win a lottery and draft him. Like I do find it stupid and I kind of sort of side with Caleb Williams of his family. Now I know the counter as well, Hey, what are you gonna do it for a small market. You're never gonna get a good player, Okay, I mean there are some examples of teams not with the star quarterback finding the right pieces elsewhere and making it happen and making deep playoff runs like it can happen. You just gotta work really really hard and have some of these dopey owners get out of the way. So I think it's a larger story. I love to talk about that stuff. You guys know way into building teams, and I guess at this juncture I should mention. Yes, Nakoxas suffered an absolutely brutal loss in the LEGA MX quarterfinals. I literally couldn't talk about it for a couple of days because I was so angry, and behind the scenes there's a lot of stuff happening. So we're it's basically it's a two. It's a home and home and whoever out on top advances. But if you're tied, it just goes to the higher seed, which I think is goofy And we were the five. We were playing the four anyways, first game tied zero zero. We go to their place and it's zero zero and half. They score the first goal. We're down one nothing. So at this point it feels over. We need to get two goals in the final, like forty minutes, I'm like, there's no chance. I mean, they basically have a really good back five. Well, we get an incredible goal. Our horse Jose Paradella aka Patadona. Yes, He's Argentinian, so at one point in his young career they thought, like, I see some Diego Maradona. Anyways, this guy was extraordinary this year, one of the best ten to fifteen players in the league. And he gets an awesome assist and we tie it up. Okay, and then with like I don't know, eight minutes left, ten minutes left, we bring on our sub our big guy. Interesting subplot. So when we went to Seattle to see Nikoxa last summer, they picked you know, they sent the GM come to pick us up and someone else and whatever, and you know, we're talking to them and they're like, oh yeah. I was like, what's the story with Battaloney? He just signed and they're like, he's he just flew in last night. He just joined the team. If you had flown in earlier, like you would have been in the car with him on the on the way to the team hotel. And I was so excited. I was like, oh wow, we got this guy, you know, young guy. He gets an amazing header goal and somehow we take a two to one league with like seven minutes left. At this point, you know, it's Mother's Day. The wife's like, hey, let's play this new game this you know, it's like a card game called Spoons. I'm sure you guys have heard of it. So we're playing Spoons and I have never played, and I win the first round. But there's like ten minutes left to go in the NACOXA game, so I'm tapped out on Spoons and I lose, and I'm like, oh darn, I lost, you know whatever, and we just basically have to hold off for extra time and we win. Now we're in their place, and obviously it's a scene and we're holding them off for holding them off, and they have this free kick from like fifty yards out and they headed in and there's chaos in the box, shoving, kicking, all this chaos, and after like six seconds of just ball bouncing around, it somehow goes in. Initially ruled a goal, and then about a minute later the ref is like, wait, you know, the a linesman has flag up. The line'sman called a foul because this guy who attempted a kick ended up kicking our goalie. Called a foul, So they disregard the goal and I'm like yes, However, the stadium's going crazy, and at this point you could tell the referees like, Okay, I'm gonna go look at the var And I was texting a bunch of people about this, and I'm like, you know, there's just no way on planet Earth that this referee we'll get out of Monterey, Mexico alive if he does not award these guys the goal. You could just see the It was tense, and there really isn't a comparable situation to like the NBA or NFL. Obviously, yeah, it's hot style environments in college and NFL and NBA, but you know, no, people aren't attacking referees in these leagues after the game. Now, they haven't done that in Mexico, but listen, this ain't the USA anyway. So they look at the var. You can see they're reviewing where the guy kicks the goalie literally kicks our goalie and the goalie is down. Then the goalie almost gets the ball, doesn't blah blah blah, And of course they come out and say goal in the stadium like loses its mind. Everybody and our guys were irate. And I'm not going to get into what happened in the days following. If you want to go read it about it online. You can. It was devastating, a major gut punch, and now we had under the off we should be in the semi finals. We had under the off season. But I will say this is so exciting being part of a ownership group. And again we're a very small minority owner. But you know, I'm committed. I love sports. So I'm texting the GM, one of the other owner, I like all the time, what do you think about this guy? Like, I'm way into it. I'm reading and obviously a lot of the stuff covering our team is on websites that are only in Spanish, and so I've got to Google translate all of them, you know, and it's like, I just I love this stuff. Anyways, it was a tough week, but overall, good Listen, it's the deepest run we've had since we took got in the ownership group. And now there's like, all right, how do we go next level here? And it's gonna be a fun offseason. Anyways, let me quickly just talk about Nuggets one nineteen OKC one oh seven. This was the not the Nicola Jokic game, not the Jamal Murray game, not the Christian Brown game. He was very good, career best twenty three playoff points. It was the Julian Strather game. Who the kid from Goozaga off the bench fifteen points all in the second half. He had eight of their ten points in a huge ten oh burst in the third quarter. Hit excuse me, three threes for straw Ther. He's a young kid out of Gonzaga who could shoot it. He just they're just really reluctant to play young guys, and in a series like this, obviously that's tough. But the third quarter was huge, Denver dominated, and then came the fourth and you're like, can they hold him off? Can they hold him off? And they did. However, Aaron Gordon appeared to pull his hamstring in the final like two minutes he reached for it. It's obviously not Steph Curry. Baddy didn't ask to come out of the game. But they get an extra day. This is a crazy stat. The Denver Nuggets have played every other day since April twenty ninth. That's over two weeks of high level playoff basketball. And you know, playoff ain't the regular season. And not only that, this is a team that fired its coach right before the playoffs. They have no GM. They really don't have much of a bench at home. Strather showed out. Okay, they needed seven to take out the Clippers. Now they just pushed the sixty eight win thunder who everybody thinks is the best team, who is the favorite, They pushed them to seven. I mean, this is pretty incredible stuff. I think it's been tremendous drama. Other than that Game two blowout, the Nuggets stole Game one, and Game two they rolled over. Game one, Nuggets won by two. Game three, Nuggets won in overtime by nine, Game four Thunder by five on a on a really good comeback. Game five Thunder by seven. They pulled, they came from behind in the fourth, and then in Game six, Nuggets won by twelve, but it felt closer than that until about five minutes left. I'm just gonna say this has been the best series of the postseason for sure. I just I'm just I obviously were rooting Denver. No, no, I'm not gonna deny that. I'm just gonna say that. This is how it went. Jokic nine of fourteen, twenty nine to fourteen and eight, Murray twenty five points. He was a plus twenty eight which is insane for a guy who was sick. Right, Christian Brown twenty three points, the best playoff game he's ever played. He had twenty three and eleven. Okay for Christian Brown, and then Julius Rather had the best game of his NBA career. That's a lot of bests happening. Okay, I don't know that they can duplicate that, and you could say, well, they don't need to if we can pivot fifteen of those points to yo kids. Yeah he can get forty five. Sure, I mean yeah, okay, Sga played good at thirty two. Interestingly, Jay Dubb, who you wake up and you don't know if he's gonna show out or just poop his pants. Three of sixteen couldn't make a three. Now he gets to go home, and you just wonder, you know, lou Dort did not duplicate the performance he had, but he gets to go home. Jay Dubb goes home. All you need is one of those guys off the bench. Caruso, who's having a good series case on Wallace. Weed's one of those guys. That's all they have to do is play well at home, and you get the strather and you probably get the win. It's essentially the best player jokicch against the best team. And I mean I'm saying that because Jason Tatum has gone you know, okay, see the best team left again. It's about matchups. Though, if Aaron Gordon's fully healthy, you know, I think the Nuggets will have a shot. I don't know if he's gonna be fully healthy. Well, no, but the extra day obviously is huge. This is the first game I think, this is no, no, this is the first Game seven. It might be for the Thunders since the Game seven and twenty sixteen when Korean Clay took down Russ and Kevin Durant in what was the final game of the Kevin Durant era in Okay. See, that was a memorable series. Game six. I still remember Game six. We are packing to move to LA it's late May. I refuse to pack the TVs and cut off cable because I needed to watch the NBA playoffs. And you know, the TV is balancing on top of like moving boxes. The bed is on the ground, just a mattress, and Klay Thompson just goes nuclear with one of the great three point shooting performances ever, and the Warriors win and survive and then win Game seven and get get to the finals. Is a big one for OKC guys. There's a lot hinging on this for the Thunder. Remember Timberwolves had a great year last year, get blasted in the conference finals, and they decide we're moving off Kat. Let's get to Julius Randall. If the Thunder lose this, I mean, I think you can ratchet up any Giannis talk because this would be a disappointment. You don't win sixty eight games and lose in the second round with home court advantage, that would be bad. You can rat I think everybody's in play for Yiannis outside of SGA, right, I mean, I'm moving off j dubbin chet if you want to both take them, give me honest. I can fill role players around SGA and Yannis. You know Kevin Durant. I think that would be spicy. I'm seeing as the reports on Miami Heat are gonna make a play for KD. I don't get that, but going east to Smart ultimately should get good action. I have zero dollars on tonight's Nick Celtics game. I am extremely nervous. My son wants to play pick a ball. I said, m I think I gotta watch this game. This is a big one for the Knicks. I am nervous. I think the Knicks get it. I'm not betting it. Maybe a live bet if the Knicks go down early, because I do think they will show up and get the win at home. But I'm too nervous to bet it because I'm a Knicks fan. All Right, without further ado, let's get to our guest, mister Ben Pickman of the athletic.
00:16:21
Speaker 1: Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to listen live. You know, Jason likes to think he knows everything when it comes to sports.
00:16:40
Speaker 2: I know what sports fans want.
00:16:41
Speaker 1: But for everything he doesn't, he knows a guy who does.
00:16:45
Speaker 3: Let's just say I know a guy who knows the guy who knows another guy.
00:16:50
Speaker 2: All right, let's welcome into straight Fire, a first time guest on the podcast. And we've never done this before, but guys, last year, when kaitlb actually two years ago, and Kaitlyn start to blow up, we did some podcasts on her and the numbers were big, and then last year we brought on some guests to talk Katel Clark and the numbers were big. So we're gonna go back to the well katelen Clark in. The WNBA season begins Saturday, so we're having Ben Pickman on from the Athletic to talk about obviously the WNBA at large, but mostly katelen Clark. Ben, how you doing man.
00:17:21
Speaker 1: I'm doing well.
00:17:21
Speaker 2: Thanks lot for having me. Yeah, Dad, thanks for coming on. I'm just curious from your point of view. You know, you've been a journalist for several years now and you've covered a lot of sports. I am just curious if you've seen an uptick in whether it's invites to come on podcasts, your articles getting more clicks, Indiana Fever demand, Like, just tell me what's going on at the ground level there.
00:17:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, all of the above is the answer to your question there, Jason. I mean, yeah, I think you know, as we have seen with TV ratings skyrocketing, Like I'm not going to say I have proportionately received millions of more requests. I think that's a little bit of an exaggeration there, but yeah, I mean I think there's a lot more interest in terms of readership, listenership of our podcast, people just in casual conversations among friends, among peers, among family members, just people taking a lot more interest in the WNBA and women's college basketball. And this year, certainly, I think is the most you know, it seems like the most anticipated season after last year, which was the most anticipated anticipated season then. So everything continues to really build on each other and it's definitely an exciting time to kind of be covering the sport and you know, a very important moment in the sports history as well.
00:18:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, I am just curious, like historically when you have been around the league, and I mean there was a buzz. Obviously the lead's been around for twenty some odd years, whatever it is, but it feels like, as you said, in the last year or two, things have gone to the stratosphere. I mean, is it the stage where you're like mapping out your season, where you're going to be traveling. I mean, are you with the fever all the time? Is there that appetite to just kind of play the hits and give the beast what it wants to eat, which is a lot of Caitler Clark.
00:18:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I'm New York based personally, so I'm actually around the Liberty on a pretty daily basis cover the league nationally, but I'm around the Liberty all the time. I will now coming this weekend, I'll be at the Fever's home opener though, and was out there during training camp two and so, you know, I think have some.
00:19:13
Speaker 2: More trips planned along the way.
00:19:15
Speaker 3: So it's certainly a lot of Fever and a lot of you know, seeing, monitoring obviously where they are, and we obviously do a ton of Fever coverage too. But yeah, I mean, the appetite really has grown, and it is pretty crazy to just kind of reflect on even two, three, four years ago where this league was compared to where it is now.
00:19:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, I saw in your Thunder preseason wrap up piece it was like almost breaking down the last roster spot. And I mean, I bet, I'm gonna be honest with you, I couldn't have named twenty players in the WNBA like five years ago, and I'm gonna guess that's the situation at large with sports fans. But now it's like, oh, Fever did a lot of stuff in the off season, only five starters are back. Are you sensing when you write a piece instantly it's like, oh my gosh, look at the no are you tracking how they're doing?
00:20:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean in terms of metrics are saying or in terms of just the roster spots metrics mostly yeah, I mean we get access to some of that data. And there's certainly an appetite for Indiana fever coverage. I would say again generally like there is increased appetite on every team. And the one thing I will say more than anything else to your kind of starting a question, it is in the off season where we really saw a shift. I would say where, you know, in January free agency was a huge you know time, that's when WNBA freegency is mid January to early February. Huge buzz there, like we have never really seen before people caring about transactions and trades and rumors. This past off season there was a record numbering of firings in the WNBA, and so people were really interested from a coaching hirings and firings carousel standpoint about like why is this happening, Who's getting hired, who's interviewing with whom? Like, people really do are invested in all of that kind of stuff in a way that we have seen traditionally with men's sports, but in a way that the WNBA has has lagged behind.
00:21:04
Speaker 2: Yeah. Now, we had Cindy Brunson on the pod last year, I think, yeah, last year to talk about kind of the Calet Clark impact, and she was pretty blunt in like listen, Jay, there's a lot of players who are kind of annoyed that the media only cares about Caitlin Clark. There's been a lot of great players in the league. There's a ton of them now, and all anybody wants to talk about is Clark. Are you also sensing that or was that like a last year story This year it's not as much of a big deal.
00:21:30
Speaker 3: Yeah. I don't really think it is a big storyliner, a big talking point among players this year, And honestly, I don't really think that narrative even carried through throughout the end of last year. I think, you know, once the games really got going and you saw just how prolific a player she was, and you know, she's a player who made first team All WNBA as a rookie. You know, setting you know, assist records, point records like rewriting the Rookie record book, and even some kind of broader record books, like you kind of have to do you couldn't do anything but kind of tip your right kind of as a competitor, and so, you know, I think that's kind of the state of play entering this year. Indiana again has made a ton of moves to put themselves right into the finals championship conversation, adding a number of veterans and so like, they're one of the teams that has a lot of expectations, and they're covered and talked about, you know, in this quartet of four the way other title contenders across other sports are is there.
00:22:24
Speaker 2: I saw your pick for the championship. Now listen, I am. I'm just sometimes I'll just do gambling for fun. And you know, last year I bet the Indiana Fever to win the title and Caitlin Clark to win the MVP. Obviously long shots didn't happen, but I decided I'll do it again this year. The odds have struck considerably. But I saw you picked Liberty over the Aces. First of all, why do you think Indiana is not quite there yet? Obviously it's only year two for Clark, But also why the Liberty over the Aces?
00:22:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean to your Indiana question first, and you know this from covering other sports and thinking about all different kinds of sports, not just professional basketball. So often a team has to go through learning, experience and build that kind of postseason scar tissue up together first before they get over the hump. I mean, we just saw that, you know, on Tuesday night in the NBA with the Cleveland Cavaliers, right a sixty four win team who number one seed goes out in the second round the way they did. The Indiana Fever have just five returning players, just five from last year. And while three of those players are all stars in Kelsey Mitchell, Leah Boston, and Caitlyn Clark, the rest of the roster again a lot of new pieces. A head coach who you know had previously been the head coach of the Fever and had had a lot of success in Connecticut named Stephanie White, an experience head coach, but again first year head coach coming into coach this new team that again full of new players. So I just think it will take a little bit of time for this team to gel together. And there's just a lot of questions. There's a lot of questions about rotations, minutes, roles, a lot to get sorted out, and it just seems like a big leap. Again, the Indiana Fever, they haven't had a winning record since twenty fifteen. They haven't gotten out of the second round of the playoffs since then. So sure, they have Caitlin Clark, who's obviously a headliner, and they have a talented roster behind them, but you know, it's a pretty big jump to go from first round out to WNBA champion.
00:24:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, that is a quantum leap. Let me ask you about White. So you know, in the NBA it's a players league where a lot of times they get have a say in the coach I'm just curious in your reporting, do you did you come across anything that said, you know, the Fever kind of ran this by Caitlin Clark to see what she thought. I'm sure nobody would ever come out and say that openly, but you know, you gotta face with the franchise face of the league. I'm just curious. Do you get any input or insight into how this coaching search went down?
00:24:47
Speaker 3: Sure? I mean what I would say is the Indiana Fever have a new team president this year, and it starts her name is Kelly Crosskoff, and she has kind of been with Pacer Sports and Entertainment, the parent company of The Fever, for more than in the last two decades. She was actually the very first employee ever hired to run the Pacer or to run the Fever, back in nineteen ninety nine, and so she was their kind of initial president basketball decision maker. And she left in the mid twenty ten to actually be the Indiana Pacers assistant GM. She returned this past year to again be the Fever team president, and so she hires Stephanie White, who she has known forever. Stephanie White was a player for the Indiana Fever, actually one of the very first players that Kelly Crosscoff picked in the two thousand WNBA Expansion Draft. She is a former Miss Indiana you know basketball in high school. She went to Purdue won a national championship there. So they have really known each other for more than two decades and have built this closeness. Steph White was an assistant coach when Indiana the Fever won the WNBA championship in twenty twelve. She was then you know, the head coach when they were runner up in twenty fifteen. So there is a lot of continuity there, and there's a lot of connectedness there, and so you know, and I have some a feature coming out later this week that gets into it, like when Kelly crosscoff is deciding on who to picks as their next head coach, Like Stephanie White is a logical choice here because not only is she an accomplished coach and a great basketball mind, but also like they are very close in terms of personal relationships. They speak the same kind of language, they know how each other communicates, like in an organization with some questions about roster. As I said, like relationship between front office and coach is not one of the questions that the Indiana Fever have this year.
00:26:35
Speaker 1: Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to listen live.
00:26:48
Speaker 2: It doesn't sound like that Clark was involved in this process at all. Yeah.
00:26:52
Speaker 3: I mean, what I know about Clark's kind of involvement big picture, is that she has been involved. She's been president in Indiana throughout the off season, and she has definitely been involved in you know, uh, free and she recruiting process, you know, talking her perspective free agents. She's involved in little things like what food, uh, you know, do you want on the road, that kind of thing. Her involvement is definitely high in the franchise. But I think this was really a it starts with Kelly Crosscoff, is what I would say about how you know, some of these decisions were made.
00:27:24
Speaker 2: So last year, the Fever kind of got a Rod deal right right after the draft, the season started. Kaitlin Clark had just played a long college. It was tough, and then they started out. They struggled out of the gate, but they found their footing and you know, ultimately had had a positive season. I'm just curious, do you think, based on their schedule that the league was like, you know what, we got to schedule more of these primetime TV games for Clark and also, by the way, let's not wear her down, you know, we kind of need Kitlin Clark in the playoffs.
00:27:51
Speaker 3: Do I think they scheduled more primetime games for Kaitlin Clark this year than last year?
00:27:56
Speaker 2: I mean absolutely.
00:27:57
Speaker 3: I mean the data shows that they're on national television and you know, and that includes something on you know, NBA TV and other platforms like that. I think forty one of their forty four games this year, that's the most of any team in the league. So certainly, you know, the league has made made its intentions very clear, and you know networks have said, like we want those games because you look at the ratings of those games and the ratings are historically good. I mean, they played in a preseason game this year against Brazil. It was on May fourth, Caitlin Clark and the Fever return to the University of Iowa. It averaged I think one point three million viewers. Again, this a preseason game against the Brazilian national team. ESPN said, I think since twenty ten, of their like fifty seven preseason games in the NBA, only two have gotten a better rate than that WNBA game, and both of those involved Lebron and I think it was like Lebron's return to Cleveland and you know calvs. Warriors one year, Like that's what we're talking about in terms of a preseason rating. So we'll see what the regular season then brings.
00:28:58
Speaker 2: So do you think as a result, and again I'm not trying to stir up like an issue, but like do other teams and players around the league be like, you know, we got the MVP with the defended chis, why are we not on TV that much? Or are you of the impression that hey, people get it. Hey, Caitlin Clark right now is the bread winner for the league. Let's let's let's ride that out. No.
00:29:19
Speaker 3: I think there's an understanding. I mean, New York and Las Vegas aren't that far behind in terms of national TV rights windows, and I think there's an understanding that like Caitlin Clark in the Indiana Fever are certainly accelerants and very important to ratings, merchandise awareness. And we've seen a lot of teams, you know, benefit in their ticket sales when they play the Indiana Fever. So I think there's a recognition of, you know, the Clark effect in the w Yeah.
00:29:46
Speaker 2: My my wife and daughter as soon as the schedule came out, were like, so, when is Kitlin Clark coming to play the Sparks? Can we get tickets? We've got it circled. I'm trying to make it happen. They're pricey. But let me ask about the season opener against Angel Reason Company. Now, Angel Reese has had a bit of an offseason where she was like talking about a potential holdout because they need to get paid more. I'm just curious, where are the where's Chicago in the hierarchy heading into the season and your thoughts on Angel Reese as a player.
00:30:15
Speaker 3: Sure, I mean I would first also clarify, like there's an ongoing CBA negotiation right now and kind of Reese's comments on her podcast regarding that where that like the players have.
00:30:24
Speaker 1: Said that.
00:30:26
Speaker 3: You know, they they want to accept a deal that is is right for them. They're not just, uh, they're not avoiding, they're not hoping for a work stoppage, but they're saying like we are going to negotiate to kind of get the deal that we want, and we won't have more clarity there until the fall. So that's just one point of clarity there. In terms of the Chicago skuy and Angel Rees, I mean, they have a first year head coach and Tyler Marsh who has a long player development background both with the Las Vegas Aces where he was an assistant coach and also has some NBA and NBA G League ties. They have overhauled some of their roster and one of the things that kind of we would expect this year is she's going to play a little bit more on the perimeter and just as it means to kind of play in space. Tyler Marsh again came from the Aces where he coached Asia Wilson. If you watch her, she does a lot kind of at the high post, at the elbow and the sky. Have two bigs. Camilla Cardoso was you know, their number three pick in the twenty twenty four WM draft. She was a start South Carolina, and so I would kind of expect a lot of high low, big, big action and a lot of action to try and you know, get Angel going downhill and potentially kicking out to teammates. So that's one thing to be aware of. Chicago also signed Courtney Vanderslut, who is one of the all time, you know, greatest passers in WNB history. She'd been with the franchise for more than a decade, then went to the New York Liberty for two years. These last two years, Vandersuit still, you know, even though she's in her mid thirties, a very willing and a great passer, and so Reese kind of has a true point guard to help set her up and facilitate and that should pay a bunch of dividends as well.
00:31:56
Speaker 2: Let me go back to a point you were talking about about the CBA. We see a new team and expansion team, Golden State in the WNBA. How are we supposed to read that? Obviously, this has been in the works for years, but the expansion the league kind of popping in the last couple of years, the interest in the draft, like you said, the offseason. Are you of the sense that the league this is just the beginning of ANBA expansion and there's more down the pike.
00:32:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's already been confirmed with at least two teams. So this year the WNBA is expanding to thirteen teams. They're adding the Golden State Valkyries, as you said, first expansion team since two thousand and eight. Next year there'll be two more expansion teams in the WNBA. Portland and Toronto are already announced. It will be the Toronto Tempo. They've actually already hired a general manager who is a former player in front office exec. And then there's a question about when they will announce a sixteenth team. The league has said that they hope to do so by at least twenty twenty eight and we have seen already with that sixteen team, and we'll see if it's sixteen or you know, because of interest, they go even higher. You know, there was a deadline this last January for perspective groups to submit bids. More than ten groups ended up submitting bids, and a lot of those bidders have you know NBA ties, So the ownership group of the Philadelphia seventy six ers, Dan Gilbert, the owner of the Calves, Tom Gores, Detroit Pistons, like you know, there were some independent groups who definitely are trying to bid and get into the league. But we have continued to see or we have seen an uptick in NBA owners can wanting to be part of the next round of expansion. And the Valkyries we should say owned by Joe Lake and Peter Guber, who are the owners and chairman of the Warriors.
00:33:34
Speaker 2: So I guess we could wrap up. You know, when when the well, the NBA expanded in the late eighties early nineties, we saw, you know, there's a lot of complaints about, oh it's a little water down, there's just not enough good players. But that was way back in now was well thirty years ago for almost forty years ago. I haven't looked at the Golden State Valkyrie's roster. But are you of the sense that, like, hey man, there's room for a lot more good players in this league? Expansion is a great thing or is this do you think maybe gonna water down things a little?
00:34:06
Speaker 1: No.
00:34:06
Speaker 3: I think expansion is definitely a good thing, and the business seems like it can support it. And I do think there's enough roster talent. I mean, right now we have a very high concentrated there's a very high concentration of talent across the league. I mean, so many of these teams have two or three stars. And I think as a whole, the whole WNBA, you know, I would say nine or ten teams got better this offseason, and inevitably not all those teams are even gonna make the playoffs just because of how competitive the league is. And so the other thing that you see, and as we tape this, like it's roster cut week, cut down week, and so there's a lot of players who have been pretty successful in college who will not make teams and WNBA teams, you know, many of these teams are only going to roster eleven players.
00:34:48
Speaker 2: To start the year.
00:34:49
Speaker 3: And so it's pretty much the hardest league to make in the world because of just how tight it is, how few roster spots there are. You know, again thirteen teams and most teams taken around eleven players because of salary cap reasons. And so like you expand you had another team this year, two more next year. You know, that's twelve and then thirty six more players who are getting opportunities that would not otherwise. And so, yeah, I think we're gonna see a little bit more dispersal of talent, and that's natural in the case of any expansion draft and as the league expands. But yeah, there is talent and certainly gives players an opportunity to develop, you know, just by getting reps in a WNBA context in a way that they wouldn't if they were not making these rosters.
00:35:28
Speaker 2: I wonder, Ben, if that'll be part of the new CBA. Hey, we need to expand rosters. I mean, eleven is not a lot of people on a roster. You get three injuries all of a sudden, you know, it's a foul trouble in the game. It's dicey. Want do you think that'll be part of the new CBA.
00:35:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean we'll see, because again, as you expand rosters, there's some you know, kind of contractual effects that take hold. I mean, I think it has long been a clamoring that fans and even some execs have about like roster size versus expansion is always kind of a debate that kind of comes up what is kind of better for the league at a certain period of time. There isn't a you know, WNBA developmental league in the season right in the US, the same way that there is in the NBA, So you know, the kind of existence of you know, in the NBA, again you have two way contracts here in the W Like a player doesn't make a team, they get cut, how are they working on their game to then the best position to succeed when they get back in the W NBA, Like, that's always a question that kind of people have. You you have to train on your own, you know, there are alternatives. We see Obviously a lot of players historically play in professional leagues overseas in the winter, but again that doesn't help them continue to develop during the summer. So yeah, I mean it's definitely a big question about what's the right number here again, twelve is the max that you can have on a roster, but because of cap reasons, yeah, a lot of teams really only carry eleven. So it is certainly a big topic of conversation going forward.
00:36:56
Speaker 2: All right, Ben Pickman, the athletic, great stuff, Hey Man. Enjoy the w NBA season. Well, I'm sure we'll be reading a lot of your stuff obviously the big debut on Saturday. And talk to you soon, buddy. Thanks a lot for having me
Speaker 1: This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
00:00:11
Speaker 2: What is up? Straight fire fight? It's me Jason McIntyre. Straight Fire for Friday, May this sixteenth. Oh boyd, did we have a good one today? Oh baby, you're gonna love this. So not only do we get Denver forcing a game seven, thank goodness, and we've got NBA action on Sunday that matters. Denver okase game seven Sunday at twelve thirty pm Pacific, So I guess through thirty Eastern we talk about that game. But also, folks, this sneakily is right this weekend. Are you ready the WNBA season starts? And yes, we are actually previewing the WNBA season, although you know, technically it's not the WNBA. We're more previewing Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever. They tip off tomorrow against Angel Reese in Chicago. It's almost as if the WNBA is paying attention, saying, oh guys, hey, hey, we got a load up on primetime matchups, big time games, get them on TV, and it should be a good one Saturday. So Ben Pickman will be joining us. He covers the WNBA for The Athletic. Also covers women's college basketball, but we mostly focus on Caitlin Clark and the thing I love. And again, I don't know how much the audience, i e. You guys care about this, but you know everybody loves to talk about ratings. People love to talk about ratings for the NBA, NFL, baseball, blah blah blah. So if you listen into the interview, Ben says, in the off season they were doing they were writing about coaching changes and player movement, and it was setting every record in the book at the athletic people actually cared about the WNBA off season. Folks. That's the first time I ever paid any attention to the WNBA off season. I mean the fever. They only have five players back from last year, totally new team, rebuilt around Caitlin Clark. I'm excited. I'm not gonna lie now. Obviously, this is a busy weekend after Mother's Day weekend. You know that last weekend was for the moms. Now we kind of get back to running around, chasing kids and doing all that fun stuff. Your boy may be playing basketball three days in a row. I don't know if the body will hold up. I'm starting to wear down. I need to go back on CREA team. You know, it's just like, oh, man, bodies really her shoulder me nothing major, but yeah. So I'm hoping to get in a lot of hoops this weekend and then it will pivot to volleyball as the weather warms up. Out of here anyways, So I do want to talk about the NFL story, but we're not gonna do it today. And that's the Caleb Williams didn't want to go to Chicago. I'm sure you guys saw it. It's in a book by Seth Wickersham. Now I've known Seth Wickersham probably for fifteen years, dating way back to the Big Lead. So as soon as the story came out I read it, I was like, oh boy, this is big, Seth, you gotta come on the pod next week. So next week I have Seth wickershamon to talk about Kayleb Williams trying to dodge the Bears. But it goes to a larger picture really, And you know, when you come out of college, if you're coming out of a good school and you're at the top of your class and you have good internships, you get to go wherever you want. You get to go to the best. Okay, in the NFL, you've got to go to the worst, which usually is not just the worst team, but the worst organization, the worst owner. Usually that's how it works. And in this story, Kayleb Williams's dad is like, this is so screwed up. It's messed up. Basically, he not only has to go to the worst team. And the Bears have never done quarterback right in their history. I'm fairly certain they've never had a passer or throw for four thousand yards. They've just never figured out quarterback. Now it could be partially that they play in Chicago, but whatever, here's the weird part. Once you're drafted, you're essentially locked into them for at least seven years, possibly eight given the franchise tag. And people don't think of it like that, but think about this. If you come out and you're twenty one, twenty two, and you're locked in for seven eight years, it's like they got you for your pretty much your prime. Now players are starting to play deeper into their forties or sorry, thirties. Only one guy went in his forties, and maybe there's a world where, hey, these players are going to play better like Steph Curry in the NBA, Lebron, these guys should not be putting up the numbers and doing what they're doing. Now. Tom Brady playing until you know, he's fifty eight years old. Just kidding now, Aaron Rodgers of course is old, but he had the Achilles not the same. Bottom line is like it is kind of messed up that not only do you get drafted there, but you're kind of pigeonholed for a while. And what's interesting is this is why Lebron left the Calves the first time, and all these losers going after Lebron for leaving the Calves. They couldn't build around him. Why should he stay because they because they just happened to win a lottery and draft him. Like I do find it stupid and I kind of sort of side with Caleb Williams of his family. Now I know the counter as well, Hey, what are you gonna do it for a small market. You're never gonna get a good player, Okay, I mean there are some examples of teams not with the star quarterback finding the right pieces elsewhere and making it happen and making deep playoff runs like it can happen. You just gotta work really really hard and have some of these dopey owners get out of the way. So I think it's a larger story. I love to talk about that stuff. You guys know way into building teams, and I guess at this juncture I should mention. Yes, Nakoxas suffered an absolutely brutal loss in the LEGA MX quarterfinals. I literally couldn't talk about it for a couple of days because I was so angry, and behind the scenes there's a lot of stuff happening. So we're it's basically it's a two. It's a home and home and whoever out on top advances. But if you're tied, it just goes to the higher seed, which I think is goofy And we were the five. We were playing the four anyways, first game tied zero zero. We go to their place and it's zero zero and half. They score the first goal. We're down one nothing. So at this point it feels over. We need to get two goals in the final, like forty minutes, I'm like, there's no chance. I mean, they basically have a really good back five. Well, we get an incredible goal. Our horse Jose Paradella aka Patadona. Yes, He's Argentinian, so at one point in his young career they thought, like, I see some Diego Maradona. Anyways, this guy was extraordinary this year, one of the best ten to fifteen players in the league. And he gets an awesome assist and we tie it up. Okay, and then with like I don't know, eight minutes left, ten minutes left, we bring on our sub our big guy. Interesting subplot. So when we went to Seattle to see Nikoxa last summer, they picked you know, they sent the GM come to pick us up and someone else and whatever, and you know, we're talking to them and they're like, oh yeah. I was like, what's the story with Battaloney? He just signed and they're like, he's he just flew in last night. He just joined the team. If you had flown in earlier, like you would have been in the car with him on the on the way to the team hotel. And I was so excited. I was like, oh wow, we got this guy, you know, young guy. He gets an amazing header goal and somehow we take a two to one league with like seven minutes left. At this point, you know, it's Mother's Day. The wife's like, hey, let's play this new game this you know, it's like a card game called Spoons. I'm sure you guys have heard of it. So we're playing Spoons and I have never played, and I win the first round. But there's like ten minutes left to go in the NACOXA game, so I'm tapped out on Spoons and I lose, and I'm like, oh darn, I lost, you know whatever, and we just basically have to hold off for extra time and we win. Now we're in their place, and obviously it's a scene and we're holding them off for holding them off, and they have this free kick from like fifty yards out and they headed in and there's chaos in the box, shoving, kicking, all this chaos, and after like six seconds of just ball bouncing around, it somehow goes in. Initially ruled a goal, and then about a minute later the ref is like, wait, you know, the a linesman has flag up. The line'sman called a foul because this guy who attempted a kick ended up kicking our goalie. Called a foul, So they disregard the goal and I'm like yes, However, the stadium's going crazy, and at this point you could tell the referees like, Okay, I'm gonna go look at the var And I was texting a bunch of people about this, and I'm like, you know, there's just no way on planet Earth that this referee we'll get out of Monterey, Mexico alive if he does not award these guys the goal. You could just see the It was tense, and there really isn't a comparable situation to like the NBA or NFL. Obviously, yeah, it's hot style environments in college and NFL and NBA, but you know, no, people aren't attacking referees in these leagues after the game. Now, they haven't done that in Mexico, but listen, this ain't the USA anyway. So they look at the var. You can see they're reviewing where the guy kicks the goalie literally kicks our goalie and the goalie is down. Then the goalie almost gets the ball, doesn't blah blah blah, And of course they come out and say goal in the stadium like loses its mind. Everybody and our guys were irate. And I'm not going to get into what happened in the days following. If you want to go read it about it online. You can. It was devastating, a major gut punch, and now we had under the off we should be in the semi finals. We had under the off season. But I will say this is so exciting being part of a ownership group. And again we're a very small minority owner. But you know, I'm committed. I love sports. So I'm texting the GM, one of the other owner, I like all the time, what do you think about this guy? Like, I'm way into it. I'm reading and obviously a lot of the stuff covering our team is on websites that are only in Spanish, and so I've got to Google translate all of them, you know, and it's like, I just I love this stuff. Anyways, it was a tough week, but overall, good Listen, it's the deepest run we've had since we took got in the ownership group. And now there's like, all right, how do we go next level here? And it's gonna be a fun offseason. Anyways, let me quickly just talk about Nuggets one nineteen OKC one oh seven. This was the not the Nicola Jokic game, not the Jamal Murray game, not the Christian Brown game. He was very good, career best twenty three playoff points. It was the Julian Strather game. Who the kid from Goozaga off the bench fifteen points all in the second half. He had eight of their ten points in a huge ten oh burst in the third quarter. Hit excuse me, three threes for straw Ther. He's a young kid out of Gonzaga who could shoot it. He just they're just really reluctant to play young guys, and in a series like this, obviously that's tough. But the third quarter was huge, Denver dominated, and then came the fourth and you're like, can they hold him off? Can they hold him off? And they did. However, Aaron Gordon appeared to pull his hamstring in the final like two minutes he reached for it. It's obviously not Steph Curry. Baddy didn't ask to come out of the game. But they get an extra day. This is a crazy stat. The Denver Nuggets have played every other day since April twenty ninth. That's over two weeks of high level playoff basketball. And you know, playoff ain't the regular season. And not only that, this is a team that fired its coach right before the playoffs. They have no GM. They really don't have much of a bench at home. Strather showed out. Okay, they needed seven to take out the Clippers. Now they just pushed the sixty eight win thunder who everybody thinks is the best team, who is the favorite, They pushed them to seven. I mean, this is pretty incredible stuff. I think it's been tremendous drama. Other than that Game two blowout, the Nuggets stole Game one, and Game two they rolled over. Game one, Nuggets won by two. Game three, Nuggets won in overtime by nine, Game four Thunder by five on a on a really good comeback. Game five Thunder by seven. They pulled, they came from behind in the fourth, and then in Game six, Nuggets won by twelve, but it felt closer than that until about five minutes left. I'm just gonna say this has been the best series of the postseason for sure. I just I'm just I obviously were rooting Denver. No, no, I'm not gonna deny that. I'm just gonna say that. This is how it went. Jokic nine of fourteen, twenty nine to fourteen and eight, Murray twenty five points. He was a plus twenty eight which is insane for a guy who was sick. Right, Christian Brown twenty three points, the best playoff game he's ever played. He had twenty three and eleven. Okay for Christian Brown, and then Julius Rather had the best game of his NBA career. That's a lot of bests happening. Okay, I don't know that they can duplicate that, and you could say, well, they don't need to if we can pivot fifteen of those points to yo kids. Yeah he can get forty five. Sure, I mean yeah, okay, Sga played good at thirty two. Interestingly, Jay Dubb, who you wake up and you don't know if he's gonna show out or just poop his pants. Three of sixteen couldn't make a three. Now he gets to go home, and you just wonder, you know, lou Dort did not duplicate the performance he had, but he gets to go home. Jay Dubb goes home. All you need is one of those guys off the bench. Caruso, who's having a good series case on Wallace. Weed's one of those guys. That's all they have to do is play well at home, and you get the strather and you probably get the win. It's essentially the best player jokicch against the best team. And I mean I'm saying that because Jason Tatum has gone you know, okay, see the best team left again. It's about matchups. Though, if Aaron Gordon's fully healthy, you know, I think the Nuggets will have a shot. I don't know if he's gonna be fully healthy. Well, no, but the extra day obviously is huge. This is the first game I think, this is no, no, this is the first Game seven. It might be for the Thunders since the Game seven and twenty sixteen when Korean Clay took down Russ and Kevin Durant in what was the final game of the Kevin Durant era in Okay. See, that was a memorable series. Game six. I still remember Game six. We are packing to move to LA it's late May. I refuse to pack the TVs and cut off cable because I needed to watch the NBA playoffs. And you know, the TV is balancing on top of like moving boxes. The bed is on the ground, just a mattress, and Klay Thompson just goes nuclear with one of the great three point shooting performances ever, and the Warriors win and survive and then win Game seven and get get to the finals. Is a big one for OKC guys. There's a lot hinging on this for the Thunder. Remember Timberwolves had a great year last year, get blasted in the conference finals, and they decide we're moving off Kat. Let's get to Julius Randall. If the Thunder lose this, I mean, I think you can ratchet up any Giannis talk because this would be a disappointment. You don't win sixty eight games and lose in the second round with home court advantage, that would be bad. You can rat I think everybody's in play for Yiannis outside of SGA, right, I mean, I'm moving off j dubbin chet if you want to both take them, give me honest. I can fill role players around SGA and Yannis. You know Kevin Durant. I think that would be spicy. I'm seeing as the reports on Miami Heat are gonna make a play for KD. I don't get that, but going east to Smart ultimately should get good action. I have zero dollars on tonight's Nick Celtics game. I am extremely nervous. My son wants to play pick a ball. I said, m I think I gotta watch this game. This is a big one for the Knicks. I am nervous. I think the Knicks get it. I'm not betting it. Maybe a live bet if the Knicks go down early, because I do think they will show up and get the win at home. But I'm too nervous to bet it because I'm a Knicks fan. All Right, without further ado, let's get to our guest, mister Ben Pickman of the athletic.
00:16:21
Speaker 1: Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to listen live. You know, Jason likes to think he knows everything when it comes to sports.
00:16:40
Speaker 2: I know what sports fans want.
00:16:41
Speaker 1: But for everything he doesn't, he knows a guy who does.
00:16:45
Speaker 3: Let's just say I know a guy who knows the guy who knows another guy.
00:16:50
Speaker 2: All right, let's welcome into straight Fire, a first time guest on the podcast. And we've never done this before, but guys, last year, when kaitlb actually two years ago, and Kaitlyn start to blow up, we did some podcasts on her and the numbers were big, and then last year we brought on some guests to talk Katel Clark and the numbers were big. So we're gonna go back to the well katelen Clark in. The WNBA season begins Saturday, so we're having Ben Pickman on from the Athletic to talk about obviously the WNBA at large, but mostly katelen Clark. Ben, how you doing man.
00:17:21
Speaker 1: I'm doing well.
00:17:21
Speaker 2: Thanks lot for having me. Yeah, Dad, thanks for coming on. I'm just curious from your point of view. You know, you've been a journalist for several years now and you've covered a lot of sports. I am just curious if you've seen an uptick in whether it's invites to come on podcasts, your articles getting more clicks, Indiana Fever demand, Like, just tell me what's going on at the ground level there.
00:17:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, all of the above is the answer to your question there, Jason. I mean, yeah, I think you know, as we have seen with TV ratings skyrocketing, Like I'm not going to say I have proportionately received millions of more requests. I think that's a little bit of an exaggeration there, but yeah, I mean I think there's a lot more interest in terms of readership, listenership of our podcast, people just in casual conversations among friends, among peers, among family members, just people taking a lot more interest in the WNBA and women's college basketball. And this year, certainly, I think is the most you know, it seems like the most anticipated season after last year, which was the most anticipated anticipated season then. So everything continues to really build on each other and it's definitely an exciting time to kind of be covering the sport and you know, a very important moment in the sports history as well.
00:18:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, I am just curious, like historically when you have been around the league, and I mean there was a buzz. Obviously the lead's been around for twenty some odd years, whatever it is, but it feels like, as you said, in the last year or two, things have gone to the stratosphere. I mean, is it the stage where you're like mapping out your season, where you're going to be traveling. I mean, are you with the fever all the time? Is there that appetite to just kind of play the hits and give the beast what it wants to eat, which is a lot of Caitler Clark.
00:18:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I'm New York based personally, so I'm actually around the Liberty on a pretty daily basis cover the league nationally, but I'm around the Liberty all the time. I will now coming this weekend, I'll be at the Fever's home opener though, and was out there during training camp two and so, you know, I think have some.
00:19:13
Speaker 2: More trips planned along the way.
00:19:15
Speaker 3: So it's certainly a lot of Fever and a lot of you know, seeing, monitoring obviously where they are, and we obviously do a ton of Fever coverage too. But yeah, I mean, the appetite really has grown, and it is pretty crazy to just kind of reflect on even two, three, four years ago where this league was compared to where it is now.
00:19:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, I saw in your Thunder preseason wrap up piece it was like almost breaking down the last roster spot. And I mean, I bet, I'm gonna be honest with you, I couldn't have named twenty players in the WNBA like five years ago, and I'm gonna guess that's the situation at large with sports fans. But now it's like, oh, Fever did a lot of stuff in the off season, only five starters are back. Are you sensing when you write a piece instantly it's like, oh my gosh, look at the no are you tracking how they're doing?
00:20:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean in terms of metrics are saying or in terms of just the roster spots metrics mostly yeah, I mean we get access to some of that data. And there's certainly an appetite for Indiana fever coverage. I would say again generally like there is increased appetite on every team. And the one thing I will say more than anything else to your kind of starting a question, it is in the off season where we really saw a shift. I would say where, you know, in January free agency was a huge you know time, that's when WNBA freegency is mid January to early February. Huge buzz there, like we have never really seen before people caring about transactions and trades and rumors. This past off season there was a record numbering of firings in the WNBA, and so people were really interested from a coaching hirings and firings carousel standpoint about like why is this happening, Who's getting hired, who's interviewing with whom? Like, people really do are invested in all of that kind of stuff in a way that we have seen traditionally with men's sports, but in a way that the WNBA has has lagged behind.
00:21:04
Speaker 2: Yeah. Now, we had Cindy Brunson on the pod last year, I think, yeah, last year to talk about kind of the Calet Clark impact, and she was pretty blunt in like listen, Jay, there's a lot of players who are kind of annoyed that the media only cares about Caitlin Clark. There's been a lot of great players in the league. There's a ton of them now, and all anybody wants to talk about is Clark. Are you also sensing that or was that like a last year story This year it's not as much of a big deal.
00:21:30
Speaker 3: Yeah. I don't really think it is a big storyliner, a big talking point among players this year, And honestly, I don't really think that narrative even carried through throughout the end of last year. I think, you know, once the games really got going and you saw just how prolific a player she was, and you know, she's a player who made first team All WNBA as a rookie. You know, setting you know, assist records, point records like rewriting the Rookie record book, and even some kind of broader record books, like you kind of have to do you couldn't do anything but kind of tip your right kind of as a competitor, and so, you know, I think that's kind of the state of play entering this year. Indiana again has made a ton of moves to put themselves right into the finals championship conversation, adding a number of veterans and so like, they're one of the teams that has a lot of expectations, and they're covered and talked about, you know, in this quartet of four the way other title contenders across other sports are is there.
00:22:24
Speaker 2: I saw your pick for the championship. Now listen, I am. I'm just sometimes I'll just do gambling for fun. And you know, last year I bet the Indiana Fever to win the title and Caitlin Clark to win the MVP. Obviously long shots didn't happen, but I decided I'll do it again this year. The odds have struck considerably. But I saw you picked Liberty over the Aces. First of all, why do you think Indiana is not quite there yet? Obviously it's only year two for Clark, But also why the Liberty over the Aces?
00:22:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean to your Indiana question first, and you know this from covering other sports and thinking about all different kinds of sports, not just professional basketball. So often a team has to go through learning, experience and build that kind of postseason scar tissue up together first before they get over the hump. I mean, we just saw that, you know, on Tuesday night in the NBA with the Cleveland Cavaliers, right a sixty four win team who number one seed goes out in the second round the way they did. The Indiana Fever have just five returning players, just five from last year. And while three of those players are all stars in Kelsey Mitchell, Leah Boston, and Caitlyn Clark, the rest of the roster again a lot of new pieces. A head coach who you know had previously been the head coach of the Fever and had had a lot of success in Connecticut named Stephanie White, an experience head coach, but again first year head coach coming into coach this new team that again full of new players. So I just think it will take a little bit of time for this team to gel together. And there's just a lot of questions. There's a lot of questions about rotations, minutes, roles, a lot to get sorted out, and it just seems like a big leap. Again, the Indiana Fever, they haven't had a winning record since twenty fifteen. They haven't gotten out of the second round of the playoffs since then. So sure, they have Caitlin Clark, who's obviously a headliner, and they have a talented roster behind them, but you know, it's a pretty big jump to go from first round out to WNBA champion.
00:24:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, that is a quantum leap. Let me ask you about White. So you know, in the NBA it's a players league where a lot of times they get have a say in the coach I'm just curious in your reporting, do you did you come across anything that said, you know, the Fever kind of ran this by Caitlin Clark to see what she thought. I'm sure nobody would ever come out and say that openly, but you know, you gotta face with the franchise face of the league. I'm just curious. Do you get any input or insight into how this coaching search went down?
00:24:47
Speaker 3: Sure? I mean what I would say is the Indiana Fever have a new team president this year, and it starts her name is Kelly Crosskoff, and she has kind of been with Pacer Sports and Entertainment, the parent company of The Fever, for more than in the last two decades. She was actually the very first employee ever hired to run the Pacer or to run the Fever, back in nineteen ninety nine, and so she was their kind of initial president basketball decision maker. And she left in the mid twenty ten to actually be the Indiana Pacers assistant GM. She returned this past year to again be the Fever team president, and so she hires Stephanie White, who she has known forever. Stephanie White was a player for the Indiana Fever, actually one of the very first players that Kelly Crosscoff picked in the two thousand WNBA Expansion Draft. She is a former Miss Indiana you know basketball in high school. She went to Purdue won a national championship there. So they have really known each other for more than two decades and have built this closeness. Steph White was an assistant coach when Indiana the Fever won the WNBA championship in twenty twelve. She was then you know, the head coach when they were runner up in twenty fifteen. So there is a lot of continuity there, and there's a lot of connectedness there, and so you know, and I have some a feature coming out later this week that gets into it, like when Kelly crosscoff is deciding on who to picks as their next head coach, Like Stephanie White is a logical choice here because not only is she an accomplished coach and a great basketball mind, but also like they are very close in terms of personal relationships. They speak the same kind of language, they know how each other communicates, like in an organization with some questions about roster. As I said, like relationship between front office and coach is not one of the questions that the Indiana Fever have this year.
00:26:35
Speaker 1: Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to listen live.
00:26:48
Speaker 2: It doesn't sound like that Clark was involved in this process at all. Yeah.
00:26:52
Speaker 3: I mean, what I know about Clark's kind of involvement big picture, is that she has been involved. She's been president in Indiana throughout the off season, and she has definitely been involved in you know, uh, free and she recruiting process, you know, talking her perspective free agents. She's involved in little things like what food, uh, you know, do you want on the road, that kind of thing. Her involvement is definitely high in the franchise. But I think this was really a it starts with Kelly Crosscoff, is what I would say about how you know, some of these decisions were made.
00:27:24
Speaker 2: So last year, the Fever kind of got a Rod deal right right after the draft, the season started. Kaitlin Clark had just played a long college. It was tough, and then they started out. They struggled out of the gate, but they found their footing and you know, ultimately had had a positive season. I'm just curious, do you think, based on their schedule that the league was like, you know what, we got to schedule more of these primetime TV games for Clark and also, by the way, let's not wear her down, you know, we kind of need Kitlin Clark in the playoffs.
00:27:51
Speaker 3: Do I think they scheduled more primetime games for Kaitlin Clark this year than last year?
00:27:56
Speaker 2: I mean absolutely.
00:27:57
Speaker 3: I mean the data shows that they're on national television and you know, and that includes something on you know, NBA TV and other platforms like that. I think forty one of their forty four games this year, that's the most of any team in the league. So certainly, you know, the league has made made its intentions very clear, and you know networks have said, like we want those games because you look at the ratings of those games and the ratings are historically good. I mean, they played in a preseason game this year against Brazil. It was on May fourth, Caitlin Clark and the Fever return to the University of Iowa. It averaged I think one point three million viewers. Again, this a preseason game against the Brazilian national team. ESPN said, I think since twenty ten, of their like fifty seven preseason games in the NBA, only two have gotten a better rate than that WNBA game, and both of those involved Lebron and I think it was like Lebron's return to Cleveland and you know calvs. Warriors one year, Like that's what we're talking about in terms of a preseason rating. So we'll see what the regular season then brings.
00:28:58
Speaker 2: So do you think as a result, and again I'm not trying to stir up like an issue, but like do other teams and players around the league be like, you know, we got the MVP with the defended chis, why are we not on TV that much? Or are you of the impression that hey, people get it. Hey, Caitlin Clark right now is the bread winner for the league. Let's let's let's ride that out. No.
00:29:19
Speaker 3: I think there's an understanding. I mean, New York and Las Vegas aren't that far behind in terms of national TV rights windows, and I think there's an understanding that like Caitlin Clark in the Indiana Fever are certainly accelerants and very important to ratings, merchandise awareness. And we've seen a lot of teams, you know, benefit in their ticket sales when they play the Indiana Fever. So I think there's a recognition of, you know, the Clark effect in the w Yeah.
00:29:46
Speaker 2: My my wife and daughter as soon as the schedule came out, were like, so, when is Kitlin Clark coming to play the Sparks? Can we get tickets? We've got it circled. I'm trying to make it happen. They're pricey. But let me ask about the season opener against Angel Reason Company. Now, Angel Reese has had a bit of an offseason where she was like talking about a potential holdout because they need to get paid more. I'm just curious, where are the where's Chicago in the hierarchy heading into the season and your thoughts on Angel Reese as a player.
00:30:15
Speaker 3: Sure, I mean I would first also clarify, like there's an ongoing CBA negotiation right now and kind of Reese's comments on her podcast regarding that where that like the players have.
00:30:24
Speaker 1: Said that.
00:30:26
Speaker 3: You know, they they want to accept a deal that is is right for them. They're not just, uh, they're not avoiding, they're not hoping for a work stoppage, but they're saying like we are going to negotiate to kind of get the deal that we want, and we won't have more clarity there until the fall. So that's just one point of clarity there. In terms of the Chicago skuy and Angel Rees, I mean, they have a first year head coach and Tyler Marsh who has a long player development background both with the Las Vegas Aces where he was an assistant coach and also has some NBA and NBA G League ties. They have overhauled some of their roster and one of the things that kind of we would expect this year is she's going to play a little bit more on the perimeter and just as it means to kind of play in space. Tyler Marsh again came from the Aces where he coached Asia Wilson. If you watch her, she does a lot kind of at the high post, at the elbow and the sky. Have two bigs. Camilla Cardoso was you know, their number three pick in the twenty twenty four WM draft. She was a start South Carolina, and so I would kind of expect a lot of high low, big, big action and a lot of action to try and you know, get Angel going downhill and potentially kicking out to teammates. So that's one thing to be aware of. Chicago also signed Courtney Vanderslut, who is one of the all time, you know, greatest passers in WNB history. She'd been with the franchise for more than a decade, then went to the New York Liberty for two years. These last two years, Vandersuit still, you know, even though she's in her mid thirties, a very willing and a great passer, and so Reese kind of has a true point guard to help set her up and facilitate and that should pay a bunch of dividends as well.
00:31:56
Speaker 2: Let me go back to a point you were talking about about the CBA. We see a new team and expansion team, Golden State in the WNBA. How are we supposed to read that? Obviously, this has been in the works for years, but the expansion the league kind of popping in the last couple of years, the interest in the draft, like you said, the offseason. Are you of the sense that the league this is just the beginning of ANBA expansion and there's more down the pike.
00:32:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's already been confirmed with at least two teams. So this year the WNBA is expanding to thirteen teams. They're adding the Golden State Valkyries, as you said, first expansion team since two thousand and eight. Next year there'll be two more expansion teams in the WNBA. Portland and Toronto are already announced. It will be the Toronto Tempo. They've actually already hired a general manager who is a former player in front office exec. And then there's a question about when they will announce a sixteenth team. The league has said that they hope to do so by at least twenty twenty eight and we have seen already with that sixteen team, and we'll see if it's sixteen or you know, because of interest, they go even higher. You know, there was a deadline this last January for perspective groups to submit bids. More than ten groups ended up submitting bids, and a lot of those bidders have you know NBA ties, So the ownership group of the Philadelphia seventy six ers, Dan Gilbert, the owner of the Calves, Tom Gores, Detroit Pistons, like you know, there were some independent groups who definitely are trying to bid and get into the league. But we have continued to see or we have seen an uptick in NBA owners can wanting to be part of the next round of expansion. And the Valkyries we should say owned by Joe Lake and Peter Guber, who are the owners and chairman of the Warriors.
00:33:34
Speaker 2: So I guess we could wrap up. You know, when when the well, the NBA expanded in the late eighties early nineties, we saw, you know, there's a lot of complaints about, oh it's a little water down, there's just not enough good players. But that was way back in now was well thirty years ago for almost forty years ago. I haven't looked at the Golden State Valkyrie's roster. But are you of the sense that, like, hey man, there's room for a lot more good players in this league? Expansion is a great thing or is this do you think maybe gonna water down things a little?
00:34:06
Speaker 1: No.
00:34:06
Speaker 3: I think expansion is definitely a good thing, and the business seems like it can support it. And I do think there's enough roster talent. I mean, right now we have a very high concentrated there's a very high concentration of talent across the league. I mean, so many of these teams have two or three stars. And I think as a whole, the whole WNBA, you know, I would say nine or ten teams got better this offseason, and inevitably not all those teams are even gonna make the playoffs just because of how competitive the league is. And so the other thing that you see, and as we tape this, like it's roster cut week, cut down week, and so there's a lot of players who have been pretty successful in college who will not make teams and WNBA teams, you know, many of these teams are only going to roster eleven players.
00:34:48
Speaker 2: To start the year.
00:34:49
Speaker 3: And so it's pretty much the hardest league to make in the world because of just how tight it is, how few roster spots there are. You know, again thirteen teams and most teams taken around eleven players because of salary cap reasons. And so like you expand you had another team this year, two more next year. You know, that's twelve and then thirty six more players who are getting opportunities that would not otherwise. And so, yeah, I think we're gonna see a little bit more dispersal of talent, and that's natural in the case of any expansion draft and as the league expands. But yeah, there is talent and certainly gives players an opportunity to develop, you know, just by getting reps in a WNBA context in a way that they wouldn't if they were not making these rosters.
00:35:28
Speaker 2: I wonder, Ben, if that'll be part of the new CBA. Hey, we need to expand rosters. I mean, eleven is not a lot of people on a roster. You get three injuries all of a sudden, you know, it's a foul trouble in the game. It's dicey. Want do you think that'll be part of the new CBA.
00:35:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean we'll see, because again, as you expand rosters, there's some you know, kind of contractual effects that take hold. I mean, I think it has long been a clamoring that fans and even some execs have about like roster size versus expansion is always kind of a debate that kind of comes up what is kind of better for the league at a certain period of time. There isn't a you know, WNBA developmental league in the season right in the US, the same way that there is in the NBA, So you know, the kind of existence of you know, in the NBA, again you have two way contracts here in the W Like a player doesn't make a team, they get cut, how are they working on their game to then the best position to succeed when they get back in the W NBA, Like, that's always a question that kind of people have. You you have to train on your own, you know, there are alternatives. We see Obviously a lot of players historically play in professional leagues overseas in the winter, but again that doesn't help them continue to develop during the summer. So yeah, I mean it's definitely a big question about what's the right number here again, twelve is the max that you can have on a roster, but because of cap reasons, yeah, a lot of teams really only carry eleven. So it is certainly a big topic of conversation going forward.
00:36:56
Speaker 2: All right, Ben Pickman, the athletic, great stuff, Hey Man. Enjoy the w NBA season. Well, I'm sure we'll be reading a lot of your stuff obviously the big debut on Saturday. And talk to you soon, buddy. Thanks a lot for having me
