Newsletter #15 – October 2024
Warm greetings to you all! I am Manos Karousos and I welcome you to the fifteenth newsletter of the blog. I hope you are back on track, setting up a program and finding time for yourself. Remember to take time for yourself and your loved ones.
You will notice that this month’s newsletter is basketball-oriented. To avoid long posts with repetitive information, I have provided you with some links below with useful information about the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2024, the Ballon d’Or 2024 Awards, the NBA Tip-off, and also some important updates on the Unrivaled League.
I am also pleased to announce that I will be introducing The Writer’s Corner starting this month. There I will take up a topic and offer a brief comment - an unpopular opinion, if you want to call it that. Food for thought, so to speak!
Once again, I want to thank you for supporting my blog and I hope you enjoy my content. Do not forget to subscribe, share, comment and suggest new topics for discussion.
It’s business and it’s finally good what’s happening! It was time for WNBA players to demand more and more from the structure they helped build. The WNBPA committee and team representatives voted to opt out of the current collective bargaining agreement to negotiate a much better new one. The current CBA expires after October 31, 2025, two years earlier than expected. That's too much logic, especially when you consider that this year’s playoff games and the WNBA Finals have reached historic highs not only in terms of viewership but also in terms of stadium attendance. The WNBPA negotiations now aim for a more profitable and equal percentage share of revenue, an increase in player salaries, access to facilities, better travel and accommodation conditions, family-oriented programs, and last but not least, retirement benefits.
“This is a defining moment, not just for the WNBA, but for all of us who believe in progress. The world has evolved since 2020, and we cannot afford to stand still. If we stay in the current agreement, we fall behind. This is a new era, and we are ready to lead transformational change — change that goes beyond women’s sports and sets a precedent for something greater…“Opting out isn’t just about bigger paychecks — it’s about claiming our rightful share of the business we’ve built, improving working conditions, and securing a future where the success we create benefits today’s players and the generations to come. We’re not just asking for a CBA that reflects our value; we’re demanding it, because we’ve earned it.”, Nneka Ogwumike, WNBPA president said.
Thank God the players are finally demanding what they deserve, so you better #BetOnWomen!
Moment of the Month!
New York Liberty is the 2024 WNBA Champions — They definitely did it their way. The 27-year title drought has ended as the Liberty won the 2024 WNBA Championship in Game 5 with a 67-62 victory over the Minnesota Lynx. Jonquel Jones was named Finals MVP as she averaged 17.8 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists and shot 32 of 57 (56%) during the five-game series.
And now, the end is near
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I'll say it clear
I'll state my case, of which I'm certain…
And more, much more than this
I did it my way…
Frank Sinatra from the album “My Way”
Released: 1969
I would like to recall some very interesting statistics about this year’s season and note how many big steps forward the league has made . To be exact, this year’s WNBA Finals had the most viewers in 25 years (115% increase over last year), it was the most-watched regular season ever on ESPN platforms (170% increase over last year), 32 WNBA broadcasts across all networks averaged more than 1 million viewers each. For more insightful information, read Santa Brito’s article, right here!
Am I the only one who can’t wait for the next season?
Around the WNBA!
WNBA season Awards (pt.2) + Caitlin Clark’s tremendous season — It is the time of the year when the best and most effective players in the league receive their awards. Let’s complete the catalog with the rest of them!
The Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award is presented each season to a player who exemplifies the ideals of sportsmanship on the court, including ethical behavior, fair play and integrity. The award is named for the late Kim Perrot, who helped the Houston Comets win WNBA championships in 1997 and 1998 in the league’s first two seasons before passing away in August 1999 after a seven-month battle with cancer. “I am incredibly grateful to be recognized with the Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award,” said Hamby. “This is especially meaningful at this point in my career because it represents values that go beyond winning and to be recognized for that means a lot to me. Being on this list alongside some of the most highly respected players in our league is truly humbling.”
As for the Rookie of the Year award, I'm pretty sure the recipient is obvious. Check out the photo of Caitlin Clark’s historic accomplishments!
Natalie Nakase is the new Head Coach of Golden State Valkyries — This is history! The league’s first Asian-American head coach is Natalie Nakase. She will be the first female coach of the Golden State Valkyries, the new WNBA franchise, next season.
She attended UCLA, where she played college basketball from 1998 to 2003 and was named captain of the team in three seasons. After graduating with a degree in psychology, she played overseas, but an injury apparently ended her career.
As for her coaching career: “Nakase got her coaching start in 2008 with the Women’s Professional Basketball German League, serving as head coach for the Wolfenbuttel Wildcats for two seasons (2008-10). She then served as an assistant coach for the Tokyo Apache for one season (2010-11) in the Men’s Professional Basketball Japan League, followed by acting as head coach for the Saitama Broncos from 2011-12, making her the first woman to serve as head coach in the league. Nakase spent the last three years (2022-2024) as first assistant coach with the Aces, where she played a critical role guiding the team to back-to-back WNBA Championships (2022, 2023). During her tenure, Las Vegas topped the WNBA’s defensive rating charts in 2023, with a rating of 97.7. She assisted with in-game adjustments, substitution rotations, end of game decisions, time out strategies, head coach’s challenge usages, clock management and organizing the team on both ends of the court. Nakase also served as the Aces top scout for college and international athletes. With Nakase on the sideline, the Aces went 87-29 over the last three seasons, including a 19-6 mark in the playoffs. Prior to her time with the Aces, Nakase spent 10 seasons in various capacities with the Clippers, most recently as an assistant coach and player development coach in a dual role with the NBA team and their G League affiliate, the Agua Caliente Clippers. There, she assisted then-Head Coach Tyronn Lue with in-game planning on offense and defense, and assisted with player development and defensive scouting reports.”
I wish Coach Nakase the best of luck and enjoy every moment as head coach of the Valkyries!
Coaches departures — The role of head coach in the WNBA seems to be the most difficult job in the world at the moment. After Curt Miller (Los Angeles Sparks) and Teresa Weatherspoon (Chicago Sky), Tanisha Wright and Latricia Trammell have now also been fired, bringing the number of coaches to four.
Wright spent three seasons with the Atlanta Dream, which has an overall record of 48W and 68L this year and 15W-25L in the regular season. Although the Dream has an interesting roster with players like Tina Charles, Rhyne Howard, Allisha Gray, Jordin Canada and Haley Jones to name a few, they have struggled to play consistently as a team due to injury issues.
In addition, the Dallas Wings are in a massive rebuilding process as the team will also be hiring a general manager for the upcoming season. Trammell had a record of 31W-49L in her two seasons with the Dallas Wings. This year was a tough lesson as the Wings not only had to deal with a lot of injuries to players (including star player Satou Sabally) but also the inexperience of the team (they had 5 rookies on the roster). So there you have all the pieces of the puzzle you need to understand why this season has been so disastrous.
Furthermore, it was also announced that the Washington Mystics will part ways with head coach Eric Thibault and GM Mike Thibault. It would be the first time in 12 years that the Mystics have not had a coach with the last name Thibault on the bench as head coach.
More specifically, “…Mike Thibault joined the Mystics as GM/Head Coach on Dec. 18, 2012, leading the team to its first championship in 2019. Under his leadership, Washington made eight postseason appearances. Following the 2013 season, his first with the Mystics, Mike Thibault earned his third WNBA Coach of the Year award. Numerous players under his tutelage received individual accolades, including MVP and All-WNBA honors…Before the 2023 season, Mike Thibault moved away from the bench to lead the team’s basketball operations…Eric Thibault was named the team’s 14th head coach on Nov. 15, 2022. He spent ten seasons as an assistant coach with the Mystics, including four seasons as associate head coach. Throughout his tenure, Eric Thibault played a vital role in all aspects of the team’s basketball operations. He helped lead the Mystics to nine postseason appearances, including back-to-back trips to the WNBA Finals in 2018 and 2019, culminating in the franchise’s first WNBA Championship in 2019.”
If you think these were the only coaches who parted ways with their teams, you better guess again! Christie Sides of the Indiana Fever and Stephanie White of the Connecticut Sun have both left their clubs.
Sides coached the Indiana Fever for two seasons with an overall record of 33W and 47L. During her tenure with Indiana, she was able to coach two No. 1 picks and ROY Award recipients (Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark) as well as WNBA All-Stars. In total, there were three All-Stars, considering that in addition to Boston and Clark, Kelsey Mitchel was also named an All-Star this year. In my personal opinion, Side’s biggest flaw was using a very strict rotation of 8 players and not giving much playing time to players like Victaria Saxton, Kristy Wallace, Katie Lou Samuelson and Grace Berger. On the other hand, she did lead the Fever to the postseason after 8 years and with a more experienced team, they would have had a chance against Connecticut Sun.
Last but not least, Stephanie White parted ways with the Connecticut Sun after two years and an overall record of 62W - 32L (7-7 in the postseason). White was named the 2023 WNBA Coach of the Year and Associated Press Coach of the Year. White is rumored to be the next coach of the Indiana Fever, with whom she has a long history. She played for the Indiana club for four years as a player and then was part of the coaching staff for the Fevers, who won the WNBA title in 2012. She was also the head coach of the team that reached the WNBA Finals in 2015.
Hopefully, seven of the twelve head coaches from last season will take over a new team next season. I don’t know if you find that intriguing or are skeptical, but you have to understand that this is the nature of coaching jobs, and I’m pretty sure we’ll hear good news from the coaches soon!
What’s New NBA?
The New York Knicks have hired Patrick Ewing as a basketball ambassador — He is perhaps the most legendary and recognizable New York Knicks player of all time, at least to my generation. The No. 1 pick in the 1985 NBA draft will return to the city where he was most beloved to serve as an ambassador for the club’s operations.
During his time with the Knicks, Ewing was named an NBA All-Star 11 times, First Team All NBA once, NBA All-Defensive Second Team three times and he was the Rookie of the Year in the 1985-86 season. He also “…finished his 15-year Knicks career leading the Knicks to 13 consecutive playoff berths (1987-2000), three Atlantic Division Titles (1989, 1993, and 1994), four Eastern Conference Finals appearances (1993, 1994, 1999, and 2000) and two Eastern Conference Titles (1994, 1999). He was also named to the NBA’s 50th (1996) and 75th (2021) anniversary teams, in addition to being named to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame (2008). The Knicks retired his jersey on February 28, 2003.”
In his college career, Ewing led the Georgetown Hoyas to their only NCAA national championship in 1984 and was named Most Outstanding Player at the NCAA Final Four that same year. “Ewing was named a three-time Consensus First-Team All-American (1983-85)… a two-time Big East Player of the Year (1984-95), four-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year (1982-85), three-time First-Team All-Big East (1983-85) and Second-Team All-Big East (1982).”
Danny Green retires —Three-time NBA champion and one of the most sharpshooter players of his generation, Danny Green, is calling an end. Earlier this month, he announced via his YouTube podcast that he was retiring.
Green was selected 46th overall in the 2009 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers. During his 15-year career in the league, in addition to the Cavaliers, he also played for the Philadelphia 76ers and Memphis Grizzlies, the San Antonio Spurs (won the NBA title in 2014), the Toronto Raptors (won the NBA title in 2019) and the Los Angeles Lakers (won the NBA title in 2020).
“I’m officially moving on from the game of basketball and the NBA. It’s been a great run. I’m very proud to be able to walk away from the game. I’m at peace with it. I wasn’t at first, but I think it’s one of those things — once I turned 37, the body started reacting a little differently…My body was letting me know. I was getting little calf strains here and there,” Green said. But also, when you get older, teams aren’t calling as much. Unfortunately, my services weren’t as sought-after as they were when I was younger. It’s been a hell of a ride.”
Danny Green
Most notably, “…he finishes with career averages of 8.7 points and 3.4 rebounds in 832 games. His 1,577 3-pointers rank 43rd in NBA history, and he is one of only 12 players to make that many 3s and shoot at least 40% from beyond the arc…He is also ninth in postseason 3-pointers, with 315…Green is one of only four players -- Kyle Korver, Rashard Lewis and Trevor Ariza are the others -- to make as many 3-pointers as he did without being a first-round draft pick.”
Thank you for the memories Green Ranger, enjoy retirement!
Nike extended its contract with the NBA for another 12 years — This has further strengthened the strategic partnership that Nike and the league have entered into in recent years. Nike has not only agreed to produce and design the league’s sports apparel and merchandising but also to collaborate with the NBA on new initiatives.
More specifically the stakeholders will work toward to:
Introducing programs and resources to make best-in-class youth basketball accessible and scalable, prioritizing broad-based access to age-and-stage appropriate coaching, training, on-court development curriculum and playing standards to youth of all backgrounds and abilities, including through the Jr. NBA/ Jr. WNBA.
Creating basketball programming and resources designed to increase access to the sport and improve the playing experience for girls of all levels, including through the Jr. WNBA and Basketball Without Borders (BWB).
Collaborating to enhance player, coach and program development opportunities across Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) through expanded leadership, player health and on-court development programming.
NIKE, Inc. will further grow its established presence across marquee league events, including NBA Global Games, NBA All-Star, AT&T WNBA All-Star, the NBA Draft Combine, the WNBA Draft presented by State Farm®, WNBA Changemakers, the NBA Draft presented by State Farm, NBA 2K Summer League and NBA G League Fall Invitational.
What more can I say? On to the next milestone, let’s hope that basketball continues to grow worldwide.
Rudy Gay retires — It seems like the list gets longer every month. UConn alum and 8th overall pick in the 2006 NBA draft, Rudy Gay, has ended his career. During his 17-year career in the league, he played for the Memphis Grizzlies, Toronto Raptors, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs and Utah Jazz. He was also in the Golden State Warriors camp in September 2023, but never made the full roster. He is the league's 91st leading scorer with 17,642 points and scored a career-best 21.1 points per game with the Sacramento Kings in the 2014/2015 season. Gay is also the Memphis Grizzlies’ fifth-leading scorer and rebounder and fourth-best all-time stealer.
You can read his detailed letter announcing his retirement via The Player’s Tribune site here! Enjoy retirement Rudy Gay!
NCAA?…Here We Go!
Juju Watkins signs NIL shoe deal with Nike and joins Gatorade — The bag keeps getting bigger for the 2022-23 Gatorade California Girls Basketball Player of the Year! Juju Watkins has signed a NIL contract with Gatorade, becoming the third college basketball player to do so after Paige Bueckers and Caitlin Clark. Watkins will support the Gatorade Player of the Year program and appear in upcoming Gatorade advertising campaigns, among other things. In the meantime, she has extended her endorsement deal with Nike (she originally signed with the manufacturer in 2022), which is reportedly one of the most lucrative endorsement deals in women’s basketball.
In case you didn’t know…
I don’t talk hip-hop, I live hip-hop!
A Tribe Called Quest inducted into the 2024 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — Can I kick it? Yes, you can! Can I kick it? Yes, you can! The time has finally come for the members of the hip-hop star group A Tribe Called Quest to once again be recognized worldwide and reach another milestone!
Q-Tip, Jarobi White and the parents of the late Phife Dawg accepted the award, while Ali Shaheed Muhammad was not present. Dave Chapelle presented them with the award and after the honorees accepted it, De La Soul, Busta Rhymes, The Roots, Queen Latifah, Common and Spliff Star performed a medley of Tribe classics.
For those of you who don’t know: A Tribe Called Quest was founded in 1985 in Queens, New York. They are known for mixing jazz melodies with hip-hop beats, which gives their sound an alternative style. My personal favorite album is The Low End Theory, not only for its musical content but also for its artistic album cover. So cheers to that!
Roxanne Shante, Kool Moe Dee and Grandmaster Caz were honored with the Hip-Hop Grandmaster Award — Hip-Hop is being honored extensively this month and that’s great because you should give the legends their flowers while they’re still alive. The event, which took place at the ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, was organized by the Paid in Full Foundation (PIFF) and hosted by Terry Crews.
Get to know the honorees:
Roxanne Shante is one of the first teenage female battle MCs to openly challenge the macho stereotypes in hip-hop. She gained notoriety through her participation in local freestyle battles in Queensbridge, New York. She is also a member of the Juice Crew. Her best-known song is Roxanne’s Revenge, a battle-diss track. A movie about his life titled “Roxanne Roxanne” starring Chante Adams was released in 2017.
Kool Moe Dee is one of the members of the groundbreaking hip-hop group The Treacherous Three. He is best known for his fast-paced rhymes and aggressive style. Together with Quincy Jones and other rappers (Big Daddy Kane, Ice-T and Melle Mel), he won a Grammy in the Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group category for his song “Back on the Block”.
Grandmaster Caz is best known as the uncredited lyrics writer of Big Bank Hank verse in the song “Rappers Delight” by the Sugarhill Gang from 1979. Around the same time, Grandmaster Caz was a member of the group Cold Crush Brothers. He can also be heard on the Wild Style original motion picture soundtrack which was released in 1983.
Manos Karousos