Phil Deez 💙💛

Ime Udoka reveals the Rockets’ special game plan for stopping Stephen Curry tonight: “Amen Thompson.”👀 (Via @DannyEmerman )

Santos come on man

Why did I even expect a good outcome tonight when this is on the other side

I obviously really like Nakase, and putting the team over individuals is what got her so far - but I do think she can do a better job at communicating with players other than her favourite ones. I remember the situation with Julie Vanloo too - she was told to come back to the Valkyries immediately instead of celebrating with her Eurobasket team, but was waived the moment she landed back in the US. She also said she texted Nakase afterwards congratulating her on COTY and said Nakase didn’t respond. Jocyte also clearly seems to be unhappy there. It just feels like two extremes tbh, because Gabby, Burton and a few others talk about how much Nakase cares about them and pours into them and believes in them etc - while other players have completely opposite experiences.

Jocytė, Salaün, & the Valks’ offseason outlook:

Juste Jocyte on her future with the Valkyries: “We just became champions, but from the perspective of my personal growth, it’s hard to imagine going back to the same coach, who doesn’t really communicate well and doesn’t seem to like me very much. My thoughts are that I don’t really want to return to that team.” (Via @BasketNews_com/@kenzofuku)

FULL RANKINGS: ballislife.com/news/wnba/wnb…

Juste Jocyte spoke very candidly to the Lithuanian media yesterday about her season with the Valkyries. Take her comments with a small grain of salt because a lot can be lost in google translation, but the big notes: - Jocyte's relationship with Natalie Nakase is very clearly frayed. - Jocyte was not happy with her playing time and felt like she never got an adequate explanation as to why, describing the explanations given to her as "excuses," and mentioning she never had a serious, official conversation with Nakase to work through it. - Jocyte has communicated to Ohemaa Nyanin and the front office that she does not want to return to the Valkyries next year. She does not want to ride the bench for another season. There's far more in the article here (they asked Jocyte a lot of other things as well), but as of this moment, the relationship between her and GSW is not in a good place: basketnews.lt/news-259044-wn…

Azzi Fudd can keep the hat for 2026 💜

Solemates! Here’s your new LacesBC crew 👟

Top 10 WNBA Free Agency Rankings, per CBS Sports: 1. Napheesa Collier 2. Jackie Young 3. Kelsey Mitchell 4. Kelsey Plum 5. Awak Kuier 6. Rae Burrell 7. Emily Engstler 8. Natasha Cloud 9. Nyara Sabally 10. Sophie Cunningham