So Aaliyah Boston is out for tomorrow’s game. Does it matter? No. In the grand scheme of things, it does not matter. It doesn’t really matter when it comes to Aaliyah whether or not she is playing this game because look, if we’re being real here, preseason means nothing. The New York Liberty might legitimately lose this game by 50 because they have been arguably the worst preseason team ever. Ever. Like the last two years they have lost to the Sky by 50 and then for some reason barely beat the Toyota Antelopes. This is a really bad preseason team.
However, it is genuinely going to be an interesting one to see what is going to happen with the starting center and I think it is going to be a really good shot for us to see Maisha Hines-Allen who is going to be the backup center.
A lot of people are like, “Oh, Mo is going to slide to the five. MHA slides to the four.” No. MHA shines at center. She was backup center for those Minnesota Lynx teams. She is realistically, I understand she’s short, but she is seen by a lot of people as the strongest player in the league.
Based on everything you’re hearing from the team, they seem to really like her. It seems like Caitlin was a big fan of having Maisha Hines-Allen on her team. It seems like everyone on the Fever team is happy that Maisha Hines-Allen is there. It does seem like they are happy that Maisha Hines-Allen is on the team and we’re going to get to see a lot more out of Maisha Hines-Allen tomorrow than we may have otherwise.
Look, today it’s 2:00 a.m. in Irish time. And I think that becomes really interesting. It becomes really, really interesting seeing what MKJ is not only capable of, but what we predict she’s going to do. And she’s a new player with Ty Harris missing a game. She’s going to have to play some key minutes because it is her, Mo Billings, and KK. They are the three players that can play the four-five right now and she’s going to have to play probably more minutes than we would have thought.
I don’t think anyone thought Maisha Hines-Allen was going to have to play any crazy minutes. I want to see, did she play overseas? Did she play overseas this year? Yes, she played in China. Averaged 17 points per game. Did not shoot well from three. 14 boards a game though. That being said, eight assists a game. Wow. Again, four turnovers a game. She averaged eight assists a game in China.
But yeah, we are going to see what ends up happening with her. Is she going to walk in and, I’m not going to say compete for, but is she going to be the player to step up? Because I do feel like there is a world where she is competing with Monique Billings for that starting center, starting power forward spot. She’s not competing with Aaliyah for starting center, obviously, though I do think she’s competing over that spot in a way that I say it’s Mo’s to lose, but it is now a little bit like Lexie and Sophie were competing with Dana for that starting spot and it was the one to lose.
She lost it like four times on four separate occasions and Lexie took it or Sophie took it from her and then Sophie got injured so she got it back by default. Then Lexie took it from her and then she never gained it back and then Sophie took it from Lexie.
That for me is one of those things where I’m like that’s healthy. That’s where all this is healthy. I understand there has to be some competition. You can’t just have a guaranteed starting five. You can’t just have guaranteed starters. They’re going to play no matter what every single game. And I do feel like there has to be some positions up for grabs.
We all understand nobody’s starting over Aaliyah. Nobody’s starting over Caitlin. Actually, I can’t say all because if you guys haven’t seen that long Twitter post, somebody ranting about, I think Caitlin said something in an interview like, “Oh, you know the people that are trying to make the roster.” And they were like, “What is she talking about people trying to make the roster? She’s not even a guaranteed roster spot. Stephanie White doesn’t like turnovers.” Something like that. And we’re like, “Okay, yeah, okay. You are absolutely right. Follow me into this insane asylum. We’ll get you checked in.”
But yeah, it is healthy though to have maybe one to two positions where that is a fight. So a competition between Mo Billings and MHA is healthy. Competition between Lexie and Sophie for that starting spot is healthy as long as it’s not toxic.
And by the way, if you guys don’t know, if you look at Maisha Hines-Allen’s career, and this is one of those reasons why I’m like, okay, I actually think that having competition between those specific players is okay.
If you look at MHA’s career, she has started under half of the games she’s played. She started around half. Monique Billings, she was a starter at the start last year for GS and that was it. But for her career, she has only started 66 games. She has only started 66 games in her entire career and 16 of them were in the Wubble. So she’s been a career bench player.
So Monique Billings at 30 is probably going to be a full-time starter for the first time in her career. So it’s one of those things where it’s like, okay, she can fight it out with MHA. And same with Sophie and Lexie.
Sophie Cunningham has literally been a player who will do whatever the team wants her to do. Sophie Cunningham has started almost exactly half the games in her career. If Sophie had started one more game, she would have started exactly half the games in her career.
And with Lexie Hull, Lexie Hull has started 70 of 134. So she is just over half.
So you’ve got two players in Sophie and Lexie that we all know are going to be fighting it out for a starting spot. No one’s going to have a guaranteed, god-given right to that starter spot.
I think this preseason game is going to be a really interesting one because we’re going to get to see a lot of MHA at center reps. We’re going to see a lot of MHA and Mo Billings together. We’re going to see a lot of MHA at the four. Not a lot of Aaliyah reps with them, but we’re going to see some Caitlin reps with MHA and Mo Billings. We’re going to see a lot of that.
And I do feel in general that this is going to be one of the best signings of free agency for the Indiana Fever. She’s got a certain amount of things. She can be a very good passer in the passing pick-and-roll. She’s tough. She plays hard. She doesn’t take anything from anyone. And sometimes she can shoot the ball.
And if she’s not, cool. Monique Billings wins out the starting spot. And if she’s playing up to her potential, she’s going to be the starter.
That’s kind of where I’m at with this team where it’s like there is competition. It’s more willing to lose, but MHA can get it. And getting a starting spot, probably getting a starting spot for game one of preseason helps. It helps. It means she can show a little bit more because let’s be real, Sophie took Dana’s starting spot based on preseason, based on a couple of preseason games. That’s how she got the starting spot.
Steph White is not scared to change things up based on preseason. And I understand the entire game and the result means nothing, but the process does. The result means zero. The process does, especially if you’re trying to integrate new players in.
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