Russell Improving In The Pros

#1

teacherdean

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#1
I have seen a few Seattle Storm games and Russell is must improved. She plays tough and she is physical. She doesn't sit back and watch others play and she hustles to both ends of the court. This shows that the ability was there when she played for Tennessee, however, the demand for excellence, or coaching, or both, was lacking. I still believe that we simply did not get the best out of Russell. This without a doubt, shows that you can recruit the best, however, no matter how you try, if you can't coach them up, you will not get their best.
 
#2
#2
I have seen a few Seattle Storm games and Russell is must improved. She plays tough and she is physical. She doesn't sit back and watch others play and she hustles to both ends of the court. This shows that the ability was there when she played for Tennessee, however, the demand for excellence, or coaching, or both, was lacking. I still believe that we simply did not get the best out of Russell. This without a doubt, shows that you can recruit the best, however, no matter how you try, if you can't coach them up, you will not get their best.

So far she’s making a great case for “most improved” in the league. Her physicality, speed and decisiveness have all improved tremendously.
 
#3
#3
She always pulled down rebounds with authority. Good to hear other parts of her game have improved.
 
#4
#4
I have seen a few Seattle Storm games and Russell is must improved. She plays tough and she is physical. She doesn't sit back and watch others play and she hustles to both ends of the court. This shows that the ability was there when she played for Tennessee, however, the demand for excellence, or coaching, or both, was lacking. I still believe that we simply did not get the best out of Russell. This without a doubt, shows that you can recruit the best, however, no matter how you try, if you can't coach them up, you will not get their best.

Yes TD ... spot on I think.... I always believed from the beginning of the HW era that expectation bar was set way low and coaching of course was lacking as well....

I see from old games when Pat was ruling the roost that effort was immense and positioning both defensive and offensive.... was sterling as well.... defense was all 5 players with hands up... and crouched down in defensive posture.... oh for those days again
 
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#6
#6
So far she’s making a great case for “most improved” in the league. Her physicality, speed and decisiveness have all improved tremendously.
Last night was her best game as a pro so far, but she still has those games where she defers to Natasha Howard too much. Still...she pushed Crystal Langhorne down the depth chart, which is no easy task. She's definitely showing more of what she's capable of.
 
#8
#8
I have seen a few Seattle Storm games and Russell is must improved. She plays tough and she is physical. She doesn't sit back and watch others play and she hustles to both ends of the court. This shows that the ability was there when she played for Tennessee, however, the demand for excellence, or coaching, or both, was lacking. I still believe that we simply did not get the best out of Russell. This without a doubt, shows that you can recruit the best, however, no matter how you try, if you can't coach them up, you will not get their best.

She's having a really good season and getting plenty of playing time in Seattle! She came here to Holly as the #1 recruit and left BARELY making the WNBA!! Not trying to bash Holly, but that's the reality of what happened?? Seattle Coach Dan Hughes and his staff really worked with her and her time overseas playing in Poland helped as well. You can't teach 6'6" and if she stays healthy she'll just keep getting better and better! Here's an article from the Seattle Times:
 
#10
#10
Last night was her best game as a pro so far, but she still has those games where she defers to Natasha Howard too much. Still...she pushed Crystal Langhorne down the depth chart, which is no easy task. She's definitely showing more of what she's capable of.
Her deferring to Howard might be more of a security blanket than anything else, however, her confidence seems to grow with every game. If she displayed near her present effort at Tennessee, we would have had top 10 teams. That is taking into consideration that other players would have stepped up. Someone finally taught her how to run. I am happy for her and hope the growth continues.

Does anyone know where Nared is? She was one the Aces final cuts. She played some good games as a rookie substitute. Better coaching who have prepared her to be a much better player. I hope she manages to get back to the WNBA.
 
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#11
#11
... Better coaching who have prepared her to be a much better player. I hope she manages to get back to the WNBA.

She played the same length of time in the pros as Russell did.
Russell got significantly better.
Even in the pros it's hard to find a skills coach.

I can be there tomorrow
 
#12
#12
MR played too many minutes. She would "pace herself" and still look gassed in the fourth quarter. She should have been on a 25 minute cap. I would have rather she played 25 min at 100 percent, than 35 at 75 percent.
 
#13
#13
I have seen a few Seattle Storm games and Russell is must improved. She plays tough and she is physical. She doesn't sit back and watch others play and she hustles to both ends of the court. This shows that the ability was there when she played for Tennessee, however, the demand for excellence, or coaching, or both, was lacking. I still believe that we simply did not get the best out of Russell. This without a doubt, shows that you can recruit the best, however, no matter how you try, if you can't coach them up, you will not get their best.
I am not surprised that she is improving with coaching. She got very little coaching under her coach at Tennessee.
 
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#14
#14
MR played too many minutes. She would "pace herself" and still look gassed in the fourth quarter. She should have been on a 25 minute cap. I would have rather she played 25 min at 100 percent, than 35 at 75 percent.


Mercedes move differently BL to BL...more graceful,,she is moving with less effort in her running.
Someone worked with her physically and on footwork since moving to the pros.

She has always had skill.
She was a double-double machine here.

She just never moved well, at UT.
 
#15
#15
Mercedes move differently BL to BL...more graceful,,she is moving with less effort in her running.
Someone worked with her physically and on footwork since moving to the pros.

She has always had skill.
She was a double-double machine here.

She just never moved well, at UT.
Coach I found that coaching require that you work with all facets of the game, as I know you do. I found that no matter how skilled a player is, you always pay attention to how they run and move. You make every effort to eliminate wasted motion which can affect foot speed. Russell always ran flat footed at Tennessee. She was a clopper, running flat using the entire length of her feet. I also coached track where we taught runners to run on the balls of their feet. That is the reason track shoes only have spikes around the balls of your feet. I taught the same principal to girls I coached in basketball.
 
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#16
#16
Coach I found that coaching require that you work with all facets of the game, as I know you do. I found that no matter how skilled a player is, you always pay attention to how they run and move. You make every effort to eliminate wasted motion which can affect foot speed. Russell always ran flat footed at Tennessee. She was a clopper, running flat using the entire length of her feet. I also coached track where we taught runners to run on the balls of their feet. That is the reason track shoes only have spikes around the balls of your feet. I taught the same principal to girls I coached in basketball.

I was taught that principal by my track coach,,,"No wasted motion running"
I teach it when I teach slides too.
No up and down movement when doing slides or when running full-tilt......head and shoulders must move like they were on a conveyor.

He told me to watch the KY Derby.
How the horses when moving slowly bounced,,,but at full speed their heads and shoulders barely moved.

I used the theory for my kick in the 440 yard (Now the 400 meter) dash and my times got under 53 seconds.
 
#18
#18
Last night was her best game as a pro so far, but she still has those games where she defers to Natasha Howard too much. Still...she pushed Crystal Langhorne down the depth chart, which is no easy task. She's definitely showing more of what she's capable of.
It’s not that she defer to Natasha, they run their offense through Natasha... Natasha is having a great season this year and one of the top players in the league... but Mercedes has def stepped her game up to be a two year player.. i see her possibly getting Most Improved player
 
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#19
#19
It’s not that she defer to Natasha, they run their offense through Natasha... Natasha is having a great season this year and one of the top players in the league... but Mercedes has def stepped her game up to be a two year player.. i see her possibly getting Most Improved player

This is the strongest I’ve seen her look physically. She looks amazing!
 
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#20
#20
This is the strongest I’ve seen her look physically. She looks amazing!
Think it is the S&C coach? Cedes always looked comparatively frail while she was here. I still miss Heather Mason. Our program took some serious damage under cheek and hart. Hoping Kellie’s got a good one....of course we can’t replace Bill Youmans. Bet Kellie wishes she had one just like him!
 
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#22
#22
Think it is the S&C coach? Cedes always looked comparatively frail while she was here. I still miss Heather Mason. Our program took some serious damage under cheek and hart. Hoping Kellie’s got a good one....of course we can’t replace Bill Youmans. Bet Kellie wishes she had one just like him!
I don’t necessarily think the S&C playing a factor cus they not required to workout in the pros, most just do... tbh, IMO, i think a lot of her success right now has to do with confidence... she’s just really looking very confident on the court lately... with that said, she’s probably on some sort of diet or changed the way she eats cus she’s not only in the starting role but been playing lots of minutes
 
#24
#24
A good pot of beans doesn't cook itself. You have to have a cook who knows what seasoning to add, when to stir the pot, and how much heat to bring.

Amen!!! & yes... Sounds like wat my mother use to say. A great coach can wake a player up,, by understanding what the player needs.
 
#25
#25
I have seen a few Seattle Storm games and Russell is must improved. She plays tough and she is physical. She doesn't sit back and watch others play and she hustles to both ends of the court. This shows that the ability was there when she played for Tennessee, however, the demand for excellence, or coaching, or both, was lacking. I still believe that we simply did not get the best out of Russell. This without a doubt, shows that you can recruit the best, however, no matter how you try, if you can't coach them up, you will not get their best.

She is getting over years of pain from her feet. I know they were surgically repaired a couple of years ago but it takes a while sometimes a long while to gain confidence and lose the fear of the pain that she must have felt every time she cut. Without PHD this take time.
 
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