Inside the WNBA Roster Shake-ups
THE REASONS WHY BREE HALL & SHYANNE SELLERS WERE CUT | THE REASON WHY CAITLIN CLARK GOT INJURED.
Estimated read time: 1:20
Summary
In a recent video by CFWB GOD, the reasons behind significant roster decisions in the world of women's basketball were discussed, especially focusing on the departures of Bree Hall and Cheyenne Sellers. The primary reasons for their removal are linked to their fit within their teams' systems, as well as strategic decisions made by coaches concerning chemistry and skill set alignment. Interestingly, there's also speculation surrounding Caitlyn Clark's potential injury, stressing the impact and the message behind such events relative to player fan bases and respect within the sport.
Highlights
- Cheyenne Sellers, though talented, was cut from her team due to not fitting the 'pace and space' system preferred by the coach 🏀.
- Caitlyn Chen seamlessly fits into the basketball philosophy of passing and movement, avoiding the spotlight the way big names like Sellers might 🌟.
- Brie Hall's termination despite her potential reveals much about the league's preference for veterans over budding talent 🚀.
- Sydney Colson is retained more for her personality than skill, displaying the unique criteria some WNBA teams hold 📋.
- Caitlyn Clark’s injury scare is viewed as a divine warning to fans exhibiting negative attitudes, underpinning the call for sportsmanship 🙏.
Key Takeaways
- Cheyenne Sellers didn't align with the Golden State Valkyries' system which values quick ball movement over ISO plays 🤾♀️.
- Caitlyn Chen's ability to fit into the team's low-maintenance and precise system kept her on the roster, despite expectations 📈.
- Brie Hall's cut from the Indiana Fever was influenced by veteran-heavy preferences, sparking conversations about young talent versus experienced players 👩🏫.
- Sydney Colson remains favored for her locker room presence despite low on-court output, highlighting the intriguing dynamics in WNBA team selections 🤯.
- Caitlyn Clark's fan base is reminded of humility amidst speculated injury issues, as respect within the basketball community is pressed as crucial 🤝.
Overview
The cuts of Cheyenne Sellers and Brie Hall from their respective teams sparked talks in the basketball community about player fit and team strategy. Sellers, while talented, didn't mesh with the Valkyries' quick-paced system, leading to her cut. On the other hand, Caitlyn Chen's seamless integration into this system, combined with her Asian heritage, possibly influenced the decision to keep her.
Brie Hall, initially cut from the Indiana Fever, highlighted a conversation on whether teams value experience over emerging talent. The Fever’s choice leaned towards maintaining a veteran-heavy roster despite Hall’s promising performances, indicating broader WNBA strategic preferences towards seasoned players.
Amid these roster changes, the community is also responding to discussions of Caitlyn Clark's injury scares as a divine cautionary tale. There is a broader message considering the attitudes of some fans, who are urged to maintain sportsmanship and respect in their admiration for players, emphasizing a deeper cultural reflection beyond the court.
Chapters
- 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction and Overview The chapter discusses Cheyenne Sellers and the type of system that Natalie Nass plans to implement with the Golden State Valkyries. The focus is on a style of play characterized by significant ball movement, without the ball sticking to one player.
- 00:30 - 05:00: Cheyenne Sellers and the Golden State Valkyries In the chapter titled 'Cheyenne Sellers and the Golden State Valkyries,' the narrative revolves around the talented player Cheyenne Sellers. Despite her skills, there is a mismatch between Cheyenne's playing style and the system employed by the Valkyries. Her default style is focused on isolation plays (ISO), which contrasts with the team's emphasis on a quick-paced, ball movement system. This discrepancy in playing philosophy becomes a focal point of discussion, shedding light on why, despite her talent, Cheyenne is perceived as not fitting into the Valkyries' system. The chapter delves into this clash of styles and the implications it has for team dynamics.
- 05:00 - 09:00: Caitlyn Chin’s Role in the Team The chapter titled 'Caitlyn Chin’s Role in the Team' focuses on the playing style and strategies utilized within the team. It emphasizes the importance of pace, space, and the practice of catch and shoot. The strategy involves moving the ball quickly, hitting the cutter, and occasionally breaking down the defender. The overall approach is centered on selfless basketball with minimal focus on inside play, highlighting a consistent emphasis on speed and teamwork.
- 09:00 - 15:30: Brie Hall and the Indiana Fever The chapter discusses the Indiana Fever basketball team, specifically focusing on Brie Hall and the team dynamics. It highlights the departure of Cheyenne Cellers due to her play style not fitting into the team's system and the introduction of Caitlyn Chin to the roster. It also mentions Tiffany Hayes as a significant member of the team, noting that apart from her, the roster consists of new, potentially less experienced players.
- 15:30 - 19:30: Caitlyn Clark's Injury and Its Implications The chapter discusses Caitlyn Clark's injury and its broader implications on the basketball team. It touches on the system the team operates in, emphasizing a rigid structure based on pace and space. The players are described metaphorically as 'robots' or 'cogs,' who are there to perform specific roles like catching and shooting, running in transition, and cutting, rather than engaging in individualistic play like ISO (isolation) plays. The chapter notes that the only player who might break out of this rigid system to create her own shot is Tiffany Hayes. The narrative suggests a disciplined approach to the game that prioritizes teamwork and system execution over individual flair.
THE REASONS WHY BREE HALL & SHYANNE SELLERS WERE CUT | THE REASON WHY CAITLIN CLARK GOT INJURED. Transcription
- 00:00 - 00:30 All right. Okay. All praises be to my creator. Hallelujah. All right. So, let's talk about Cheyenne Sellers. What a lot of people don't understand is the system that Natalie Nass wants to run with the Golden State Valkyries. It's a lot of ball movement. the ball doesn't stick. It's very little
- 00:30 - 01:00 ISO and that's not Cheyenne Cellah's game. Um Cheyenne Cell's default is to ISO and she's a talented player and that's why Natalie told the journalist, listen, it had nothing to do with anything except she just doesn't fit our system. She's a really talented player. She just doesn't fit our system. Her default is the ISO and that's not the system she's running. It's a ball movement system. Quick pace, pace, and
- 01:00 - 01:30 space. Move the ball. Move the ball. Move the ball. Catch and shoot. Catch and shoot. Catch and shoot. Hit the cutter. Hit the cutter. Hit the cutter. And there's elements and fragments of inside out, some little post game. Every now and again you obviously will have to break down the defender, but it's it's mostly pace and space, catch and shoot, catch and shoot, and it's selfless basketball with very little elements of
- 01:30 - 02:00 ISO. And that's not Cheyenne Cellers's game. When things can become a little sticky, Cheyenne Celis is going to become Kobe Bryant. Um, and and she's going to that doesn't fit her system. So that's why she had to leave. I bring in Caitlyn Chin and I mean if you just look at the roster, everyone on that roster outside of Tiffany Hayes, uh these are all women who are I don't
- 02:00 - 02:30 want to be disrespectful, but these are just these are cogs. These are robots. And they're these are robots. and they're there to catch and shoot, to run in transition, to cut, and they're not there to play any games with all of this ISO stuff. This isn't cute basketball. This is a a rigid system of pace and space, and the only one on that team who will really try to get her own shot is Tiffany Hayes. That's that's
- 02:30 - 03:00 really it. So, that's why she had to go. Caitlyn Shin is perfect for her system. Now, I don't know if she's going to keep Caitlyn Shin, but Caitlyn Chin is absolutely perfect for her system because she's lowmaintenance. She's a lowmaintenance guard. She's going to do what she's told. She's going to pass that basketball. She's going to catch and shoot when she's open. That's just what she's going to do. Caitlyn Chin isn't going to try to put you on skates
- 03:00 - 03:30 and have you slipping and falling all over the place. Her if things break down, she's not going to freak out and try to cross you over to get a shot. That's not how it's going to go. She's going to run that play to perfection as best that she can. And that's not Cheyenne Cos. And that's why Natalie, coach Natalie said, "Listen, it it's not about talent, it's about fit. She did everything we asked her to do, but she just doesn't fit our system. And that's just a fact. Now, some people are saying, "Well, you should have known
- 03:30 - 04:00 that um when you drafted her." That's very true. I think what happened is that they probably saw her in training camp and felt that they could make her who they want her to be. But we don't know what happened in training camp when things broke down when they were scrimmaging and how Cheyenne Cellers would go to her default, which is ISO. So, we don't know. And maybe they looked at that and they said, "She's very talented, but she just doesn't fit what
- 04:00 - 04:30 we want to do and they moved on from her." And that's okay. She's with the Atlanta Dream. She has a great opportunity to make that roster. And uh so salute to the Atlanta Dream for giving her that opportunity. Also brought in Caitlyn Chin because I don't believe Natalie wants to be known as the first Asian women's WNBA's basketball coach in an a heavy Asian demographic
- 04:30 - 05:00 uh with Golden State in that Bay Area. I don't think she wants to be known as the coach who cut an Asian player when there's only a few Asian players in his league, especially Americanborn Asian players. There's only one and that's Caitlyn Shin. The rest of them, they're coming from Japan and they're coming from China and they're not Americanborn. So listen, I think
- 05:00 - 05:30 that I can't prove it, but I just believe that that played a factor. Uh because most people would say I would have cut Caitlyn Chin before I would have cut Cheyenne Cellers. And that's true. Cheyenne Cers is taller. She can she can obviously do more than Caitlyn Chin, but Caitlyn Chin is just a pure point guard and she's a solid defender. So, but I think I think what played a role is that Caitlyn Chin is lowmaintenance. She's going to do what
- 05:30 - 06:00 she's told. She's a high caliber point guard, but she's Americanborn Asian. And I think that you don't only the Asian community could really speak on this, but I believe that Natalie didn't want to be known as the first Asian coach in the WNBA to cut a Asian player in an Asian market. Uh, and and I I think that plays a role in it. I don't think she wants to go down like that. So, but we'll see. Maybe she'll cut her, maybe she won't. We'll see. Brie Hall. Okay.
- 06:00 - 06:30 So, right now, the Indiana Fever, they have 13 players on the roster, right? So, after the cuts today, they have 13 players on the roster. They got to get it to either 11 or 12. I believe 11 because of salary cap constraints. Uh so that means uh Ivonne uh Eim, she's going to have to battle it out with against Brie Turner and against Jaylen
- 06:30 - 07:00 Brown. Now I'm not so sure Brie Turner's contract is protected. I don't know. I forgot. But if it's protected, then she's just going to have to battle it out with Jaylen Brown. Um because listen, if if they can keep it at 12, they're going to keep Jaylen Brown. If they're going to cut it to 11, they're going to cut Jaylen Brown. Now, she's going to have to battle that thing out uh against Jaylen Brown. But
- 07:00 - 07:30 like I said, we'll see. But Brie Hall got cut uh because of Sydney Coulson. They wanted to keep Sydney Coulson. They felt that they already have enough wings that they trust. Uh they need a backup point guard. It was stupid on their part to get rid of Grace Burger and to not draft a backup point guard. But Stephanie White is stubborn. She somehow believes that Sophie Cunningham is Marina Mabry and can play point guard and she
- 07:30 - 08:00 believes that Lexi Hall is Marina Mabry and can somehow play point guard and and that's just not the case. Just because you allow uh Sophie Cunningham to dribble the ball up against Brazil doesn't mean that Sophie is a point guard. Uh Sophie's handles are not Marina Mabber's handles. Sophie Cunningham has good court vision. But when we start playing real basketball in a regular season, she's going to get exposed um if you try to
- 08:00 - 08:30 make her play point guard because Sydney Coulson isn't doing so well. um you don't really you really don't want to give Sydney a lot of minutes and so we're gonna just let Sophie play point guard and we're gonna let Lexi Hall bring the ball up the court and initiate. Lexi's handles are not strong enough. They're not sure enough and Lexi will get exposed. Sophie will get exposed. Uh this isn't preseason. This isn't Brazil. This isn't the Washington Mystics where they're missing tons of
- 08:30 - 09:00 players. This isn't that. This is real regular season basketball. Everyone's healthy. Everyone's available. Everyone's running their real stuff. They're not scaling anything back because it's preeason and Sophie's handles will get exposed. Lex's handles will get exposed. Uh this is why you needed a real point guard. You didn't need Sydney Coulson, who's now been in the league for what, over 10 years, and she's only averaged two points a game
- 09:00 - 09:30 and one assist a game for her entire career. You kept her because she's a class clown and she's a locker room clown. And that's why you kept her. And you're saying she's a champion two times over in the WNBA, but she had nothing to do with those championships. She was a freaking benchwarmer in the discussion, right? And and so you cut Brie Hall, a 6'2 player, long wingspan, rangy, can play defense, can guard one to three,
- 09:30 - 10:00 and in some cases can guard a small four. Um she she's a really good passer, by the way. She has good court vision. She can hit any three-point shot you want. She has a good handle on her where she can create her shot in the intermediate uh area, the in between game, the mid-range game, and she could finish at the rim. Uh so it made no sense for you to cut her. Now, some people are saying, "Well, they should have cut Jaylen Brown instead." And that's true. She outperformed Jaylen
- 10:00 - 10:30 Brown in her only preseason game. Jaylen Brown has played two preseason games and hasn't produced what Brie Hall produced in just 16 minutes. She put up nine points and four rebounds and had a positive plus minus as well. She did a really good job. Uh Brie Hall and so it made no sense for you to cut her outside of I'm guessing Jaylen Brown's contract. So maybe that was the
- 10:30 - 11:00 situation. I don't know. But what I do know is that the Fever, they want a heavy a veteranheavy roster. Um, and that's sort of what they're looking for. And so Brie Hall was out of here. They got rid of her. It was a bad decision. This is why I said you got to you got to get these old players out of the league. these older players who've never done anything like Emma Cannon, like Erica Wheeler, okay? Like Sydney Coulson. They have to go.
- 11:00 - 11:30 They have to go. Get them out of the league. Erica Wheeler's time is up. It was up several years ago. She's done. She's finished. She had her little Allstar moment and she's finished. Okay. Um and and it's the same thing with Sydney Coulson. Get them out of his league. Get him out. Get Emma Cannon out of his league. Get her out. These are dream killers. They kill the dreams of rookies and young promising players
- 11:30 - 12:00 because they know how to finesse the GMs. They know how to finesse the coaching staff, right? They know how this thing goes. Let me ingratiate myself. Let me become really affable and personable and magnanimous and warm up to the coaches and the GMs. to let me make jokes with them and get them on my side. And then I know in training camp how to hustle really hard and that forces me on the roster while I wave bye-bye to this extremely promising
- 12:00 - 12:30 young rookie. Okay? And they've been doing this every year and this is how they stick in the league. And so Sydney Coulson went to her usual formula. Make everyone laugh. Make everyone enjoy my company. Hustle really hard in practice. Brie Bill. See youa. And she does this every year. Emma Cannon does it every year. Erica Wheeler does it every year. And these women need to go. They are
- 12:30 - 13:00 dream killers. Um, now listen, some people are laughing at Don Staley and they're saying Don Staley obviously can't keep him in the league. This isn't Don Staley's fault. Brie Hall is a legitimate WNBA talent. She's a legit WNBA talent. This ain't on Dawn, y'all. This isn't a Brie a Brie Bill situation where you could blame Dawn because she didn't prepare Brie Bill by having Brie
- 13:00 - 13:30 Bill to be more of a a combo guard while also being a swing forward and building an offense. a lot of packages around Brie Bill in college to get her used to this type of pressure and to make sure that Brie Bill was at the top of scouting reports offensively and she didn't prepare Brie Bill. So Bree Bill was overwhelmed. This isn't a Zia Cook situation where she didn't have Zia Cook to be a combo guard and Zia Cook got exposed because she was only
- 13:30 - 14:00 onedimensional in terms of she could only play the shooting guard role but she wasn't efficient and she needed to get her athleticism better in terms of vertical leap so she can finish higher in the paint with adjustment layups as well. She had to go overseas to perfect that. I believe Zia Cook may may last with the uh Seattle Storm. So, we'll see about that. This isn't a Leticia Ami here type of deal where she had her extremely too basic. No mid-range game,
- 14:00 - 14:30 no three-point game. Her handles needed to be tight as well. So, this isn't a Leticia Mi here situation, right? So, you can't blame Dawn Staley for Brie Brie Hall. Brie Hall is legit. She's 1,000% legit and she deserves to be in the WNBA. This is a situation where you have to point the finger at Land Dawn, Kelly Crossoff, Amber Cox, and Stephanie White for wanting the Indiana Fever to
- 14:30 - 15:00 be extremely veteranheavy to force a championship to hurry up to give that to Caitlyn Clark. And that's just what it is before all of this roster expansion next season with these two teams and obviously the new salary, the new CBA. And so, let's just get a championship now. So Kaden and Clark can flex and our fans can flex and say, "Aha, Angel Reese, we got a WNBA championship before you did. This is all force and um Brie Hall was the
- 15:00 - 15:30 sacrifice." So uh Ivon Eim, she's going to have to battle it out with Jaylen Brown. I don't think they'll cut Brie Turner. We'll see. But it is what it is. Let me get to Caitlyn Clark's injury. Now, I know when she got injured, many of you thought of me. I made two videos uh explaining if you guys keep this up, God is going to injure her. And there's this 100% pure silver lining in between the oxymoron, good and bad. Okay, the
- 15:30 - 16:00 silver lining is that if Caitlyn Clark is injured, then we get to get back to this growth the WNBA has been on since 2020, really 2021. It's exponential based off of where the WNBA came from under Lisa Borders. Okay? But it's incremental when you compare it to what Caitlyn Clark did last season. Right? So that's the silver lining. If
- 16:00 - 16:30 Caitlyn goes down with an injury, now we get to see true WNBA growth without Caitlyn Clark's impact. Right? But why would you want Caitlyn Clark injured? Well, listen. I told you God would do this because a lot of her fan base, they're mean-spirited and they're cruel. So, we just saw with Angel Ree and her game at LSU. She didn't pack the arena. Uh there was a lot of missing seats and that's because students were not at on campus.
- 16:30 - 17:00 It's the summertime. But people would say, "Well, what about Caitlyn Clark? It's the same situation and she packed the house." And that's very very true. But what what we're seeing is that you have some YouTubers clowning her. You have people on Twitter and social media clowning Angel Reese, making fun of her. Uh social media bullying her and her fan base. And this is one of the reasons why
- 17:00 - 17:30 God showed you Kaitlyn Clark and said, "I can take her away from all of you." He had mercy on her. I can remove her from this equation, right? It's nothing to do with Caitlyn Clark. It's all about you meanspirited, you cruel, hateful fans of hers. Okay? So, God gave you a little scare. He gave you a scare and he showed
- 17:30 - 18:00 you what you would be missing. Look at what she did yesterday against a terrible Brazil team who had travel issues and they they were tired and all of this other stuff. But listen, cut it out. Stop. Just stop and be civil people. Be respectful people. Stop this ninth grade high school call stuff. This juvenile stuff. N look at Kayla Clark's
- 18:00 - 18:30 attendance. and and look at yours injuries. You suck. You suck. Stop it. Right before the creator gives Kaitlyn Clark a serious severe injury. I told you that this would happen. I made two videos before the season started and I told you this would happen. It's not because of Caitlyn Clark. It's because of you. So if you keep this cruel, hateful stuff
- 18:30 - 19:00 up, this ninth grade n, if you keep this stuff up, the creator will give her a more severe serious injury and remove her from the equation. So the oxymoron, if that happens, is good and bad, bittersweet. The silver lining in between the oxymoron, okay, is now we can finally see true growth without Caitlyn Clark's
- 19:00 - 19:30 impact. But no one wants that to happen. But it's going to happen if you keep this up. Cut it out.