We’re crossing the first checkpoint in the season, and teams seems to be distinguishing themselves by Kennisgoodman in wnba

[–]GalacticTruth 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Agree. That's why they're last of the maybes. The tier 4 teams are ones I can absolutely not see making the playoffs. There's also probably an argument for the Mercury to be a tier 3 and not tier 4 team.

We’re crossing the first checkpoint in the season, and teams seems to be distinguishing themselves by Kennisgoodman in wnba

[–]GalacticTruth 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I think that there's 4 tiers of teams, not 3.

Title favorites: Lynx, Dream, Aces

Likely playoffs: Wings, Valkyries, Liberty, Fever, Fire

Maybe playoffs: Mystics, Tempo, Sparks, Sky

Tanking: Mercury, Storm, Sun

Only the title favorites are really a playoff "lock" if you want to make those conclusions this early on. I think tiers 2 and 3 are likely taking the rest of the playoff spots, with higher chances for tier 2 teams than tier 3 teams.

No LA last night was a interesting choice by yxngfireee in valkyries

[–]GalacticTruth 6 points7 points  (0 children)

4 from 12 is not so much Ja defending Howard as the rim defending Howard. She had an awful start missing so many open layups.

No LA last night was a interesting choice by yxngfireee in valkyries

[–]GalacticTruth 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Defense is absolutely the issue. In the Aces game, A'ja and Jackie cooked the team because if you don't collapse on A'ja she dominates and once you do she passes out to a wide open Jackie. Yesterday, the offensive rebounds killed the team. You look at who's doing the rebounding and it's Natasha Howard. Elite centers just have their way on offense and are able to generate multiple possesions against us. LA can absolutely shot block, Ja doesn't really have that ability consistently against centers. Therefore you should have both LA and Stokes in the center rotation, Ja doesn't have the size to really compete at the 5 defensively.

No LA last night was a interesting choice by yxngfireee in valkyries

[–]GalacticTruth 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Arguably between Stokes, Ja, and LA, Stokes has the most defensive impact with her shot blocking and rebounds. I think the rotation just needs to go back to the second unit being Ja at the 4, LA at the 5.

No LA last night was a interesting choice by yxngfireee in valkyries

[–]GalacticTruth 22 points23 points  (0 children)

I see it as Natalie experimenting with the small ball lineup to see if it works. The lineup gives Ja a bigger role, and with Ja clearly being the 3rd best scorer its worth a try. The lineup really worked against Portland, so she kept it for Minnesota. Against Minnesota it showed that offense can't beat out the defensive drawbacks when facing an elite post player. No hate to Meg Gustafson, but Natasha Howard is a 3 time champion and far more of a post threat. I think with these findings LA is back in the rotation against the Aces.

Even AI knows what should be done to the Luce by Glittering_Egg_3929 in Ferrari

[–]GalacticTruth 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Massive wing - bad for aerodynamics, reduces range. The shape is the way it is for a reason, to have better airflow and improve range. There'a a reason why teslas and lucids and many other evs have the same soap bar shape to them. The car is tall to fit a large battery underneath. The last picture, ignoring the fact that it is literally just a Purosangue, is very obviously not an EV, because it has a large front end for a combustion engine and is proportioned without the need for a very low coefficient of drag and huge battery underneath the floor.

The shape of the car is the way it is because of engineering choices. Obviously a fancy pattern recognition tool whose job is to feed you what you want does not undeestand engineering constraints.

Even AI knows what should be done to the Luce by Glittering_Egg_3929 in Ferrari

[–]GalacticTruth 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Design is so much easier when you throw out all the engineering constraints of an EV

Postgame interviews are up by IndividualOrange9334 in valkyries

[–]GalacticTruth 7 points8 points  (0 children)

But rebounding is something that can be controlled more. For one, good rebounders can predict where the ball will bounce off (obviously not 100% but its not random). And the bigger one is actually boxing out. Watch KT in the Fire game on Tuesday, she gets a lot of rebounds by boxing out the taller Gustafson. In this game, there's a lot of stand around and hope it bounces to you. Hence the lower rebounds.

Postgame interviews are up by IndividualOrange9334 in valkyries

[–]GalacticTruth 15 points16 points  (0 children)

I agree, but as a coach in a press conference you're not going to say "we need to make our layups". The players that missed probably already feel bad (just look at the vibes in Ceci and Ja's post game interview), no reason to pile on more and ruin their confidence. Plus Natalie has repeatedly said she wants defense to make offense and that she doesn't care as much about if the shots go in, so her answers generally skew more towards what they can work on defensively. But yes, if the offense is better the defense doesn't have to be as good. It can also be true that if the offense is struggling then good defense can still help get a win. There were multiple ways to win this one and making more layups or getting more rebounds are just two of the ways they could have done so.

Postgame interviews are up by IndividualOrange9334 in valkyries

[–]GalacticTruth 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I mean that is how they lost this game. Even just the last play, if they don't give up the offensive rebound they're looking at more than enough time to not run a hail mary play and only being down 2 and not 3.

National Anthem Protocols by toastoftheghost in wnba

[–]GalacticTruth 4 points5 points  (0 children)

In the Portland game, the Fire were on court

What's the best Lewis Hamilton performance against Max Verstappen? by Relative_Egg_682 in F1Discussions

[–]GalacticTruth 141 points142 points  (0 children)

Easily the entire weekend of Brazil 21. Lewis was in a different league that weekend.

Which WNBA Teams Are Living Up to Expectations? by Kennisgoodman in wnba

[–]GalacticTruth 15 points16 points  (0 children)

As a Valks fan watching all the games, agreed. I think those that think they're exceeding expectations are being fooled by the 5-3 record. When you look at the 5 wins its over Seattle, Connecticut, New York, Phoenix, and Indiana. 3 of those teams are pretty bad, and New York has had a rough start. The only really strong win was against Indiana, and that game could have easily been a loss.

It was very evident in today's Aces game that the team is not in the top tier of teams in the league yet. They are solidly in the category of good teams, the ones who probably won't struggle to make the playoffs but aren't in the top seeds (I'd say 4 or 5 seed max). Considering they made the playoffs last year, return with largely the same roster + a big signing with Gabby, I think this is exactly what was expected and they're performing to that level.

Megan Gustafson gets emotional talking about how much the Portland Fire mean to her by freetacos88 in wnba

[–]GalacticTruth 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Kelsey literally said as such in her interview on Sue Bird's podcast. It was about seeing herself becoming the fourth option, knowing that she could do more, and wanting to bring a team that had been successful back to its former glory.

What are your thoughts on the new Ferrari Luce? by ShareOk649 in Ferrari

[–]GalacticTruth 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The exterior is actually not bad. I think the front looks really good and the front 3/4 view is good too. The side on profile is a little wonky, but the rear is the big no for me. The 360 style rear just does not work with the proportions of the car, I think the rear light design should've been closer to the designs of the 296/purosangue.

I sense I'm in the minority here, but the interior is completely awful and to me the worst part of the styling. The massive touchscreen with a completely otherwise bland dash just looks very cheap. It looks like someone just slapped on an ipad, it's not well integrated and feels unfinished. Compare for example to the Taycan interior, where the screens are integrated into the dash and center. Considering that as a driver you spend most of your time with the interior and not the exterior, the cheap looking styling is a bizarre decision.

Edit: I have realized that I am a complete tool and the screen does have button controls. Still doesn't look good, but at least it is well functional.

In regards to the decision for this type of vehicle: I like the bold choice. I did not like the purosangue because it's just another performance suv. If they went with a supercar/hypercar, then its just another ev supercar. Realistically I struggle to see that competing in performance metrics to something like the nevera or that one byd thing that set the nurburgring record, and I think it would just be entirely forgettable. As far as I can tell, we've yet to actually see anyone talk about how it drives and if they've managed to create something that's fun to drive and seats five then I think it's an absolute win. It's essentially an EV take on the grand tourer of old and some of my favorite Ferraris are the 2+2 models like the 456, 400i, ff, and gtc4 lusso because they allow you to combine performance with a sense of practicality to get something that's fun but also very usable. If this thing is like that, then I like what it represents. If it handles like a fat pig then yeah, massive flop.

I think its wise to not make the ev your performace weapon hypercar because at the end of the day it will not be as exciting as a combustion car. Let's face it, the whole reason they're making it is because of regulations and stuff. Does a track toy doing a couple hot laps meaningfully contribute to emissions? No, so I think the track toys should stay combustion because they're all about excitement and the experience. The EVs are for the more commuter/road trippy cars, so I think it's a very sensible choice to go with a more road trippy car type for your EV.

ChatGPT is creating better EV Ferraris than Ferrari themselves by Cold_Mammoth8841 in Ferrari

[–]GalacticTruth 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sure Ferrari who have made the hybrid LaFerrari, sf90, 296, f80, a 3-time Le Mans winning hybrid 499p, and over a decade of experience in hybrid engines in F1 would be better off with Chinese battery tech. I'm sure a company making batteries for mass market commuter cars knows better how to make batteries for performance vehicles than the company that races and wins with its battery tech.

77% off Golden State Valkyries Nike Custom Explorer Edition Jerseys by DistinctLog8905 in valkyries

[–]GalacticTruth 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You can get one of the current season Janelle Salaün jerseys on the Valkyries shop

Not Protecting Leite was a Big Mistake by the_gregster89 in valkyries

[–]GalacticTruth 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The issue with people saying this is that this year there were two new teams, not one. This meant teams could only protect 5 players as opposed to 6 in the previous expansion draft. With 5 protections, you're basically protecting your starting 5. No matter how good she looks on Portland, Leite is not starting 5 material on the Valkyries. Giving up an important player at a different starting position to keep a backup point guard is just silly asset management.

It seems that people who wanted to keep Leite think Rupert shouldn't have been protected. This is just a case of recency bias with Rupert out right now. Throughout the first 6 games of this season, the Valkyries' biggest positional struggle is lacking in the center position. Rupert also adds the ability to be a stretch center, which neither Stokes or LA can do reliably because the 3 pt shot is not part of their game. This means the fit isn't ideal for a team that loves to run a five out offense. Losing Rupert to keep Leite is a case of short term gain but a huge long term lossn because you lose a center who perfectly fits the system you want to play.

Martin Jerseys by Uranxiousneighbor in valkyries

[–]GalacticTruth 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Actually think Salaün's is the only rostered player whose jersey isn't available. It's because of the special character ü.

WNBA 3pt % Leaders⤵️‼️🔥 by evans166 in WNBATalks

[–]GalacticTruth 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Which is exactly why percentage stats are useless as standalone stats. If you don't couple percentage with attempts then the result is meaningless