The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Good Follow - Angel Reese & Caitlin Clark, Fever vs Liberty Preview, + Lynx Hot Start, Top Debuts & More

Episode Date: May 21, 2025

This week on Good Follow: Ros & Logan react to the Sky vs Fever game and Clark’s foul on Reese, preview the Fever vs Liberty game, and discuss the Lynx's dominant start to the season. Then, Meadowlark Media’s Juju Gotti joins Logan and Ros to break down the debuts of Paige Bueckers, Sonia Citron, Kiki Iriafen and more. Later, Ros, Logan, and Juju blind rank WNBA social moments from week 1. Finally, Logan shares her NWSL pick of the week presented by DraftKings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Public Mobile, different is calling. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get a nice rank on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Goaltenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries Yes, we deliver those. Gold tenders, no. But chicken tenders,

yes. Because those are groceries and we deliver those too. Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. You're listening to Draft Kings Network. Hey, what's up, y'all? Welcome to Good Follow presented by DraftKings. I'm Roz, Gold on Wood, eh? That's my girl Logan Hackett.

Logan, how are you? I'm good. Coming off of a crazy opening weekend, and it's so crazy to think that we have so many left, but how are you? You are looking great in that studio. Yes, I'm officially coming to you from our New York studios. I've made that move to Brooklyn for the summer. I'm going to be covering the New York Liberty.

So this is going to be my new home, I guess. Hello. It's seafoam season. It's, yes, I guess so, I guess so. But I do love our New York studio. I mean, you know, we'd be in LA sometimes, we'd be in Miami sometimes, but that's because no matter where we are,

we have to deliver the show to you guys watching wherever you're watching it from. So we have a great menu of topics for today's show, because, as Logan said, it is WNBA opening week. Games have gone down or we're breaking it down. So here's what we got for you. We got some X's and O's. We have player breakdowns of Caitlin Clark,

Nafisa Collier, and Paige Beckers. Let's watch the film in the tape. We're reviewing those opening week games, highlighting the New York Liberty, the Aces, the Fever, the Lynx, and more, and surprise, the Mystics are cooking. We've got a preview and a look ahead to New York Liberty versus the Indiana Fever. There's a lot of new players and new teams,

so the best debuts around the league we'll be taking a look at. And of course, the take foul heard around the world between Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark and all the hot takes that have come with it. And we have a special visitor joining us from our Metal Arch family. Juju Gotti joins the show. And as always, y'all, thank you so much for subscribing, commenting, liking, pressing

all the buttons, following our socials. And don't forget new episodes drop every Wednesday at 7 p.m. Eastern. So be there or be square. I have not said that since I was in grade eight, but let's get into the show. Be there or be square. Absolutely. You snooze and lose. Anyways, we're taping this ahead of the Fevers Tuesday night game against the Dream.

However, we have got to talk about their crazy 93 58 win over the sky, which was just announced as the most watched WNBA game ever on ESPN with 2.7 million viewers and peaking at 3.1 million. Wow. Crazy considering it was literally the first day of the season. But Caitlin Clark did steal the show with her third career triple double. And of all the things that stood out, Roz, what impressed you the most? She clearly did a lot well.

But for me, it's Caitlin's passing. It's the dimes that she's dropping specifically out of the pick and roll. So we've got some film. Let's take a look at the damage that Caitlin can do out of that pick and roll. So we've got some film. Let's take a look at the damage that Caitlin can do out of that pick and roll. Now you'll watch Caitlin Clark. She's gonna come off the screen and look how deep she is. She's gonna pull the fact that she will take

and will make this three. That is what sets everything else up. Look, the defense is looking and standing up straight at Caitlin and they burn her back door. That's Lexi Hull, who's going hard, going a million miles per hour. A screen here, pick and roll, and the defense is standing up, still looking.

Instead of jumping to the ball and helping on Howard, Caitlin creates that. Again, two defenders stuck on Caitlin, and Aliyah Boston, her versatility and ability to pick and pop sets that up. Defenders are caught looking at Caitlin, it's a great read from Aliyah Boston, who's gonna pop sets that up. Defenders are caught looking at Kaitlyn. It's a great read from Aliyah Boston, who's going to knock down that jumper. You know, I think one of the things that

are the pick and roll is Kaitlyn creates so much confusion, so much chaos because everybody's rightfully so kind of worried about getting out on her. And so on one hand, she sets that up, but on the other hand, she's got teammates that are very smart and are making the right reads and burning the defense. And actually, speaking of those teammates, I was so shocked to see how balanced the stat sheet was in this game. Four of their five starters had 15 or more points. But I also want to shout out Lya Boston with that 19-13 double-double. And then Lexi Hall coming off the bench with nine and nine.

She looked great. And actually, as you were going through the highlights, my first thought was, Kaitlyn creates so much chaos. Maybe when you watch the game, you see it, but when you watch it back, you really see just how chaotic it is. But did you expect to see this much

of a dominant performance from the fever straight out the gate? You know, Logan, I think you expected the fever to be good. We all said that, right? Like, I feel like everybody said that, but, I think you expected the fever to be good. We all said that, right? Like, I feel like everybody said that. But where I really was impressed was on the defensive end with the fever. If the fever are going to be serious about defense this season, now that's where they are in truly scary territory.

And what I saw was impressive. You know, they had they held Chicago below 30 percent from the field, 22 percent from three. They defended without fouling. They only sent them to the free throw line 12 times. In fact, while also blocking the ball, which is tough. Sometimes you're in fouls when you're going for the block. They had 10 blocks, notably Aliyah Bossen with five and Caitlin Clark with four.

So I think the defense is my first seriousness indicator for just how lethal the fever have the potential to be. And then just their depth. They have so many options. I'm just gonna rattle a couple of names off because it's literally that many. But Natasha Howard, she looked buoyant, energy around the rim, very mobile and quick there.

Kelsey Mitchell, she is someone that doesn't need Caitlin Clark to set up her shot. Like she can do it off the bounce. She can create her own shot and the pace that she plays with, she is so fast. Aliyah Boston. You know, remember we had coach Stephanie White on our show. We did an interview and she said, Hey, I think we can be playing with Aliyah with a B like they do with Jokic because she's so cerebral. She absolutely looked like a high IQ player out there. It was shining her brilliance around the game. And so what

they're doing is oftentimes she's setting up or getting the ball or screening high out and there's nothing but space for her to then read or make a decision on the right play with. And so she was able to do that over and over to exploit for, you know, faking the dribble handoff, going the other way, screening and picking and rolling, pulling up if the defense is standing there and waiting. She made great reads all game. And then here's the X factor for the fever. It's our girl, Stanford's own. You know, we love a Stanford grad. It's Lexi Hull.

Because Lexi Hull goes so hard. She has high impact minutes on both ends of the court. Her motor is out of this world on offense. She's playing at such a high game speed. She is running her lane in transition. She's cutting back door. She's just willing to keep going like an Energizer bunny. And on defense, she is just a maniac, a gnat. She's so annoying on the ball, her on-ball defense, and she's strong and she's long and she's just making things happen whether she's coming off the bench or not. So I just feel like, you know,

she's just such a high impact X Factor. And, you know, shout out to our Stanford fam too. But you see all of the weapons that the fever have. And to me, what it signals too, is I think this season we're gonna see multiple 15 plus assist games from Caitlin Clark. I think we'll see a couple 20 plus assist games from Caitlin Clark. I think we'll see a couple 20 plus assist games from Caitlin Clark. This is game one.

Imagine as they really gel over the course of the season. I don't even think that's crazy to say that Caitlin Clark might just really eat up the assist record books. Not crazy to say, but crazy to think about. But another thought that I had, I think for one of the first times ever was, is this fever defense so good or is Chicago's offense just so bad? And I think it could have been a mixture of both. But we did see such an improvement from the fever's defense.

And that all comes with Stephanie White. But on the other side, Angel dropped a double double and hit a milestone by becoming the fastest player to hit 450 points and 450 rebounds. So what have you seen from her performance so far? You know, I was impressed that Caitlin Clark had a triple double and I was impressed that that Angel Reese came out and immediately picked up where she left off and had a double double. This is a machine. That's not easy business.

And she comes out there and just works. I thought especially early in the game on offense, Angel Reese was able to face up and attack the rim and finish, you know, attack her defender. We'll be keeping an eye on her offensive efficiency throughout the season. I mean, that's the point, you know, of growth that we want to see from her. But at one point, the defense is sagging off of her

and Angel Reese steps into that three with confidence and knocks it down the three point shot. And I was like, okay, Angel, like that's an area of growth. That's an expansion of her game. And also I love that, you know, Tyler Marsh has empowered her to look for that and take that. Absolutely. And I feel like we have to talk about the biggest, one of the biggest parts of the game,

at least is everything going on with Caitlin Clark and Angel and the so-called rivalry. But what do you make of all of this and the hate and the media and the fans and everything just fueling it? Yeah. Look, I think as far as the foul itself, I think the refs got it right by upgrading it to a flagrant foul. In fact, in watching the broadcast, I also thought that Rebecca Lobo immediately identified that and did a good job of talking through it. Kaitlyn reminds me of Diana Tarassi. Like, in the sense that she's in the mix. She be in the mix. She's always in the mix. And often I feel like what the refs end up catching is the reaction to Kaitlyn.

You know? And so that's what happened with Angel. And actually I want to, you know, I also think Angel didn't overreact. I thought that was a normal reaction to a basketball play. And you know, people try to call out her reaction. I didn't think it was an overreaction. And I think the foul itself in an isolated vacuum is a common basketball play that we see often as a take foul.

If we're looking at it as an isolated basketball incident, however, the reason why we're talking about it on today's show is because it's not in a vacuum. It is in the stratosphere of the entire ecosystem of basketball. And now, women's basketball has permeated the culture of like society and it's bigger than that. So now when you take into consideration the individual histories of Caitlin Clark over this one and just beginning of a second season in the league and Angel Reese, and then you also take the body of work of years of their history together.

Now that in that history, like it puts pressure on the incident and certainly the narrative and the way that we're talking about it. So here's my main takeaways. It happened in the very first game of the season for these two teams. I was like literally crazy, but it also could be an opportunity.

The WNBA just launched their No Space for Hate campaign and this is right at the start of the season. You got a chance to show what this whole campaign is about. Is it just talk or, you know, it's an opportunity for the WNBA, the league and the Players Association to show what swift action after an investigation looks like and to set a tone and a precedent for what poor fan behavior, what the consequences of that are. So I'll be looking to the league,

you know, and the WNBA Players Association to set the tone here. It's not necessarily on the players. And then the other take that I have on this, Logan, I'm curious your opinion, like too. You know, as soon as I saw the play, I literally was like, oh man, here we go. It's about to be nutty, we're gonna get the think pieces. And I and

I know I wasn't the only one that thought that. And somehow Logan, we now have a number of unrelated national media members who don't normally discuss women's basketball, but have somehow managed from this one foul to center themselves in the discussion and conversation. Like how have you managed to take this one foul play and center yourselves, your family, just a whole bunch of nonsense for clicks and engagement. I didn't hear those same national pundits that have now made a scene of this

discuss Caitlin Clark's triple double or Angel Reese's double double. You know, it's actually annoying and it's so tired. That was my first thought is I'm just so tired of this already. But when I saw the play, I was actually ironically out for dinner with four of my guy friends and I literally put my phone away I was like, all right One of you has to take my phone because I don't want to look at it for the rest of the night But I'm also just gonna sit there and prepare for war because I don't know what is about to be said at this table And thankfully because I'm with some normal and same sane human beings all of their takes were valid

I mean from the foul to everything else Honestly, the biggest talking point was that we wish that Caitlin wouldn't have backed away from it. But even with the angel going down, as you said, that is completely normal and valid. If you have watched a WNBA game before, you will see that unless the players hurt on the ground, they are going at the person who sent them to the ground. But yeah, with everyone coming in and just making it about themselves, there's a whole thing with all the football players. I absolutely hate it. And it is trying not to completely just, you know, plan them out, but yeah, it is overshadowed at everything, but to think that we also have four more games. I mean,

the W definitely needs to act in this case. And I hope there's a lot of protection for Angel and Katelyn as a matter of fact. And also the fact that the WNBA All-Star is going to be an Indian is a bit scary. But again, we'll see what comes out of all of this. Absolutely. I think those are really good points. And again, it comes back to like Onus. In a way, it's almost an opportunity that had happened so early in the season to like alright Let's nip this in the bud or at least let's get let's start ourselves on a path of showcasing

What happens when there's poor fan behavior and so they're launching this investigation Exactly, but I actually want to stick with the fever They have a very early test against the defending champions on Saturday. And right now DraftKings has the Liberty favored going back to back, but the fever are right there behind them. Now I said a few shows back that I wanted to see them play top teams and I'm so excited to see this game. Both of them had strong opening weekends with teams that kind of faltered a bit. I mean, the Aces did not play well other than Asia Wilson. But do you think we could see an early season upside or is Liberty's roster just too deep? Oh, the Liberty are so deep. Actually, I think

for both teams, the Liberty and the Fever in this upcoming matchup, it's a good test for both of them. It's a good litmus test. Both teams are deep. But the Liberty in particular, you know, their first game of the season against the Aces, they were 4 for 21 from 3. And Sabrina had a quiet game, and yet they still won big. And it's the depth that shined. First person I'll call out, Natasha Cloud. She came through, what was her stat line? 22 points, 9 assists, 6 rebounds, 3 steals. She brings the energy on both ends. And when she first came to the Liberty, one of the first things she told me was,

I'm bringing that dog, bringing that dog to New York. And we hear that word thrown around a lot, like, you know, someone's a dog. Like, what is that? How does that actually show itself on the court? And Natasha Cloud showed that. It was when the Aces were closing the gap on the lead and they were putting the pressure on the Liberty. And the Liberty had been there before against the Aces were closing the gap on the lead and they were putting the pressure on the Liberty and the Liberty had been there before against the

Aces. The Aces know that they have the ability to come back but it was Natasha Cloud who rattled off consecutive plays, tough plays at the rim, getting into the free throw line. It was a response in the face of adversity and that's what it means to be a dog. Also, she got great energy, offense created off of defense. She's in passing lanes, steals that created runouts. Those are tough, gritty plays. And so I was impressed with the timeliness of her play. And then lastly, when I talk about depth for the Liberty,

it's also their depth inside. And I actually think all good things for the Liberty start in the paint, interestingly enough, like inside. I think it starts with Brianna Stewart and John-Quel Jones and the way that they can establish inside. They're versatile players, but they also get the work done inside and they can be really aggressive attacking the glass.

So you've got those two players anchoring it and then you have Nyara Saboli, talk about depth, waiting in the trenches for her name to be called because she is highly talented and has great potential too. Real quick, what are your keys to the game for both the Liberty and Fever? Okay, so I made a little key sheet for the Fever. Keys versus the Liberty, Fever keys versus the Liberty.

I think you gotta put pressure on the ball. You have to make the Liberty feel you. The Liberty wanna have great size and they swing and pass that ball very freely and unselfishly. You gotta take away the vision and not make it so easy to pass. You do want another key. You want to defend without fouling. The Liberty put pressure on the defense,

either with players that are willing to put the ball on the floor and attack the rim and attack the defense, or they'll pound it inside and you've got to defend those big girls. I think they have, like I said, they have an advantage with their bigs. You've got to defend them without fouling. I think for the fever, they can use pace to their advantage. One of the reasons the Liberty won a championship, they're more than offense. They're a good defensive team. And instead of having to deal with their defense in the half court set, you know, go to one of your strengths, which is play with pace, beat that defense down the court

and do what you do. And then of course, again, coming back to the Liberty rebound well out of a lot of positions. So you have to box them out. Box out. All right. I got on the other side, Liberty keys for the fever. Here's what the Liberty need to do. Transition defense. This is an Indiana fever team that could play well with pace. And one of the best ways to play good transition defense is to not turn it over. You got to take care of the ball. Avoid those open court turnovers or opportunities where the Indiana Fevers crowd, remember this is going to be an Indy.

Don't let them become an X factor, the crowd. Okay, it's already crazy in there. And then obviously one of the biggest issues that the fever poses, defending Caitlin Clark out of the pick and roll. So communication and rotation out of the pick and roll is going to be very key for the Liberty. And the good news for the Liberty is they are a veteran team that understands how to do that. But it's, you try your best to avoid confusion against the Caitlin Clark pick and roll. And then lastly, as someone who

covers the Liberty, I always say good things happen when Jonquell Jones is engaged early and setting the tone and the paint. Get her those paint touches inside early. It sets up the gravity for everything else the Liberty want to do, you know, drives off the kick out threes off the kick out spacing all the things, but established on call early. Those are my keys to the Liberty fever game. So we have the Liberty, we have the fever. But another team that was looking really good are or were the links who got two wins out the gate and they are picking up right where they left off. In the first game, he put up 34 and Courtney Williams was Pete

Courtney Williams with a very flashy 25 points. But in the second fee also put up 23. So what were your takeaways from the opening here? Yeah, I actually have to raise my hand because in the season preview that we did, I kind of was like, wow, all these other teams added so many players and talent, and the links kind of just doubled down

and stayed with the same roster. Is that going to be enough? Is continuity enough? Well, it's looking like continuity. Yeah, right. The continuity was continuity. They looked really good in their first two games. So first of all, in two games, we got to start with Courtney Williams,

who just was the maestro out there. 19 assists, zero turnovers. And guess what? I also asked, you know, how much more can Cheryl Reeve squeeze out of this roster? It looks like she's squeezing the fruit and getting more juice. So Jessica Sheppard didn't play last season. She's looked especially mobile, efficient, confident and tough around the rim. We might even see a breakout season. Could Diamond Miller have a breakout? You know, last season injuries, she fell out of rotation.

You know, she's she has an opportunity here. And mind you, Kayla McBride hasn't even suited up yet. Alana Smith just joined rejoined the team. And of course, I haven't talked about their MV fee candidate and Nafisa Collier. Here's the thing about Nafisa Collier, I say it often, but when when you're defending her, the defense must stay locked in. What she does better than anyone else possibly in the world is her movement without the ball. And as soon as she sets a screen, or as soon as she gives it up, that's when the party starts. And defense, you've got to stay locked in. I've got some examples for you. Let's take a look at these clips here. Now, Fee's going to eat against Maddie Segrist a lot,

but Courtney Williams has the ball. Fee catches the defense standing up. You can't stand up. Stay locked in. You gotta see the ball and Fee. She back cuts and hits a jumper. All right, Courtney Williams, again, the two of them work very well together.

Fee passes the ball. You must be locked in. The defense switches and she catches them on her backside. So that's an easy roll slip into the basket. She makes you pay for whatever decision. Fee loves to set screens. I think cause she likes to score. Shuts that screen.

Look at all the space. That wasn't for Courtney Williams. That was for Fee. And then a little two clap, Maddie Segrist bites. And Fee is to the cup. Now you see me, now you don't. That's the oldest trick in the book. She said Maddie and Maddie came out and Fee is to the cup. Now you see me now you don't. That's the oldest trick in the book. She said, Maddie and Maddie came out and Fee goes back door.

If you watch those plays guys, that was four baskets and one dribble from Nafisa Collier. Four baskets and one dribble. That is a clinic friends. Coaches show that to your team. Show that to your young players because that's beautiful basketball.

Absolutely insane. And again, I'll say it once I'll say it again. I cannot wait to watch the rest of the season, especially with her in the whole MVP race. But y'all coming up Metal Arc, Metal Arc media's Juju Gaudi joins Ros and I to break down some of the top debut in the league this season. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Good Follow presented by DraftKings. I'm Roz, she's Logan, and Logan, this past weekend in WNBA opening action, it was full of debuts, new players in new situations, new teams, and we'll be evaluating their impact with someone who is making their debut on our show. And it is our friend, our family from the Metal Arc fam.

It is Juju Gotti. You may know him from the Dan Levitard show, from Alley Oop, his own show. What's up, Juju? What's up, my sisters? I'm so honored and so happy to be invited here and share a platform with you legends. Yes, yes, we know you love the W

and we know you love Unrivaled. I sat next to you at Unrivaled in Miami and you were losing your mind and I see that you rocking your Atlanta dream team. I see you already. You got to know, man, we got BG, the world, we are unstoppable right now. You can't tell me nothing.

I can run through a wall. Hopefully it's a plastic wall, not a brick one. But I'll run straight through that wall for BG. I love the spirit. Absolutely. Are you ready to get into it? Let's get into it. I am ready.

Let's talk about these debuts. Let's do it. Yeah, so starting in the East, we had our eyes on Kiki Irifin and Sonja Citrin, who right now, they are second and third in points for the Mystics through two games. Kiki put up 14 points for Revenz to assist in her first game against the Dream, and then had a crazy 17-14 double-double in the second against the Sun.

And then Sonja had 19 points in her debut and followed that up with a 15-point game. I'm very impressed. I think everyone is very impressed of how they fit into this team, but someone who we're also all impressed with is Natasha Cloud, who had an amazing franchise debut with the Liberty, putting up 22 points, nine assists and six rebounds.

To be honest, I would put these all on the same level of great pickups for both of these teams, but what did y'all think of their performances this weekend? Yeah, I think- Juju, I see you. I see you shaking your head yes when you seen it. I see you shaking your head yes.

Right. One of the most important things about Saniya's, Saniya's 15 against the Sun, they came at clutch moments in that game. They weren't in the beginning of the game first quarter. I think she went into the fourth quarter not with all those points. I think in the clutch, I'm talking about and ones at the end of the game.

The game was still in the balance. Sonya stepped up for her squad. So I think she has been already worth that draft pick. Of course, Kiki gonna do her thing. But dog, let me tell you, this Saturday in this living room when I watched my sister, Tasha Cloud, bruh, the New York Liberty got a steal with her. If she gonna be bringing the points, assists,

and the rebounds, I don't know, dare I say, they are the title front runners right now, in my opinion. Oh yeah, it was a huge pickup to get Natasha Cloud. And I'm just gonna continue to focus in on, look at the Mystics. People picked them to finish 12 or 13, end of the league in the rankings and all these types of things. And they look great and so do their rookies. Both Kiki and Sonya look confident and they're making fundamental basketball plays.

Kiki, I'm impressed. Used to go to Stanford. I've known her. Well, that's my girl. That's my sis. Like she looks very confident, mobile around the rim and efficient. And on the other side for Sonia, what stands out to me is these are all to your point, Juju, she made big plays and these aren't plays where she's dribbling the air out of the ball or they're running sets for her necessarily. These are just heads up, good, high IQ basketball plays.

She's gonna, and she works hard. She's gonna run her lane and get a run out. She's gonna read the screen and flare out for a three. Or she'll spot up along the three point line and a teammate will find her. Or she'll cut and move without the ball. Like she's just out there making nice basketball plays. Nothing is too complicated.

And for a rookie over two games, she's averaging 17 points per game on 64% shooting. The efficiency as a rookie is what stands out to me, but I won't let this be all about the rookies. I know we're talking about debuts, but I do have to shout out the Mystics being a surprise of the early part of the season also has to do with Brittany Sykes.

Slim, we know her for defense, but she's averaging 25 points per game and six assists over two games. So the veteran for the Mystics is setting the tone. Right, I think also too, last year people forgot, if B. Sykes don't go down with that injury, that team would have looked a lot different. They was very scary.

As an Atlanta Dream fan, I know she came back off that ankle just to stick it in our behind for one game before she got back hurt. So yeah, besides, I think if she keep on this path, she could be in the running for MVP conversations if that team does well enough. Wow, you know, I love hearing your perspective because that's a fresh opinion.

Just, you know, someone that I don't think people would have picked that. But I know Slim would like to hear that. If you told someone this time last year, even at the end of the season last year, that Brittany Sykes, Kiki and Sonia would be driving this team who are currently sitting in first, they would not have believed you whatsoever. That sounds like a crazy sentence. But now moving on to the West, we had page breakers, Kelsey Plumb, Satu Sabli and Alyssa Thomas, who all made their

debuts with their new teams. And Kelsey actually broke the record for most points in the season opener, putting up 37 points against the Valkyries. But with that last week on the show, when we were going through our rundown, I said that Phoenix was going to be a Slaver team. And that was shown with Satu breaking a Mercury debut record with 27 points and A.T. coming in hot with 26 and 7. So y'all, what did you think of their performances? I'll start on this one.

I'm going to call out the number one draft pick, making her debut to the W, not just for Dallas. Paige Becker. She had a good first game. And I think in the second game that she played, she was even better. And in that game against Seattle, she had 19 points, eight assists, three turnovers, that comes with it,

five rebounds, three steals, one block, and she shot 50%. She did a lot of things well on both sides of the ball, but for me, passing is impressive because it's a tough adjustment for guards, especially, going from college to the pros. And I actually heard this from Sue Bird, from a number of greats, that like,

it's just your idea of, is the pass there or not? It's just harder to adjust that the gaps are smaller, the defenders are faster, and the hole closes up faster than you expected. I actually have a few highlights from the game with Paige. Let's take a look at her passing. So Paige, she's got two defenders up on the ball and she's able to see over it.

She's got good size and vision, a nice touch on that bounce pass. Now right there, she's willing to push the pace, but it's a little risky of a pass. It sneaks through, but it's a long distance. This one, she tries to sneak through with a bounce pass across the court, and it gets picked off.

See, decision making is tough, but now she got a better angle on this one, shortened the distance, and she was able to zip that pass through for the pace and the tempo that she wants in the fast court, open court break. So for me, what I'm showing in that highlight package is just, you know, look, there's something

she's doing great with passing, and you can see that there's still a little bit more adjustment as you expect for a rookie in her second game. But boy, she looks, it's a good start for Paige Becker. Right, and the thing that people also gotta remember, she getting the Caitlin Clark treatment right now. Welcome to the league rook for every team. Like, bruh, Seattle was on her behind sending double teams, triple teams. Like, she's still getting the job done. She hit a contested jumper over Necker last night and won.

They didn't call it, but it was like an and one. Like, she's performing well under the dire circumstances that most of these rookies don't have to face. So her with that Dallas team and Arikay, she hasn't necessarily got off the blocks just yet this season. She had a couple of rough games to start this year. So I feel like once everybody gets in tune with each other,

Arikay understands where that jumper starts to get more wet. And you got Melissa Smith on the block. They showing me a lot. That team is very, very tough. I think we'll see more. I'm not worried about who the Dallas wings are in May. I'm more concerned on like, how much do they improve by the All-Star break?

And I thought you brought up good points, Juju. I'll call out Tierra McCowen, who had a rough first game. 4,000 five minutes and walked off the court early in the first game. Second game, she was high impact and looked way better on the glass and as a scoring threat on the paint, so that was great.

Right, and they got a rookie head coach right now too who's trying to fine tune this lineup. Like last time I was like, bro, let's put some people back in the games. It got close at the end and the lineups didn't necessarily change. So yeah, like you said, I'm more interested in how they end the season

versus how they started. Yeah. And with all that, it is just the beginning of the season, but a debut that wasn't as star studded as we expected, or I guess it wasn't as-studded as we thought it would be was Jewel Lloyd with the Aces. How did y'all see her fit into this team? What did you think about her performance there? Yeah, Jewel had a rough one. I mean you going against the champs

on ring night. I mean as your debut that's a rough day especially especially like we said, Tasha Cloud was clicking on all cylinders. That was the Stewie we saw. That was the New York Liberty we saw. And I think at the beginning of the game, I think her, it was Asia and Chelsea Gray scored like the first what, 20-something points almost. So I think the entire Vegas roster was kinda, you know what I mean, getting their bearings

and wasn't a great look for the gold mamba. But I know that she will get it together because what we talking about is the gold mamba. Yeah, yeah. I am not worried after one game just yet for the Aces or for Jewel Lloyd. I certainly expect that she's, this is part of like growing pains and meshing pains.

She'll get her rhythm with that team as she gets more reps with them and actual game time experience. I'll tell you who did look like she didn't miss a beat and did look like she was in rhythm and form from the MVP season before. It was Asia Wilson, my goodness. I don't know anyone who's playing with more motor, force, speed, agility, skills, size, strength, and power at once than Asia Wilson. And she had 31 points on 11 for 22 shooting.

She got to the free throw line, made all of them, eight for eight. So Asia, check. She looks like she's an MVP form. But I actually did the math on what the rest of the team did. The rest of the team shot 28%. They shot 17 of 60, did the rest of the team did. The rest of the team shot 28%. They shot 17 of 60 did the rest of the team. So I don't expect the Aces will shoot that poorly forever, but here's the thing. You can't shoot poorly and, and not defend. And so that was the issue that I know that coach Becky Hammond had with them. The Aces defended in spurts, but for most of the game

against the Liberty, who they are the reigning champs, you know, this is tough, they got cut on, they got driven on, and they had a hard time defending the Liberty without fouling. They sent them to the free throw line 21 times. So one thing you gotta know you can depend on is are y'all gonna be serious about defense? And this was a question last year from Becky Hammons and her team and it's carrying over now again. So, and again, with the depth as well for the Aces. It's a lot of the same questions coming up for the Aces.

But yeah, what we know about Becky though, Becky ain't gonna let this stuff go on for too long. She gonna get them in shape. So she gonna get to the bottom of this. Becky didn't even smile in the media day pictures. Y'all saw that? Becky came to the media day pictures. Y'all saw that? Becky came to the media day pictures like this. All right.

Don't play with her. We have to run to break, but next up, Roz, Juju and I play a game of blind rancor. So we'll be right back with that. The NBA Finals are almost here and every second counts. With DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA, you're not just watching history, you're betting on it. And now's your shot to get in on the action. Player props, game lines, live bets. This is playoff betting at its finest. New to DraftKings? Bet just $5. And if your bet

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DraftKings, the crown is yours. I'm Roz, she's Logan, and he is Juju joining the show. And Logan, you got a game, don't you? We're about to play a game together. Yes, so this week we are playing a game of Blind Ranker WNBA Edition. So the producers are going to show us a moment from social and all three of us are going to have to agree where to rank it from one to five

with one being the best moment. And without knowing what comes next, the hard part about this is we're not changing anything around. Oh, okay. That's tough. Let's try. Yeah.

All right. So let's see which one. Let's see which one is up first. Okay. This is King James, LeBron James did a pre-season good luck wish post to Caitlin Clark. And I just want to point out, y'all see that there's three pictures.

This wasn't just one picture. This was a three picture, three slide carousel post. Bro did a three slide carousel post to support Caitlin Clark heading into the season. A carousel from LeBron James is actually kind of crazy. Right, right. I had to go so high on the first one, but what's better than the King James giving you the carousel and wishing good luck? I don't know. Even Caitlin seems surprised. She was like, was it AI? And then she was like, no, no, no, I knew he took that picture. I knew it was me. But she was like, did LeBron really

post it? And she did. But yeah, that's gotta be in the four range. What'd you think, Logan? Four? I was thinking three, like three, four. I don't want to put it super high. I want to give us room. Let's put it at four. That's why I need y'all because see, I was about to overreact. I was like, let's put it negative one because that's all. Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, time out. Which one is the best side is what is best? Five is whatever we think is. Wait, wait, is one the best or is five the best? One is the best. Oh, one is the best. Y'all see I was playing the game wrong.

So I then so okay, games maker and rule explainer. Y'all do you make that clear to me? I think it's I think it's a y'all do you think make that clear to me? I think it's I think it's a two three. What you think? Yeah, I like three She like three. Oh, no You do things it's one you do I think it's a two-piece That at two let's see what's up next

The Sparks debut a new court side lounge at the homeowner. That's cool. That's not beating LeBron. Post the game. He supposed to be watching the game too. Like that's cool for the people in locked in. Dude, my lounge. And for all of our audio viewers who can't see,

this is a video of the LA Sparks court side seating. It's like couches, tables. there's fake boxwoods there. It looks beautiful. Okay. Yeah. The Sparks, they do the courts on the lounge. How much of the game can you see? How much of the game can you see from that lounge though? I feel like, you know, I want people locked in.

Don't come up here sitting on the VIP couch with your feet up. There goes Chelsea Plum shooting two points over someone's face. Yeah, I agree. I think this is exciting and hopefully it's a price package that puts more money in the pockets of, you know, the L.A. Sparks. And that's that's the whole point. You know, the moolah. But I'll give that a four.

What do you think? I'm putting that at four. I agree. Leave it. Yeah. Whether money reside is true. So that can't go for four. That was an easy agree. All right. Let's all right.

Oh, y'all. Okay. This one is Ellie the elephant game. Ellie Minaj for her debut performance of the season and y'all. OK, this one is Ellie the elephant. You came Ellie Minaj for her debut performance of the season. And you'll see she got her own custom championship ring. You'll see they gave they gave Ellie a ring during the celebration only in Brooklyn. So where is that in newsworthiness?

It's time for me. I mean, of course, it's time three for you. You don, of course it's top three for you. You don't have to sit here as Atlanta Dream fan watching big Ellie have a national glow up. She on state farm commercials. She on, I mean, she got a ring now. I'm putting that at five. Oh boy.

What? I'm a hater. That's crazy. You a hater. That's crazy. Go run it, Howard. Ellie's doing red carpets, baby. You crazy. Right. Ellie had doing red carpets, baby.

You crazy. Ellie had one of the biggest breakout seasons of last year and now she's trying to break it out this season. I'm putting her at three. They swept us in the playoffs, so I'm salty, but yeah, that's three-worthy. We can't listen to Juju because he's bitter. All right, three, three. Yeah, I like it at three. All right, three, three.

Yeah, I like it at three. All right. What is the next social moment? So y'all, this is a video of Angel was asked offhand finishing. How much did you work on that? Your right hand was working a lot tonight and she simply says, I am right handed. Right. That just shows you the goofiness that other people like. Like I say bro, I'm so happy that the world is finally tuned in and locked in to women's sports and the WNBA. But if you, you gotta wipe your feet at the dough, bro. Don't be coming in with all these comments trying to make news headlines on certain things that's happening in the W. If you can't name me three Valkyrie,

if you can't say, oh, if you don't know one mystic, you feel me? You don't know that my sister, what hand she is. Come on, brothers. What are we doing? What are we doing? Wait, so the plural of Valkyries is Valkyrie or the individual? That was the first thing I heard too. Or Valkyries is the plural and the individuals, okay, come on now. I got a little ebonics. That's why we call them Valkyrie in the hood. We were, I'm gonna call her Valkyrie,

I'm gonna call her Valkyrie. Right, right. Next time somebody says, what you call it, do you know the W, or that they like to watch women's basketball say, name three Valkyrie. Exactly, but pronto. Or three Mystics. Or three Sun.

That's crazy. No, the Sun got a big three. People know them. But I think people try Angel in these press conferences. She field so many nonsense questions. Like, I honestly am just here watching her facial expressions. Like, can we play that clip back? Just look at Angel's face. Play the clip back.

I'm like, oh, you're finishing? Right. That's the... I want to make it. Her face is saying, boy, bye. Boy, bye. So for a poor question in preparation, we're putting that at five, right, guys?

For sure. I hope that media person, whoever asked it, was, unless it was unintentional, but I hope they're thinking about that question. I hope it haunts them when they go to bed because we need to do better than that. But y'all, what is the next one or last one? Take us through it, Logan. Duana Bonner received a standing ovation from the crowd after moving third on the all time

WNBA scoring list. I'm glad we saved the one spot. I mean that has to be number one. Right. I'm glad we saved the one spot because we're watching a living legend. Hell yeah, man. Knees still work, ankles still work, shoulders still good. That's rare in this day and age. So yeah, big queen, D'Wonna Bonner, like yes, definitely deserves the number one spot. DeWonna Bonner moves to three all time. So she passed Tina Thompson and then she's behind Tina Charles, who's number two all time. And the both of them are just way behind number one all time, Diana Taurasi. And I don't think anybody's going to catch that 10,000 plus points. I think that record's safe. But to me, why this is important

and why it's significant to me is, they're doing this one, this is a big shout out to all the girls in their 30s, you know what I'm saying, still making it happen. These are the mid 30s and up girls of the league. These are the last girls that I personally have played with and against in my basketball career. I have nothing but respect for these women

It is very hard to continue to play at this at this level at this age Not only are they still on the court, but they are dominant and like stars of their teams So nothing but respect to do on a boner and on a really cool opening night for the for the fever where so many night for the Fever where so many, Kailin Hart gets a triple double, they get it win, D'Waner gets to feel the crowd, her twins are there, she moves up in the record books.

It's really special. So yeah, I'm glad we saved that number one spot. Right. And she did that free throw line where she could just soak in all the soak ins. She tied it, she hit the second one to break the record. Let that be a lesson out there, people. Knock down your free throws.

They could be record breaking one day. So how do we like our five guys here? So it goes, Dawauna Bonner, LeBron James wishes Caitlin Clark good luck on the season with a three slide carousel IG post, which is crazy. Juju, can you think of another woman that LeBron has ever posted outside of like his mother and wife? I can't, I can't think of it at all. Not at all.

Maybe it's some movies. Right? Like everybody, the woman's day video. Exactly. Oh, there we go. What did he say? First of all, happy International Women's Day. He's so funny sometimes. And then, okay, so let's do it by team. So the top moments, two came from the fever. You're going to move it now. Two came from the fever, one and two. Three came from the New York Liberty.

Four came from the LA, the LA Sparks. And then five came out of Chicago, but it was more of like a blooper from the media. Well, y'all, that was so much fun. And thank you so much for joining us, Juju. Coming up, I make my DK game pick of the week. And we have some quick hits for you. We'll be right back.

Welcome back to Good Follow. This segment is presented by DraftKings. This weekend, San Diego Wave play North Carolina Courage in what I expect to be a very fun game. San Diego has had a great turnaround this season, currently sitting in second place, and their ball movement and attacking is stellar, bringing a European style of play to this league. My player to look out for is Delphine Cascareño, who is so fun to watch, has an incredible soccer IQ, and is looking like one of the best players in the league this season.

On the other hand, NC Courage is in a mid-season turnaround going undefeated in their last four matches. Their attack is shaping up to be lethal and dynamic, scoring eight goals in their last four games with six different goal scorers. The player to watch here is midfielder Jayden Shaw, who has been heating up and is looking to net her first goal this season against her former club. Now with all that said, a long weekend night game at their home stadium is prime time for San Diego to get the win so that's who I'm going with this week.

Make sure to follow along and tweet us your predictions at Good Follows Show and this segment is presented by DraftKings. DraftKings, the crown is yours. The crown is yours, Logan. Okay, we're at the show where we know we're starting to wind down on time. What are the quick hits and headlines you have for us? All right, well, I'm sure you've already seen this,

but the Liberty got their championship ring and their banner was raised at Barclays Center, but the ring, y'all, it is beautiful. Actually, you've seen it in person. I want to hear all about it. Is it nice? The seafoam torch on the front, the diamonds is blinging, but it's all the fun like things that happen inside the ring. When you open it up, they got those crown earrings inside.

There are two crown earrings that you can pop on. There's the court, there's the player jerseys. It's very thoughtful. I thought the whole ceremony was a one, including the banner raise in the arena. Apparently a fan, if you are a fan who wants to buy it, you can drop 11k on it. So let us know if you'll end up buying it. You want to go half and half, Logan? I'd be down.

I wonder. We have to talk about the fashion that we saw this week because it is amazing. One of my favorite parts about the W season coming back is all the walk-in fits. Derrick, a hand be Kelsey Plum, Rekia Jackson, eight down. Eight down. I think that WNBA pregame walk-in is just as exciting as the Met Gala. Maybe I'm biased, but I like the girls are giving high fashion couture like Rikia is ready for the Met Gala. That's our that's that is like

geometry on her arm. It is absolutely beautiful. But next up we have the US Women's National Team roster that dropped Naomi Germa's back Giselle Thompson is being experimented on forward. I was shocked to see that and Lil La Bonta got her first call up, which I am so happy to see. And lastly, we have Dr. Johnquel Jones, who had the honor of being George Washington's commencement speaker and received an honorary doctorate degree. That is doctor finals MVP to you.

Thank you very much. That's the title. Yeah. Congrats you very much. That's the title. Yeah. Congrats, Jean-Claude. Oh man. It's always sad when we get to this part of the show, but that'll do it for this week's episode of Good Follow. Good Follow is presented by DraftKings. We drop every Wednesday at 7 p.m. Eastern on YouTube,

on DraftKings network, or wherever else you get your podcasts. We appreciate that you've watched with us. Please subscribe if you haven't yet. Share the word with your friends. We need more listeners and people rocking with us. Follow us on socials, all the things. And Logan, you did that, girl.

It was nice to kick it with you this week. Thank you, Boo. All right, we'll see you guys next week. Bye!