Former Zag Vandersloot Named WNBA All-Star

Finally. Much deserved!

Was wondering if she would get in there.

Great job, Sloot!!

It's about time. It seems like she's getting a lot more credit and respect this year. You go girl!

Unfortunately, the all-star starter selections are based on fan votes, and it is all about the popularity. Sloot is not flashy, outspoken and constantly in the media. In addition, Sloot plays for the Chicago Sky which have not made the playoffs the last 3 years and have one of the WNBA's worst attendance, so hard to get fan votes.

Coaches select the reserves but they seem to be fixated on scoring stats. Sloot is 40th in the WNBA in scoring at 9.7 ppg so her scoring numbers don't justify all-star status.

Unfortunately it seems nobody values the floor general, the assist leader (second fastest to 1,500 assists in WNBA history), the person who looks to pass first before shooting, type of player for their all-star and Olympic teams. It is all about the scoring numbers.

Nice to see CV finally get some acknowledgement for her hard work. Unfortunately, unless she gets her scoring numbers up, I fear she will continue to be frequently overlooked for the all-star team.

ZagDad

Thought I'd just tag this on to an existing post rather than starting a new one. The Sky have 7 regular season games remaining. Sloot has accumulated 231 assists, 27 behind her single season record from last year (although she only played in 30 of the 34 games). She's averaging nearly 9 per game. As long as she doesn't miss games she should easily break her own record. She also recently moved to #6 on the career assist list and should pass Becky Hammon early next season to break into the top 5.

Hey SeaCat,

I have been following CV all year long. Their are five (5) players still above CV in total assists and two (2) of them (Sue Bird & Diana Taurasi) are still active. Both Bird and Taurasi have been out most of this year with injuries so they have not significantly added to their assist total this year. Bird is out at least through the regular season, Taurasi has just been activated but she must sit out the next game (she was suspended) but will probably play the last six (6) or so remaining regular season games and the playoffs.

I believe both Bird (39) and Taurasi (37) will play through next year as it is an Olympic year and both want to be on the USA Olympic team. I think Bird will retire after the 2020 season, Taurasi may or may not play a couple of additional years.

If CV plays in the WNBA long enough, avoids serious injury, plays somewhere close to her current level of play and her teammates continue to make shots, (A lot of ifs, ands as well as buts) CV could be the all-time assist leader. While that is quite of few assumptions, it is not really reaching too far. If CV finishes the current year at the same rate of assists she will have somewhere near 1675 total assists at the end of the year and if we assume Taurasi averages 3.5 APG in her remaining games this year and for all games next year and Sue Bird averages 6.5 APG next year, CV would be this far behind each of the five people in front of her on the all-time WNBA assists leaderboard. If CV would continue to average at least 225 assists per year (She had 258 assists last year and will beat that this year), it would take the following number of years to catch each of the players remaining above her for total assists in a career.

Sue Bird +1370 (After 2020) To catch = 6.1 Years
Ticha Penicheiro +924 To catch = 4.1 Years
Lindsey Whalen +673 To catch = 3.0 Years
Diana Taurasi + 300 (After 2020) To catch = 1.3 Years (If CV does not catch Taurasi next year she will the following year no matter if Taurasi plays or not)
Becky Hammon +33 To catch = 0.15 Years

Considering that CV is just 30 years old, she certainly could play until she is 36 or 37 (Taurasi's current age) years old if she desired and become the all-time WNBA assist leader. Will She - Stay tuned.

I personally find it interesting to compare the other numbers of the true point guards that are above and just below CV in the all-time assist leaderboard. Numbers such as steals, blocks, turnovers, shooting percentage, etc. to see where CV stacks up across the board against the other best point guards of all time. For example, despite playing at least 160 games fewer than anybody else in the Top 7 point guards (on the assist leaderboard) 5'8" CV has almost twice as many blocks as anybody in the top 7 except for the 6'0" Taurasi. If you project her steals per game over the next 160 games (about 5 years) CV will move up to 3rd on the assists leaderboard in total steals but would be only 14th on the overall steals leaderboard. No chance CV will lead the WNBA in both assists and steals like her fellow Zag.

CV is second in the Top 7 on the assists leaderboard in total shooting percentage at 44.2% only trailing Lindsay Whalen at 46.1%. In 3-point shooting percentage (among the Top 7 on the assists leaderboard) CV currently ranks 4th at 34.7% trailing Taurasi (36.9%), Hammon (37.8%) and Bird (38.9%).

Here is the link to the all-time WNBA assists leaderboard: https://stats.wnba.com/alltime-leade...atCategory=AST

ZagDad

Fun stuff to track ZagDad. I figured Bird is putting the record up there where it will be tough to reach, but passing everybody else is certainly very attainable as long as Vandersloot wants to continue playing. As you've demonstrated catching Bird isn't impossible. Vandersloot's other career numbers look good compared to her peers. It's strange how little publicity she's gotten throughout her career. I guess being overlooked is par for the course for her. It still amazes me that she starred at a big school in the Puget Sound area yet from what I recall the entire Pac 12 ignored her in recruiting. I know she would've been a huge upgrade to the players the Huskies and Cougs used as PGs during those same years, probably same is true of every Pac 12 (was it still Pac 10 back then?) school. Maybe she fell in love with GU early on and was Spokane bound regardless of being snubbed by other western schools. Worked out very well for her and GU anyway. I do remember the Seattle Times was very high on her during her HS school career.

Unfortunately, people are all about the offense. While assists, steals, blocks, rebounds, etc. are important to the team and winning, the general public and sports pundits are all about the fantastic plays, the buzzer beaters, the points, etc. While the record for assists in a year (as well as the average assists per game) will be broke in the next week or so, you have not heard a peep about it from the WNBA.

When your own league does not even promote players breaking (or soon to break) all-time records, you have a problem with the league. There is a reason the WNBA would not even exist if it was not heavily subsidized by the NBA.

ZagDad

9 assists/1 turnover, 15 points for Sloot tonight as the Sky beat the league leading Mystics. Chicago is nipping at LA's heels for the 4th seed in the playoffs, important because it carries a first round bye. Maybe 2 more games, 3 tops and Sloot should have a new record for single season assists.

Don't forget the 8 rebounds, 3 steals, 50% shooting and 5-6 free throws. Not too bad a night for Sloot.

If you want to see something neat, watch the video where Sloot is having a jump ball against a Mystic Big. When the ref throws the ball up, the Mystic jumps for the ball, CV does not jump but runs past the jumping big. The Mystic big tips the ball behind her, but CV is now between the big and the Mystic player she is trying to tip the ball to. CV tips the ball and takes it down the court for a lay-up. The video is on the Chicago Sky twitter page. Scroll down the page to the video link with the title " Who needs height for a jump ball"

Chicago Sky twitter page link: https://twitter.com/wnbachicagosky



I get about 240 assists so far this year (Sloot missed a game this year) so she has 19 to go before she breaks the record and 5 games to do it.

The Sky are 0.5 games behind LA and 1.5 games behind Las Vegas with 5 games to go in the race for the 3rd and 4th spots in the standing and a 1st round bye.

ZagDad

Wow, I can honestly say I've never seen that before. Very heads up play. If you have no chance of winning a jump ball why not try to steal it instead.

13 more assists for Sloot today, Chicago wins again.

Sloot did not shoot very well today, only 2-10 for 20%, but she was 4-4 on her free throws. Her total score line tonight was:

9 points, 9 rebounds, 13 assists and 0 T/Os

After tonight Courtney now has 253 assists for the year, just 5 behind the league record of 258 she set last year. Ticha Penicheiro currently holds 2nd (236) and 3rd place (229) in the total assists per year (until this year is finished). CV is now averaging 9.0 apg this year with the league record being 8.6 apg set by CV last year with the current second place also being held by CV at 8.07 apg set in 2017.

The current record for the highest assists-per-game over a career (100 games minimum) is also held by CV at 6.01 apg (after tonight's game), with second place being Ticha Penicheiro at 5.72 apg and third place is Sue Bird at 5.57 apg.

CV has raised her assist-to-turnover ratio to 3.12 which is third in the WNBA. First place in the Assist to TOv ratio is Emma Meesseman a forward at 3.27 and second place is Natasha Cloud, a guard at 3.16. Meesseman has played less than 50% of the minutes Sloot has while Natasha Cloud has actually played 10% more minutes than CV.

Along with the Sky winning today, L.A. won tonight but Las Vegas lost, so the Sky are now 0.5 games behind both LA and Las Vegas for the 3rd or 4th place in the standings with 3rd and 4th place getting a first round bye. Chicago has one less game to play than LA and one game more to play than Las Vegas. LA has two more games to play than Las Vegas.

For their last five games the Sky play, 7th place Minnesota, 10th place Dallas, 8th place Phoenix and then finish up with #2 Connecticut and #1 Washington.

Coming down to the wire.

ZagDad

Yeah the playoff race is really tight. I think the 8 teams that are slotted to be in currently are all almost locks, would take an epic collapse by someone for any of the bottom 4 teams to move up. But the jockeying for seeding among those 8 teams can change significantly in the next 2 weeks.

I think Chicago has won 11 of their last 14, they're hot right now. LA is up and down and Las Vegas has stumbled a bit recently. They got Aja Wilson back from injury really late in the season, I don't think they've adjusted to her re-entering the lineup and they are running out of time. I'm not sure how well she and Cambage compliment each other. And I think Laimbeer still hasn't figured out who his team is. His rotation and distribution of minutes varies just about every game.