Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Jennifer Lacy Re-Signs With Atlanta Dream
Jennifer Lacy has signed up for another season with the Atlanta Dream. The news from the Atlanta Dream organization is here.
Here are Jennifer Lacy's Player Efficiency Ratings (PER) for her three years of professional basketball:
2006 - Phoenix - 9.21 - 22
2007 - Phoenix - 5.70 - 23
2008 - Atlanta - 8.31 - 24
The final number is player age.
With 9.00 being replacement level, we see that Lacy hasn't had much of an opportunity to shine - Phoenix was more hurt than helped by Lacy in its 2007 championship season. I don't expect Lacy to be much better in 2009.
However, Lacy brings a couple of intangibles with her. The first intangible is that she is a very close friend of Chamique Holdsclaw. The second is that according to the press release, Lacy was one of the Dream's team captains last year. (Who were the other captains for 2008, I wonder?)
This means that Lacy, despite the somewhat unproductive seasons, is a player that has the admiration of either Marynell Meadors or her fellow Dream teammates. And believe it or not, that counts for a lot on a team. Staying on a team is as much a function of chemistry - that the team has a better experience when you're with them - as it is raw output. I hope that Lacy can lead the Dream - maybe not on the floor, but in the locker room - to a 2009 playoff spot.
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11 comments:
hey...get over it...u seem to becoming as neg as the folks on reb...this is our Dream...i support...
Like I said in the post, Lacy might be well liked by the other members of the Dream team, and that should count for a lot.
There have been lots of players in the WNBA that tended to be divisive presences in the locker room despite their gaudy stats. (Remember how B-Money has often been accused of being locker room poison?) Whereas Jen Lacy is the reverse case - a player honored with the role of team captain despite not much output. That says an awful lot about Lacy's character and dedication any way you look at it if better players look to her as a leader.
I like to think of the Dream blog as a family affair - Dream fans can put down Dream players, but no body else better do it. 1T1D.
What actually surprised me a tad about the press release was that it said Lacy was "ONE" of the team captains. It was my understanding (based on PA announcements at games, etc.) that Lacy was THE (only) team captain. No one else during the entire inaugural season was ever identified as being a team captain.
Oh...and um Anonymous how on earth did you see this blog post as negative?! It's not. And pet's a big supporter of the Dream.
Scarab, I didn't know that and I was at almost all the home games. I must have not been paying attention. (Kicks self.)
Maybe we're going to have co-captains this year. Does Marynell Meadors/Bill Dolan know something we don't?
You know, if Jen is a captain, they should mark her uniform, either with a "C" (like they do in hockey) or with a blue or red band around the shoulder strap.
How about breaking down the PER. Statistics often lie.
True, anonymous, they do. I'm pretty much inspired to do another post comparing the Dream with various kinds of metrics (like PER) and explaining a little bit about each one.
Until I can get to it, however, I'd search the blog in the box on the upper left for "Player Efficiency". Sorry I can't give you the answer right away, but I can say three things:
1) Each metric has its strengths and weaknesses.
2) PER undervalues defensive skills, and
3) I think Lacy will do better on other metrics.
Betty Lennox was the other captain and if you go watch the Thank you video on the team website you will see them speak
Thanks on the heads-up on the team captains. I guess there's a vacancy open for team captain....
Nah, basketball doesn't give the captain anything interesting for their uniform the way hockey and soccer do. You just have to be paying attention before the game when the refs are talking to the players. There's usually at least a captain and a co-captain, if only so there can be a captain in case the actual captain's not there. A couple of my teams have even tried the tri-captain approach, which is... not successful. (The Liberty did it one year with Hammon, VJ, and Crystal Robinson; St. John's did it last year with then-soph Joy McCorvey and the two seniors [at the time I thought it was odd they were skipping junior Monique McLean... not so much, no, and I'm digressing])
And how on earth is this a negative post? I didn't see flames flying out of your words, and you certainly were more diplomatic than some of the Brigade had been when she was with the Mercury. Jeez. Fans *do* have opinions.
As for who'll step into Lennox's shoes... given all the turnover, I actually wouldn't be surprised to see Latta as a co-captain.
Ah...so Lennox was the other captain. Pet, seems we both weren't paying attention. ;) (Either that or the Dream staff didn't go out of their way to make known who the other captain was)
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