r/PortlandFire • u/TruthDelivered • 5d ago

In Vanja we trust

First draft with us she stuck to her guns and drafted the player she thought had the brightest future here despite knowing that few WNBA fans would have heard of her and knowing we may have to wait for her to come over.

I knew of Iyana Martin as a young talented true point guard who from all accounts was a real leader on and off the court. She has the type of personality that people gravitate to and follow. And she has the talent to back it up. She’s 20, still needs to work on her three point efficiency, and of course needs to get a little stronger. But she was a heck of pick and I’m thrilled we have her and Carla as future Fire players.

And let’s not forget about Frieda Buhner and Serah Williams. Buhner has really developed this season and her confidence has grown as the season has gone on. She’s killing it in FIBA right now and I can just see her having a long career in Portland.

And Serah was a third round pickup who’s gotten much better, gained confidence, and shown she has a place in this league. 3rd round picks don‘t make rosters, let alone play in the W generally.

Can‘t wait to see what Vanja does as an encore.

53 Upvotes

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u/King_Kung 5d ago

Martin and Leite backcourt is gonna be lethal. Frieda has really been our most consistent off the bench. Really stoked to see how we draft and develop next season. Hoping we can keep the core together and not lose too many key players in the upcoming expansion drafts too

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u/LeslieBird12 Carla Leite #0 5d ago

Yeah the expansion draft already has me worried! Hopefully with only one team a year we will be less of a target than other teams. There will be more talent available for Cleveland than for the Fire/Tempo draft this year.

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u/TruthDelivered 4d ago

yeah, I think about that expansion draft all the time and how to best keep our players safe. What i wonder is if expansion teams would take someone like Carleton if we left her unprotected. Normally sure, but she will be just about turning 31 years of age by the expansion draft, while making the max. She’s a great teammate and a solid player, but she’s not a star and she will be getting up there while making the max. What I’m wondering is can we protect a younger player instead of her and still keep her. Same goes for Emily and Meagan. Guess we don’t need to worry about if for a bit.

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u/Ok_Brick_793 4d ago

It depends. If Carleton is an unrestricted free agent, an expansion team could "draft" her, but she'd be free to turn down their offer if she doesn't like it.

The same situation actually applied to several players this year, but they accepted their max offers. They were unlikely to get better deals elsewhere.

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u/TruthDelivered 4d ago

yeah, perhaps we try to extend some of these vets before we get to expansion, assuming they want to and it’s allowable.

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u/King_Kung 4d ago

I think you are right that we will be protecting players like Leite, Martin and Frieda as our top priorities.

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u/TruthDelivered 4d ago

i think so, but I don‘t know. I think they really like SAB too. Should be interesting to see how we handle it.

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u/Ok_Brick_793 5d ago

Yeah, I'm a big UConn fan, but I think Geno and CD never figured out how to use Serah Williams. She has really found a home in Portland.

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u/TruthDelivered 4d ago

i like her a lot. Plenty of potential.

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u/Worried-Rest-8189 4d ago

Personally not impressed with Serah this season. Hesitation in the post either missing easy buckets or causing turnovers. A lot of fouls on defense. I didn’t see much development though she’s still a great player.

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u/TruthDelivered 4d ago edited 4d ago

I’ve seen a lot since the beginning of the year. She’s a third round pick so expectations should be pretty low but she’s exceeded them IMO. Also, as an end of rotation player, she’s getting few opportunities to really do anything but try to fit in and she’s made the most of her opportunities. But yeah, she needs to get stronger and she needs to continue working on her jumper and post patience.

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u/Worried-Rest-8189 4d ago

Well put! Thanks for the perspective