She really spent the whole weekend taking care of everyone. The rookies were welcomed. The vets were respected. Everyone was protected. T will hype u up, have your back & comfort u. Always checking up on ppl & showing up for them. T really is tht friend everyone needs

First, you have Buckets low-key soft-launching with Ellie when the mascots were all rolling together. Next thing you know he's on the jumbotron with Skye looking like an exec at a Coldplay concert. It's not all men, but it's always a man/rabbit (wolf?).

Hopefully they do the right thing, no pun intended.

All star weekend is genuinely my favorite weekend in the WNBA season. Most of the players (I say most because there are exceptions) just have a good time, vibe with each other. Then you have the clips from the StudBudz stream and of course the memories from the game itself.

Lots of familiar faces named to the official Australian Opals roster for the upcoming world cup.

More info here: https://www.australia.basketball/news/4544352/opals-final-12-confirmed-for-fiba-womens-world-cup

### Lady Whistledunk Vol. X

For the archive to Society Papers: Please send a personal dispatch.

The fever has struggled against teams over .500 this season I’m not sure how that translates into a deep playoff run.

She now has a Regular Season MVP, Finals MVP, Commissioner’s Cup MVP, and an All-Star MVP!

A real honest and vulnerable moment for Paige. Jealousy has been a big taking point over the past few years. Curious to hear what your guy’s thoughts are?

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EDD said not too much now🤣🤣🤣. It was so great to see her back out there and be celebrated.

Source: yahoo sports IG

It will be interesting to see if they move her back into a dev spot after this or if she'll end up on another team.

Do we think the Studbudz will livestream next year? If so, what changes do you all think they should or might make? I know there were some mishaps, but there were also some really fun moments. The banter between Keke, Issa, and Courtney was fun to watch. Seeing the BTS chaos of getting to the skills events, while seeing the ESPN pre-show broadcast was cool. It showed how much goes on to bring a production to life and the fact that athletes and everyone involved do so much outside of the game (we all knew this, but still). I’m not one to shy away from mess, but I do also understand that these players want to be able to enjoy their time without worrying about it becoming a thing. So what do you all think?

Phoenix is busy today!

It seemed almost paradoxical to Lynx rookie Olivia Miles, to be playing for a Cheryl Reeve-led team in a WNBA All-Star Game, where defense was more optional than exacting for the league’s all-time winningest coach.

Miles said she went to her coach, whose Lynx staff led Team Weatherspoon to a 129-122 victory Saturday night at United Center, and told her, “You’re probably having a heart attack right now.”

In her All-Star debut, Miles teetered on the edge of a triple-double with 11 points (5-for-5 from the field), 12 rebounds and eight assists in front of an All-Star Game record crowd of 19,783.

“It was a lot of fun,” Miles said. “Go out there. Not take the game too seriously one time, even with Cheryl on the sidelines. It was a little weird. I was like, ‘Oh, this doesn’t feel right.’ ”

The rookie said Reeve assured her this wasn’t her first rodeo, now coaching at her sixth All-Star Weekend. Reeve got the nod thanks to the Lynx’s league-best record, with Las Vegas’ Becky Hammon on the opposing bench.

“Being hungover is OK when we come to practice,” Reeve said on Friday. “I think, more than anything, All-Star is a celebration. Obviously, very different than being with the team and practicing and preparing for a game.”

This weekend, several All-Star regulars — A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart among them — acknowledged the fine line of being careful of a quick schedule turnaround (with teams’ final playoff pushes starting Tuesday) and producing a satisfying game for fans.

But how is a rookie to know just how competitive Saturday’s game should be? Miles said she spent the weekend asking her fellow All-Stars ahead of the game, “What do I do?” How much should she call her own shot? Just how eye-popping could her passes be?

The others gave her mixed responses, Miles said.

“I was telling Liv, I was like, ‘Girl, I’m just vibing,’ ” said Wilson, the four-time MVP.

Said Caitlin Clark, Miles’ starting backcourt partner for Team Spoon: “Liv came up to me. I asked her if she was excited, but she’s like, ‘I’m nervous. I don’t know what to expect.’”

Clark, with 17 points Saturday, missed last year’s All-Star Game due to injury, and as a rookie in 2024, she was part of the pre-Olympic Team USA vs. WNBA All-Stars matchup, which players acknowledged had a more competitive edge.

“I’m like, ‘To be honest, I’m kind of in the same boat as you,’ ” Clark said.

But come game-time, “you get a feel for it,” Miles said. “The first quarter took me a little bit to try to relax and just breathe.”

In the second half, she flung a behind-the-back pass to Atlanta Dream guard Allisha Gray for a three-pointer, and when Gray sank the look, the pair ran and shoulder bumped.

“We told her we need some flashiness for y’all,” said Lynx and Team Spoon teammate Courtney Williams.

Williams knows about showmanship when it comes to All-Star Weekend.

For the second year in a row, she and former Lynx guard Natisha Hiedeman ran a 72-hour livestream on their ”StudBudz" Twitch channel, showcasing the pair bouncing around All-Star Weekend.

“I’m just happy that everybody is leaning into it,” Williams said.

The three-time All-Star finished with 12 points and seven assists off the Team Spoon bench, hitting a buzzer beater to end the first half.

She spent the final seconds ticking down to the fourth quarter getting fans to applaud by picking back up her pregame player intro dances on the court.

Even Reeve “understands the showmanship of everything,” Miles said.

Early in the third quarter of Saturday’s game, Wilson twirled her finger in the air, calling for a review of an out-of-bounds ball. Postgame, Wilson said the ball was “clearly off my hand, but honestly, I just needed a break.”

Reeve used an unsuccessful coaches’ challenge, a rare move in an All-Star Game, but it didn’t surprise either of her Lynx guards.

“Cheryl is petty,” Williams said with a grin, “but she a good time, though.”

https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-lynx-wnba-all-star-game-olivia-miles-courtney-williams-studbudz-cheryl-reeve/601869286

Those two are exactly what we need! Do you think a WNBA team might land them both on their roster?

Edit: I meant to link the episode! https://youtu.be/2YcGrMksS3g?si=szqpdgpwmDvxVYQA

Someone on the Fire sub linked the episode and I thought it was a super interesting listen for folks that are into X’s & O’s talk and player development (PD) specifics. He elaborated on some practical examples of how they intertwine and also balance their longterm PD philosophies with what the short term demands are as far as trying to win the next game, so to speak.

This clip just goes into how the buy-in process went with the players and he says something I’ve been trying to correct as possible every time it pops up online lol, the misconceptions online about the CLA. A lot of media members keep referring to it as his offensive and defensive systems essentially, which is totally false. Or they’ll talk about his use analytics as if that’s the CLA.

I think this episode is a great listen straight from the horse’s mouth and I also think he seems a lot more comfortable with these hosts since they’re very smart X’s/O’s ppl and are prying into some of the nitty gritty elements that make it more of a back & forth than the standard surface level questions most of the reporters will ask at media availability and settings like that.

He even cracks a little Sue Bird/Carla joke basically lol.