![]() Bonner led the 2016 Mercury with 6.4 Wins Produced. Key Departures and Additions: The big addition for the Mercury is the return of DeWanna Bonner who missed the 2017 season after giving birth to twins.The Top Three in 2017 produced 10.8 wins (60% of total): Brittney Griner (4.5 Wins Produced), Leilani Mitchell (3.7 Wins Produced), Danielle Robinson (2.6 Wins Produced).Although repeating may be difficult, the Lynx are definitely contenders. So, one wonders if this relatively old roster can repeat as WNBA champs. Fowles - the league MVP in 2017 - is 32 while Augustus is 34 years of age. But, the Lynx still are a relatively old team. 2018 Summary: Robinson is younger than Montgomery.But the Lynx added Danielle Robinson, who produced 2.6 wins for the Phoenix Mercury. The Lynx, though, did lose Renee Montgomery who produced 2.2 wins for Minnesota last year. This is bad news for the NBA, but obviously good news for the Lynx. Despite this record - as noted before - no NBA team called Reeve when she was a free agent. With Reeve, the Lynx have won four WNBA titles and made two additional trips to the WNBA finals. Key Departures and Additions: Cheryl Reeve - the Lynx head coach - was a free agent.The Top Three in 2017 produced 20.8 wins (77% of total): Sylvia Fowles (9.7 Wins Produced), Maya Moore (6.4 Wins Produced), Seimone Augustus (4.7 Wins Produced).The Sparks are again likely to contend for a title in 2018. 2018 Summary: Again, the Big Three in Los Angeles are the Big Three in the WNBA.But the Sparks will still likely be led by the same players we saw in 2017. The Sparks did add Maria Vadeeva in the draft and signed Cappie Pondexter. In addition to this trio, though, the Sparks also have Alana Beard and Odyssey Sims. Key Departures and Additions: No WNBA team has a leading trio as productive as Nneke Ogwumike, Candace Parker, and Chelsea Gray.The Top Three in 2017 produced 22.2 wins (85% of total): Nneke Ogwumike (7.9 Wins Produced), Candace Parker (7.6 Wins Produced), Chelsea Gray (6.7 Wins Produced).For now, though, the Aces look like pretenders. They will not likely contend in 2018, but the future looks better than what we saw in 2017. But if these players continue to progress the Aces should be much better. 2018 Summary: Young players tend to improve.These two join Kayla McBride (the 3rd choice in the 2014 WNBA draft) and Moriah Jefferson (the 2nd choice in the 2016 WNBA draft). That list includes A'Ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum, the first players taken in the last two WNBA drafts. But the Aces have a number of very young players who might become very good. As for the roster, their most productive player in 2017 - Alex Montgomery - will be in Chicago. Bill Laimbeer is now calling the shots for the Aces. Key Departures and Additions: The Aces have made many changes since last year.The Top Three in 2017 produced 8.4 wins (105% of total): Alex Montgomery (3.5 Wins Produced), Kayla McBride (2.6 Wins Produced), Moriah Jefferson (2.3 Wins Produced).But Dallas is going to see quite a few more wins than losses. With the addition of Cambage and Stevens, the Wings may not be quite as good as the Lynx or Sparks. 2018 Summary: The Wings were nearly an average team last year.Then in the draft, the Wings added Azura Stevens, one of the most productive players in college basketball last year. On a per-minute basis that isn't much different from what Candace Parker gave the Los Angeles Sparks last season. That year - with the Tulsa Shock - Cambage produced 3.6 wins in just 499 minutes. Key Departures and Additions: The key addition for the Wings is Liz Cambage, a 6'8" center who recently dominated professional basketball in China.The Top Three in 2017 produced 12.9 wins (80% of total): Skylar Diggins-Smith (6.6 Wins Produced), Glory Johnson (3.4 Wins Produced), Karima Christmas-Kelly (2.9 Wins Produced).Specifically, in general, about 80% of a team's wins are produced by a team's top three players. And it turns out, it also applies to both the NBA and the WNBA. Since 1906 this has been applied in all sort of settings. Back in 1906, Vilfredo Pareto observed that 80% of land in Italy was owned by 20% of the people. Fortunately, though, there are a couple of shortcuts from economics and statistics that can give us some hints. The season doesn't start until Friday so right now we can't be sure what is going to happen today. In 2017, the top teams in the West definitely dominated the best from the East. And that series - as fans of the WNBA recall - was definitely not a letdown. In addition, the two best teams in the WNBA in 2017 - the Minnesota Lynx and Los Angeles Sparks - played for the title even though both are in the Western Conference. ![]() This means that last year the Eastern Conference only had three teams in the playoffs while five of the six Western Conference teams advanced. In the WNBA, the top eight teams - regardless of conference - appear in the postseason.
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