Preview: The New Unrivaled Basketball League Set to Debut January 17

 By Andy Lipton

Leading the ‘Break

 

The new professional women’s basketball league started by WNBA players Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, scheduled to start play on January 17 in Medley, Florida, a town in Miami-Dade County, has the potential to be a very fast paced and exciting brand of offensive basketball.

 

The games will be 3 on 3 full court on a court that is 50 feet wide and 70 feet long, the same width and 75% the length of a regulation WNBA court.

 

With three players on the court, there will be more space for players to operate offensively.

 

And with that space should come a lot of very fast and frenetic up and down court movements.  Space should also equate to freedom to create offensively.

 

There will be six teams in the league, each with six professional players, many of whom are the best WNBA players.

 

 The teams will play an eight-week regular season and the playoffs - semi-finals and finals - will be played in week nine ending on March 17.

 

The regular season games will be broadcast on either TNT or TruTV. All games will be streamed on Max.

 

Interestingly, much of the talk by the six head coaches at a media session last week was how the coaches want to use the time to help the players’ professional development (as well as the coaches’ professional development).

 

There was talk of using the time with the players to work on pick and rolls. 

 

There was also the notion that players would be exposed, particularly on defense.

 

  Playing on-ball defense with reduced help-defense might be the biggest area where players can improve. 

 

However, a number of coaches already said there would be a lot of switching on defense, which I think might mitigate some of that improvement.

 

Will the games turn into track meets given the speed of many of the players?

 

Lipton to Phantom BC Coach Adam Harrington: “Players love, you know, running the open court. Do you think your team will kind of devolve into a track meet where teams are just going up and down with incredible pace?”

 

Coach Harrington: “Yeah, I think that's what's gonna be unique about this. And looking at my roster like we have that ability.

 

“And then what's so awesome is if we want to slow it down a little bit. Hey, Brittney [Griner], we're gonna get you the ball and play. But I think it's just unique at the end of the day.

“To make decisions, to read and react, to play faster, to, to be able to read defenses like that and to push the pace you're getting in shape, and…that's what's trending worldwide now in sports is space, pace. So I think it'll be really exciting.

 

“And what's unique about it, too? Is you always want shooting. And shooting becomes a real value and precedence in 5 on 5, for sure.

 

“But in this it's actually great, too, because it'll create even more space. And now people that are even attacking and really good at that, they'll have the space to get there…

 

“There's going to be so many more open shots because there is space, there is pace. So I think that that's a massive development thing.

 

“I've always loved that like even if you can raise a percentage from 38 to 40 in catch and shoot situations or reading closeouts, there'll be more of that.

 

‘But the end of the day you think of this game ends up being a lot of pick and roll into closeouts, and it's like how who can be set shooting that, driving that, relocating, finding space…”

 

Will the players share the same view as the coaches about player development?

 

Lipton to Rose BC Coach Nola Henry: “(All) the coaches today have spoken about player development, how… the League is really geared towards player development.

 

‘From a player perspective, though I would think this is a great opportunity to play with freedom, to play with pace, to play with space. Do you think the players see it that way, or do they see it more as player development, like the coaches do?”

 

Coach Henry: “I would say that the players are going to be excited to compete, right. Most importantly, the player development that'll take care of itself on days off and within the flow of the game.

 

‘But, most importantly, right, we have a group of 36 players that are going to be excited, to go out there and compete against each other and take on the challenge of just competing on a nightly basis.

 

“So,I would say, it's a balance of both player development, but also, you know, getting out there and getting some good experience just with competing against other really high-level players.”