Analysing the All-Star trade of Anna DeForge for Kelly Miller (and other free agency news)

Sunday 05 February 2006

I admit I was a bit disappointed with the All-Star trade (I was expecting something a bit more spectacular) but I think it's a good one for both teams.

For Indiana, they needed somebody who was confident in stepping up as a second option to Tamika Catchings. Tan White's not quite there yet and the other options on the Indy team are really role-player types with limited offence. DeForge is certainly not shot-shy and she would complement Catchings better than she did DT (mainly because DT was the same type of player as DeForge).

For Phoenix, they needed a guard with a slightly different skillset than DT and Kelly Miller can provide that. She's stil a good outisde shooter but she's a better handler and penetrator than DeForge and would allow DT to play the 2. Hopefully, this means that Penny Taylor will see more shots as well. Even if the Mercury drafted another guard, Miller would make a nice guard off the bench, especially since Westhead's system seems to be quite demanding.

Indiana sign Charlotte Smith and Olympia Scott

Well Smith is a tweener who can shoot and defend - an upgrade over Deanna Jackson in offence but also older and a bit slower nowadays. Scott is a post player who has seen better days and she may struggle to crack the roster (another case of hoping players will relive their better playing days)