(07-30-2025, 10:27 AM)Nobadeer Wrote: Nice article about Haley Jones:
https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/07/26/h...-stanford/
"After leading Stanford to the 2021 NCAA championship and being selected No. 6 overall in the 2023 WNBA Draft by the Atlanta Dream, Jones certainly has had to work to carve out a niche among the pro ranks.
She averaged just 3.8 points and earned just 16.2 minutes per game in two seasons in Atlanta, before being cut from the team this preseason. Jones then was waived two more times, once by Phoenix and again by Dallas, before finding her groove in her second Texas stint.
Such determination does not surprise Phillips.“Haley has always maintained a positive outlook and steady work ethic during times of adversity,” the Mitty coach said.
A poor long-range shooter (22.6% career average on 3-pointers) and an overall iffy scorer, Jones has found a second life in the WNBA as an undersized but skilled passing post.
She thrived when asked to make decisions at the elbow, giving the Valkyries fits with her ability to hit open cutters.
“I appreciate her level-headedness, and the pace she generates in our offense,” Wings coach Chris Koclanes said. “To be able to play-make and facilitate from the post position gives us another layer and dynamic to our offense.”
Placed in this new all-around role, Jones is playing the best ball of her pro career.
Even her scoring has seen an uptick: The Santa Cruz native has put up double-figure point totals in three straight games for the first time in her young career."
Been meaning to post about this for a while but who has the time these days? The complete turnaround in her W prospects in the past few weeks has quietly been one of the best stories of this season. I had the opportunity to see her play in person when the Wings visited Ballhalla and it was so great to see her back in the Bay playing well and with confidence. I think she is really thriving alongside Bueckers: the two have complementary skillsets and Dallas has a dearth of talented bigs, so Haley's been well positioned to play some point forward on offense while sometimes serving as the 5 on defense in a lineup that's heavy on mobile, sharpshooting guards and extremely light on post players. She's been so productive, in fact, that I picked her up in my fantasy league for sentimental reasons, and she's been producing at a high pace for two weeks straight now.
A lot of times, the question is about fit, and in a lineup with many three point threats and few mobile posts, Haley's weaknesses (shooting, especially from outside, and perimeter defending) have been moot, while her strengths (great paint defense, distribution from the elbow, steadiness of presence) have shined.
The only more muted note: she did not seem to get anywhere near as much applause from the crowd as Lexie did among the Ballhalla fans (even despite having 100+ friends and family in attendance), and in her post-game press conference, while she acknowledged returning to the area she grew up in, there was no specific mention of Stanford or seeing anyone from the Farm while in town. So I'm afraid whatever caused the rift on her way out the door there has not seemed to thaw.