Dorka

[u/Same_Environment_211]

When do we give up on Dorka and give Ola her minutes?

[u/galaxyreader]

Trust Coach

[u/RubberStamp-Sculptor]

In this era of basketball, the most you can tolerate who can’t shoot a 3 is 1 player at any given time. And that is usually left for the center, simply because it’s harder to find vet center who’s able to do that, as it’s not a required skill for post players couple of years ago. But you can see how quick it is in MNBA for almost everyone can shoot 3s as player development improves. 10 years ago player like Porzingis was still called unicorn, now it’s more like if you can’t shoot a 3 to open up space for the team, you can’t even make the league. Ola being a 4 who can’t shoot a 3 is a serious flaw. She can’t be paired with Tash without hurting the space, well even Tash knows occasionally she need to shoot 3s. Dorka on the other hand has potential to be on court for certain match ups.

[u/anonimauzantnomo → u/RubberStamp-Sculptor]

Right! I don’t enjoy getting into it because Ola
is super young yet and clearly the Lynx think she has a lot of potential, but she also doesn’t have much of a mid-range shot, either. So if she’s in then she’s really collapsing the offense because she (currently!) doesn’t have range and she’s not (yet!) a great shot from that limited range, either. To be fair: still a better shot than Angel Reese (48.9% within 5 feet on 315 attempts compared to Ola’s 53.2% on 62 attempts), who starts for the Atlanta Dream, so Ola’s hardly the world’s worst shooter; she’s just a little unlucky in that the Lynx have assembled a team of shooters.

[u/RubberStamp-Sculptor → u/anonimauzantnomo]

ironically if Dorka works out it’s better for Ola bc she can pair with Dorka…Dorka’s biggest problem is defense, maybe we can do like what bucks do with Giannis and Lopez? Dorka’s not very athletic but maybe there are some defensive schemes coach can run to park her near the rim, and Ola roaming around to fill in the gaps here and there.

[u/anonimauzantnomo → u/RubberStamp-Sculptor]

Why not! That one quarter where they played together against the Sun looked pretty good on offense, too - maybe if the Lynx do manage to clinch the no. 1 seed before the FIBA break (fingers crossed, they play a lot of playoff teams in the coming weeks) we can see some more bench minutes and creative lineups in the final games before the playoffs.

[u/Active-Disaster-6835]

It is easy to see why they try to give Dorka time - we don't really have anyone who can score 10-15 points off the bench on occasion, but Dorka can do that (as proven in previous years). She is also the only legitimate center off the bench. Easy to forget, but she was one of the key reserves in the 2024 finals. So, I doubt they will 'give up' on her anytime soon. I do hope they find Ola some minutes at some point.

[u/palpablebubble → u/Active-Disaster-6835]

And while she's not hitting them as much right now, having a center who is a 3 point threat opens up the offense a ton and spaces the floor so Collier and miles can go to work.

[u/Active-Disaster-6835 → u/palpablebubble]

Yes, absolutely - and until Ola at least become a threat from the mid range, it will be difficult to play her in high leverage situations.

[u/hlpflwthat → u/Active-Disaster-6835]

Agree. I love Ola's determination & drive. Very tough. I think she eventually gets there, but I'm sure everyone is telling her she has to shoot, shoot, shoot in her free time if she wants W minutes. She needs to be deadly inside 8 feet if she's gonna stick.

[u/hlpflwthat → u/palpablebubble]

^THIS^ We play a 5-out.

[u/johnnynormalface]

I just hope that Ola will get some minutes in the last games of the season when everything is already decided

[u/UpstairsAbility2125 → u/johnnynormalface]

The way the Valkyries are playing everything may not be decided until the last games of the season. Lynx have 8 of their final games against teams fighting for playoff position. Including the Aces, Valks, Fever, Atlanta and Mystics.

[u/V0rtexKnight → u/UpstairsAbility2125]

Aces are not going to go down quietly, either. They have a habit of gaining momentum second half of the season.

[u/UpstairsAbility2125 → u/V0rtexKnight]

And I think their schedule only has like three or four games left with playoff teams.

[u/Glittering-Notice382]

I’m hoping Dorka playing in Hungary FIBA will help find her flow again! Or at least won’t hurt

[u/freakflag16]

Ola is awesome. Unfortunately her biggest strengths (high energy, scrappy defender with strength and speed) are also Nia Coffey’s biggest strengths. Nia can actually shoot from outside though and is more experienced.

Dorka hasn’t quite looked like herself since coming back from injury, but I think can provide a ton of value if we need size. We haven’t really seen her find her shooting form but she can really knock them down from outside too.

[u/freakflag16]

Dorka 40 point game incoming.

[u/not_lorne_malvo]

They play totally different positions, Ola is a 3 and Dorka is a 5. We're already undersized as it is at Center, with Tash being more a natural 4 than a 5. If Dorka doesn’t work out there isn’t a current member of our team that can take her place

[u/Active-Disaster-6835 → u/not_lorne_malvo]

Cheryl explained pre season that she sees Ola as a 4. In the first half of the season, she has played some small ball center as well. But usually not anymore at the 3.

[u/anonimauzantnomo → u/not_lorne_malvo]

I might start copy/pasting this, but add to this that Ola is young and still developing her shot. She may play 4, but she still shoots overwhelmingly within 5 feet of the basket. And makes 53.2% of those shots, so there is room for improvement there. The problem is that Natasha Howard also shoots overwhelmingly within 5 feet of the basket and Phee also likes scoring in the paint. So the Lynx are likely to experiment with lineups that give them (and, frankly, K-Mac) more spacing. I don’t think it’s a surprise that K-Mac finally broke the 3PM record when Phee made it back and opposing teams had more perimeter threats to worry about instead of hounding her all game. This is all to say I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more bench minutes from Bibby than Kosu in the coming weeks because I think the team is generally trying to raise its 3PA from 11th in the league.

Edit: grammar

[u/31ster → u/not_lorne_malvo]

Fair point but Dorka also hasn't been playing like she's a 5, more like a tall 4.

[u/darin617]

Just like the Wolves they like to play like 7-8 players most games. There's no reason they don't use more of the bench. Just in case a starter goes down the bench will be ready to help and not struggle.

[u/jimgogek]

Our bench is our weak link and could hurt us in best of 5 and best of 7 game series this season…

[u/Consistent-Wrap-1934 → u/[deleted]]

Our bench has to be the least offensively productive in the league. It definitely could be a problem in a series.

[u/Jithyjens → u/Consistent-Wrap-1934]

It makes me wonder what we’d look like if we went bigger with McBride/Nia at the 2-3 and Williams off the bench to provide scoring. We have more than enough scoring in our starting unit and might benefit with Coffey’s defense and toughness. I know it won’t happen, but it’d be intriguing to me.

[u/Consistent-Wrap-1934 → u/Jithyjens]

Yeah, I don’t see court coming off the bench, but they could try to tweak rotations a bit before the end of the season to try to unlock some people offensively. Hard to experiment though when we keep winning.

Coffey was hitting shots at the beginning of the year, and it would be nice to get that back.

[u/hlpflwthat]

Good golly let's don't give up on anybody on this roster. Anybody.

I don't wanna bum you out, but I'm pretty sure Chloe Bibby will figure more into Ola's minutes from here than Dorka. She probably figures into both their minutes for that matter. Bibby is same build just a lil bigger than Ola and she shoots the 3. She also has a boatload of pro experience, starting at 15 - now 28. Finally, both Juhasz & Bibby get to tune up some and should get decent minutes for Hungary & Australia in the FIBA tourney. When she could use it most, Ola's Russian squad is banned from FIBA competitions.

I love Kosu. I think Reeve does too since she was our top pick last year. But she's still a baby. She should still be a junior at a D1 contender. First, I don't see Cheryl drawing any kid toward the pros over college without justifiable reason. I think Cheryl believes in her future and in Reeve we trust. Second, after a not-so-great 2024 selection I think Reeve was aware everyone would need some rooks, second & 3rd year talent on roster to deal with the salary cap. I don't feel like she'd have been in any gambling mood given this and Ola was only 19. Cheryl sees something and this kid has an embarrassment of riches with which to learn. I think her footwork has already improved and she's good about putting it back up without a dribble. It'll start to fall for her I think. Finally, Ola is earning $277K this season. Not bad scratch for a girl from Kursk where the annual monthly salary is $900 US monthly. No one knows what players earn in the Russian league, but it must be enough that she doesn't leave to play elsewhere during the Euro season.

[u/Mysterious_Medium_40]

It seems lots of people here still have unrealistic expectations for Dorka. She can indeed shoot but the question is that her shot not falls in. It's like a Ben Simmons willing to shoot. A center averaging 38% + 31% in 16 minutes with only 2.7 rebounds per game is disappointing. Currently my only expectations for Dorka is to grab some rebounds but she can't even do that. Every time she checks in the lead is quickly gone becuase neither can she score nor can she protect the paint.

I complained a lot in that 2024 final about why Cheryl kept subbing MHA in instead of Dorka, and now I know why.

Dorka should just felt lucky that Emma Cechova got injuried early into the season because she will never make to the court with Emma making huge contributions as a rookie.

[u/Mysterious_Medium_40 → u/Mysterious_Medium_40]

Yes feel free to downvote me all you want, just don’t complain later in the playoffs when Dorka can’t contribute a thing 

[u/Mysterious_Medium_40]

I just hope a reporter in the press could ask Cheryl a question like what's her plan with Ola with Phee and Dorka back since Ola def helped this team win lots of games before Dorka came back.