SAN FRANCISCO — Over the first two years of their existence, Natalie Nakase has made it very clear that the Golden State Valkyries’ identity will be toughness and defense. The expansion franchise led the WNBA last season in opponent points per game and were third in defensive rating.
This offseason, the Valkyries added a WNBA All-Defensive First Team performer in Gabby Williams. The idea of having Williams, along with All-Defensive Second Teamer Veronica Burton, was a scary thought for opposing offenses coming into this season. However, through 12 games, the Valkyries’ defense hasn’t lived up to the expectations set by the team a season ago.
“Basketball is a game of runs,” Valkyries guard Veronica Burton told the media after their win over Phoenix on Tuesday. “Understanding that’s going to happen, but I think limiting it when you feel it … just finding a way to string together stops and [not letting] a 10-point swing [extend] to a 15-point swing and stuff like that. Then, executing on the offensive [end], not playing on our heels. I think composure, I’m going to keep saying that is a big thing, and that’s only going to continue to grow with experience.”
In their first 12 games of the year, the Valkyries rank third in opponent points per game and fifth in defensive rating. On the surface, neither of those rankings sound particularly bad, with Golden State being in the top third of the WNBA in both those categories. But, if you look a little deeper, you can see some of the struggles.
The biggest area of weakness so far for the Golden State defense has been their 3-point defense. They rank second to last in the WNBA in opponent 3-point percentage, with opposing teams making 37.5% of their triples. Teams are knocking down 9.1 threes per game against the Valkyries, which ranks 12th in the WNBA. Last year, Golden State opponents shot 28 threes per game; this year, that number is down to 24 attempted per game. So despite giving up fewer threes, the Valkyries’ opponents are making more at a higher rate this year as compared to last year.
Their struggle guarding the 3-point line has shown itself recently. Over their last five games, all five of the Valkyries opponents have shot at least 36% from three. In four of those games, their opponents have made at least nine threes, with two of them hitting 13 triples. Golden State went 2-3 in those five games. Olivia Miles knocked down eight threes against the Valkyries last week, and in their next game, Jackie Young hit six triples.
“Communication [is] number one,” Nakase said of what she wants to see from her defense. “It’s also digesting the game plan, and I think with Gabby and Kiah [Stokes], who are starting and playing heavy minutes, to start adapting to our philosophy in terms of defense. We have a lot of terminology, and what I learned from them in the first quarter of the season is that I can’t just throw out these game plans and expect them to pick it up like that.
“So that was on me, with my high expectations. So communication, digesting the game plan, and rebounding. We have to finish off with one possession, we got to rebound, and rebounding allows us then to transition, and that’s what we want.”
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While Golden State has struggled guarding the three, they have been elite at protecting the paint so far this year. Since their inception as a franchise last season, the Valkyries have been the No. 1 team in the WNBA in opponent points in the paint. Last season, Golden State had the likes of Monique Billings, Temi Fagbenle and Iliana Rupert in the frontcourt to protect the paint.
This season, despite none of those players playing a single minute for Golden State, the team continues to lead the WNBA in opponent points in the paint. However, this strength is tied directly to the Valkyries’ struggle to guard the three. With Billings and Fagbenle leaving in free agency and Rupert out for the season, Golden State is only left with one true center in Kiah Stokes.
Stokes is a great defender, but she can’t play the entire game, leaving Golden State without a rim protector for parts of games. They have been leaning into more small-ball lineups when Stokes isn’t in, with the likes of Janelle Salaun and Kayla Thornton playing in their frontcourt. This requires them to send more help to the paint when they are using their small-ball lineups. Their defense focuses on protecting the paint, but when the small-ball lineup is in, it is harder for them to guard both the rim and the 3-point line.
“We can’t even focus on executing our game plan if the effort’s not there,” Valkyries wing Gabby Williams told the media after Tuesday’s win over Phoenix. “No matter what we draw up on a board, no matter what kind of schemes we say we’re going to do — none of it matters if we’re not giving 100% effort, and we just hope that we don’t have to learn that the hard way again.”
The other area of struggle that has plagued the Valkyries this year is their defensive rebounding. Last year, their defensive rebound rate was 70.6%, good for fourth in the WNBA. This year, that rate is down to 68.2%, eighth in the league. Again, that is not a big difference, but it has played a major role in the Valkyries’ losses. In four of the Valkyries’ five defeats this year, they have been outrebounded.
Over their last five games, Golden State has given up three of their four highest number of offensive rebounds to an opponent. It was also during that stretch that they lost their first pair of back-to-back games. Before Tuesday’s win over Phoenix, Nakase talked about how they are using film to track their players’ effort. She felt they were giving only 50% effort at times during that two-game losing streak.
“We have a deep roster for a reason,” Nakase told the media prior to Tuesday’s game. “You could tell, and it was kind of difficult … to hear after the first five or six games of like, ‘Coach, you know, I’m not that tired’… at the time I was also evaluating a lot of things, especially when we’re winning too, so you don’t really see so much of the glare of the effort in the wins, but then if you starting to lose couple games, that’s obviously when things become glaring.”
Defense and rebounding are about effort and hustle. Golden State made a name for itself last year by being the team that out-efforted opposing teams. Williams said after Tuesday’s game that being told she isn’t giving enough effort is very disappointing to hear. She never wants a coach to tell her that, and she believes the whole team feels the same way.
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For the Valkyries, fixing these issues isn’t going to be easy. Due to their lack of post depth, they are likely to continue leaning more toward smaller lineups. This means they will need to figure out how best to defend when those groups are in the game. Having Salaun play at the center is something she hasn’t done a ton in her career, and so she, along with the other Valkyries playing out of position, will figure it out over time.
In every game in which Golden State has allowed 85 or more points, the consistent message afterward has been that their defensive effort wasn’t good enough, and how they let offensive struggles bleed into their defensive effort. All five of their losses have been close, with an average margin of 6.4 points. They know what needs to be done to improve the defense to bring it back to last year’s level. While the difference between where they were a year ago and now is small, they are what decides whether a team will win consistently in the WNBA.
“I’m proud of the way we’re building our possession game,” Nakase said postgame after the Valkyries road loss in Las Vegas on June 6. “I rate us as we’re building in the right direction. … [B]ut also they’re owning, and they’re holding each other to the accountability of we’re going to get better.”
