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WNBL roster review: Adelaide Lightning

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Roar Rookie
9th November, 2020
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In the 2019-20 season Adelaide finished with a 12-11 record, good enough for fourth place and a finals berth.

However, in the semi-finals they came up against the Southside Flyers, who were a little bit too strong for them to advance.

Adelaide were amazing at home for the year, going an outstanding 8–4 (66 per cent). This was the fourth-best home record in the league. The problem was the road, which ended at 4–7 (36 per cent). This was once again fourth in the league. It paled in comparison to the top two teams, Southside Flyers and Canberra Capitals, which managed to go 10–1 and 8–4 respectively.

If Adelaide can address this, they will truly be a force in the league.

Roster analysis

2019-20 roster

Name No. Position Nationality Height
Lauren Nicholson 1 Guard Local 180cm
Hannah Kaser 3 Guard Local 178cm
Sarah Elsworthy 6 Guard Local 171cm
Natalie Hurst 16 Guard Local 163cm
Nicole Seekamn (captain) 35 Guard Local 178cm
Stephanie Talbot 7 Guard/forward Local 188cm
Laura Hodges 10 Forward Local 188cm
Brianna Turner 11 Forward Import 191cm
Ruby Porter 21 Forward Local 178cm
Kathryn Westheld 33 Forward Import 188cm
Chelsea Brook 8 Forward/centre Local 188cm

Head coach: Chris Lucas
Assistant coaches: Zach O’Brien, Marcus Wong

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Steph Talbot reaches for the ball

Steph Talbot (Photo by Mark Brake/Getty Images)

2020/21 roster

Name No. Position Height Last season
Brooke Bashman 3 Guard Not listed Debutant (Adelaide local)
Alex Wilson 4 Guard 180cm Sydney Uni Fames (Adelaide local)
Carlie Smith 6 Guard 185cm Debutant
Aimee Brett 9 Guard 173cm Debutant (Adelaide local)
Taylor Ortlepp 10 Guard 178cm Boston College (WNBA); Adelaide Lightning (2015-16)
Morgan Yaeger 12 Guard 175cm Debutant (Adelaide local)
Abigail Wehrung 13 Guard 178cm Bendigo Spirit
Stephanie Talbot 7 Guard/forward 188cm Adelaide Lightning
Marena Whittle 21 Guard/forward 180cm Perth Lynx
Louella Tomlinson 2 Forward/centre 193cm Southside Flyers
Chelsea Brook 8 Forward 188cm Adelaide Lightning
Ella Batish 20 Forward/centre 188cm Debutant (Adelaide local)

Head coach: Chris Lucas
Assistant coach: Natalie Hurst

Basketball going through the net

Additions and subtractions

Additions
Alex Wilson
Any time you can add an Opal to the roster it’s going to be a major addition. Wilson is a tall guard who in the last few years has moved to the point guard spot. Last season she led Sydney in assists per game and had a great overall season. This move for Wilson was an opportunity for her to play back home for her childhood team rather than for wanting to leave Sydney or for any other major reason.

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Marena Whittle
Marena has built a career as a high-octane, instant offence supersub. She leaves Perth in search of a larger role, and on such a young team she should defiantly find it. I would expect Marena to play significant minutes and to use her do-it-all skill set to help lead the team in most aspects of the game.

Louella Tomlinson
Sweet Lou is the likely starter at the power forward spot. Any time you add a starter in free agency is bound to get a mention. Louella can play power forward or centre and brings a diverse inside out game that is sure to be enjoyed by this coaching staff. Her versatility allows Adelaide to use a multitude of line-ups and do almost anything they want both offensively and defensively. In a pinch she can also carry the scoring load for short spurts.

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Subtractions
Natalie Hurst
Usually losing your veteran presence would be disastrous, but Hurst is only moving roughly six seats down the bench to the assistant coaching spot. While her contributions on the court will be missed, her knowledge of the game will now become an even greater asset as she will be able to see more of how the game unfolds and mentor all these young rookies.

Lauren Nicholson
The loss of the dynamic combo guard Lauren Nicholson will be felt by the club. While other additions have come in, none have her specific defensive bulldog mentality. A top-20 guard in the league, Nicholson is still the reigning NBL1 defensive player of the year due to the season not going ahead because of coronavirus.

Nicole Seekamp
Losing Seekamp to an opt-out to re-evaluate her life is a massive loss to the culture and on-court play for the Lightning. Seekamp was last year’s captain and has played for Australia before. The only positive is she won’t be playing against the Lightning, and hopefully in 2021 she’ll make a return to the club. Her leadership will be truly missed this season.

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Alana Smith
The WNBL and WNBA player has opted out of this season due to a nagging ankle injury that she needs to rehabilitate. Smith is an extremely talented youngster who has the potential to be a game-changer with her combination of size and speed. This year without imports there might have not been more than four players who could have guarded her.

Outlook

First, the obvious: there are no imports this year, and that means each team is down two of its top players. Most team imports are two of the top three or four players on any given team, and that is a huge hole for all teams to replace this year.

This combined with the fact that Adelaide have returned only two players from last year – Chelsea Brook and Stephanie Talbot – means that the Lighning are will have on-court chemistry growing pains to begin with.

This year Adelaide decided to go very young, with six players making their WNBL debut or their playing their first year back from American college basketball. These players will be highly talented but due to their age and lack of experience will be inconsistent. However, this sets Adelaide up with a young core for the next five to ten years.

To offset the departures from last season and to add some veteran experience to the roster they have brought in some great leaders in Marena Whittle and Louella Tomlinson as well as Opal point guard Alex Wilson.

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Prediction
The Lightning will lose a few more games this season but will probably sneak into the playoffs in the fourth spot just narrowly over Sydney.

Prediction: 4th (6–8)

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