BY GABRIEL JOHN OSTLER

Like a feral gang of bros entering the city they represent, the Las Vegas Aces rolled into the 2019 WNBA season with the highest of expectations. After adding impact pieces to a burgeoning core, the Aces were picked by 33 percent of the league’s GMs to hoist the title this year despite missing the playoffs and finishing dead last in the Western Conference in the prior campaign.

It’s easy to see why the preseason hype machine kicked in to overdrive for Vegas. Top-tier talent like Liz Cambage and Jackie Young piled on top of a roster that already possessed stallions like A’ja Wilson, Kayla McBride, and Kelsey Plum? Who wouldn’t want to buy a seat at that gaming table?

Much like the exuberant homies wouldn’t write off a weekend after a tough Thursday night, the Aces will not be writing any requiems for their season after a mere 5 games. However, both groups will likely sit up and take notice – the first, of the fact that Greg is gone and nobody was even funny enough to put him on the roof – and the Aces, of their 2-3 record and the undeniable fact that winning games in the WNBA isn’t simply achieved by putting great players on the floor.

What’s going on with Las Vegas’ lackluster start and is it any greater cause for concern?

Too Many Mouths to Feed

Watching a Las Vegas offensive possession as presently constructed is eerily similar to the experience of watching the Boston Celtics during their nadirs this past season, minus the flat-earthing and overall team rot.

A’ja Wilson, fresh off a sparkling 20.7 points per game on 46% shooting, seems to have contracted a case of what Deadspin’s Giri Nathan would call Kobe Brain, turning herself into someone who responds to pressure situations with tough, low-percentage shots. She’s presently down to 13.4 PPG on 43% shooting and is averaging 43% shooting with an additional turnover per game as compared to 2018.

But Wilson is not alone in her regression. Of Vegas’ returning players, only Dearica Hamby has bumped up her scoring average, from 7.4 to an even 10.0. Cambage has dipped from her 23 in Dallas to a mere 14.8, while first overall pick Young is registering 6.6 on 39%. As a unit, the Aces are only shooting 42.3%, good for just 7th in the league.

In such a limited sample size, this can be easily chalked up to luck. A couple of nights with the lid on the bucket will make any team look like a passel of visually impaired chuckers. And there’s no doubt that Vegas is a better-shooting team than the stats currently depict.

That being said, it’s impossible to watch an Aces game without seeing the clear lack of chemistry in terms of offensive flow and ball distribution. Wilson and Cambage are both used to being top dogs; McBride has been feeling herself this season and is looking for her shot (deservedly so) even more than usual. Plum, already nobody’s idea of a volume scorer, has gone decidedly pass-first and isn’t hitting looks she normally makes. And Young, fresh off a dominant NCAA tourney that saw her leapfrog ostensible Irish star Arike Ogunbowale in importance and in draft position, simply can’t find a place to fit.

Again, one of the biggest differentiating factors between this squad and the imploded, shaking husk of what used to be the Boston Celtics is the apparent lack of ego and self-interest. Wilson, for example, isn’t pumping up double-covered low-block heaves because she’s looking to prove a point – she just doesn’t yet know how to coexist alongside other great and ball-dominant individuals. This offense has 29 more games to morph into the juggernaut everyone expected. But there are still legitimate worries that this lineup might have more scoring potential than it can actually hold.

Cambage Concerns

dThe heir to Lauren Jackson, the Australian Amazon, the Melbourne Masterpiece – Liz Cambage is rightfully considered one of the singular talents in basketball today. Owner of the WNBA’s highest single-game point total (and two-game point total, for that matter), Cambage has hardly played in the WNBA during her professional career due to an express dismay at turning out for mediocre squads. This past offseason, she requested a trade from the barnacle-gathering Dallas Wings and landed in Las Vegas for a relative pittance. thereby catapulting the Aces into instant contention. Or so it was assumed.

Cambage’s aforementioned points drop doesn’t just stem from an increased need to share the rock – she’s also on a minutes restriction due to a foot injury that kept her from overseas ball during the wintertime. With that in mind, there are many occasions on the court where Cambage looks…uncomfortable.

Despite dropping weight before this campaign, to help with her mobility and to reduce strain on the problematic foot, Cambage hasn’t found it easy to maneuver to find those buckets that should pour naturally from her 6’8 frame. Seeing her on the court, one is reminded of midseason-returning Demarcus Cousins finding his way back – flashes of brilliance, but other moments of ineptitude that can only be ascribed to a lack of rhythm.

This is focusing on the defensive end, but give it a look anyway, as Cambage is often matched up against Tina Charles, who is undoubtedly brilliant but shouldn’t truly be on the Aussie’s level. For an obvious example, start at 0:20 and watch Cambage bring up the rear on transition defense, misread the rebound, and get caught ultimately nowhere near her defensive assignment on an easy bucket.

Cambage is world-class and is only a season removed from pure dominance with the Wings. She’s bound to find her form. Still, though, a lingering ailment combined with the adjustment to a new team system means that her integration and return to top-level play could take longer than the Aces would like.

Shot for the Moon, Looking for the Stars

All valid statements about the quality of the Aces’ offseason additions combined with their very solid holdovers aside, this is still a team that just went 14-19 and watched the playoffs from their respective couches. It’s natural to expect improvement and progression; it’s understandable to anticipate a large leap forward. Picking a franchise to go worst-to-first, though, is a totally different story.

Head coach Bill Laimbeer knows this, as he’s the man that presided over that uninspiring 14-19 showing. After that loss to the New York Liberty seen in the Charles film above – in which the Liberty snapped a 17-game losing streak and generally made the champions-elect look like gawky teens with growing pains, Laimbeer essentially said that was exactly what they were:

“We need leadership, we need to understand how hard we have to play in this league every day and we’ll be OK. Until that happens we’ll be like this. They are young and learning. Same things keep creeping up. All those little things a quality team can’t do.”

For all their talent, the Aces are undoubtedly inexperienced. Their stars haven’t played with each other; their core is certainly on the younger side of the scale; they, as an organization, are not used to winning games. It makes sense that they’d be scuffling at the outset of such a hotly anticipated season.

With patience, hard work, and your requisite sprinkling of Vegas luck, the Aces should be able to spread touches around to all of their talented offseason players while getting Cambage back up and running to her maximum potential. If that happens, then this team will start to look like the title favorites the WNBA GMs saw when analyzing this roster.

Of course, there’s always the chance that someone at the table got greedy and hit on 17.