With the San Antonio Stars not having a win in the first 13 games, lets look at who should start at point guard.

The San Antonio Stars need to start working on the future as of now. Training camp starts mid-way through the WNBA season, The question most in need of answering in my opinion is who should be the starting point guard. The Stars are in a good position talent wise last years second pick, Moriah Jefferson and this years first pick, Kelsey Plum.

There are a couple of issues here. First, Kayla McBride has the starting two guard slot owned. The second is, both Jefferson and Plum are under 6-foot. There is no way in this league both of them could play together at the start of a game. So who does coach Vickie Johnson have start games.

Moriah Jefferson

Jefferson is a tremendous offense point guard. Her numbers are a lot more impressive than Plum’s. Per contest Jefferson is averaging 25 minutes, 10.2 points, 1.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.9 steals. Her slash line is 49/44/79 which is quite impressive. She was the equal fastest Star to 500 points. She did it in the same amount of games as McBride.

The problem for Jefferson is the other end of the court. Yes, she is averaging almost two steals a game. The problem is her one-on-one defense. She does not stay in front of her player, meaning her player is getting better looks at the basket.

Secondly, when she switches, Jefferson is not able to contain the player she moves on due to her body shape. She is not strong enough to box out or defend with any sort of effectiveness.

Kelsey Plum

Plum is struggling at the start of her rookie season. Missing the first three games with the ankle injury really set her back. The second all-time college scoring leader has yet too find her feet in the WNBA. Her stat line is 15 minutes, 3.7 points, 1.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 0.6 steals. Her slash line is 24/23/67.

Her offensive woes are not for from turning around. Plum is getting more confidence as she goes. In the game against Dallas Plum only scored four points on 2-of-7 shooting. She was at her most creative for a long time having five assists. Her first drive to the hoop where she scooped it up with the left gave her confidence. Plum is creating, collapsing defenses on her, giving her teammates more space to work in. She has a number of hockey assists, which  you don’t get credit for.

It is her work on defense which sets her apart. Plum is 5-foot-8 but when she is on court she looks 6-foot, just ask her. She stays in front of her player, changing their shot most times. Skylar Diggins-Smith had no easy looks when Plum was on her. Any time Plum switched onto bigger players, she was making it difficult to get the ball in to them.

After the ball had gone up, Plum boxed out with her, using her more WNBA ready body to keep larger players off the boards. She does not get credit for those boards but she was the reason the Stars got the rebounds. Lastly, Plum closed out on open shots, using her speed to get a hand in the face off the opposition shooter.

As you can tell by the tone of the article, Plum should be starting in place of Jefferson. She is not going to stay in her shooting slump forever, she is too good. She also offers more than Jefferson on defense. The Stars need to start Plum to build chemistry with the other starters long term.

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