Courtney Paris has moved from the Dallas Wings to reunite with former head coach Dan Hughes.
Amidst all of the free agency news over the last week it might be easy to overlook the move of Courtney Paris going from the Dallas Wings to the Seattle Storm.
Paris, a true center in every sense of the word was about to lose her starting spot and a good portion of her minutes to newly re-signed Liz Cambage. While it may be the correct call by the Wings, it may have left Paris feeling a little put out. But as they say, basketball is a business.
The first thing that needs to be said about Paris, while she is a solid player, she was slightly detrimental to the Wings on defense. Their defensive style is to switch on pick and rolls, meaning Paris at times would be guarding a smaller quicker player. This, unfortunately meant the player could get around the slower Paris, making n easy lay-up as there was no rim protection.
However, I am not saying Paris is a bad player, I am saying the system did not suit her style of play. If she had of been left guarding the paint, this would not have been an issue.
If Paris is forced to switch in Seattle, there will usually be Crystal Langhorne or Breanna Stewart behind her to help. Stewart is so good she has already been named defensive player of the year once in her short career.
At 6’4″, Paris has the size to compete with most of the top centers, however, as she is a back-up she will not have to take on the top players for long. She will be used to spell Stewart, keeping her a little fresher for the end of games.
With her career 52.9 percent career shooting from two,she is going to fit well with Sue Bird. The evergreen Storm point guard has the best ability of all-time to find an open player. As Stewart, Bird, Jewell Loyd, Alyssa Clark and Sami Whitcomb all have the ability to space the floor, Paris should be right at home with this offense.
The adding of Paris should be enough to improve the Storm’s potential playoff seeding, allowing them a potentially deeper run.