Join a sports show where Tré discusses all things sports (i.e. basketball). With sports being a microcosm of life, this allows for a bevy of topics ranging from X's and O's to life decisions!
In basketball the basic fundamental principle is to Get A Bucket! We study and admite the greatest bucket getters, but also those who assist, defend, rebound as all aspects lead to Getting A Bucket!! Remember, it's important that we listen and learn from one another, so make sure to tune in and let me know your honest opinions! Trying to help the world through sports conversation!!!
We dig into whether height actually translates to real dominance in the WNBA as seven foot prospects move closer to the league. We compare what past tall players produced, then ask how new giants could change drafting, matchups, and even the rim-height debate. • Why extreme height is back in the spotlight for women’s basketball • Okechukwu Stephanie at 7'1 and how WNBA draft eligibility could put a freshman in play • Zhang Ziyu at 7'3 and what international games might reveal against elite talent • What Bernadett Hatar and Han Xu suggest about efficiency in limited minutes • Brittney Griner as the model for skill plus size dominance • Margo Dydek as the case for game-changing defense and blocks • How seven footers could reshape positions, roster builds, and the league hierarchy • Why lowering the rims makes less sense with true seven footers arriving
Please make sure to like, subscribe, comment, tell anyone who's anyone one about the WNBA and two about my show
What's up, everybody? It's your favorite show, it's favorite show, get a bucket. I'm your host, Trey, as usual. Hope you're all having a wonderful, wonderful day. Today we're gonna talk about if height matters. I understand it matters in the game of basketball, but how much does it matter in the WNBA? But before we do that, please make sure you hit that like and subscribe button. Comment on anyone who's anyone about the show. Trying to get the ratings up a little bit, you know, just a little bit. And if you're wondering where you heard this before, that's the human list with me Monday through Friday at 11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. So I greatly appreciate your support. Now, like I said, does height really matter in the WNBA? And if so, how much?
Well, what really sparked this conversation for me was there's two prospects coming into WNBA potentially, right, over the next three years. One as early as next season, based on at least criteria. So the player who may be coming up first is Okechku Stephanie. All right, now she's 7'1 from Nigeria. I believe she went to high school in Japan. Maybe someone fact-checked me on that too. But she's attending Texas Tech this upcoming season. Okay, she'll be a freshman, all right? And she will be the tallest player in college basketball history. All right, again, 7-1. Keep in mind, okay? Once she enters the WNBA, she'll be the second, because I think she'll come before the tallest player, but then eventually she'll finish off at third, at least, unless somebody after that is taller. But again, point in time, projection-wise, based on these two players, third and then first. Okay, so again, 7-1, ladies and gentlemen. All right, like, and and to be clear, she may be drafted as early as 2028, because she's 21 years old. And the criteria for the NBA is a WNBA is to be what 22 years old in the draft, four years removed from high school, graduating within three months of the draft. Like then, and that's college players, too. And she's in college. So again, 22 years old in the draft year, 21 years old already, turned 22 in February. She just might be in the WNBA next season, ladies and gentlemen. First freshman, by the way, that would be drafted into the WNBA, which now we may start asking, hey, should we allow freshmen to enter the WNBA? Don't get me wrong, right? She's a little older, but freshmen, the concept, could it start entering into WNBA? I'd love to see that. But how much does she impact the WNBA? Well, we gotta wait to see in college. I'm personally looking forward to seeing how she plays, ladies and gentlemen. Like in the college game, it's a different competition. And then going up against WNBA, it's still 7-1. Like, you know what I mean? Like it's it's it's it's tough, but I can I can assure you though, she'll be yeah, she'll be sought after for sure. But eyes need to be on her come the college season. I'm telling you that right now. I'm looking forward to watching Stephanie get a bucket and stopping players from get a bucket. I really hope she gets a lot of floor time, man, because that would be really smooth to see. Because again, if she's good enough, we might not get a chance to see her again in college. You know what I mean?
The other player that brought this up to my, you know, this topic up to my mind was Zang Ziyu. Okay, now Zhang Zi Yu could get drafted 2030. Okay, she's currently 19 years old, and I told you guys about the criteria for the WNBA athletes, right? She's currently on Shandong's women's team. That's part of the Women's Chinese Basketball Association, the WCBA. And she's also hopefully, I believe, gonna be on their China's FIBA team for 2026, and possibly during the world tournament, like the the big game, right, in 2028. Hopefully she's gonna be on that team too. But I'm gonna actually be really curious to see what happens with the FIBA games, especially if if if Zhang plays, because Asia Wilson's not gonna be there. And keep in mind, Asia's like 6'4, anyways, but her and Kessel Plump are gonna be there. So now we're replacing them with Sonya Sitron and Kiki or Yffen. Again, six-foot player in Insonia, six' four player in Kiki. Zang's view is 7'3. Like, do the math. That's an 11-inch difference in height. I'm curious what she does when it comes to WNBA against the WNBA players. Keep in mind, these are top-tier WNBA players too. Like, they're they're all-star players peripheral. So I'm gonna be watching to see exactly how they play against WNBA talent. But again, does it really matter, ladies and gentlemen? We can't tell if it matters because we haven't seen these two ladies play yet.
But we have seen some ladies with height play in the WNBA. We got Bernadette Hatar, 6'10, right? She hasn't really played since 2023, but her career numbers were four points, two rebounds, no assists, 0.5 steals, 0.4 blocks. All right, you know, it's admirable, 44% from the field, didn't really shoot threes and 86% from the free throw line. All right, that, you know, that's workable. Menace played, probably one day. I get it, I get it. Hanzu, 6'11, currently plays on the Liberty. Six points, three rebounds, one assist, 0.4 steals, 0.5 blocks. Gives us 48 from the field, 40 from the three, 85 from the free throw line. That's not bad at all, honestly. Um again, limited minutes, makes the most of them, but the efficiency is what I'm looking at too, especially the 40% from three. Imagine if she gets a little bit more tick, maybe she starts to become a star player. Who knows? And again, 6'11, you cannot teach height, ladies and gentlemen. But I think the most notable player with height is Britney Greiner at 6'9, right? 17 points, 7 rebounds, two assists, 0.5 steals, 2.4 blocks. Gave us 56 from the field, 33 from the free from the three-point line, 79 from the free throw line, two-time depoy, a champion. She played MVP-like. She lost out on an MVP not like on the MVP vote for short, but she came up second. So again, she has given us MVP caliber play. And again, at 6'9. So could either these players, Stephanie or Zane, give us similar production to a Britney Griner? Possibly. But again, they're not seven foot, though. Maybe there's a difference between 6'9 and 7'0. So let's use the tallest woman in the WNBA's history currently, point in time, Margot Didek. She's 7'2. She gave us 10.7 rebounds, two assists, 0.5 steals, 2.7 blocks, ladies and gentlemen. There was three, like the most she gave in the season for her career was 3.8 blocks. And that was her rookie season. Like that shocking awe factor really is a thing. Because players, you don't really practice, you gotta go up against the title. Like, imagine the NBA players going up against Wimby. You don't know what you're gonna go up against. You've seen it, cool, but you don't know if you're gonna go up against too you actually go up against it. That's what's gonna happen, I'm assuming, in their first season, too. And keep in mind, the most in career, like I mean, I'm sorry, she only averaged one or less blocks two times in her 11-year career. Like, that's pretty spectacular. Now, she was closer to D-poys, like winning D-poys, than MVP. She she she like, you know, she was kind of in the top five to ten range for D-Poys, got top three once, but she was more on that regard, right? MVP, I think she was like maybe top 15, something like that. That's not really that close. It's cool, but it's not really that close. So again, kind of closer, more impactful on the defensive end that seemed like eight-time block champ, right? Clearly, again, more defensive, like more impactful on the defensive end, two-time All-Star, but again, that might have been more so because of her defense. And again, she only didn't win D-poy because of Teresa Weatherspoon and Kim Perrott. So keep in mind, too, both of those players were 5'8 and 5'5. That's really crazy when you think about it, right? Talk about David vs. Kodai. But again, when we're talking about seven-footers, ladies and gentlemen, if I'm looking at Margot
Didek, I'm thinking at minimum, the floor might be pretty stellar. So if I if I'm a WNBA organization, like my Sparks, for example, I'm gonna throw this plug in there. If my Sparks somehow are able to get a top pick, and let's say Stephanie is playing phenomenal right in college, if we don't draft her, oh my god. Because like we have just been sent a godsend. Because again, we already missed out on Dominique Malonga. Like, we gotta go with Stephanie because again, you cannot teach height in 7-1. That looked pretty smooth for sure. So, again, ladies and gentlemen, at least having a floor like that, 10 points, 7 rebounds, and I'm not even saying that this is bad, but like an eight-time block champion, I can work with that. I think that would be the floor. Because again, the height factor, it's easy for them. So, does height actually matter in the WNBA? I think it does. Now, it it does vary because again, not everyone 6'9 or above has been dominant. The only person that has been really dominant was the one who was 6'9, the shortest one. So, even in that regard, hell, the the shorter you are, maybe it's easier in the WNBA, or maybe it's not. I I genuinely believe that these tall players, these seven-footers, one have not been around. But two, once they hit the WNBA, we're gonna start seeing some things. It's gonna be very interesting, very quickly. And I'm curious now, will we start seeing more seven-footers in the WNB? But then also, what happens to the WNBA hierarchy? Like, is it seven-footers and then six four to six six? Like, is that a power forward now? That's gonna be disgusting work. I'm very curious how this could change the landscape of the WNBA, ladies and gentlemen. And then let's talk about the idea of lowering the rims. I think that kind of goes out the window because there's no way in the world you lower the rim to nine foot and you have a seven, you have seven footers on the in in the league. That's just disgusting work. But ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I am curious.
One, what's your what's your thoughts of freshmen potentially entering the WNBA after Stephanie potentially could leave after her freshman season and go to the WNBA? Two, do you think that height actually matters in the WNBA that much? We understand it it it has an impact, but do you think it matters that much? I'm curious of your thoughts. But ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, that does conclude the end of the episode. So please make sure to like, subscribe, comment, tell anyone who's anyone one about the WNBA and two about my show. My name is Trey, I'm the host of Get The Bucket. I hope you're all having a good one. Take care.
