Monique Billings

OK, so you want to start with the hive? Yeah.

So the hive have left behind Sony Citron, Monique Billings and Natasha Heidemann.

So they've got a guard, a wing and a big.

okay foundational pieces i don't think mo mo was pretty good in unrivaled uh last year and and t had some moments as well but if sony was the player that needed to carry a lot of the load for that hive team and she didn't shoot the ball particularly well and it was a rough time for them i fully expect this team to get olivia miles assigned to them or draft that they'll they'll have the first pick or whatever

Now they're playing in season three.

We have Monique Billings, Paige Beckers, Veronica Burton.

Sonia Citron, Timmy Fag, Ben Lay.

We got Isaiah James, who last year was in the player pool.

If Kelsey Mitchell were to leave and you spread her salary around, that's still only the equivalent of one more big-time salary you could bring in, or you could spread two bigger salaries.

Regardless, the rest of the roster—Pass, Clark, Boston, Raven Johnson, Michaela Timpson, Lexi Hull, Monique Billings, who are under contract— That's going to have to be filled up by players on the margins or close to minimum contracts.

So that's why you want to scour the international market.

Like look at the Golden State Valkyries as an example.

But we all know the team needed a big, and they didn't take a big.

And then they signed Monique Billings to one of the worst deals in the history of the planet of the earth.

Again, Monique Billings seems like a nice gal.

Was an utter disaster and a bust as a free agent contract.

If we're being real, Lexi Holt was not very good this year either.

Then the question marks.

Monique Billings, who has another year on her contract.

Ty Harris, who broke a leg near the end of the season.

Myesha Hines-Allen, Mercedes Russell, and Bree Hall.

But besides that, this year has been a little bit not so great when you look at the roster of the Indiana Fever.

You sign Monique Billings to a massive contract.

And when it came down to it in the playoffs, Monique Billings was barely playing.

She really was, like, she wasn't really playing at all.

You had Lexi Hull with a big-ish contract.

More than that, they need more defense around the perimeter.

They need more than just Aaliyah Boston and Mikayla Timpson down low.

Myesha Hines-Island, Monique Billings, they don't cut it.

But they lose Natasha Howard, who goes on to have an all-star season in Minnesota.

They replace her with Monique Billings and Myesha Hines-Allen, neither of whom really matched the production of Natasha Howard.

There's the lack of two-way players on their bench, I think was an issue, right? You can bring in the offense of Sophie Cunningham, but then you lose the defense of Lexi Hall, right? Like how do they find the balance on that roster to compliment their big three? How do you even make sure that you maintain that big three when Kelsey is a free agent who you can no longer core? It's a very difficult situation that a new GM is walking into.

But I guess this is an understanding that like they didn't trust Amber Cox to be able to navigate these situations and they wanted somebody else in that role.