FSM Presents: Las Vegas Aces 2021 Season Preview: Angel McCoughtry

FSM Presents: Las Vegas Aces 2021 Season Preview: Angel McCoughtry

Franchise Sports Media

 

FSM’s Cole Huff continues with our Las Vegas Aces coverage for the 2021 season with part 7 of his player preview series. This week’s focus is on guard Angel McCoughtry.

 

Angel McCoughtry Bio:

 

Measurements: 6’1; 173 lbs

Age: 34

Position: Guard

Years Pro: 12 

Season Stats: 2020 → 14.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists on 51.8/ 47.1/ 88.2 shooting splits 

Playoff Stats: 2020 → 15.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.8 assists on 41.3/ 55.0/ 85.2 shooting splits

 

 

 

 

CONDENSED RECAP:

The Aces’ most decorated player has aged like fine wine — Angel McCoughtry, after 11 years, is still a dominant two-way player that can completely take over a game on any given night. Now smarter than ever about maintaining her physical health, McCoughtry and the Aces’ staff crafted a plan that saw her play her fewest minutes per game of her career. McCoughtry’s 2020 campaign was her first since tearing her ACL during the 2018 season, and the six-time All-WNBA selection turned in the most efficient season of her career while helping lead an undermanned Aces team to their first-ever Finals appearance.

 

STRENGTHS:

 

In just 20 minutes a night, McCoughtry still managed to average 14.4 points and 5.0 rebounds, which resulted from her increased efficiency as a player.

The reason that she was able to hit these marks in such little time is that she has an elite basketball IQ, meaning that she can mix her game up dependent on how defenses are playing her — like a game of chess. 

McCoughtry likes to play with the basketball in her hands, as she gets her most usage as a pick-and-roll ball-handler — she converted on 21 of 46 shots while operating out of the PNR. Rarely does she pull up for mid-range jumpers like her teammate, Jackie Young, but she instead likes to charge downhill and draw fouls or finish at the rim with contact. Yet, when defenses adjust accordingly, so does McCoughtry. She can move off of the ball and seek out mismatches in the post where she scores up and over the smaller guards that are defending her but uses her quickness and savvy to convert shots over bigger forwards. 

To create further headaches for opposing defenses, McCoughtry developed into a 47.1 percent three-point shooter this past season, including 55 percent from downtown during the Aces’ playoff run in the Wubble. As noted many times before, the Aces have struggled to find team success from beyond the arc, but this development in McCoughtry’s game is encouraging in moving that needle for Vegas in 2021.

WEAKNESSES:

 

As lethal as she is at creating for herself, her ability to create for her teammates is a distance away — hence her career, 3.0 assists per game, and 3.0/3.1 assists to turnover ratio. After 11 seasons in the league, maybe it’s fair to accept that McCoughtry is who she is — one of the league’s best scorers. And that’s great, it hasn’t stopped her or her teams from achieving success, and she is still very good at her job. Also, maybe with the amazingly talented Chelsea Gray becoming the main facilitator, McCoughtry can continue to be the best version of herself.

But I must say, for someone who commands the ball as much as she does and can attract so much attention on different areas of the court, you’d like to see her use that gravity to open some opportunities for the other four on offense. I’m willing to admit that this is just me being overly critical, though, as I hunt for any worthy weaknesses for this piece.

 

 

POTENTIAL ROLE:

 

After making it to the 2020 WNBA Finals while missing some key players, the Aces return in 2021 with full health and a complete roster that is arguably the greatest compilation of talent in all of the league. Chelsea Gray essentially relaces former guard Kayla McBride in the starting lineup, which is a big win for McCoughtry, who will undoubtedly benefit from more playmaking in the lineup alongside her.

We saw the team take a precautionary approach with her minutes last season as she fought back from her ACL injury, and it seems that the team’s makeup will allow for a similar minutes approach this upcoming season. I’d expect for the three-point percentage to regress a bit, but for the overall efficiency to stay around the same as it was last season. I do not doubt that Angel McCoughtry will leave her imprints all over this team, and she’ll turn in another great season.

 

 

 

Stay tuned for the next installment of the player preview series where we will be featuring veteran guard Chelsea Gray.

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