Originally published at pickandroll.com.au

With a condensed schedule and hub environment, as well as no imports, the 2020 WNBL season had the potential to offer up some surprises but, despite all of this, it played out largely as expected. Townsville’s rise from a likely playoff team to a genuine title contender was the major development, whilst the absence of Sami Whitcomb in Perth and Alanna Smith in Adelaide deprived the league of greater parity.

The idea of Southside going unbeaten never eventuated, but their offence certainly proved unstoppable, scoring 12.7 points per 100 possessions more than the second ranked Fire in the regular season. That gap grew even larger in the playoffs.

At the forefront of the Flyers’ scoring exploits was obviously Liz Cambage who averaged a staggering point per minute when on the floor, with her deep seals and catches close to unstoppable. Cambage is much more than just a player with a size advantage though — her hands are good and the touch on short jumpers is exceptional. With high-level perimeter options surrounding her at all times, we certainly saw her maximised and at her best.

Perhaps the unluckiest player not to make an All-WNBL team was Cambage’s teammate Rebecca Cole, especially having played four more games than Tess Madgen in what was already a short regular season.

Note: Plays take into account field-goal attempts, free throws, and turnovers. These numbers include playoff games.

In terms of role players across the league, Jade Melbourne was a standout story as a rookie. Melbourne almost immediately slotted in as an above-average contributor, with the idea of turning pro and skipping college surely at least entering her or her teammates minds. Offensively, she played with unwavering confidence, whilst defensively she showed just as much. Melbourne looks like a future two-way star.

Another player benefiting from zero imports was Anneli Maley, who moved to Sydney and nailed down a regular starting spot. In terms of plays finished on offence compared to the season prior, Maley recorded the biggest increase across the league. Her scoring ability will certainly need to evolve, having shot just 4-23 on threes and 35.7% on twos, but her relentless approach to doing the dirty work was a real highlight. It’s quite incredible to reflect on the fact that she led the league in rebounds at 12.1 per game as a 22-year old from the small forward position.

Even if imports were present this year, you got the impression that nothing was stopping a Shyla Heal breakout campaign. Heal logged far more point guard minutes for Townsville than what she did in Bendigo, establishing herself as a serious option for minutes at the next years Olympics. Her ball-handling and step back jumper was a constant highlight.

For Bendigo, Tessa Lavey and Carley Ernst had the large task of shouldering the bulk of the offence for a team that lacked proven rotation quality players. The Spirit managed to post an average offensive rating in just three of their 13 games, one of those on the back of a 35-point outing from Lavey. With their starting point guard off the floor, Bendigo were outscored by a whopping 59 points in those 65 minutes — no wonder she led the league in minutes.

Note: These plus-minus numbers do not include the playoffs. Alex Ciabattoni got a decent bump thanks to missing a 40-point Southside drubbing as well as a Melbourne loss.

As shown above, Adelaide fell apart when Steph Talbot was off the floor, but they were also not even a .500 team with her on court — should the MVP come from a five-win team? Talbot was undoubtedly an elite contributor, playing the part of creator, scorer, rebounder and defender every night, but the alternative All-WNBL voting system produced a telling result with Cambage and Nicholson coming out on top.

With respect to the lack of Cambage or Flyers players on the plus-minus graphic, that’s a nod to their dominance regardless of who was on the floor. Look past all of the Opals talent and you’ve still got one of the most disruptive on-ball defenders in the league in Monique Conti as your tenth player — Southside outscored opponents by 71-points in her 99 minutes of action. This championship team was an all-time dominant one.