Why Rhyne Howard not making the USA Team is a massive snub
I’m no basketball genius, but I know a mistake when I see one. Rhyne Howard not making the 2022 USA Women’s World Cup Team is a mistake.
Earlier this week, Team USA announced the 12 players that will comprise their roster for this year’s 2022 World Cup. As mentioned, Howard was omitted.
At first, I thought I must have misread the list. However, after searching the list up and down, I realized Howard’s name was nowhere to be found. I laughed and thought, “What a funny mistake by the social media manager.” It wasn’t until a few more searches and head-scratching hours that I realized this wasn’t an accident. Howard hadn’t made the team.
After several days of reflecting on this news, I’m confident this is one of the biggest snubs in Team USA history.
Rookie on rookie crime
Howard won every WNBA Rookie of the Month Award in her debut campaign. As expected, Howard also won the WNBA Rookie of the Year Award. Naturally, if Howard didn’t make the national team, no other rookies made the cut, right? Wrong.
Mystics rookie forward Shakira Austin made the team despite Howard averaging nearly twice as many points as her this year. Moreover, Howard averaged more assists, more steals, and the same amount of blocks while standing three inches shorter than Austin.
Three games into World Cup action, Austin is averaging 7.7 points per contest. Imagine what Howard could have done…
Rhyne Howard’s downtown dominance
Not only is Howard a better overall player than Austin. She’s better than almost every single player on the team in a vital category: 3-point shooting. In her rookie year, Howard made the fifth-most 3-pointers per game in the league.
How many of the four players above her are on the team? Only one, and it’s Kelsey Plum, who is arguably the best shooter in the WNBA. Howard isn’t inefficient from deep, either, if that’s what you were thinking. The Kentucky legend shot 34.3% from range last season, higher than national team members such as Chelsea Gray and Sabrina Ionescu.
A lack of trust?
When examining the previously mentioned statistics, it seems impossible that Howard didn’t make the team. However, there is one area that Howard struggled this season. The Atlanta Dream superstar only shot 36.1% overall from the field.
While this looks bad, let me defend Howard’s honor. Simply put, Howard has to take bad shots because often it’s better than her teammates taking good ones. Howard was the No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft. In other words, she immediately was placed on the worst team in the WNBA.
Howard doesn’t have much help in Atlanta, but this wouldn’t be the case on the national team. Howard could spread the wealth, take what’s given to her, and not force tough shots. Unfortunately, Howard won’t get that opportunity, because it was taken from her. No matter how dominant Team USA is in the World Cup, they could have been better with Howard by their side.
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