So John Altavilla is warning that the 11 player roster is turning out tired play and that the stars are pondering walking away from the W 'cause they're tired.

Since it's Diana he's using to warn the league, and since no one I know has done any factual analysis of the impact of the 11 player roster, here's my quick attempt:

04	33.2	.416	.330	4.4	3.9	1.3	2.65	3.40	17.0
05	33.0	.410	.313	4.2	4.5	1.1	3.39	3.40	16.0
06	33.9	.452	.397	3.6	4.1	1.2	2.32	2.90	25.3
07	32.0	.440	.367	4.2	4.3	1.4	2.63	3.30	19.2
08	31.9	.446	.360	5.1	3.6	1.4	2.44	3.70	24.1
09	31.5	.461	.407	5.7	3.5	1.2	2.65	3.10	20.4

So, comparing '08 v. '09, since the 11 player roster, Taurasi is playing less minutes, shooting better from inside and outside the arc, better at FT's, more rebounds, .1 less assists, .2 less steals, .21 more TOs, less fouls and 4pts less per game.

Someone else can figure in the Penny/Cappie factor. And the lack of Cappie factor when they look at this season.

Someone else can look at the league in 97 and the league in, say, 2002 and total the average starting minutes for starters vs. bench.... and then maybe we can start talking about what is contributing to what kind of play.

I respect athletes wanting to take time off. And I totally understand if Dee (or Penny or Wauters or LJ or whoever) make that decision. There's a simple reality to the W and how it tacks on to the international game. Until someone proves it otherwise, it's the schedule not the roster that's the issue.

And it ain't a new issue.

And, fwiw, the dropping down to 11 wasn't a whimsical decision, it was a business decision. Just like the kind a newspaper might make these days when deciding not to send reporters to cover the Hall of Fame induction of one of their readers most beloved players, and one of the most significant, of all time.