Valkyries’ Natalie Nakase drops ‘cat-like’ comp for DPOY frontrunner Gabby Williams

SAN FRANCISCO – The stat sheet doesn’t do justice to the little things Golden State Valkyries star Gabby Williams does defensively. Entering August 19th, Williams ranks seventh in the league in defensive rating (100.0, min. 375 minutes played, per 44), seventh in steals per game (1.7), 13th in defensive win shares (0.157), and second in steal percentage (31.6, among players who average at least 15 minutes).

But as one of the leaders of the Valkyries’ league-best defense, coach Natalie Nakase understands what flies under the radar with Williams’ defensive abilities, as the Defensive Player of the Year race heats up.

“She’s like a cat,” Nakase said before Golden State’s game versus Minnesota. “She has these defensive instincts where sometimes she’ll be in different spots of the game plan, and then she’s like, ‘just trust me, coach, just trust me.’ She studies opponents really, really well. Gabby locks in, in terms of film and personnel and game plan.”

Per BetGM, Williams is the frontrunner for DPOY at -110 odds, with Aces’ A’Ja Wilson behind her at +200, Mystics’ Shakira Austin at +500, and Lynx’s Natasha Howard a long shot at +3500.

Part of those favorable odds comes from the narrative of the Valkyries’ season. With their league-best defense, Golden State has catapulted themselves to the second-best record in the league in just year two of their existence. And part of that tremendous leap coincides with Williams joining the Valkyries in free agency, a big-fish signing that has changed the course of the franchise moving forward.

But what makes Williams so integral to the crux of Golden State’s defense is her versatility. On some nights, Nakase will use Williams to take away the opponents’ best perimeter player. On other nights, the Valkyries will let the two-time All-Defense selection roam like a free safety, using her instincts to rack up steals and create fast-break opportunities. Whatever Nakase needs for the defensive game plan, Williams can do it. And she does it on a level where she is playing the game within the game.

“She’ll try to cheat it within understanding if I show and I present my body here, now I not be able to get the steal or deflection that I want,” Nakase said, with admiration in her voice. “We let her be her within our game plan. It’s her instincts, it’s her love and passion to get steals and deflections, and then obviously defense creates offense, and it creates offense for our teammates.”

Natalie Nakase demanding better defense

But while Nakase made Williams’ case for DPOY, she remained adamant that their defense still isn’t up to her standards.

“There are still stretches where we can get better defensively, whether it’s the game plan or it’s communication,” Nakase said. “That’s my focus tonight, is I want to say four quarters of intense, disruptive ball-pressure type of defense that I know we can do.”

It’s a tone Nakase’s taken since the All-Star break. In Nakase’s eyes, the Valkyries haven’t played “four quarters” of top-notch defense. And the reason for Nakase’s high standards is easy to parse out. Golden State’s defense is the backbone of everything they want to do. With an offense that relies on 3-point variance and shot volume, the defense is what sparks the high-quality looks every team wants: wide-open layups or transition triples.

“It really is our defense creating more opportunities for our offense, as basic as I know that sounds,” Nakase said last week. “We know when we lock up, we flow better on offense.”

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