respectfully66

I respect your analysis and appreciate the engagement. I disagree with parts of your analysis. My observation is that Jada Richard has a natural scoring ability that one cannot teach and is less constrained by her less-than-average (basketball context) height than one might expect. She went to the free throw line (during SEC regular season games) one time fewer than Flaujae and six times more than Mikaylah. Leaning on my recollection of what I watched, those fouls did not occur when she was shooting the three-point shot nor did they occur disproportionately while she was shooting those mid-range jumpers. Jada R. drew many of those fouls on drives to the basket and shots near the basket because she has the ball-handling ability, foot speed, court vision, passing ability, body control, basketball IQ, and a feel for the game (pace, space and position, etc.) that allowed her to do so. And don't sleep on the lower body strength that was present in her sophomore season.

"Those stats are solid, but they’re heavily tied to role and situation."
I suspect that the stats were constrained by role and situation--the points-per-game and assists-per-game, in particular.

"Jada Williams is walking into...a system that lets guards attack and create."
I don't think this applied to Jada R. as the point guard. Coach Mulkey has stated the following when describing Jada R.'s responsibilities: "If you’re looking for your shot, you’re playing for the wrong woman...Everybody else come first...manage the game out there on the court.”
LINK

"More defensive attention, tougher shots, and higher usage usually bring efficiency down."
I think the defenses that LSU faced last season had more of an appreciation of Jada R.'s abilities than some of us in this forum might think.

I agree that with increased defensive attention, efficiency will tend to decrease, but the somewhat rare players with the offensive abilities that I described above (ball-handling, foot speed, court vision, passing, etc.) can adeptly facilitate team scoring in that scenario, if the players and the system are in place to take advantage of a point guard with those abilities. In other words, if the team expects the point guard to aggressively attack the defense and are ready to receive the ball and score or pass it when the off-ball defender(s) inevitably has to provide help defense on the point guard. I am not speaking of point guard with a usage rate as high as Aaliyah Chavez at Oklahoma, but an offense, one facet of which is a point guard who is a threat to score or facilitate scoring, even starting from a well-guarded position. I think Jada R. is that type of point guard, but I am not sure, because she has not been in a situation in which she could fully demonstrate it. I hoped she would get a chance to do so at LSU, not firstly for Jada R.'s sake, but firstly because that might have been very good for LSU.

I strongly support Kim Mulkey. Jada Williams is our projected starting point guard. She is experienced and proven to be very good. I hope Jada Williams and Jada Richard both have great seasons next year.

LINK

Jada Richard statistical ranking in 2025-26 SEC regular season games compared to other team members:
- 3-point field goal %: 1st (.425%)
- free throws made: 1st (43)
- free throw percentage: 1st (.935)
- field goal %: 2nd among top 4 perimeter players (.424%)
- turnovers: (fewest among top 4 perimeter players)
- free throw attempts: 3rd (1 fewer than 2nd place Flaujae)
- minutes played: 2nd (Mikaylah is 1st)
- steals: 19 (2nd on team and about 1 per game fewer than MiLaysia)
- assists: 4th (among top 4 perimeter players; In her role as primarily a "game manager" on offense, she most commonly passed the ball to a wing (who was still on the perimeter) immediately after bringing the ball up the court
- 2-point field goal attempts: 4th (3 per game fewer than the other 3 top perimeter players)
- 3-point field goal attempts: 4th (1 per game fewer than the other 3 top perimeter players)
- scoring: 4th (10.8 points per game) (3.5 points fewer than 1st place Mikaylah)

An analysis of these statistics, along with watching the games and considering what Kim Mulkey and Bob Starkey have said about Jada Richard, suggests that to say that a player is an upgrade compared to Jada Richard may be a notable compliment. It may also be incorrect.