Overseas Film Study: Marina Mabrey

Tracking Mabrey's continued growth as an offensive force--through a deep dive into the evolution of her playmaking abilities.

It’s no secret that Marina Mabrey’s ability to shoot the basketball made her an offensive threat for the Sky in 2023 (15 PPG); however, as she looks to evolve into one of the W’s premier offensive players under new coach Teresa Weatherspoon in 2024, her ability to playmake for others will also be an important piece of her overall success. Her assist percentage last season (20.3%) actually dipped from the previous two seasons in Dallas, but I’d attribute that more to her increased role as a scorer than any actual setbacks in her creative abilities. Yet, the version of Mabrey we see overseas with Turkish giants Mersin suggests there’s an even bigger side of her playmaking ability that hasn’t fully surfaced in the WNBA yet.

To understand why I feel Mabrey has continued to improve as a playmaker and, thus, evolve as an overall offensive player, let’s dive into the film of two critical EuroLeague wins Mersin picked up in the month of January against Polish side Polkowice and Italian club Virtus Bologna. Mabrey registered 9 assists in each contest, but it’s the unique skills she demonstrates in getting those numbers that suggests she can improve her assist totals (3.6 per game in ‘23) stateside as well.

First and foremost, Mabrey’s ability as a long-range shooter (and indeed, as a multi-level scorer) puts her in position to be an ideal ball-handler in pick-and-roll situations. Because of the gravity she has with the ball in her hands and her ability to quickly pull the trigger on a shot, any coach will want to implement defensive coverages that—first and foremost—stop Mabrey from getting open shots. As we see in the first two plays below, Mabrey is equipped to deal with routine coverages like a blitz (play 1) or a show (play 2) and patiently unload the ball without panicking (though, in fairness, Elizabeth Williams makes a great catch in traffic in play 2). Even if we stop here, there’s already enough for Marina to be an elite playmaking option in a two-player game because of how efficiently (42.4% 3PT in EuroLeague) she can shoot the ball and the threat that creates for the opposing defense.

When we jump to play 3, we see how savvy Mabrey is when interpreting these situations. Because of the way the screener (Quanitra Hollingsworth) runs off of the screen, the traditional pick-and-roll flow is broken—meaning Mabrey can’t just unload the ball over the top to the rolling big. Recognizing this, she starts to fade to the corner which, in turn, re-opens the lane for Hollingsworth to run into. The last key choice is the shuffle backwards that gives Mabrey just enough time and space to throw a simple floated pass into the post. While she can execute those simple passes, the fourth play below shows that Mabrey has plenty of pizzazz in her creative bag as well. Polkowice are defending relatively straight up with the initial defender going over the screen well, but Mabrey executes a perfect pass that allows Williams to catch and go up—even while running into a triangle of defensive coverage. This looks a simple pass, but the touch and precision needed to execute it is not something every player—especially those who are also such a dangerous scoring threat—has in their locker.

The placement of the ball is not easy on a floated pass like the fourth clip above, but touch and finesse are far more important in ensuring the ball gets where the recipient needs it to score. In the case of the passes below, strength becomes a huge factor in getting the ball cross court. At 5’11”, Mabrey isn’t a super small player, but the quality of long passes she delivers flat-footed is still extremely impressive for her size. Coming down the court at speed or even off a drive in the half court, some of the force behind the ball is created inherently by your momentum. However, no such advantage exists in the first clip below. It’s not as if Mabrey wouldn’t be able to throw a cross court pass because she’s standing still (players obviously do this all the time), rather it’s the fact that she’s able to generate sufficient power and still demonstrate fantastic control. Despite the pass traveling nearly the entirety of the half-court, it hits Melis Gülcan in the hands as though it were a routine chest pass from a couple of feet away—helping this shot get out quicker and be less susceptible to the late closeout.

Similarly, in the second and third clip below, Mabrey—to use an old American football adage—puts the ball where only her receiver can get it. Just like for an NFL quarterback, it’s reasonable to expect that—with more distance and more strength required to complete a certain pass—the accuracy of said pass will decrease somewhat. In Mabrey’s case, that extra distance rarely seems to impact the precision of the pass even when, again, she’s flat-footed. Because she’ll be such a focal point for the Sky’s offense in 2024 and beyond, don’t be surprised to see Mabrey use this skill to break high double teams on the perimeter and take advantage of the 4 on 3 mismatch created behind the defense’s blitz.

Despite all of the (largely) technical abilities I’ve honed in on in the plays above, I actually think the most valuable part of Mabrey’s arsenal as a playmaker is her court awareness. We often hear the term “court vision” used to describe some of the game’s great playmakers, and this is a skill where I think Mabrey is already impressive but continues to improve. In the first play below, she subtly scans the floor off the screen—allowing her to get an estimation of where her teammates are. This allows her to identify that the defender marking Olivia Époupa has committed to helping stop Williams as she rolls to the basket—leaving Époupa wide open in the process. Often times, it’s pretty easy for a score-first ball-handler to forget their other three teammates in pick-and-roll sets. They’ll always be cognizant of the screener as an outlet, but it’s easy to put the blinders on and lose sight of everyone else. By not getting overly wrapped up in the bread and butter passes out of the pick and roll, Mabrey makes Mersin’s entire offense far more dynamic and difficult to defend.

That vision is impressive but I used the broader term awareness above, because I think Mabrey is exceptionally conscious of how her movement (not just that of others) impacts the offense’s ability to function. Coming off a well-set screen by Williams in the second play below, it would be easy for Mabrey to instantly get the ball to the open shooter—Virag Kiss. And, in truth, Kiss will still be very open even if Mabrey lets the ball go right away. But instead, Marina holds on for just a beat longer. The Polkowice big takes one extra step away from Kiss (who has an extra second to set her feet), and the result is an even more open three that goes down at a critical moment in the game. The last play—which creates a similar outcome but in a different way—may not be intentional, but I suspect it is. After Mabrey unloads the ball to Williams on a drive, she continues to run into the Bologna defender who’s trying to close out on the baseline. What may have been a mildly distracting closeout is reduced to an afterthought for Williams because of the subtle interference Mabrey is able to provide even after passing the ball.

Crucial to tying all of these playmaking skills together into a high-performance offensive player is Mabrey’s ability to effectively differentiate scoring and playmaking opportunities on the fly. In Turkey, Mabrey has been forced to carry a heavier creative burden after the departure of Alina Iagupova in December. Yet, the impact on her scoring (19.3 PPG before, 18.8 after) has been marginal even while successfully taking on (2.7 APG before, 8.3 after) a lot of the playmaking responsibilities that the Ukrainian (4.7 APG) had been fulfilling.

To me, that success overseas—and the continued growth as a playmaker she’s shown in the process—suggests that Mabrey is ready to perform a similar balancing act in the W and shoulder some of the creative load that Courtney Williams left behind after signing with Minnesota.