Sports
Dream move up in WNBA Draft, now poised to make No. 1 pick
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The Atlanta Dream traded up two spots to get the No. 1 decide within the WNBA Draft so they might get the participant they really feel will help flip across the franchise, which has struggled the previous few seasons.
The main candidates are Rhyne Howard from Kentucky and NaLyssa Smith of Baylor. And on Monday night time, gamers, households and pals will attend the draft in particular person for the primary time since 2019.
“Rhyne is a professional. She’s a recreation changer. She’s an elite expertise,” ESPN analyst LaChina Robinson mentioned. “If you take a look at all of the various things she will be able to do on the basketball courtroom, she will be able to rating it from 3, she has a pull-up recreation, she will be able to get to the rim. There actually simply isn’t anything from a scoring standpoint that you possibly can ask for.”
Atlanta completed 8-24 final season and has missed the playoffs 4 of the previous 5 seasons. The franchise received new possession final yr, introduced in a brand new coach in Tanisha Wright and have a brand new normal supervisor in Dan Padover.
The Dream had the No. 1 decide in 2009 and used it to draft Angel McCoughtry.
FILE – Kentucky’s Rhyne Howard (10) is guarded by LSU’s Khayla Pointer (3) within the second half of an NCAA faculty basketball recreation on the girls’s Southeastern Convention event Friday, March 4, 2022, in Nashville, Tenn. Howard is anticipated to be drafted excessive within the WNBA draft on Monday, April 11, 2022.
(AP Picture/Mark Humphrey, File)
“We’re in a rebuild proper now, and we’re additionally wanting so as to add items that may be with us for a very long time,” Padover mentioned. “I feel having the No. 1 decide in 2022, our hope is that this particular person is available in with recent vitality and sparks one thing beneath our franchise which we want proper now, and in addition embraces the town of Atlanta.”
Whoever the Dream do not take first between Howard and Smith will doubtless be drafted second by Indiana. The Fever have not had an awesome draft historical past the previous few seasons; none of their first-round picks over the previous three seasons are nonetheless on the roster. Indiana introduced in Lin Dunn because the interim normal supervisor to convey stability to the franchise. Dunn has 4 picks (2, 4, 6, 10) within the first spherical to construct a roster round.
“In our specific scenario, we want so much,” Dunn mentioned. “We want assist inside. We want assist exterior. It’s a bit bit simpler for us to pinpoint our wants as a result of they’re obvious. However we’re basically in that first spherical with 2, 4, 6 and 10 the perfect participant obtainable”.
Washington acquired the third decide from the Dream and coach Mike Thibault is snug that he’ll have the ability to add a very good participant to an already sturdy crew.
“We’re a bit bit completely different than the opposite two groups in that we now have some gamers coming again to our crew, with Elena Delle Donne, Alysha Clark, even Myisha Hines-Allen, who missed a very good a part of final yr, that coming in wholesome. We’re a distinct sort of crew, we’re a veteran crew,” mentioned Thibault, additionally the Mystics GM. “So whoever we draft is just not going to be anticipated to play 25 to half-hour.”
Another issues to know concerning the three-round draft:
TRADING NO. 1
That is the second yr in a row that the No. 1 decide has been traded earlier than the draft. Final yr, New York traded it to the Seattle Storm, who then dealt it to the Dallas Wings. Dallas chosen Charli Collier first general in 2021. With gamers who may doubtlessly change the course of franchise looming in upcoming drafts — beginning with Aliyah Boston of South Carolina subsequent season and Paige Bueckers and Caitlyn Clark the yr after — odds are the highest decide will not change arms subsequent yr.
MAKING A SQUAD
It is extremely troublesome for draftees to make a WNBA roster with solely doubtlessly 144 spots obtainable on the 12 groups. It is normally fewer, although, due to wage cap points and since some groups solely carry 11 gamers. Lower than half of final yr’s 36 draft picks are at present on WNBA rosters.
RECORD-SETTING WOLVERINE
Naz Hillmon had a historic profession at Michigan main the Wolverines to the Elite Eight for the primary time in class historical past. The senior ahead might be this system’s first participant drafted since Tabitha Pool was chosen by the New York Liberty within the second spherical of the 2005 draft.