Dream: Something's Gotta Give... oh, wait, it just did!

[lethalweapon3]

http://www.swishappe...s-fred-williams

@marynellmeaders gets fired atlanta owners cave in inmate in charge #coachingisaBitch

About 45 minutes after a tweet by USA Basketball coach Geno Auriemma, the Atlanta Dream announced today that they have replaced coach and general manager Marynell Meadors with current assistant coach Fred Williams.

"As a team, we are unified in our drive to build on what we've achieved in our first five years," said Williams. "We want to acknowledge the strong contribution that Marynell Meadors made to this organization. Our franchise will continue to build on the tradition of speed, scoring and tough defense that has resulted in back-to-back Eastern Conference championships."

"Coach Williams bring a wealth of experience, a strong sense of teamwork, and demonstrated commitment to the role of Head Coach and General Manager," said Atlanta Dream Co-owners Mary Brock and Kelly Loeffler. "We have tremendous respect for her contribution to this sport and wish Coach Meadors the very best in her future endeavors."

WOW.

No more Marynell jokes, I'm kinda sad! She was their Woody and BK rolled into one.

Two weeks after sitting on Geno's side as Team USA took gold, Marynell Meadors, coach of the reigning two-time Eastern Conference Finalists, is on the outs!

If you've followed this team for the past few years, you've seen star after star after star (if not outright stars, then certainly fan favorites) fall out of favor with Coach Meadors. From Ivory Latta to Chamique Holdsclaw and now to Angel McCoughtry, who went AWOL the past few days. It's been "My way or the highway," under Meadors for the entire existence of the franchise. But under new ownership seeing a sparse fanbase tuning the Dream out, it appears it's Meadors' turn to take the highway. A lot of the early Dream fans were really masquerading as such and really fans of those particular players. The owners probably figured they could not run another potential Hall of Famer out of town and continue drawing fans with Meadors at the helm.

If you've followed my posts on the Dream from earlier this year, the barrier insulating the icy relations between Meadors and McCoughtry (former assistant Carol Ross) left before the season to take over the L.A. Sparks. That was the moment Dream fans said "ruh-roh." Not only for those reasons, but because Ross was the coach designing the plays at critical junctures of the games while Marynell watched from the sides. And it gets to the point where you can see talented players tune her out: the 2011 WNBA All-Star Game had an infamous "live hot-mic" moment where you could hear the players re-designing the play call during a timeout and ignoring her.

The Dream has played around .500 ball, but so many contests have involved late-game collapses without Ross around. Meadors' substitutions (or non-subs) late in games have long been head-scratching. As GM she pulled off the biggest draft blunder perhaps in WNBA history in April, drafting an ineligible foreign player (French center named Yacoubou... she was three years too old to be drafted) with the team's third round pick.

I'm not sure this means Angel wins the war outright, though: might the owners send her packing, too? The trading deadline is Thursday, and although logically it makes sense to let her play through the playoffs and get into restricted free agency, I'm not 100% sure of Fred Williams' mindset as to whether they'll match offers for the moody star. Her latest turn has certainly depressed her value both to the Dream and to other teams. Ultimately, though, I think it's clear Marynell as GM had NO plans to get her re-signed next year, and Angel sensed this enough to holdout until the owners did something about it.

Aside: Williams, former USC head coach and an assistant there under Cheryl Miller, is an accomplished jazz musician during the offseason, going by the name "Freddy Bass."

http://www.freddybasswilliams.com/

~lw3

Edited August 27, 2012 by lethalweapon3

[lethalweapon3]

Aside: Today is Marynell's 69th birthday. Ouch?~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

http://www.ajc.com/sports/dream-names-williams-new-1507778.html

Well, at least for MC it beats having to write a season-end review of Tracy McGrady in August.

After not traveling with the Dream for their game at Washington Friday, McCoughtry came off the bench to play in Atlanta's loss to Minnesota Saturday. Meadors bristled when asked after the game if McCoughtry was back to full status with the team.

"All I can tell you is she played tonight," Meadors said.

McCoughtry, who was drafted by Meadors in 2009, said she requested the time off.

"I asked Coach to give me a few days to get myself together and she let me do that," McCoughtry said.

~lw3

[macdaddy]

Thanks for the update. I'm a Dream fan but don't follow it that closely even though i always intend on going to games. Seems like Angel is too big a talent to give up. Seems like Meadors did a good job making this a contending team but there always comes a time to go. Seems like WNBA has progressed to a point where they aren't going to be treated like college players.

[AHawks89]

Kris_Willis Wow Angel McCoughtry suspended indefinitely by the Atlanta Dream according to the broadcast

[lethalweapon3]

As I mentioned last week... buckle up!

The trade deadline is August 30 at 8:00 PM. Hold on to your hats, it may get bumpy!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

http://www.fullcourt...es-another-game

McCoughtry, who sat out two games for “personal reasons,” appears to be wearing on her teammates, who collectively decided to strip her of her role as tri-captain. A players-only voting process had picked Sancho Lyttle, Armintie Price and McCoughtry as team captains at the beginning of the season.

“It was a decision we made with Angel,” said Price, who led a players-only meeting at the end of last week. “We felt that right now, with all the stuff going on, we wanted to remove her out of that area and not have that much pressure on her and let her come back with a level head.

“She’s our sister, she’s our teammate, and we love her regardless of anything,” continued Price. “None of us are perfect, and whatever she is going through, we want her back on the team. Not only is she a great athlete, she is a great person and you can’t fault people for what they are going through, you just have to pray for them. We want her to get back out here as soon as she’s ready and she’ll have our support.” (snip)

Full Court has also confirmed that Director of Basketball Operations Susan Panek was dismissed from the Dream staff along with Meadors; no reason was given for her dismissal.

Whoever gets the first scoop of the moment it all unraveled is gonna have one hell of a story.

And after tonight's flop against Tulsa, if there's anyone out there in the GM office, please trade Sancho while her value is still high.

~lw3

Edited August 29, 2012 by lethalweapon3

[macdaddy]

Williams isn't impressing me so far. Can someone interpret for me?

"I have to thoroughly and strongly talk to her," Williams said. "We'll see where that lies tomorrow when I talk with her. I think it's been a culmination of some things that added on to the suspension that I read into it."

http://www.ajc.com/ap/ap/georgia/hodges-johnson-help-tulsa-end-road-skid/nRMj4/

[HawkItus]

This is why I can't watch women sports. All these ladies seem nuts and so emotional. Beyond Artest(World Peace) who asks for time off to get their head straight during the season? Nuts.

[macdaddy]

This is why I can't watch women sports. All these ladies seem nuts and so emotional. Beyond Artest(World Peace) who asks for time off to get their head straight during the season? Nuts.

I'm not seeing the difference really. Dwight, Marbury, Tmac complains about playing time from a chair he can barely get out of

[lethalweapon3]

Williams isn't impressing me so far. Can someone interpret for me? http://www.ajc.com/a...oad-skid/nRMj4/

It sounds to me that whatever has gone down between Angel/Marynell/Panek/Owners, he has been left out of that loop up until today. I'm guessing he's hedging against the possibility they'll try to trade her by tomorrow night, and killing time to let his higher-ups sort through whatever's left of the dirty laundry. She'll have to return to the squad in case they can't get a good offer, armed with both a decent attitude toward the team and a well-prepared alibi (concocted with Williams' help) for the media. As Voepel suggested, Freddy knows (or at least, he'd better know) he's next on her list the minute she senses displeasure with what he's saying or doing. ~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

I'm not seeing the difference really. Dwight, Marbury, Tmac complains about playing time from a chair he can barely get out of

Let's not forget the "Losing" Isaiah Rider types. ~lw3

[AHF]

This is why I can't watch women sports. All these ladies seem nuts and so emotional. Beyond Artest(World Peace) who asks for time off to get their head straight during the season? Nuts.

This isn't unheard of by any means. Texas Rangers give Michael Young time off for a "mental break." http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120815&content_id=36754590&notebook_id=36754592&vkey=notebook_tex&c_id=tex San Francisco Giants give Andres Torres a mental break to "relax" his "frayed nerves." http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110622&content_id=20896718&notebook_id=20898344&vkey=notebook_sf&c_id=sf Texas Rangers give time off, saying Josh Hamilton "needed a mental break" http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/news/print.jsp?ymd=20120728&content_id=35721798&notebook_id=35723402&vkey=notebook_tex&c_id=tex etc.

[lethalweapon3]

Is our long national nightmare about over? We shall see at 3.

The week-long suspension of Atlanta All-Star Angel McCoughtry appears to be over and the WNBA's leading scorer will play for the Dream Sunday when the Eastern Conference-leading Connecticut Sun pay a visit to the Philips Arena at 3 p.m. "Angel will be back on the floor playing tomorrow," McCoughtry's agent Boris Lelchitski sent word in a text message late Saturday night to the Guru of the member of the USA Olympic Gold Medalist squad who has missed four of seven games since her return from London. Atlanta (13-13), the two-time defending Eastern Conference playoff champions, is trying to nail down another playoff spot, trailing first place Connecticut (19-6) by 6.5 games with eight games remaining holding third place ahead of New York (10-16) by three games and the fifth-place Chicago Sky (9-16) by 3.5 games. (snip) It appears an internal dispute involving McCoughtry, who had been the WNBA's leading scorer, also cost Atlanta's former coach-general manager Marynell Meadors her job. Olympic and UConn coach Geno Aauriemma first broke word Monday through his twitter accounty that Meadors had been let go. Co-owners Mary Brook Kelly and Kelly Loeffler announced an hour later Monday that Meadors, who also had been an assistant coach with USA squad, was let go and that assistant Fred Williams had been promoted to fill both vacancies and that assistant and former Auburn coach Joe Ciampi had been retained but that Sue Panek had also been dismissed. Williams later announced after Tuesday's game with visiting Tulsa won by the Shock that McCoughtry, a former Louisville star and native of Baltimore who was drafted overall No. 1 in 2009, had been suspended indefinitely for breaking team rules. She did not play in Thursday's home win over Washington, though Williams and McCoughtry did meet concerning her current discipline. McCoughtry also did not play in two other games, which was said to be "for personal reasons." She missed the first post-Olympic home game with Chicago and a trip to Washington. She showed up in street clothes for the Olympic tribute but then did not join her teammates on the bench and sat in the stands away from where her squad was located. McCounghtry, who is the WNBA's leading scorer with a 22.2 scoring average, played in last Saturday's home loss to Minnesota and said afterwards she had asked and been granted time off, though the previous Thursday night McCoughtry tweeted while out on the social ciruit in Atlanta. Kelly Kline, publisher of Fullcourt.com, reported last Tuesday before the Dream game from Atlanta, where she is based, that the Dream players had stripped McCoughtry holding a tri-captaincy position that they gave her along with also honoring both Amintie Price and Sancho Lyttle at the beginning of the season. Williams said at the end of the week that he had had some good meetings, that some clubs had inquired about McCoughtry but she was going nowhere. Should she actually appear Sunday as her agent indicated, the story of the last two weeks will continue.

Aside: Angel has to play in each of the final 8 WNBA games to be eligible for the WNBA scoring title. ~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

sheeeeeeeee's baaaaaaaaaack...Everybody got their money's worth today from both teams, great game at the end! Was that Angel going Kobe/T-Mac with like 18 points in the final quarter? Wow.~lw3

[AHawks89]

This isn't unheard of by any means. Texas Rangers give Michael Young time off for a "mental break." http://texas.rangers...ok_tex&c_id=tex San Francisco Giants give Andres Torres a mental break to "relax" his "frayed nerves." http://sanfrancisco....book_sf&c_id=sf Texas Rangers give time off, saying Josh Hamilton "needed a mental break" http://texas.rangers...ok_tex&c_id=tex etc.

Haha. AHF, baseball is a bit different than basketball. I wouldn't use baseball players as examples. Way different. I'm sure ya don't see it, but take my word.