2016 Atlanta Dream and WNBA Previews

[lethalweapon3]

This might be a bit o' a problem, though.

Like Angel's situation this past week, the Technical is believed to be Tip's 7th of the season. Save us, Commissioner Borders!

UPDATE: It looks like Tiffany's going to go the appeal route to rescind the Technical. We'll just see how it goes.

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Bring on the Storm!

Watch Them Work! First-round elimination-game action between the Dream and the Storm, from Georgia Tech's McCamish Pavilion, will be aired live on ESPNNEWS this Wednesday, at 8 PM Eastern. Preceding that game at 6 PM will be the elimination game between the Mercury and Fever from Indiana.

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

 

We on Award Tour! Here go my post-season handouts...

MVP: Nneka Ogwumike, Los Angeles. Tina Charles came on strong, but Nneka's final award-winning week erased any doubts. Finished off the best True Shooting season in league history (73.7 TS%, no other WNBAer ever surpassed 70%), as it was her Sparks that gave reigning-champ Minnesota something to worry about until the final two weeks.

All-WNBA

First Team:

G Sue Bird, Seattle

GF Maya Moore, Minnesota

F Elena Delle Donne, Chicago

FC Nneka Ogwumike, Los Angeles

FC Tina Charles, New York

Second Team:

G Kristi Toliver, Los Angeles

GF Angel McCoughtry, ATLANTA

FC Candace Parker, Los Angeles

FC Breanna Stewart, Seattle

FC Sylvia Fowles, Minnesota

Any chance of Angel cracking the First Team again may have been dashed when she got suspended and her team failed to finish among the league's Top 5. Not many true guards are deserving of consideration, but special honors should to Sue Bird, for her best season since 2011 while just a month shy of age 36.

 

Defensive POY: Sylvia Fowles, Minnesota. We gotta get Minnesota some hardware for their best-ever regular-season, right? Fowles finished first in the league for D-Rating and Defensive Win Shares, anchoring the league's top team in D-Rating. Alana Beard deserves a big honorable mention for her lockdown efforts on behalf of L.A. 

All-Defensive Team

GF Angel McCoughtry, ATLANTA

GF Alana Beard, Los Angeles

GF Tamika Catchings, Indiana

FC Breanna Stewart, Seattle

FC Sylvia Fowles, Minnesota

Tina Charles is getting a bit robbed here, but for good reason as will be spelled out with the award-winner below. And, yes, Catch was this good on her way out the door. Angel's signature steals took a dip, but her 17.5 D-Reb% blows away her prior career-high from 2011.

 

Rookie of the Year: Breanna Stewart, Seattle. A decade or so from now, Stewie is gonna be more like Tony Stewart, just someone whose greatness the sports world takes for granted. Until we get there, though, we'll remain in awe of her shattering the record for defensive rebounds by any WNBA player in one season, while also taking time to score the 5th-most points of any player this season. No one else has been close, and if we're honest, we could have called this particular award back in 2013.

All-Rookie Team

G Moriah Jefferson, San Antonio

GF Morgan Tuck, Connecticut

FC Breanna Stewart, Seattle

FC Jonquel Jones, Connecticut

C Imani Boyette, Chicago

Don't be surprised to find Atlanta's Bria Holmes making the All-Rookie cut! She came on strong in the back half of this season, maybe enough so to unseat Tuck. MoJeff, meanwhile, has all the makings of a future superstar.

 

Most Improved Player: Sugar Rodgers, New York. Was really pulling for Layshia Clarendon here, but she couldn't finish strong enough, and her 3-point shooting is actually down from last year in Indiana.  Like Layshia (10.4 PPG), Rodgers became a double-digit scorer (14.5 PPG) and a reliable starter for the first time in her four-year career (14.5 PPG), helping to keep New York the only team aside from Minnesota with back-to-back seasons of 20-plus victories. If she remains healthy on a team with a lot of question marks, Sugar's presence can only sweeten New York's championship prospects. Atlanta's second-year center Elizabeth Williams deserves some votes here, too.

 

Sixth Woman of the Year: Lynetta Kizer, Indiana. There will certainly be sympathies toward Jantel Lavender, who performed at an All-Star level for the shorthanded Sparks in 2015, then returned to the bench for L.A. this season and put up solid numbers behind Parker and Ogwumike. But hopefully nobody overlooks Kizer's career-bests of 9.6 PPG and 55.6 FG%, stepping it up during the Fever's playoff run. Hardly anyone was playing as well as the 6-foot-4 center in the weeks before the Olympic break. On a team that often strains to find production on offense to match what Catchings provided on the defensive end, Kizer came in off the bench to provide just that.

 

Executive of the Year: Penny Toler, Los Angeles.

Coach of the Year: Brian Agler, Los Angeles.

Cheryl Reeve's franchise-setting 28 wins deserve applause, to be sure. Yet Fowles virtually fell (or, placed herself) into her team's lap in 2015, and the star-studded Lynx certainly have met expectations since then. But the Sparks had to pick up the pieces after somewhat of a lost season in 2015, and Agler had the recipe that cooked perfectly through the first two months of the season.

What clinches the award for Toler is the virtual heist she got from Connecticut in the offseason. Jonquel Jones is going to be nice for the Sun going forward. But the Sparks not only acquired guard Chelsea Gray, who has come on strong down the stretch, by trading the Jones pick on 2016 Draft Night, but also what could become the second pick in the 2017 Draft, if not higher once the lottery balls bounce.

We'll also never know if Toler (trivia: 1st person ever to score in the WNBA, back in 1997; also retired, became GM and hired Michael Cooper for the Sparks in 1999) scored the third-best trade deal of 2015-16, since Riquna Williams went down to a preseason injury, and Erin Phillips didn't make much of a mark for Dallas. But Agler certainly made-do without Williams around, his team shooting a league-best 37.5 3FG% and averaging a league-high 20.4 APG. By the way, Cooper's deal for Elizabeth Williams seems to qualify as the second-best trade from last offseason. Sorry again, Connecticut.

Bear in mind, Los Angeles was a team that looked like it might really fold back around Christmas 2013, the money-losing owner placing the franchise in the league's lap and bailing out. Toler also came down from the GM chair in mid-2014 to coach the team, before handing the keys to Agler, who took quite a leap of faith to depart from Seattle in 2015. With some lottery luck and some shrewd moves, it seems the duo have re-stabilized the team in the WNBA's second-biggest market.

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

HAAAAAPPY BIRRRRRRTHDAYYYYYYY TOOOOO YOUUUUUUUU...

http://www.wnba.com/news/tiffany-hayes-suspended/

 

Quote

 

NEW YORK, Sept. 20, 2016 – Atlanta Dream guard Tiffany Hayes has been suspended one game without pay for receiving her seventh technical foul of the 2016 season, it was announced today by Renee Brown, Chief of Basketball Operations and Player Relations.

Under WNBA rules, a player or coach is automatically suspended without pay for the next game upon receiving a seventh technical foul during the regular season.

Hayes incurred her seventh technical foul with 4:51 left in the second quarter during Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Lynx. She will serve the suspension on Sept. 21 when the Dream open the First Round of its playoff series vs. the Seattle Storm.

After the conclusion of the regular season, the technical foul count for all players and coaches is reset to zero. A player or coach would, however, be suspended for one game upon receiving a fourth technical foul during the playoffs.

 

Who knows? Maybe Angel can get Tiffany a free trip to Chicago tomorrow.

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Win Or Stay Home! The Atlanta Dream did just enough in 2016 to earn fans at least one more opportunity to cheer them on in the WNBA Playoffs. Getting past the Seattle Storm at McCamish Pavilion here in Midtown (8:00 PM Eastern, ESPNNEWS, also via WatchESPN) in this First-Round matchup is going to be quite an uphill battle, not just because the Storm come into town having played very good basketball for most of the past month.

Whether it’s an elimination game like this one or not, any chance to advance begins and ends with Angel McCoughtry. She’s rested up and raring to go after getting banged up late in the season finale at Minnesota, a game in which the Dream held things close until she was rested deliberately by Coach Michael Cooper midway through the final quarter. But her ability to shine offensively will be especially tested tonight, with Atlanta’s second-leading scorer watching the proceedings from the comfort of her Barcalounger.

Tiffany Hayes got an untimely gift from the Commissioner’s Office on her birthday, as the league suspended her yesterday for this one game. Tip was whistled for her seventh technical foul of the season in the season finale at Minnesota, and despite her postgame protests, the foul was not rescinded.

That seventh foul requires a mandated suspension, and had she caught the refs’ ears at a bad time in the game prior to Minnesota, she’d be available to play tonight. Alas, her absence puts a lot of weight on McCoughtry and center Elizabeth Williams (2016 WNBA Most Improved Player Award winner! Congrats!) to keep the pace and the scoring high. Atlanta’s second-leading rebounder, Sancho Lyttle (knee), is a game time decision and can only be assumed to be rusty if she appears at all.

From Lauren Jackson to Elena Delle Donne to Maya Moore, Atlanta has been the postseason destination for many WNBA players to cement their status as championship-caliber superstars. Next up on the list could very well be WNBA Rookie of the Year (let’s call it, already!) Breanna Stewart (team-high 18.3 PPG and 9.3 RPG), who piled up the most defensive rebounds by any player in WNBA history this season.

The outcome of this game will likely pivot on how effectively Stewie and Seattle (7-3 in last 10 games) can keep Williams and the Dream (WNBA-high 30.5 O-Reb%) from getting extra possessions and lots of trips to the foul line.

In the Storm’s first visit to the ATL (July 5), the Dream held Seattle to the second-lowest point total of the year in a 77-64 victory. Unfortunately, 37 of those Dream points came courtesy of Lyttle (22) and Hayes (15). With their help, Atlanta outrebounded Seattle 38-27, including 16-4 on offense, and earned 11 more free throw opportunities than the Storm received.

When those same teams met back at Philips Arena a couple weeks ago (September 4), the Storm rolled up a 26 point fourth-quarter lead on Atlanta before winning 91-82. The rebounding edge was much more even (32-27 in favor of the visitors) and Williams was neutralized on offense (1-for-10 FGs). She’ll need a strong start out of the blocks tonight.

Atlanta’s limited backcourt rotation will be especially taxed without Hayes around, and the Dream will need strong two-way efforts from both Layshia Clarendon and rookie Bria Holmes. The Dream guards have to keep Seattle’s second-leading scorer Jewell Loyd (16.5 PPG, 89.1 FT%) off the free throw line, and have to cut off driving and passing lanes for point-guard extraordinaire Sue Bird (WNBA-best 5.8 APG). Atlanta doesn’t strip the ball as often as they used to, but any live-ball turnovers the Storm (18.5 team TO%, 2^nd-highest in WNBA) produce must translate into buckets at the other end by the Dream.

Keeping these Storm players out of the paint will require them to depend on supporting cast players like Crystal Langhorne, Ramu Tokashiki, and three-point threats Alysha Clark and Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis to be difference makers.

Atlanta has never been known to make things easy on themselves, but they will at least have somewhat of a homecourt advantage in the stands tonight. That, plus the indomitable will (when focused) of Angel McCoughtry, might be just enough to pull them through. If they can create as much havoc for their opponents as they tend to create for themselves, this playoff game could have a favorable outcome.

Let’s Go Dream!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

It has been a pleasure to Watch Her Work. Congrats to QE52!

~lw3

[Dnice]

Go get it dream...some artist called dream just had a b-day...lol

[lethalweapon3]

Way to go, Angel! Ice up that back!

Great second-half coaching from Coop and Company.

Throw in Ender's Game... not a bad sports night in Atlanta, eh?

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

1/50th of the crowd represented right here! lol

~lw3

[Dnice]

 

[Gray Mule]

On to Chicago !

Don't like our chances @ 1 and done Sunday.

However, Dream will be back up to almost full strength.  Missing Sancho.

Beat up and sore Atlanta team right now.  Great to see the Hawks there !

GO ATLANTA DREAM !!!

[Guest]

Awesome win.

[lethalweapon3]

A trip to L.A. is on the line today, both for the Atlanta Dream and the host Chicago Sky (1:00 PM Eastern, ESPN2). Like the first round of the WNBA Playoffs, it’s single elimination in the second round. So the only way the Dream wish to earn a trip home is if they’ve guaranteed themselves at least one more playoff game, a WNBA semifinal.

Phoenix took care of business yesterday in knocking out the Liberty in New York, the second-straight road win for the bottom-seeded Mercury. Their win guarantees that today’s victors will avoid top-seeded Minnesota in the next round best-of-5, heading to Tinseltown instead to face the Sparks.

Much like their basketball-brethren Hawks, the Dream lose plenty of games when opponents are missing their top players. So they shouldn’t be overly confident coming into the game with the knowledge that the Sky are missing their superstar forward, Elena Delle Donne, due to an injured thumb. EDD averaged 25.3 PPG (28% of the Chicago offense) versus Atlanta, including 34 in the first game for these teams returning from the Olympic break.

The Sky, to their credit, have played well offensively in Delle Donne’s absence, coach Pokey Chatman’s club winning three of their last four games without their star to clinch not just a playoff spot but this home game at Allstate Arena. A pair of those wins came against two of the league’s top three teams (at home vs. Minnesota and New York).

Tiffany Hayes (46.5 FG%, 81.6 FT% on the road in 2016; season-best 16.4 PPG in September) should certainly be raring to go. Angel McCoughtry, who knew a thing or two about getting suspended, was willing to give it her all in Wednesday’s first-round contest to ensure Atlanta’s second-leading scorer got a postseason opportunity. Hayes struggled defensively in two of the three regular-season games versus Chicago, and her ability to stay in front of the savvy veteran guard Cappie Pondexter (17.1 PPG in September; 36.6 FG% vs. ATL) would go a long way in helping the Dream gain the upper hand.

Chicago’s edge will come via point guard play. Led by the one-two punch of Courtney Vandersloot and Jameirra Faulkner, the Sky’s 1.51 assist-turnover ratio was the league’s best, the teams’ 107.0 O-Rating just barely behind top-ranked Minnesota’s 107.2.

Neither team relies heavily on three-point shots (Chicago’s 14.1% of offense from 3-point land next-to-last; Atlanta’s 13.7% ranked last). The team whose guards are most effective in setting up forwards and centers with easy baskets around the rim off dribble penetration will have an advantage. Layshia Clarendon (7 assists, just 2 TOs, 6 D-Rebs vs. SEA) had her hands full staying in front of both Jewell Loyd and Sue Bird on Wednesday, and will need help and proper rotations from teammates when Chicago tries to screen her out of plays.

Atlanta’s Angel McCoughtry (37 points, plus a career playoff-best seven assists) was downright spectacular in the final quarter against the Storm on Thursday, helping the Dream surge out of a first-half deficit for the 94-85 win. It’s insane to declare that this was just “one of” the playoff masterpieces in McCoughtry’s career. A-Mac now holds four of the top seven scoring performances in WNBA history.

But for a late minor injury when Breanna Stewart fell on her back, Angel was well on her way to topping her own WNBA record of 42 points, from the 2010 playoff series-clincher over New York that sent Atlanta to its first-ever WNBA Finals. Ironically, the Liberty player she outscored in that game was Pondexter (36 points), now suiting up for Chicago.

Chatman will need a superb defensive effort from Tamera Young and Jessica Breland against Angel (21.7 PPG in 2016 vs. CHI; double-digit FT attempts in all-three games), hopefully getting the Dream star in some early foul trouble. But if Atlanta’s emerging rookie Bria Holmes (full 40 minutes; 21 points, 7-for-13 FGs, 7 rebounds and one awesome block vs. SEA) and Most Improved Player award-winner Elizabeth Williams (16 rebounds and 3 blocks vs. SEA) continue to step up their contributions after impressive playoff debuts, it will be extra-tough for Chicago’s defense to put the screws to McCoughtry.

Chicago (79.6 pace) pushes the tempo as much as Atlanta (79.7 pace) does, something the Sky can do now that rookie center Imani Boyette has supplanted former Dream pivot Erika DeSouza in the starting lineup. Chicago has lost their last four games when they’ve finished with less than 90 points, so for Atlanta, defensive objectives include forcing tough shots outside the paint and minimizing their opponents’ possessions. 

The Dream must outscore the Sky on fastbreak points (exploiting when DeSouza is on the floor), get to the free throw line and convert on those chances, and allow McCoughtry to milk the clock and finish plays, while Williams must remain more effective on the glass than Boyette. As the game goes on, these factors would leave Chicago feeling like the Sky is falling.

Let’s Go Dream!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

More like "Atlanta ream" today, amirite?

Welp, an interesting season, if nothing else!

More looking back on the season and looking ahead, both to the rest of the WNBA Playoffs and 2017 for the Dream later in the week!

Let's Go Dream '17!

~lw3

[Gray Mule]

Chicago hit on almost every shot in the 1st quarter, including 3's.  Reminded me of the Cavs

hitting on somewhere around 11 straight 3's against the Hawks in their playoff game.

Dream missed 10 free throws.  Lost game by 10 points.  You add it up and see what you get.

Dream fought back, over and over, yet didn't have the energy, once they got close, to get ahead.

I hope there is a great three point shooter out there, either for Atlanta to draft or trade for.

I hope there is a great defensive player out there who becomes a Dream player.  We missed

Sancho's defense in our final game this summer.

It's a long, long time until next summer's WNBA season.  Braves season is down the drain.

We are still wondering about the fate of the Falcons who looked terrible, then great.  Those

"experts" expect Atlanta's Hawk team to struggle to make the playoffs.  Fans here don't believe

that at all - - Still, we worry a little.

Dream were hot and cold all season.  Unbeatable one game, then terrible the next.  We hope

everything in Atlanta's pro sports improve soon, like Monday night in New Orleans !!

 

[lethalweapon3]

Best-of-5 WNBA Semifinal series kick off tonight. Here's what to watch for:

Phoenix at Minnesota (Game 1, 8:00 PM Eastern, ESPN2): Brittney Griner, of the late-arriving Mercury, is going to have Sylvia Fowles occupied. So Fowles' teammates can't expect the level of defensive help Fowles usually provides as she strives to keep Griner off the rim. Even without the MVP award, Maya Moore has no peer, but Diana Taurasi's postseason exploits, plus the desire by Penny Taylor to prolong her WNBA career, should keep things close-to-the-vest for Phoenix in each game of this series.

Pick: Lynx in 4 games

Chicago at Los Angeles (Game 1, 10:00 PM Eastern, ESPN2): The Sky have played their best basketball of the season without Elena Delle Donne, as the Dream learned the hard way this past weekend. But they have yet to run into a one-two punch as good as MVP Nneka Ogwumike and Candace Parker, and they'll need Delle Donne (thumb) to appear at some point in this series o contend. The series may pivot on how much perimeter offense Chicago can produce to keep up with Sparks guard Kristi Toliver.

Pick: Sparks in 3 games

 

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

No votes for Angel in the DPOY count, but, congrats on making 1st-Team All-Defense once again.

http://www.wnba.com/news/2016-wnba-all-defensive-team-official-release/

Don't forget to keep an eye out for Angel's latest (and tastiest) side venture, which made a splash during the Atlanta Ice Cream Festival this summer.

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

 

It was not the worst of times for the 2016 Atlanta Dream, and it was far from the best, too. That’s what one should come to expect out of any outfit that finishes 17-17 in the regular season, and 1-1 in the playoffs. But there were plenty of late developments that should have Michael Cooper’s crew looking forward to the next calendar turn.

 

 

Inefficiencies, and a lack of composure and attention to detail, have been hallmarks of this franchise since its founding, and 2016 did little to foster much interest from potential new fans in Atlanta’s WNBA product. On the season, Atlanta was outscored 84.0-81.8, and out-assisted 19.6-15.0. The Dream were outshot by their foes within (47.0-45.3 2FG%) and beyond (31.2-28.7 3FG%) the arc, and at the free throw line (78.5-75.1 FT%).

Even as they stopped turning the ball over as much as in prior years, the Dream still committed more turnovers (447 total) than their opponents (435) over the course of the regular season, not compensating as much with steals and transition baskets as they had in recent years. Atlanta’s net rating of -2.6 was the third-worst (exceeding non-playoff participants Dallas and San Antonio) of the WNBA’s 12 teams, same as 2015’s group (-2.8 net rating) that finished at 15-19.

Yet nobody “fails upward” better than the Dream. Cooper’s collective crawled up to 17-17 in 2016, with a brand of ball that was more physical, if a touch slower, than prior editions. If you’re committed to being a poor shooting team, it dictates that you must crash the offensive glass to give yourself a chance at victory. You have to also get some stops at the opposite end of the court.

 

 

The Dream took on the identity of an offensive board-crashing team, behind the play of second-year big Elizabeth Williams (league-high 3.1 O-Rebs per game). Williams’ 2.3 BPG also out-classed every center in the game, save for the late-arriving Brittney Griner. Shot rejections and deflections were elements absent from the 2015 team that barely missed the postseason.

Williams’ award-winning play helped Atlanta overcome not only the last-minute loss of Damiris Dantas to commitments in Brazil, but the injuries and international obligation that, once again, contributed to a half-baked season from Sancho Lyttle. The latter’s 34 appearances in 2014 declined to 24 in 2015, and 19 this past season, including several games throughout the season where it was clear that she was laboring.

While Williams was greatly improved from her injury-shortened 2015 campaign at Connecticut, it could (should) be argued that her improvements were more attributable to a far heavier workload, with Dantas and Lyttle substantially absent, than anyone anticipated at the season’s outset. Her 34.7 minutes per game were the most by any WNBA player in the past two seasons, and the most by a post player since the svelte DeWanna Bonner averaged 35.0 minutes in 2012. This was a workload that bordered on unfair, particularly for someone returning to WNBA play after rehabbing her bruised knee in 2015.

Dantas will return, and it’s believed here that Lyttle’s multi-season contract, signed in 2014, may grant her one more year of guaranteed WNBA money. Much like what Atlanta had to do with Erika DeSouza in 2015, the Dream have to transition away from the Sancho era, getting Lyttle (2.1 SPG, which would have led the league) healthy enough to find a suitable trade partner for her services.

 

 

In addition to Dantas and Lyttle (Spain), Tiffany Hayes (Azerbaijan) and Carla Cortijo (Puerto Rico) have perennial FIBA obligations that can interfere with the quality and consistency of their WNBA seasons. On a maximum 12-player roster, that can be too much for a WNBA team to overcome.

Lyttle has been one of the premier players in the international game, but that has been of little benefit to Atlanta on the floor, decidedly not in the stands. Once she returns to dominant overseas play, that should make the iron hot enough for Dream management to strike with a move befitting a 33-year-old veteran with a probably-expiring contract. Lower-round draft picks are okay, but the aim should be for underperforming players with upside, similar to what Atlanta acquired (Dantas, Reshanda Gray) in the 2015 DeSouza deal.

 

 

Dantas’ return is tantalizing, to say the least. On behalf of the Brazilian national team, she worked tirelessly on her jumpshot, allowing Brazil to play her at small forward alongside other post players in Rio. While that didn’t translate to success in games (host nation Brazil lost all five games, disappointingly), her expanded versatility was enough to turn some heads.

Dantas, who turns just 24 years of age in November, finished fourth among all Olympians in scoring with 16.8 PPG (former Dream scorer Izi Castro-Marques wound up not far behind, with 15.8), and her 6.0 defensive RPG (two double-doubles in five games) and 2.2 SPG ranked fifth.

Most interestingly, Damiris also nailed 36.8 percent of her three-point attempts, about as sound a percentage as one could ask of a traditional frontcourt player who is only now extending her range. She has resumed her more multi-faceted play with Brazil’s LBF league side Corinthians in Americana. (Side historical note: Americana was a village where fleeing Confederate-state Americans -- "Confederados"-- settled and populated in the aftermath of the U.S. Civil War, rebuilding their slave-based economies until the nation banned slavery a couple decades later). Dantas, as a stretch-four, has the ability to provide a similar boost for Atlanta that Williams offered this season.

If Dantas and Lyttle both return in 2017, that could create some quality depth in the frontcourt. Add in Williams, a likely starter in any scenario, and Gray, then consider bringing back space-eating Markeisha Gatling on a new contract, and the 4 and 5 spots could be stacked.

Consider franchise star Angel McCoughtry sharing not only the power forward position with those bigs, but also the small forward position with Dantas and the emerging Bria Holmes. Pushing either of Holmes or McCoughtry to shooting guard, in turn, would be a push factor for Tiffany Hayes.

 

 

Hayes stepped up her offensive production with a career-best 15.0 PPG, not including a team-high 30 points in the playoff finale. But her 27.4 3FG%, for the second consecutive season, remains less-than-ideal for the position. Further, Tiffany demonstrated that her assertive temperament can fail both her and her team at an inopportune time.

Imagine Taurean Prince and DeAndre’ Bembry playing their final collegiate games and then, in the space of four months, having gone through not only training and scouting, and being drafted, but having endured nearly half an NBA season’s workload. That’s what fresh-from-college players like Bria Holmes and Rachel Hollivay face as WNBA rookies, a brutal acclimation process relative to their male peers. Some blue-chip rookies fall out of the league’s favor quickly (2015 first-rounder Samantha Logic) while many of the rest (2014 first-rounder Shoni Schimmel) take years before they finally “get it,” if ever.

 

 

The sense that Holmes was catching up with the demands and the pace of the pro game grew clearer as far back in late June. Once the Olympic Break concluded, Holmes became a reliable component of the Atlanta offense, scoring in double figures in seven of her last nine regular-season games (13.3 PPG) while shooting a spiffy 50.5% from the floor, particularly well within the arc. Bria will have time in the offseason to work on her range and hone her on-ball defense. She will also have ample time to become McCoughtry’s heir apparent. But for 2017, it will help the team immensely if Holmes’ improving play converts Hayes into one floor-punishing dynamo of a sixth woman.

 

 

In recent years, striking out on Logic, bunting on Schimmel, and dispatching the likes of Ivory Latta, Alex Bentley, and Jasmine Thomas on sacrifice flies, had Atlanta pining for a leadoff hitter at lead guard. But if the Dream’s move to acquire Layshia Clarendon wasn’t a home run, it was certainly a ground-rule double. Clarendon was a solid ballhandler, helping to settle Atlanta’s oft-frenetic halfcourt offense. She also proved to be sneaky-good as a help rebounder (4.3 RPG, second among WNBA guards behind Hayes’ 5.0), and deserves to be the incumbent starting point guard in 2017.

Hayes and Clarendon also helped to keep the perimeter cool for many opponents (17.4% of opponent offense from 3FGs, 2^nd-lowest in WNBA; 31.2 opponent 3FG%, 2^nd-best in WNBA). That was a tall order, particularly once Angel McCoughtry (All-WNBA 1^st Defensive Team for the sixth consecutive season) had to compensate in the interior for the loss of Lyttle, limiting her own unique abilities to hassle jumpshooters.

But once opposing guards put the ball on the floor and drove around the guards, Atlanta’s defensive ship began taking in a lot of water. Williams played catcher-in-the-rye as best she could, but players’ excessive switching and rotating to cover for out-of-position teammates often doomed the Dream’s defense.

For opponents, assisted baskets (league-high 22.0 opponent APG), especially in the paint, were the order of the day. Such exposure became obvious when Atlanta played against veteran star Courtney Vandersloot (21 points, 13 assists) during the second-round season-ender in Chicago. The Dream will fare better long-term if Clarendon can work on her lateral movement and instincts to keep ballhandlers in front of her, and to recover adequately when she’s the target of opponent screens.

The Dream may look to upgrade the position with talent from teams that are deep at guard but need help elsewhere to become playoff-caliber, like San Antonio (Danielle Robinson? Sancho swap, perhaps?), Washington (Tayler Hill? Natasha Cloud?), Dallas (Odyssey Sims? Skylar Diggins?), or Connecticut (bring back an ex-Dreamer?).

The team could also use its first-round pick (seventh in the 2017 Draft) to stock up at the position. Pac-12 guards Sydney Wiese (Oregon State) and Kelsey Plum (Washington) have moved up draft boards since leading their teams into the 2016 Final Four for the first time in their respective histories, while Spanish guard Leticia Romero seems to have settled in at Florida State after a rocky time transferring out of Kansas State.

 

 

To further address Atlanta’s longtime-woeful shooting, I would prefer to trade upwards for Maryland’s Shatori Walker-Kimbrough out of Maryland. The story of Kentucky’s Makayla Epps (daughter of former Wildcats star Anthony) will be a sought-after commodity, while Nina Davis of Baylor may have a better shot to make the league than last year’s third-rounder, Niya Johnson. Keep an eye out for 2013 Georgia state champion (from Norcross High) Shayla Cooper (no relation to Michael), a 6-foot-2 wing who hit 46.0 3FG% as a junior at Ohio State.

 

 

Questions will always persist for Michael Cooper, as they relate to his ability to work the referees and rotate players to stem opponent runs. But the maneuvers to bring Williams, Holmes, and Clarendon into the fold in 2016, and part ways with marginal contributors of past years, renew confidence that Cooper (or whoever is pulling the general manager strings for Atlanta) has a decent idea of what they are trying to build. The atrocious lack of production from the reserves will surely be alleviated by depth enhancements in 2016, and it will be up to Coach Coop’s staff to make the best of that.

 

 

The formal departures of Tamika Catchings, Penny Taylor, Lauren Jackson, and Swin Cash are reminders that WNBA legends are tough to come by, and for that reason alone, McCoughtry is a keeper. Her well-documented histrionics on the court are manageable, especially under a regime like Cooper’s, and she remains thoroughly committed to being in the best condition to extend her WNBA career well into her 30s.

It is hopeful that, as the seasons pass, Angel (league leader in usage% for the second-straight year, sixth time in seven seasons) will not have to shoulder the load she currently handles adroitly. Ideally, she will have a chance to retire as an Atlanta star and enjoy annual opportunities to help put her WNBA team over the top.

That said, getting the ball out of Angel’s hands more, but toward a more capable and efficient supporting cast than she’s had in recent years, is essential for selling a more functional style of play to Atlanta. This is a sports market that will be fielding more competent MLB and MLL franchises, plus a new MLS franchise, in the coming summers. So WNBA hoops will be an increasingly tougher sell during the NBA’s offseason. Any free agent moves must be made with ATL’s notoriously fickle fanbase in mind.

 

 

Especially considering the forthcoming move to the less-palatable McCamish Pavilion, “more of the same” will not suffice for a team whose attendance dropped 8% (one of just two teams with significant ticket losses) during what was otherwise a season of growth across the board in the WNBA. If the Atlanta Dream intends to make it back to the refurbished Philips Arena in 2019, or ever, their challenge going forward is to strategically re-tool while presenting to fans a more appealing, more consistent, and winning brand of summertime basketball.

Let’s Go Dream 2017!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

WNBA Finals kick off this afternoon (3 PM Eastern, ABC)! It's hard to believe you have to go back to the 2002 Los Angeles Sparks to find a team that has 2-peated. The Minnesota Lynx have a great shot at it, but they have to get past the modern-day Sparks and league MVP Nneka Ogwumike. If they do, they'll match the Houston Comets (1997-2000) as the only WNBA franchises with 4 championship trophies.

Lots of intriguing matchups include Nneka versus Defensive Player of the Year Sylvia Fowles, the defensive effort from Alana Beard on ATL's Finest Maya Moore, woman-on-a-mission Candace Parker versus the savvy Rebekkah Brunson, and the backcourt battle between Lindsay Whalen and Kristi Toliver. The offensive punch from the benches, including Renee Montgomery and Sixth Woman of the Year Jantel Lavender, will play a decisive role in the outcome of each game.

A far less talented team (Indiana) had the Lynx on the ropes in the 2015 Finals. But, to be fair, this is a far deeper and healthier Lynx unit led by Coach of the Year Cheryl Reeve into this series. The underdog Sparks won't win two games in the North Star State, so they absolutely must hold-serve at home in this best-of-5 championship series, then steal one in St. Paul, preferably either today or Game 2 on Tuesday night (8 PM, ESPN 2) so they won't have to run the table.

Pick: Lynx in 5

Schedule:

Sunday, Oct. 9
Game 1: Los Angeles @ Minnesota, 3 PM ET (ABC)

Tuesday, Oct. 11
Game 2: Los Angeles @ Minnesota, 8 PM ET (ESPN 2)

Friday, Oct. 14
Game 3: Minnesota @ Los Angeles, 9 PM ET (ESPN 2)

Sunday, Oct. 16
Game 4*: Minnesota @ Los Angeles, 8:30 PM ET (ESPN)

Thursday, Oct. 20
Game 5*: Los Angeles @ Minnesota, 8 PM ET (ESPN 2)

*If necessary

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

It's for all the marbles in Minnesota! Gimme 5! Tip-off is at 8:00 PM Eastern.

~lw3