2017 Atlanta Dream and WNBA Previews

[lethalweapon3]

On the road today watching the G-Barves, so I'll miss today's game between Atlanta and Seattle (9:00 PM Eastern, NBATV in ATL, JoeTV broadcast in SEA), featuring the top two assist-makers in the league, Layshia Clarendon and Sue Bird (T-1st, 6.8 APG). Jewell Loyd and Breanna Stewart are playing much better since last month's 91-86 overtime road upset by the Dream, led by Damiris Dantas' career-high 22 points off the bench.

Weather the Storm! Let's Go Dream!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Lots of yellow buses lining up around McCamish Pavilion this morning. The San Antonio Stars had to deal with loads of screaming young Atlanta Dream fans when they visited back in May. Maybe their ears will be better attuned to it when they and the Dream tip off in just over an hour from now (11:30 AM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast in ATL, WNBA League Pass elsewhere).

These campers should all be tucked away in their cots and tents by the time the WNBA All-Star Game reserves are announced, during the Chicago-Seattle matchup on ESPN2 tonight (9:00 PM Eastern). WNBA-leading dime-dropper Layshia Clarendon (6.9 APG) has a great shot to be among the group of at least six players (maybe seven, if injured players like Brittney Griner and Tayler Hill get a nod and a replacement) selected.

One of those replacement players could be Elizabeth Williams, whose 8.0 RPG and 1.9 BPG tops all non-All-Star Eastern starters. If she gets snubbed, it would only be because the league is required to pick players from every team, thus squeezing her out of the running in favor of players like Chicago's Stefanie Dolson or Indiana's Candice Dupree.

Atlanta (8-10) did slide backwards with a pair of road losses, but the 89-84 defeat at Phoenix and their 90-84 loss at Seattle both involved the Dream pressuring their hosts with fourth-quarter leads. That said, they cannot afford any bad home losses. and with today being their final home game before the All-Star Break, this contest would certainly qualify

Coach Vickie Johnson and the Stars (2-17) haven't solved the conundrum with Kayla McBride (their likely All-Star participant, team-high 15.6 PPG but 39.0 FG%, out today with an akle injury), the previously benched Moriah Jefferson, and rookie Kelsey Plum all vying for minutes on the floor. As a silver Stars lining, Coach VJ has benefitted from the rise of center Isabelle Harrison.

Izzy contributed a double-double (19 points, 10 rebounds) and added six assists back on June 30, when the Stars shedded their winless streak with a victory over Chicago. San An also topped Indiana on the road last week. On Sunday, the Stars went into the halftime locker room with a surprising 40-35 lead in Connecticut, before the red-hot Sun turned on the jets (outscoring SAS 33-10) in the third frame.

Finding a steady backup for Clarendon has been a challenge thus far. Cooper cut Darxia Morris after some lackluster stints, Morris previously the replacement for the waived Brianna Kiesel. Now Coop will grant free agent Chelsea Hopkins a flyer. C-Hop played a pair of seasons at Duke (one season alongside Williams) before transferring to move closer to her Las Vegas home.

Hopkins became a conference player of the year while guiding San Diego State to its best ever season in 2013. Her four triple-doubles that year lead all point guards. Overseas, she teamed with Atlanta's Bria Holmes in helping Maccabi Ramat Gan reach the 2017 Israeli league finals. More recently, Hopkins filled in for the Euroleague absence of Epiphanny Prince in New York. Her next WNBA appearance will be just her second since playing four games with San Antonio back in 2013.

Putting the Stars to bed early will require stronger play from Atlanta's power forwards. Sancho Lyttle may still be struggling to play with the protective mask on her face, but she has not been much of a factor since returning from Eurobasket. She contributed only two points (0-for-3 FGs) and produced just one of her signature steals in 23 minutes, during Saturday's sleepless return to the starting lineup versus Seattle.

The Dream's transition offense was stifled with just 5 steals against the Storm, while Sancho seemed mismatched versus Breanna Stewart (24 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists). Lyttle will be facing her old friend, the recently-engaged Erika DeSouza, plus the slowly defrosting ATLien Dearica Hamby (team-high 10 rebounds @ CON on Saturday) and underutilized rookie Nia Coffey off the bench. More production out of that position by Sancho and Jordan Hooper should be enough to outpace the Stars.

Let's Go Dream!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Down 31-14 out of the gate and shooting horribly from the field, it wasn't looking too good at first for the Good Gals! But then, Tip Hayes, Layshia Clarendon and Brittney Sykes handed San Antonio a mirror, and got to the free throw line... 34 makes on 41 attempts!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Atlanta United gets 3 All-Stars. And, not to be outdone...

Congrats to Layshia and E-Dub! Have fun with Tip in the Emerald City!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Can the Atlanta Dream make it back to .500 basketball at the All-Star Break line? That will be a fine accomplishment for Michael Cooper’s crew if they can get there with a win on the road against the suddenly shorthanded Washington Mystics (11:00 AM Eastern, WNBA League Pass only in ATL, Monumental Network in DC).

It’s a back-to-back and another early morning tipoff, but the Dream’s ears should already be accustomed to the screeching chants of kids after yesterday’s 88-75 surge-back win over San Antonio at McCamish Pavilion. This is one of just two back-to-back pairs of contests for the Dream (9-10), but players will enjoy the time off for rest and re-calibration.

Some time off, anyway, excepting worthy All-Stars Tiffany Hayes, Layshia Clarendon and Elizabeth Williams, who will spend this weekend up in Seattle. Plus, there’s the opportunity for Atlanta to play their next three games after the break at Georgia Tech, where they’ve now won four straight games.

Barring playoffs, this should be the final appearance by the Dream at Verizon Center. Ted Leonsis’ Mystics are moving in 2018 to a new facility in Ward 8 to share more intimate playing space with a G-League squad, and practice space with his Wizards.

Washington surely figured they would be far ahead of their current 11-9 record. Returning home from an arduous five-game road trip, the Styx are just 1-4 this month, their sole W coming at floundering Indiana.

Their big offseason prize, Nike rep Elena Delle Donne (18.7 PPG) brought some bad mojo upon herself by getting giddy about the prospect of a Big Blooper Brand wardrobe malfunction for eventual NBA Summer League MVP Lonzo Ball. EDD sprained her Swoosh-clad ankle early in Friday’s game against the Fever, drawing cackles from all across the Lakerverse.

Despite being voted in as a starter, Delle Donne will be rested through the All-Star Break. Complicating matters for Mike Thibault’s outfit, the Mystics also lost their second-leading scorer, guard Tayler Hill (13.3 PPG), for the season after she tore her ACL in the third quarter of the same game.

Replacing 35.4 percent of Washington’s offense isn’t easy. They walked into New York on Sunday without their top two scorers, and sauntered out after scoring just 55 points and losing by 30. The Mystics need former All-Star Emma Meesseman, who missed the season start to prep for Eurobasket, to do much more than hit threes. The Belgian big went 3-for-5 for deep along the way to a team-high 19 points at MSG, but added zero rebounds in 24 minutes.

None of Emma’s teammates reached double figures. Backcourt starters Kristi Tolliver, Ivory Latta, and Tierra Ruffin-Pratt combined to hit just 5 of 23 shots against the Liberty, and two of three free throws. The bench has been the league’s worst-scoring group even before the team was struck by EDD’s and Hill’s absences. Rookie Brittney Sykes has enlivened the Dream’s offense lately, and it is similarly time for first-round pick Shatori Walker-Kimbrough to produce for the Mystics.

In June 2016, the Dream were coming off a home victory and playing in the Verizon Center, with Williams, Hayes, and Clarendon starting (plus Matee Ajavon and Bria Holmes off the bench). But they had lost their sea legs by that point and mustered up just 65 points in a 30-point defeat to the Mystics (led by the presently injured Hill’s 17 points).

Hayes, Lyttle and Ajavon all started for Atlanta a 64-61 win in June 2015, in this same building. Relying on seal-tight defense and a brilliant Angel McCoughtry, that was the last time they swept a WNBA back-to-back. Despite being the more rested team today, it should be Washington that misses its leading scorer(s) to a greater degree.

Let’s Go Dream!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

All-Stars Tiffany Hayes, Layshia Clarendon and Elizabeth Williams get it going up in Seattle, at the WNBA All-Star Game, in just over an hour from now (3:30 PM Eastern, ABC).

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

At the All-Star Break: What’s Good?

 

Tip Top Shape – The probability is strong that we would be staring intently at the least-efficient offense in WNBA history were it not for the stellar play of Tiffany Hayes. For the All-Star shooting guard, it begins with a career-high 39.2 3FG%, and continues with career-bests in free throw shooting (84.0 FT%), rebounding (4.4 RPG, incl. 1.1 O-Rebs) and steals (1.5 SPG, 8^th in WNBA). Without Hayes (17.4 PPG, 9^th in WNBA) scoring efficiently and committing to making defensive plays, we would also be looking squarely at a WNBA cellar dweller. Among wings and backcourt players, only Maya Moore logs a higher per-48 Win Shares value, and that’s some real good company. Reserving most of her histrionics for her social media outlets, when frustrated about calls and non-calls, has been working out for her team as well. We needed a take-charge player in Angel McCoughtry’s absence, and we got one.

 

No B.S., This Rookie’s Good – Even with Hayes’ brilliance, through mid-June Atlanta was still down in the dumps in terms of team offense. Enter Brittney Sykes, who seems dead intent on proving Draft doubters (myself included) wrong on the way to earning Rookie of the Year.  Sykes has scored in double-figures in ten consecutive games, and has swished a three-pointer in seven straight games and nine of those last ten. More amazingly, after a rough start, she has missed just two of her 38 free throw attempts this month. Brittney topped her career-best of 20 points in the win over San Antonio with 27 points one day later, during the Dream’s deflating OT loss in Washington. Accordingly, Atlanta has had the second-most efficient offense in the WNBA over the past 15 days, and Sykes leads all rotation rookies with a 10.4 Player Impact Estimate. Not since the days of Iziane Castro-Marques have Dream fans had a supporting player who turns the offensive floor downhill toward the rim. No Alex Bentley-style rookie drop-offs, please!

 

Clogging Traffic Around the Perimeter – Dream opponents haven’t quite learned that firing away from deep can be a losing proposition. Atlanta foes have shot a league-high 19.3 three-point attempts per game. Yet they’ve only been hitting shots at a 30.6 percent clip, 3^rd-lowest in the WNBA, a value bettered barely by Phoenix (29.6 opp. 3FG%) and Chicago (30.2 percent). Hayes and Layshia Clarendon are closing out well on their assigned shooters, and they’re getting solid help from Sykes and Bria Holmes. Bria’s 95.2 defensive rating tops the league among all players getting 20+ minutes per game and not in a Minnesota Lynx uniform. Rebounds off opponent's three-point misses and even the occasional makes often spark Atlanta in transition, and Hayes leads the charge with the WNBA lead in transition scoring.

 

Playing Keep-away – The Dream continues its longstanding effort to apply pace and pressure to force opponents into plenty of turnovers. No defense in the league creates more (15.9 opp. TOs per game, ahead of Minnesota’s 15.8) What has become different from Dream teams of the past is that this one, guided with aplomb by Layshia Clarendon (WNBA-best 39.0 Assist%), isn’t giving the ball right back, at least not without getting a shot up, or getting fouled. Atlanta’s 12.4 turns per game is tied for second-lowest in the league, and on a per-possession basis, their 15.1 TO% has them tied with Washington for the lowest. The lack of mistakes, and a commitment to minimizing transition buckets by the opposition, are what keeps this outfit in the running for victory on many nights, even when their shooting accuracy has failed them (more on that, in a sec).

 

What’s Not-So-Good?

 

Gawd, or Coop, Save the Queen! – We are back to watching Elizabeth Williams pulling down absurd amounts of floortime in games. Her 32.6 MPG is down a shave from her league-high 34.7 from 2016, yet it still ranks 5^th among active players and second behind Tina Charles among all centers. With Sancho Lyttle in-and-out of the lineup (oft-inconsistent when in) and Aneika Henry nowhere to be found, I’m tempted to change the word ‘overwhelmed’ to ‘Over-Williamsed’. Atlanta foes’ rebounding percentage ranks second-highest in the league. With the high tempo commanded by Coach Coop plus the poor shooting on both ends, the Dream allow the most rebounds, including the second-most offensive boards, per game. Stretchy bigs Jordan Hooper and Damiris Dantas don’t have center-strength, but are used to spackle the 5-spot hole when the occasionally undersized Williams (13 blocks in May+June; 30 in last 20 days) finally gets a breather. Can Elizabeth finally get some help, and then some rest?

 

Raided PG – Even if Atlanta continues with the patchwork at the pivot spot, the team would be up to its kneepads in mud if anything unfortunate happens to Layshia Clarendon. What, better yet who, would be the Point going forward? The Brianna Kiesel experiment didn’t last long, and the lack of continuity certainly didn’t help for Darxia Morris. If Chelsea Hopkins isn’t the answer, Atlanta would need a competent veteran backup (no, not Matee Ajavon) if playoff competition remains part of the goal.

 

Clanklanta – The Dream have shed their reputation as a sloppy team, but not their long-held history as a lousy-shooting one. Atlanta’s 45.0 eFG% ranks just ahead of Dallas’ 44.7%; 76.0 free throw percentage above only Connecticut’s 72.4%; 50.3 true shooting percentage is barely ahead of San Antonio’s 50.1%. Their 28.9 3FG% ranks dead last. Thanks largely to Sykes’ rise and Hooper’s acquisition, the Dream have been pulling away from shot efficiencies of epically poor proportions. But going forward, Atlanta could really use long-range accuracy from Clarendon (15.4 3FG%) closer to her prior two seasons (36.9 3FG%), continued improvement at the line from Elizabeth Williams, and all-around better play from this gal...

 

Bria’s Struggle is Real – The sophomore jinx is in effect for Bria Holmes, which is a shame considering how solid she has been as an on-ball defender. Holmes’ defensive flexibility makes her useful as a small-ball backup power forward. But she is running with the Dream at a league-high tempo (83.5 pace, highest among WNBA players w/ 20+ MPG), and it’s clear the game isn’t slowing down for her on the offensive side of the court (38.4 eFG%, 3^rd-lowest in WNBA among 20+ MPG players). Digging for a few more putbacks off teammates’ missed shots could help boost her offense, as would improving mechanics on shots and drives to reduce the number of shots blocked. Until she and Lyttle (44.7 TS%, 7^th-lowest in WNBA w/ min. 20+ MPG) can pull it together, it’s a shame Atlanta cannot play this strong defensive pair alongside one another for significant stretches.

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

The Rest of the Association, at the All-Star Break

Minnesota Lynx (16-2) – Staying on top, without stellar performances from Maya Moore out of the blocks, is testament to Sylvia Fowles' MVP-caliber two-way strengths and Cheryl Reeve's coaching acumen. If Maya ver. 2016.0 returns in full, and they find a vet backup for Lindsay Whalen, it’s a wrap.

Los Angeles Sparks (14-6) – Until last week’s slip-up, the champs have been world-beaters at home. They'll need to show better resolve away from Staples to keep pace with Minnesota by playoff time. Can they get more useful output from Odyssey Sims off the bench? Can they raise the offensive tempo a notch?

Connecticut Sun (12-9) – So much is going right for Curt Miller's bunch, and not at all due to luck. Jasz Thomas and Jonquel Jones have them way ahead of projections even without steady power forward play. A home-friendly back-half should be enough to sew up the best improvement in the league, by far.

Washington Mystics (12-9) – There is plenty of room for improvement, beginning with stronger contributions off the bench to take offensive pressue off Elena Delle Donne. But the team defense has been shockingly good. With Tayler Hill out for the season, who steps up to keep this team a semifinal threat?

Phoenix Mercury (11-9) – It's been all about Brittney Griner, the league’s leading scorer returning to dominant play this season. Yet how well the team can weather the storm and defend around the rim while she's injury-absent for the rest of this month remains a mystery.

New York Liberty (10-9) – The most imposing front line in the league, led by Tina Charles, is flexing its defensive muscles. But the offense has floundered without guard Brittany Boyd. Will upticks in play from Bria Hartley and rookie Lindsay Allen alleviate Epiphanny Prince from the impulse of handling the ball so much?

Dallas Wings (10-12) – Perpetual Hot-Seat candidate Fred Williams is doing all he can to coach his team above the playoff plumb line.  Rookie Allisha Gray started strong but her shooting has tailed off lately. She, Skylar Diggins-Smith, and Glory Johnson need steadier help than they receive from their supporting cast.

Seattle Storm (9-11) – Can Breanna Stewart’s revival keep them in the running for a Top-4 finish? Is there enough rebounding and defense to do much more? A lot of tough road games lie ahead. This team makes shots but must cut down on turnovers. Rookie Sami Whitcomb has been a boon for the bench.

Chicago Sky (8-13) – Everyone, including coach Amber Stocks, is getting the gist of things as the team makes their charge out of the cellar. Having Courtney Vandersloot and Allie Quigley back in control makes a huge difference. The frontcourt leaders are imposing but must rebound better… where’s Alaina Coates?

Indiana Fever (8-13) – No team in the league seems more lost. Tiffany Mitchell hasn’t turned a corner, Shenise Johnson is out for the year, and Briann January’s slide has been disconcerting. Still, coach Pokey Chatman deserves the opportunity to blow up and remake this roster to fit her intended style of play.

San Antonio Stars (3-18 ) – Trying to figure out how best to deploy guards Kayla McBride, Moriah Jefferson, and Kelsey Plum remains a challenge for coach Vickie Johnson. Lost amid the morass in the backcourt, and the back line, has been the steady growth of newcomer center Isabelle Harrison.

 

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

14 games to go, and coming down the stretch, the Atlanta Dream have their work cut out for them if they have designs on playoff basketball. They’ll face the shorthanded Phoenix Mercury at McCamish Pavilion tonight (7:00 PM Eastern, ESPN3 online live, 10:30 PM tape delay on Fox Sports South), kicking off a crucial three-game homestand. But unless these Dream players have brutally short memories, they should know playing opponents that are missing their stars will not equate to automatic victories.

With a 9-11 record, Atlanta is perched on the final WNBA playoff spot and are essentially reaching the ceiling of their expectations, based on pre-season predictions. They’ve had chances to overachieve, but a few bad losses, including last Wednesday’s disappointing setback in D.C., make the difference between meeting expectations and wildly exceeding them.

Playing on the back end of a back-to-back, Atlanta sprinted to a 21-point first-half lead and an 18-point third-quarter edge on the Mystics, who were missing their top-scorers Elena Delle Donne and Tayler Hill, before the Dream’s legs wore out on them. A flood of perimeter shots from Washington’s Ivory Latta (5-for-8 3FGs) and Kristi Toliver (7-for-19!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3FGs) set up Emma Meesseman’s game-tying layup with 30 seconds to play.

Among Atlanta’s jumpshooters, only Tiffany Hayes (24 points, 4-for-6 3FGs) could find the inside of the basket in the extra frame as the Mystics pulled away in the closing seconds. The loss spoiled a career-best scoring effort by emerging rookie Brittney Sykes (27 points, 12-for-13 FTs), who seems to have shaken free of her early free throw shooting woes.

With Angel McCoughtry in tow, Michael Cooper’s troops were 11-9 through 20 games in 2016, finishing at 17-17 to squeak into the postseason. An equivalent .500 record should again be sufficient to make the WNBA’s Top 8. But there is precious little room for error if the Dream intend to go at least 8-6 the rest of the way. Why?

Up next during this upcoming homestand are the Minnesota Lynx, the WNBA finalists who are an impressive 8-1 at home and on the road. The Dream’s most unconquerable adversary, the Lynx visit Atlanta on Friday and will play the Dream three times in 12 calendar days, returning to McCamish on August 12.

A fairly-probable series sweep by the Lynx would mean the Dream could not afford to lose three more games if they hope to reach the .500 mark for the second-straight season, certainly not to shorthanded teams like their opponents today. Atlanta has one more back-to-back series to play next month. In September, they’ll close out the season on the road at WNBA champ Los Angeles and then at Phoenix. By the time the season finale arrives, the Mercury (11-9) should have All-Star center Brittney Griner (WNBA-highs of 22.3 PPG and 3.1 BPG) back healthy and ought to be jockeying for playoff position.

Griner was looking every bit like an MVP candidate just two weeks ago, as she (28 points, 8 rebounds) and legendary guard Diana Taurasi (20 points, 6-for-12 3FGs) lifted the Mercury to an 89-84 comeback victory over the Dream. But after suffering a knee contusion and a sprained ankle two days later versus the Lynx, Griner has been sidelined for at least a couple more weeks, forcing her to miss out on Saturday’s midseason classic exhibition in Seattle.

The Merc went on to drop consecutive games to Minnesota by double-digits. Phoenix then returned home and helped the forlorn Indiana Fever snap its five-game losing skid, shooting just 36.8 percent from the floor against the league’s worst defensive team despite Taurasi’s 34 points (10-for-11 FTs).

It’s up to coach Sandy Brondello to find the elixir that keeps the Mercury from losing its fourth-straight game. Despite a solid 5-3 road record, all five of those victories were with Griner, and five of their next six contests are away from Talking Stick Resort Arena.

Coach Sandy may rotate Cayla George or Emma Cannon into Angel Robinson’s momentary starting spot. But she truly needs better shooting from ex-Dreamer forward Camille Little (last five games: 9-for-37 FGs, 1-for-11 3FGs), who usually steps up her game against her old squad. Little came up big for Phoenix with season-highs of 12 rebounds and six assists in their home win over Atlanta on July 12.

Atlanta must force Taurasi (18.8 PPG, 6^th in WNBA) into contested long-range jumpers, avoiding contact that earns the All-Star guard (89.0 FT%) trips to the free throw line. Diana received no freebies (first time in 15 games) when these teams last met, a factor which kept the visiting Dream primed for an upset right up until the final minute when Taurasi’s clever corner three off a double-screen put the outcome on ice. No matter how hard Tiffany Hayes tries, Princess Di remains the queen of incessant chirping at the referees when things aren’t going her way. Atlanta wants her focused on the refs, and not the basket.

In a free-flowing All-Star Game where opposing teams were literally handing opponents shot opportunities for the sake of entertainment, Lasyhia Clarendon formally announced her arrival as one of the league’s best passers, and maybe not just “one of.”

Sue Bird was the belle of the ball while playing before her WNBA home crowd. But Clarendon managed to tie Bird’s 2009 All-Star Game record of 10 assists in the space of just under 18 minutes off the bench. Clarendon would certainly have eclipsed that number, had East All-Stars coach Curt Miller left her in the game. But instead, he opened the door for the West’s Bird to break her own record and set the new mark (11 assists).

Layshia has a team-high 21 points (9-for-12 FGs) and 10 assists in Phoenix, but will have to seize control of the tempo of the game, and occasionally the ball, from Phoenix’s Leilani Mitchell today. She’ll also have to avoid making critical turnovers late in the game if it remains a close affair.

Elizabeth Williams was among the last to leave the bench for the East All-Stars. But, like Clarendon, she had a sneaky-good line of seven rebounds (second only to Jonquel Jones’ nine), 3-for-5 shooting on two-pointers, and a pair of steals in just 14 minutes of action.

Williams and Sancho Lyttle must dominate the boards against Phoenix’s rotation of bigs, after failing to do so last week versus Krystal Thomas (9 O-Rebs, 17 total) in the loss to Washington. Despite blocking four Mystic shots, E-Dub abdicated defensive rebounding duties to Sancho, the center snatching just one defensive carom in her 38 minutes on the floor. Failure to terminate fruitless Mercury possessions would only make things harder for a Dream team that loves to make things harder on themselves.

Let’s Go Dream!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Nothing easy! It's de rigueur.

Congrats on a history-making night to Layshia! Try as we might... glad it wasn't put to waste!

Hard to argue with Queen Elizabeth!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

A couple minor tidbits as we await tomorrow's clash with the juggernaut Lynx.

 

Angel McCoughtry and her downtown-ish ice cream dessert parlor have made it into a New York Times article! Front page of the sports section, I believe. From this past week...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/21/sports/basketball/angel-mccoughtry-wnba-ice-cream-atlanta.html

 

Quote

The ice cream shop, she said, is her “happy place.” The color scheme is Tiffany blue, and the walls are adorned with life-size cutouts of McCoughtry holding ice cream cones.

Flavors rotate. Recent offerings included Salty Bae, a salted caramel and chocolate variety dedicated to the Turkish chef Nusret Gokce, who recently rose to prominence as an internet meme; and Space Jam, a blueberry cheesecake ode to the 1996 movie starring Michael Jordan.

 

I've got Castleberry Hill-related business to attend to, so I'm finally getting off my duff and visiting next week.

And another news item. The WNBA is adding a new employee... fresh from Atlanta United, of all places!

http://www.ajc.com/sports/former-atlanta-united-joins-wnba/godU29T7LBcWUDdeW4jyML/

 

Quote

Former Atlanta United executive Ann Rodriguez was named senior vice president of league operations for the WNBA on Thursday.

Rodriguez was vice president of business operations for the MLS team, helping it achieve more than 35,000 season-tickets sold and to lead the league in average attendance (more than 46,000) in its inaugural season.

With the WNBA, Rodriguez will oversee on-court basketball operations, referee operations, and player-related policies and programs.

 

Seems like if there's anyone who knows how to make a splash with attendance, it's this gal!

Y'know, given we've got ATL's own "A-Rod" now handling league ops, and ATL's own Lisa Borders commissionering and all, and since Turner Sports is not letting go of their NBA/WNBA media contract anytime soon... would it be that much of a bother to entrench the league HQ offices right here, and, by extension, perhaps cement the local team's murky status as a franchise to stay? That would be swell,

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Can the Atlanta Dream pull off the improbable and beat the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx tonight at McCamish Pavilion (7:30 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast in ATL, Fox Sports North in MSP)? Maybe not… but wouldn’t you like to see these players try?

The 3-time WNBA champs have raced to a sterling 16-2 record, and are 10-0 in their own, tougher Western Conference. The Lynx have defeated every team they have played at least once. In fact, they’ve beaten ten of the 12 WNBA clubs they’ve faced -- by at least nine points -- at least once. The only exceptions for Minnesota are the Indiana Fever and our Atlanta Dream… teams they have yet to play.

Powered by MVP race leader Sylvia Fowles and super-Gwinnettian Maya Moore, Coach Cheryl Reeves’ outfit boasts the top offensive efficiency in the league, and the best defensive efficiency, too. They enjoy the second-best effective field goal shooting in the league, and on the occasional misses, they crash the boards at a league-high 31.3 O-Reb% rate.

The one thing the Lynx aren’t wild about is playing fast-paced teams, and that’s where coach Michael Cooper’s team’s running style can give them the most fits. Minnesota has only lost to two teams – Connecticut and Chicago – and both those clubs rank 1^st (83.3 offensive possessions per-40) and 2^nd (81.6), respectively, in offensive pace. Atlanta (81.5) is right behind Chicago in 3^rd for that category.

Even then-winless San Antonio (first in defensive pace, albeit more due to shaky transition D) gave Minnesota fits in their own building last month, the Lynx needing a fourth-quarter blitz to come from behind and emerge victorious. Atlanta (10-11) ranks second in defensive pace in this league. Their ability to stay in contention for the W tonight will come down to two factors: turnovers, and defensive rebounding.

Coming off a superb All-Star Game appearance and, until an assist was officially rescinded by the league, the 6^th triple-double in WNBA history, Layshia Clarendon (last 5 games: 8.0 APG, 2^nd in WNBA; 2.3 TOs per game) has been rivaled by only Chicago’s Courtney Vandersloot as the best ballhandler in the league, certainly the steadiest point guard play this franchise has seen since at least Jasmine Thomas’ two-season tenure here, and probably ever.

Minnesota will do all they can to trap and double Clarendon and force the ball toward her more turnover-prone teammates earlier in the shot clock. Then they’ll endeavor to deny Layshia the ball off passes later in the Dream’s possessions.

She’ll need her power forwards (Sancho Lyttle, and Jordan Hooper or former Lynx player Damiris Dantas) to have an active role in the offense. That would take defensive pressure off of All-WNBA candidate Tiffany Hayes (19 points and 4 steals, but 4 TOs vs. PHX in the OT win on Tuesday), emerging rookie Brittney Sykes (team-high 20 points, incl. game-tying bucket in regulation, but 6 TOs vs. PHX), and center Elizabeth Williams (16 points but 5 TOs vs. PHX) and allowing the trio to have quality looks on shots and drives.

The Dream will try to put similar pressure on guard Seimone Augustus, who has become as sound a playmaker as the Lynx have. She’s averaged a team-high 4.5 APG in her past four contests (8^th in WNBA) and just 0.8 TOs per game, while shooting a solid 42.9 percent from three-point range. Despite that, her team coughs up the ball slightly more than the league average (18.0 TO%, 4^th-highest in WNBA). Atlanta will want to pursue turnovers and force the Lynx to either foul heartily (unlikely, as they allow a league-low 16.9 FTAs per game) or make great defensive plays in transition.

Sykes was featured in Atlanta’s 113-67 preseason road loss to Minnesota back in May, and while she contributed on multiple fronts (four assists, three O-Rebs, three blocks), the rookie was a forgettable 3-for-19 from the floor (1-for-9 on twos, 2-for-10 on threes), posting a minus-36 on the day. But that was Brittney’s first dress rehearsal, and she is nowhere near that kind of performance these days.

It will be intriguing to see what Reeves’ defenders have in their gameplans to thwart Sykes’ deadly drives to the cup, and what in turn those actions might do to free up her teammates. An effort more like her game in the OT loss to Washington before the break (rookie-high 5 assists, just 2 TOs) would be beneficial for Atlanta.

With just a single defensive rebound in her past two games, Elizabeth Williams may be resorting to an Al Horford-esque role, with a few timely swats for good measure. Williams goes for the help blocks (WNBA-high 3.5 BPG in her last 4 games), Sancho Lyttle goes for the helpful steals (1.5 SPG, 2^nd in WNBA among frontcourt players), and their floormates are tagged to scrap for the defensive boards when shots get past them. Sykes and Clarendon accounted for 17 of Atlanta’s 31 D-Rebs against the Mercury on Tuesday, none of them collected by Williams.

That won’t fly versus Fowles, whose 5.2 O-Rebs per-40 ranks 2^nd among WNBA starters. For Williams, whose 14.8 D-Reb% ranks below notables such as Sykes (15.9%), Dantas (17.4%), and Minnesota’s Moore (16.3%), Rebekkah Brunson (20.6%), and Fowles (23.3%), and Lyttle, their ability to keep Atlanta in or near the lead will be tied to their ability to keep Fowles, Brunson and Moore off the offensive glass.

Let’s Go Dream!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

The Atlanta Dream can make sure their 3-game homestand is a winning one, and make amends for their most disappointing loss of the season, in this afternoon matinee versus the Washington Mystics (3:00 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast in ATL, Monumental Network in DC).

By “most disappointing,” that in no way counts Friday night’s 90-80 loss to the class of the league, the Minnesota Lynx. The Dream (10-12) were simply outfoxed by a talented veteran team, all five Lynx starters shooting (and three of five reserves) at least 50 percent from the field.

Minnesota rose to 18-2 by not committing excessive turnovers and dominating the boards (outrebounding Atlanta 5-2 on the offensive end, 22-20 on the other side). Dream coach Michael Cooper must come up with a better gameplan to help center Elizabeth Williams (1-for-1 FGs, one solitary rebound and one block in 21 minutes) wrangle with superior-sized bigs, whether that’s Sylvia Fowles (29 points, 11-for-15 FGs, 7 of the Lynx’s 12 FTs) or Washington’s Krystal Thomas. Shifting Sancho Lyttle on the five-spot assignment is but a temporary stopgap.

As for that deflating defeat, on probably tired legs, Atlanta collapsed after building a 21-point lead in D.C. back on July 19, falling 100-96 in overtime right before the All-Star Break. This, to a Mystics team that was without its top two scorers this season. Largely because of Thomas’ 17 rebounds (9 offensive), Washington managed to get 18 more field goal attempts, and you never want to give guard Kristi Toliver (7-for-19 3FGs) or forward Emma Meesseman (8-for-15 2FGs) extra chances. Toliver stepping up her offensive output helped offset the season-ending loss of Tayler Hill (ACL injury).

Washington (13-9) got All-Star Elena Delle Donne back to win its next game last Tuesday, an 85-76 win on the road against feckless San Antonio. Thomas collected five O-Rebs to help Delle Donne (29 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists) keep the contest decisively out of reach from the Stars.

The Dream played the WNBA leaders on Friday, after having played two overtime games separated only by a cross-country All-Star weekend for three players. Meanwhile, on the same evening, Washington got the day off. They were hoping to eke past Connecticut in the Eastern Conference standings by beating them at Verizon Center, but the arena had other plans. Leaking from the roof through the scoreboard onto the floor precipitated (sorry!) the game and granted the Styx some unexpected rest ahead of today’s game.

Mystics coach Mike Thibault will continue to push their size advantage in the frontcourt (Meesseman, Delle Donne, Thomas) against the Dream, not only because it has been dominant (w/o Emma, EDD had 23-and-15 in a 78-72 home win over Atlanta back in June), but also because he has very little choice. In addition to losing Hill for the year, Washington also is without backup guard Natasha Cloud (foot). Compounding things, rookie backup wing Jennie Simms was placed on waivers. Free agent guard Allison Hightower was brought on to keep the Mystics’ roster at the minimum of 11 players.

Buoyed by Tiffany Hayes (25 points on 9-for-17 shooting, 5 assists vs. MIN; 24 points w/ 4-for-6 3FGs @ WAS on July 19) and Layshia Clarendon, Atlanta’s guard play has to be superb at both ends and push the pace to overcome Washington’s front-line advantage. Cooper has Aneika Morello back in the lineup to give Williams a spell, allowing Jordan Hooper and Damiris Dantas spend more time at forward, but that is mere patchwork.

Atlanta and Washington are among six teams, by my count, carrying the league-minimum of 11 players, half of the league circling ahead of the WNBA Trade Deadline which is 8 PM Eastern tomorrow. You can bet Coach Coop and the Dream management have fielded inquiries about Hayes and Brittney Sykes, and even Angel McCoughtry, who together might be crowding one another out of position in 2018. But there may be better offers for Dream players and draft picks coming in the offseason. Don’t anticipate any blockbuster moves!

Let’s Go Dream!

~lw3

[TheNorthCydeRises]

On 7/26/2017 at 0:26 AM, lethalweapon3 said:

Nothing easy! It's de rigueur.

Congrats on a history-making night to Layshia! Try as we might... glad it wasn't put to waste!

Hard to argue with Queen Elizabeth!

~lw3

That's BS that they took the triple-double away from Layshia.  Who reviews a tape so hard, that they take 2 assists away?

And by the way, the WNBA product is a very good one to watch these days.  With the way the bigs run the floor, and the guards look to push the pace, scoring has gone way up in the WNBA over the years.

The league used to be a brick fest with women shooting shots out of their range, and small guards who couldn't make layups in traffic.  But now that the game is more wide open, the guards can really get out and run.  Ironically though, in the half court, the WNBA resembles 1980s NBA, with the good centers in the league dominating.

People who aren't pure basketball fans ( or are sexist against women's sports in general ) will always crap on the WNBA.  But spending 2 hours on a lazy weekend afternoon in the summer watching it, is definitely good for us purists.

[lethalweapon3]

And just as I was about to give up on the Dream doing something... just in time before the deadline! Pigtail Power is BACK!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

More on the deal later but a couple quick trivia items on the acquired players:

* Tamera Young (left, obvsly) was our Atlanta Dream's first-ever draft pick, taken 8th overall in 2008. Before becoming the Colonial conference's all-time leading scorer in college, Young played at Laney High School in Wilmington. You probably know their most famous alum. Sort of a pull factor: In the gossip columns, she has had a year-long dating relationship with "Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta" diva Mimi Faust.

* L.A. native Imani Boyette's most famous high school alum wasn't His Airness... instead, actor Jason Schwartzman, perhaps? She is better associated with her athletic family, most notably her mom, retired WNBA player Pamela McGee (first-ever Mom-Daughter duo to each play in the WNBA). Oh, and Imani's brother, NBA CHAMPION (still pinching myself), Shaq's best bud, and Golden State Warrior JaVale McGee! Her husband, Texas defensive tackle Paul Boyette, is currently in training camp fighting for a spot on the Oakland Raiders.

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

This RoM is no Com! Congrats to Brittney!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Now, for the more relevant stuff.

Outgoing is Jordan Hooper (41.4 3FG%), who joined a record-bad Atlanta Dream team (in terms of perimeter shooting) in June, and briefly made them marginally sustainable in that regard. Alas, Hooper’s accuracy had trailed off of late (1-for-6 3FGs in last 3 games; 4-for-12 in last 8 games), and wasn’t contributing sufficiently in other aspects of games to entice coach Michael Cooper to play her for more than five minutes on most nights.

Departing Atlanta (still a WNBA-low 28.0 3FG%), Hooper will join a team that does just fine in this area with backcourt star Allie Quigley, but could also use another stretch-forward off the bench, something that is supposed to become Damiris Dantas’ (27.4 3FG%) forte here.

Tamera Young has long been a classic 2-and-D wing specialist. But coach Amber Stocks has implored her 10-year vet to stretch her horizons, and for the most part Young has delivered. After Tamera lightly dabbled with three-pointers in her first few seasons, former Sky coach Pokey Chatman turned off the spigot.

From 2011 through 2016, Young went just 1-for-11 from downtown, at that one make was in 2011. But this season, she’s taking about 2.5 shots per game and sinking 34.4 percent of them -- not great, but not Dream-atrocious either. The higher volume plus elevated floortime has raised Tamera’s scoring to a career-best 10.2 PPG, plus highs of 2.5 APG and, unfortunately, 2.2 turnovers per contest.

The downside has been Young has been crazy streaky on offense, both inside and outside the 3-point arc. Her 37.3 2FG% is the lowest since she was traded from Atlanta to Chicago in 2009. Perhaps sensing the jig was up with Stocks, Tam’s gone just 2-for-17 on threes in her past six games. Her free throw shooting declined from 82.8 and 79.0 percent the prior two seasons to 69.0 FT% thus far in 2017. Further, deferring to her sizable teammates along the Sky front line all season, Young’s O-Reb and D-Reb percentages have dropped to career lows (3.1 and 11.8, respectively).

We’ve seen the full gamut of Young’s highs and lows this season. In the second game of the season, she lofted a (probable? Too lazy too look) career-high 21 shots against her former team, but made just five of those as Atlanta prevailed on the road. She made amends with 11 of her 12 points the next game in Atlanta during the third quarter, helping the Sky bounce back on the road.

That was all part of a seven-game streak of double-digit scoring to open the season for Young – she has tallied 10+ points in just six games since. One of those games, however, came earlier this month, where she dropped 18 points (7-for-10 FGs) and five assists, helping Vandersloot and the Sky stun Minnesota 100-76, the Lynx’s first and only road defeat this year.

The up-and-down Young’s role in the Atlanta offense is probably being overstated here. Where she will be most useful is in helping Atlanta tighten up its stout but recently lapsing perimeter D (29.9 opponent 3FG%, second-lowest in WNBA). Chicago’s 30.8 opponent 3FG% sits just behind the Dream’s, and Quigley and Sloot have only but so much to do with that. Where she will be useful offensively is in the corners, given her newfound jumper, when the Dream’s driving guards find the lane to the hoop clogged.

As for Chicago, it should be sink-or-swim time for Kahleah Copper (7^th-overall pick from that 2016 Draft), one of the few Sky players Stocks went out of her way to praise in the run-up to the season. The Sky would like to keep guard Cappie Pondexter coming off the bench as a reserve, so it’s crucial for the “Coop and Hoop” forward duo to make immediate impacts, limiting the impulse for Stocks to consider deploying a three-guard unit.

You can’t teach height, but Michael Cooper is wagering he can teach 6-foot-7 Imani Boyette to make the most of her gifts. Taken one pick before Atlanta’s Bria Holmes with the 10^th selection in the 2016 Draft, Boyette was yanked in-and-out of the starting lineup by Chatman in her rookie season. This year, Stocks has turned to her even less.

Caught up in the squeeze between All-Star starter Stefanie Dolson and Cheyenne Parker, Boyette’s 15.5 minutes per game average is down from her 19.0 MPG last season, her four starts this year a far cry from the 16 she logged in 2016. Throw into the mix the possible arrival of #2-overall pick Alaina Coates (who would be on injury suspension, but no contract signed yet) and it’s obvious it was already time for Boyette to enjoy a fresh start somewhere else.

Boyette’s potential on this Dream roster is, in a word, tantalizing. In the near-term, her role will be to relieve the undersized Elizabeth Williams from the indignation of granting season-highs and career-highs of points and/or rebounds to one WNBA big after another. In the long-run, the Dream can take time to assess whether their All-Star Williams can shift full-time to the starting 4-spot, eventually replacing longtime mainstay Sancho Lyttle.

Williams and Boyette each finished 2016 among the league’s top-ten for block percentage (E-Dub’s ranked 6^th right now; Imani’s 5.8% in 2016 was behind just Brittney Griner and Jonquel Jones). Having both bigs on the floor for long stretches goes against the grain from Atlanta’s “Run With The Dream” philosophy. Yet Williams has shown a propensity and willingness to outrace her assignment down the floor in transition, and nothing about the 22-year-old, 195-pound Boyette has demonstrated she’d be incapable of doing the same.

It’s not Boyette’s fault, given how little she has played, but the Sky have been worse than just about everyone in terms of defensive rebounding (71.1 team D-Reb%, a smidgen ahead of only Seattle), with all their bigs going for the swat (WNBA-high 9.9 block%) rather than getting in position to secure the board. While she could use more strength, Imani’s defense will be needed immediately to keep opposing centers off the blocks and shielded out of the paint.

Now, about those draft picks. Atlanta gives away their first-rounder in what is shaping up to be a fairly nice 2018 Draft. That sounds bad on paper. But the Dream are banking on the underutilized Boyette to serve as a young talent more honed for WNBA play than a future rookie. Not only that, but with Young joining Holmes, Tiffany Hayes, Brittney Sykes and the absent Angel McCoughtry in Atlanta’s 2018 stable (barring free agency), there is no reason Coach Coop and the Dream couldn’t get back in the first-round game at draft time next year, if they choose.

Additionally, the Dream are back in the second-round with Chicago’s pick as part of the deal. Atlanta ceded their own pick to Connecticut when they acquired Hooper in June. If the Sky stays out of the playoffs, a pick as high as 14^th in what is touted as a deep draft could be quite useful, even for what may already become an Atlanta Dream squad stacked with young talent and, possibly, a more rested McCoughtry.

This deal clarifies that Coach Coop has no designs on tanking in 2017, and no designs on a rebuild in 2018, as it would be sketchy for him to assume he would be around to see any rebuild come to fruition. He and the Dream have enhanced his team’s competitiveness for a run toward this postseason, allowing the results to be a building block for, hopefully, even better results next year.

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

For more of the real thing, check out tonight's action, when the Not-So-New-but-Hopefully-Improved Atlanta Dream catch up with the WNBA-leading Lynx in Minnesota, on The Deuce (8:00 PM Eastern, ESPN2)!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

No local TV for tonight's affair in Chicago between the Atlanta Dream and the Sky (8:00 PM Eastern, League Pass only in ATL, The U Too in CHI). Imani Boyette and Tamera Young get their first crack at their former teammates, who are Sky-high but maybe a tad weary after a 81-70 win in Indiana yesterday.

Friday's road win snapped Chicago's 3-game losing streak. Atlanta (10-14) is hoping the Sky (9-16) will return the favor and break their three-game fall, after the Dream got ground into pepper in the fourth quarter by Sylvia Fowles and the Minnesota Lynx on Thursday.

In what was a low-scoring affair, Atlanta held a six-point third-quarter lead before the Lynx stifling defense held the Dream to just two points in the final frame. As Layshia Clarendon has noted repeatedly, the Dream's inability to establish their offense early becomes too much of a struggle to compensate for at the close of games. They need to build up enough of a lead, and sustain control of the ball and the tempo, so that sharpshooter Allie Quigley and the Sky cannot close the gap late.

~lw3