2020 Atlanta Dream and WNBA Previews

[lethalweapon3]

Extreme Makeover: WNBA Edition!

The twists and turns of WNBA life are unyielding, even as the league enters its 24^th season of existence, and as the Dream lurches into its 13^th season in The ATL… oh, wait… in Bradenton, Florida?

No, this team hasn’t been poached out of town, not just yet. After toiling for a couple years in Midtown Atlanta, the Dream were granted just a year back in downtown’s renovated State Farm Arena, only to find out via Hawks management that they’ve overstayed their welcome. The intention was to get the Dream to sell seats down at the Hawks’ new G-League home, the tinier venue in College Park.

But the players and staff headed down to South Fulton only to grab tickets at Hartsfield-Jackson for a hopefully round trip to the west coast of Florida. They’re joined there by the eleven other WNBA clubs, as part of their league’s hastened efforts to seek secure shelter, now commonly called the “Wubble” for obvious reasons, from the ravages of The Rona, at Bradenton’s sprawling IMG Academy sports campus.

First, before players tip off the reconstructed season that begins on July 25, let’s run down the list of Atlanta’s players down on the Gulf Coast that will actually be returning from last season. Because that list is way smaller.

2017 WNBA All-Star Elizabeth Williams.

Third-year pro forward Monique Billings.

That’s it. That’s the whole list.

The face of this franchise, who missed all but a token moment of the 2019 season to rehab from her 2018 injury, Angel McCoughtry has moved on in free agency. She’ll be suiting up for the Las Vegas Aces, who need her return to all-league form as swiftly as possible to assure themselves of a worthy championship run.

Without an untimely injured McCoughtry, then-new head coach Nicki Collen’s Dream made a daring late run into the 2018 Playoffs, missing the Finals by a hair. Sadly, the instability from Angel’s extended absence took its toll on a club that finished with a basement-dwelling 8-26 record last summer.

Last year’s leading scorer, Tiffany Hayes, and the team’s leading dime-dropper and saving grace in the three-point-shooting department, Renee Montgomery, are both veterans that elected to opt out of playing in the Wubble this season.

Last year’s leading rebounder? That was Jessica Breland. She and Nia Coffey were sent packing to Phoenix in February, as part of a deal that we’ll mention later. Similarly, Dream President and GM Chris Sienko dealt Atlanta’s second-leading scorer, Brittney Sykes, and Marie Gulich to Los Angeles.

No Alex Bentley, the inefficient guard who the team permitted to walk in free agency. No Maite Cazorla, who wisely estimated that, amid a raging pandemic, she’d be safer back home in Spain. That’s at least nine spots the Dream have had to fill, and that’s not even counting Star, the Dream’s inaugural mascot that was ushered to the Mothball Retirement Home, coincidental to a logo and uniform makeover.

What did Sienko and company do with all that roster space? There are some intriguing additions.

Courtney Williams was the breakout star of the 2019 Playoffs, the guard averaging about 18 PPG and shooting over 40 percent on threes for the Connecticut Sun while leading all WNBA guards with 5.8 RPG despite weighing in at 135 pounds. Her assertive play and infectious fan-dad on the sidelines were frequent draws on SportsCenter highlight reels.

The Sun, who charged to the #2 seed and swept the L.A. Sparks to reach The Finals, desperately wanted her back for a shot to return to the title series. But the free agent, a South Georgian from Charlton County, found the opportunity to play closer to home too good to pass up.

In February, Sienko swung a three-team deal with the Sun and the Mercury, with Breland and Coffey headed to Phoenix. C-Will likely won’t have her father in tow for this season’s games, but the former University of South Florida star may be the one competitor in Bradenton that’s even closer to home than she would be in Atlanta.

Six summers ago, Angel was instrumental in arranging a surprise engagement party, at a nightclub here in The ATL, in which Glory Johnson fatefully said yes to Brittney Griner. McCoughtry is no longer around town, but GloJo, now with twins in tow, returned to Atlanta during this past offseason, acquiescing to a courtship of a different feather from the Dream.

Glory is well removed from her fine years as a Tennessee Vol star and a two-time WNBA All-Star, the last trip coming in 2014. Injuries during her last two seasons with the Dallas Wings has sapped her scoring efficiency, with shooting splits of 41.7/31.5/78.0 and 36.4/34.0/58.3 (FG/3FG/FT) in 2018 and 2019, respectively. But the 6-foot-3 forward strives to hone her skillset as an ever-evolving stretch-four.

Glory remains a solid rebounder and a poacher on the defensive end (4.2 Defensive RPG and 1.4 SPG in 24.1 minutes/game). Relying less on having to make plays with the ball in her hands, she limited her turnovers to 1.0 per contest last season.

2018’s strong close worked against 2019’s lead-balloon edition of the Dream, as the reformulated draft lottery takes each non-playoff team’s past two seasons into account. The fourth-place lottery position yielded unfortunate results, as Atlanta was unable to quench their longstanding thirst for a sure-shot star point guard (Orgeon’s Sabrina Ionescu, bound to play for the New York Liberty). But the next best guard available in 2019’s Draft, and perhaps the one with the most sizable upside, did fall to the Dream, in the form of Texas A&M’s Chennedy Carter.

The absence of Hayes and Montgomery will offer more ball-handling opportunities for the 5-foot-7 rookie than Collen likely planned, prior to the wraths of the ongoing pandemic. That’s great news for Chennedy (pronounced, “Kennedy”), who was a certified bucket at the collegiate level. 2018’s unanimous National Freshman of the Year award-winner averaged comfortably above 20 PPG during three seasons with the Aggies.

Thanks to COVID-19, Carter wasn’t granted a chance to build on her sterling 31.0 PPG in NCAA tournament play, behind only Elena Delle Donne and Sheryl Swoopes (five WNBA MVP awards between that duo) as collegians for the highest March Madness scoring average. Her shooting efficiency, especially from the perimeter, waned in recent seasons as opponents zeroed in on her, but she remains a crafty interior finisher and, as Coach Nicki asserts, an “underrated passer.” How effectively she creates for her teammates, defends, and passes will guide how closely she tracks Ionescu in the race for Rookie of the Year.

“I get y’all tryna be cute with some inches, but (tie) that cheap $&*^ up!” The fur won’t be flying with Liz Cambage this season, as the titanic Aces center elected to sit this season out. But Kalani Brown, with her hair flowing, made waves in spurts for the Sparks last season, most notably when she found herself in an entanglement with Liz last June and held her own (12 points off the bench, a season-high she’d tie a couple weeks later in Atlanta). Despite losing a few locks in the process, she was imposing enough to help her team win the game.

The inches that matter for Kalani's sophomore campaign won’t involve follicle measurements. Clocking in last season at 6-foot-7, 245 pounds, Brown appears to have added significant girth during the downtime. Acquired by Atlanta in exchange for Sykes and Gulich, much will be expected of the space-eating Brown to help Atlanta (last-place in D-Reb% in 2019) secure boards across the floor.

Whether the 2019 NCAA championship pivot from Baylor (and daughter of longtime NBA veteran P.J. Brown) will have the mobility to contribute fully at both ends remains to be seen. But if she can finish around the rim and keep up her solid free throw shooting from her rookie season, Kalani can limit her liabilities as a sixth-woman backup to the much leaner (yet hopefully meaner) Elizabeth Williams.

If conditioning becomes an issue for Brown, another Texas collegiate star, rookie Brittany Brewer of Texas Tech, offers rim-challenging support as a reserve, and recent pickup Erica McCall can crash the glass efficiently, if not much more.

With neither Hayes nor Montgomery making the trip, there are no 80’s babies on the roster; Johnson, who turns 30 next week, exceeds her former fellow Lady Vol, swing player Shekinna Stricklen in seniority by just three calendar days. Ranked fourth among active (2020 season) WNBA veterans for three-point swishes, Stricklen won the 2019 Three-Point Shooting Contest, and looks to be the one Dream player that can be counted on to sink money balls by the rack.

Sizable for a shooter at 6-foot-2, Strick (38+ percent on threes in past three regular seasons) would have offered a wondrous opportunity for Collen to spread the floor alongside Montgomery to the benefit of an array of driving 2-guards, and would certainly have helped turn around Atlanta’s historically woeful shooting efficiency as a franchise (league-low 41.7 eFG% and 46.2 TS%; only WNBA squad hitting below 30.0 3FG% in 2019). Even so, the full-time starter at the wing for Connecticut last season can serve as the fulcrum, chemistry-wise, for Johnson and Courtney Williams, and a trusty release valve whenever Carter gets bottled up.

A backup to Montgomery as a rookie during the Minnesota Lynx’s last championship run in 2017, Alexis Jones was granted a bit more daylight under Derek Fisher’s watch last season in L.A.  Entering her fourth season out of Duke, Jones will be relied upon as never before to help run plays, and she can make an impact if she cuts down on her turnovers and especially her propensity for fouling.

Returning to Atlanta one season after a stint in Seattle, guard Blake Dietrick was quite useful on occasions when she could hit an open three, not-so-much when her shots came up short. The third-year pro out of Princeton (5-for-17 on 2FGs in 46 appearances; 3^rd lowest Player Impact Estimate value in 2019 2/ min. 15 appearances) must show she can be a threat on the drive if she intends to boost her reserve minutes in competition with recent arrivals Betnijah Laney (27 starts with depleted Indiana last year; 2^nd on the Fever in MPG, 1.4 SPG) and Jaylyn Agnew (2020 second-rounder picked up off waivers from the Mystics).

No matter the 2020 record, this campaign down in the Wubble shouldn’t be the final referendum for Nicki Collen at the helm. 2018’s WNBA Coach of the Year elevated expectations for the franchise, but she could never get the Dream’s spirited train to leave the station in 2019, as her players found themselves waiting for Angel like Vladimir and Estragon did for Godot.

Coach Nicki gets to finally build a team from the bottom-up, without bearing much of the weights of decisions from organizational leaders past. She has some new veterans to turn to, including a pair with a recent Finals pedigree, that aren’t caught up in the old ways of doing things around these parts. Even better, she has a young starlet to mold and hitch onto for a long-anticipated rebuild.

But the chemistry needed to compete in the rough-and-tumble WNBA will be lacking, especially with reliance upon a rookie scorer cutting her teeth and a series of inexperienced youngsters providing some semblance of depth but requiring tutelage on the fly.

On paper, this looks to be a team that should turn some frowns upside down, particularly when it comes to seizing the rebounding edge. With C-Will and Carter pushing the pace, there could be tantalizing opportunities to thrive in transition on offense, something past Dream teams struggled to do without McCoughtry leading the way. Whether this team has the energy to sustain a cohesive defensive approach, in transition or in the halfcourt over the course of 40 minutes, remains to be seen.

This could have been a fascinating post-Angel transition period, with Hayes and Montgomery on-board. Further, with many key stars sitting out (Jonquel Jones, Cambage, Tina Charles, Kristi Tolliver, Chiney Ogwumike, Asia Durr, Maya Moore, and possibly Elena Delle Donne and Odyssey Sims among them), this abbreviated season could have been a prime opportunity for Atlanta to build its way back into postseason prowess. Ultimately, that may have to wait until the curtains come up on the WNBA's next season, whenever that comes to pass.

No matter how many wins this collective picks up, the ultimate challenge facing Collen and the coaching staff, as Atlanta treads through this 22-game schedule, is to shift the longstanding local narrative of What Could Have Been, into What Could Be.

 

Let’s Go Dream!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Wubble, Baby, Wubble, Baby, Wubble, Baby, Wubble!

The WNBA season kicks off formally on Saturday afternoon, with Breanna Stewart’s return to league play coinciding with the debut of Sabrina Ionescu as the Seattle Storm and New York Liberty square off (12 Noon Eastern, ESPN).

Atlanta’s first game allows Glory Johnson to link up with her former franchise, the Dallas Wings (5 PM Eastern, CBS Sports Network). Teams will play on one of two courts for live action, the Dream’s opener being on WNBA Court 2.

Angel McCoughtry’s long-sought dream of not having teams play on back-to-backs finally comes to fruition in this reformulated season schedule. But there are plenty of every-other-day matchups in the offing, in order to get 22 games completed in short order.

Now with the Las Vegas Aces, Angel gets a first crack at her former WNBA team next Wednesday on WNBA Court 1. Atlanta will conclude its regular season on the evening of September 11, playing against Courtney Williams’ and Shekinna Stricklen’s team, the Connecticut Sun.

 

ATLANTA DREAM 2020 SCHEDULE

(all games to be played in Bradenton, Florida, barring venue schedule changes due to things like approaching hurricanes)

(no "All-Star Break" in 2020, because, 2020)

(EDITED to include FS South/Southeast broadcasts just added on July 24, first regional broadcasts since 2018. NBA TV blacked out locally for games broadcast by FS S/SE. All games available via WNBA League Pass, which is currently $17 for the full WNBA season.)

Sunday, July 26 – vs. Dallas Wings (5 PM Eastern, CBS Sports Network)

Wednesday, July 29 – “at” Las Vegas Aces (10 PM Eastern, CBS Sports Network)

Friday, July 31 – vs. New York Liberty (7 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast in ATL, NBA TV)

Sunday, August 2 – “at” Indiana Fever (4 PM Eastern, Fox Sports South in ATL, NBA TV)

Tuesday, August 4 – vs. Phoenix Mercury (7 PM Eastern, ESPN2)

Thursday, August 6 – vs. Seattle Storm (6 PM Eastern, ESPN2)

Saturday, August 8 – “at” Dallas (12 Noon Eastern, ESPN2)

Monday, August 10 – vs. Connecticut Sun (6 PM Eastern, Fox Sports South)

Wednesday, August 12 – “at” Seattle (10 PM Eastern, Fox Sports South, Twitter)

Friday, August 14 – “at” Phoenix (10 PM Eastern, Fox Sports S/SE TBD)

Sunday, August 16 – vs. Chicago Sky (4 PM Eastern, Fox Sports S/SE TBD)

Wednesday, August 19 – “at” Washington Mystics (7 PM Eastern, CBS Sports Network)

Friday, August 21 – vs. Los Angeles Sparks (7 PM Eastern, Fox Sports S/SE TBD, Twitter)

Sunday, August 23 – “at” Minnesota Lynx (4 PM Eastern, Fox Sports S/SE TBD, Twitter)

Wednesday, August 26 – vs. Washington (7 PM Eastern, ESPN2)

Friday, August 28 – vs. Minnesota (7 PM Eastern, Fox Sports S/SE TBD)

Sunday, August 30 – “at” Los Angeles (8 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast)

Tuesday, September 1 – vs. Indiana (8 PM Eastern, Fox Sports S/SE TBD)

Thursday, September 3 – “at” New York (7 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast)

Saturday, September 5 – vs. Las Vegas (6 PM Eastern, Fox Sports S/SE TBD)

Wednesday, September 9 – “at” Chicago (8 PM Eastern, CBS Sports Network)

Friday, September 11 – “at” Connecticut (7 PM Eastern, Fox Sports S/SE TBD)

 

~lw3

[Spud2nique]

I liked the above because it’s pretty awesome. To be honest I don’t follow the WNBA but if I start reading lw3’s stuff I might! That boy guud!

[Dnice]

Ms. Taylor should give LW passes when they return to Atlanta..  (guessing the gm's name without cheating she was just on  xtra106 last week)

Edited July 23, 2020 by Dnice

[lethalweapon3]

WUBBLE POWER POLL!

Los Angeles Sparks – They still look to be stacked with adequate depth, even without Kristi Toliver, who was planning to return to L.A. after getting another ring with Washington, and Chiney Ogwumike. Former Dream contributor Brittney Sykes will help keep up the Sparks’ tradition of tenacious wings. In the clutch, it all comes down to whether Nneka Ogwumike, All-WNBA First Team guard Chelsea Gray and Candace Parker trust coach Derek Fisher’s gameplans enough to execute them.

 

Phoenix Mercury – Sky and Di! Skylar Diggins-Smith comes over from Dallas, and her union with a healthier Diana Taurasi may form the league’s most dangerous starting backcourt on offense. DeWanna Bonner will be missed, but also worth watching is which of 2019 All-Rookie Brianna Turner or Alanna Smith thrives alongside WNBA scoring leader Brittney Griner. It has been a tough road lately for female head coaches in the W, but after a 15-19 finish in 2019, Sandy Brondello’s seat may be the hottest.

 

Seattle Storm – Welcome back, 2018 MVP Breanna Stewart! And you, too, future Hall of Famer Sue Bird! The core of 2018’s championship team is healthy and back in business. That’s inclusive of Natasha Howard, Jewell Loyd and DPOY Howard’s fellow 2019 All-Defensive First Teamer, guard Jordin Canada. Reliable depth behind Alysha Clark at the wing might be all that’s lacking. That, and coach Dan Hughes, who’s out for medical reasons. Can Gary Kloppenburg guide the Storm back to the promised land?

 

Chicago Sky – Conference affiliations don’t matter much anymore, but the WNBA East is up for grabs, particularly if reigning MVP Elena Delle Donne joins new Mystics teammate Tina Charles outside the Wubble. The Sky was 2019’s biggest surprise with rookie coach James Wade, yet after narrowly missing the WNBA semis, they won’t sneak up on anyone. With dime-magician Courtney Vandersloot and the sparkling Diamond DeShields, they have stability and an opportunity to break through in a major way.

 

Washington Mystics – The champs are kinda sorta here! There will likely be no EDD MVP in 2020. With Toliver gone to L.A., and offseason addition Charles and leading minutes-logger Natasha Cloud opting out, title defense weighs heavy on Finals MVP Emma Meesseman and the acrobatic wing duo of Aerial Powers and Ariel Atkins. 2019’s Most Improved Player Leilani Mitchell, arriving from Phoenix, might be in the running to win, yet again, if the depth issues for coach Mike Thibault’s club remain unresolved.

 

Las Vegas Aces – This wasn’t quite what Angel McCoughtry signed up for, as Liz Cambage elected to stay Down Under for 2020. But Angel still joins a walloping starting unit under the glare of coach Bill Laimbeer. A’ja Wilson’s MVP candidacy might be a bit less obscured without Cambage around the rim. Guard Jackie Young will look to make more noise after a temperate rookie season for a #1-overall pick. Can Sixth Woman of the Year and Playoffs hero Dearica Hamby become the newest Ace on the top line?

 

Indiana Fever – Like Chicago in 2019, here’s another rebuilding team potentially surprising foes that mistakenly look past them. Super-talented rookie Lauren Cox will get to dominate post play alongside Teaira McCowan. Frontcourt depth is a bit thin, but savvy vet Candice Dupree is joined by a host of guards like 2019 All-Star MVP Erica Wheeler who’ve had time to gel, plus a healthy Victoria Vivians gets her first full season in. Will the slow-growth strategy under (EDIT: 2002 WNBA Coach of the Year) head coach Marianne Stanley pay off fast?

 

Minnesota Lynx – They’re well-removed from their ring-bearing heydays behind Maya Moore, the socially just superstar who remains voluntarily suspended, and stars who have either retired or moved on. But 2017 MVP Sylvia Fowles still has plenty of tricks up her shooting sleeve. And Napheesa Collier, the first rookie since Moore and the lowest draft pick since 2005 to win Rookie of the Year honors, is primed to seize the top billing. Coach Cheryl Reeve simply needs to find guards able to get on their level.

 

Connecticut Sun – Getting Bonner, acquired using three first-round picks, and Briann January from Phoenix is more than enough to account for the departures of Courtney Williams and Shekinna Stricklen to Atlanta. Alyssa Thomas could make a huge difference if she spent the offseason improving free throws. But, as coach Curt Miller knows, there is only one Jonquel Jones. Is the developing Brionna Jones ready for a prime role, or is the opt-out by their All-Star center too much to overcome on short notice?

 

New York Liberty – Seven, count ‘em, seven rookies! Add to the mix a first-time head coach in former Lynx assistant Walt Hopkins. Fortunately, one player in that septet is #1-overall pick Sabrina Ionescu, who won’t have to defer to the dispatched Tina Charles but sure could have used the All-Star big to rack up double-doubles. Hopefully, Ionescu will figure out how to mesh with Asia Durr, the upstart scoring guard who opted out while recovering from COVID-19 symptoms. But that must wait until next season.

 

ATLANTA DREAM – See above! (but I must note here, the Buffalo Wild Wings sponsor on the new jerseys are fire! Also, no, long-hair fans, that's not our dear co-owner with the glam shots, it's Brittany Brewer. Black Jerseys Matter!... okay, fine, if you insist, Senator... they All do!)

 

Dallas Wings – Under the radar now that Diggins-Smith has sailed on, but the pairing of Arike Ogunbowale with rookie point guard Tyasha Harris should produce fun backcourt runs. Coach Brian Agler has a pair of talented rookie forwards in Bella Alarie and Satou Sabally. With a still young Astou Ndour, who astounded in Chicago’s playoff run, at center, this is a core that can grow together and do well, if Agler is patient enough. They’ll be sure to take their share of lumps while dishing some out, too.

 

~lw3

[Spud2nique]

@lethalweapon3 who is the Dream’s rival if they have one? Liberty Mystics? Sky?

[lethalweapon3]

3 hours ago, Spud2nique said:

@lethalweapon3 who is the Dream’s rival if they have one? Liberty Mystics? Sky?

Probably themselves! lol

But no, I'd venture that it's either the Mystics or the Fever. Washington mostly for how much of a bedeviling headache Angel was against them for years before Delle Donne (the hammer to Atlanta's nail) arrived from the Sky. Indiana for the star clashes at playoff time between Angel and Tamika Catchings. I think Indy/Atlanta also has a small history of players who languished with one club before thriving on the other (Layshia Clarendon and Wheeler come to mind),

 

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Atlanta's not holding Court just yet... or holding Glory, or holding Kalani, or...

https://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-dream-shaping-new-identity-with-evolving-roster/BYAYSWNUIREAJESSUBLM5PJWKU/

Quote

 

The team currently is practicing with 10 players - Chennedy Carter, Elizabeth Williams, Monique Billings, Shekinna Stricklen, Jaylyn Agnew, Blake Dietrick, Betnijah Laney, Brittany Brewer, Erica McCall (hardship signing) and Alexis Jones. They are without Glory Johnson and Kalani Brown, who remain on the team’s roster. There have been no updates on their status.

Courtney Williams, one of the Dream’s marquee offseason signings, is not with the team.

“She will be coming, we do not know when yet,” coach Nicki Collen said. “But she will be coming.”

 

Quote

 

Collen has often discussed how difficult it is for rookie point guards to adjust to the WNBA, but said when Carter “touches the paint and passes it, we’re a really good team.”

“Chennedy is somebody we’re going to have to rely on. We need her to grow up fast,” Collen said.

“We are truly going to win and lose as a team,” Collen said. “This is not Chennedy Carter’s team. But there’s certainly, how well she adapts and grows, will be how we’re successful until we can get Courtney Williams out there alongside her to be another playmaker. Because we’ve got a lot of good pieces. We just need them all here. And when we get there, I feel like we’ve started to put in the building blocks for how we’re gonna succeed.”

 

 

~lw3

[Spud2nique]

This Chennedy Carter sounds like our Trae. Point guard first round pick 4th overall. Nice Does she shoot 4 pointers too?  and assist with the best.

Edited July 24, 2020 by Spud2nique

[Dnice]

Disregard my earlier comment, I was putting the Skyhawks GM in the Dream office...

[lethalweapon3]

First, get well soon, Kalani! (And, whichever Dream player is about to follow her lead.)

Second... SPORTS!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Covid Case #2, GloJo remains asymptomatic.

~lw3

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[lethalweapon3]

Gametime! The Dream are 3 for 3 on the COVID-19 front, as C-Will chimed in yesterday...

 

...but The Wubble Show must go on! Dream and Dallas Wings are off and running right now (5PM Eastern, CBS Sports Network).

~lw3

[Dnice]

 I saw some of the game, excuse me, but  #44 seemed to wear shorter shorts than others.

[lethalweapon3]

We can rest assured that our Atlanta Dream won't finish this season at 0-22! But for some slippery perimeter defense, box-out issues, and inadequate play from the shorthanded reserves, you couldn't ask for more from Atlanta in its victorious and high-spirited 105-95 debut against the Dallas Wings.

Rookie Chennedy Carter looked as good as advertised (18 points, 8 assists, despite going 0-for-4 from three-point land), and training camp standout Betnijah Laney was all over the place in a good way (19 points, 2 steals, despite 6 TOs). But Shekinna Stricklen's four triples and Monique Billings' career-best double-double effort (30 points, 13 rebounds) were just what the future doctor Elizabeth Williams (perfect 7-for-7 from the field, plus 7 rebounds) ordered.

Tonight, the past meets what we can only hope is the future, as Angel McCoughtry and her newfound friends from the Las Vegas Aces "host" the Dream down in the Wubble (10 PM Eastern, CBS Sports Network). Angel led the way for Vegas with 25 points and a +12 rating on Sunday versus Chicago. But her Aces (0-1) found themselves trumped by Allie Quigley's late 3-pointer, as the Sky rattled off the final 11 points in the closing 4.5 minutes of action.

It was a touch of vengeance for Chicago after this ESPY-worthy moment, from Marietta native and reigning Sixth Woman of the Year Dearica Hamby in a 2019 playoff elimination game:

Come for the clash of scoring stars, including the Aces' A'ja Wilson. Stay for whatever that goofy headband is around Bill Laimbeer's head! With Liz Cambage sitting this season out, and with Carolyn Swords appearing as though she may struggle to keep up with speed over long stretches, Laimbeer may elect to shift Wilson to the 5-spot full-time and insert Hamby to the top line.

Vegas may need to beef up the frontline to match up with Coach Nicki Collen's new crew, which is getting reinforcements by the day. Glory Johnson, newly recovered from the coronavirus and successfully quarantined, is available to backup Billings and E-Will.

McCoughtry will do all she can to seize the spotlight, and the basketball, particularly from the upstart Chennedy. But if Atlanta can do a better job securing the boards at both ends, and if the Dream (1-0) can continue feasting at the free throw line (30-for-34 FTs vs. DAL), Angel could again find herself late in this game looking like just another Ace in the hole.

Let's Go Dream!

~lw3

[NBASupes]

On 7/23/2020 at 11:00 PM, lethalweapon3 said:

Probably themselves! lol

But no, I'd venture that it's either the Mystics or the Fever. Washington mostly for how much of a bedeviling headache Angel was against them for years before Delle Donne (the hammer to Atlanta's nail) arrived from the Sky. Indiana for the star clashes at playoff time between Angel and Tamika Catchings. I think Indy/Atlanta also has a small history of players who languished with one club before thriving on the other (Layshia Clarendon and Wheeler come to mind),

 

~lw3

Atlanta don't have a true rival. Probably New York since Sabrina and Hollywood will be forever linked. 

[NBASupes]

Arike sure does shoot A LOT! 

Edited July 30, 2020 by NBASupes

[Spud2nique]

I’m tuning in right after the Braves! Go ladies!  

[lethalweapon3]

Clash of the Titanic Rookies!

The Dream were merrily cruising along before they hit their first iceberg, nearly getting doubled up by Las Vegas on the boards (47-25) as they fell by 30 to Angel's and A'ja's Aces on Wednesday night. They have a chance to rebound, and bounce back, as the top-drafted rookie guards in the league, New York's Sabrina Ionescu and Atlanta's Chennedy Carter engage in some Wubble warfare this evening (7 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast in ATL, NBA TV).

You wouldn't know it from the national sports media rounds on Thursday morning, but the Liberty lost to Dallas the night before by 13, and the 93-80 outcome wasn't really that close. That's because the raves were for college hoops' triple-double queen (and noted Kobe disciple). Ionescu was a one-woman wrecking crew (33 points, 7 boards, 7 dimes) versus the Wings, who rose to 1-1 after getting outrun by Carter and the Dream on Sunday.

Much like what Chennedy (3-for-11 FGs, 3 assists, 3 TOs "@" LVA) endured on Wednesday, Sabrina's gang couldn't shoot straight; 15-for-45 from the field (3-for-14 on threes) when you extract Ionescu and 2017 Dream All-Star Layshia Clarendon, who seems revived as Ionescu's starting backcourt mate after floundering in Atlanta in 2018. Piling up 37 TOs in two defeats, new coach Walt Hopkins' club was also sloppy with controlling the rock, which is to be expected when you're rotating as many as seven rookies.

But the Libs (0-2), even without Ionescu in the mix, rebounded well. That portends Atlanta, who have allowed 11.0 O-Rebs in their two contests. Countering veteran bigs Amanda Zahui B and Kiah Stokes, Dream coach Nicki Collen will need stronger efforts from the outset by Mo Billings and Elizabeth Williams, sealing off opposing bigs from both the rim and Ionescu's bunny passes. Sabrina can have a great game in the boxscore. But whether she reaches the SportsCenter A-block or B-block will depend on how well Atlanta (1-1) leaves her feeling like she's out there alone.

Having a healthy forward Glory Johnson back in the rotation would be huge for Atlanta in wresting the rebounding edge away from New York tonight. The live-ball turnovers and defensive boards could make for a feast of transition basketball chances for Carter and, possibly, guard Courtney Williams, who returned to practice yesterday after, like Johnson and center Kalani Brown, outlasting her bout with COVID.

Two exciting rookie guards, on two of the WNBA's unseaworthy clubs. Who ends this evening as the Queen of the World?

 

Let's Go Dream!

~lw3