2021 Atlanta Dream and WNBA Previews

[lethalweapon3]

If, at first, you don't succeed... dust yourselves off and don't succeed again! Or, something like that.

Let's Go Dream!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Back home after two straight close-shave defeats, is another close-but-no-cigar effort in the offing this afternoon?

Also, tonight at 8 PM is the Trade Deadline! I've given up expecting anybody at Dream Inc. to be working the phones, but, hey, you never know!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Heading into this past weekend, The NEXT @ The IX's Spencer Nusbaum hit it out the park again with a deep-dive into where the Dream stood, particularly regarding Mademoiselle Chennedy:

https://www.thenexthoops.com/features/how-the-atlanta-dream-can-capitalize-on-their-last-sliver-of-hope/

Quote

 

On Wednesday, sources told The Next that the team is planning the rest of its season under the assumption that [Chennedy] Carter will not play for the team...

Sources also told The Next that the team [was] “highly unlikely” to move Carter before the August 21 trade deadline.

That isn’t to say that the team would not welcome Carter back. Instead, the Dream are effectively leaving the ball in her court.

[Last] Sunday, Atlanta’s interim coach Darius Taylor gave a short update on Carter’s status, reiterating that there is “no timetable yet” for her return. On Wednesday, a source elaborated to The Next that Carter’s return is entirely predicated on her “meeting several conditions” that the front office set for her at the beginning of her suspension and which she has not completed. One potential spot for optimism remains on the communication front: Carter and the team are still in contact with one another, though the communication was not described as frequent.

 

It turned out that nobody moved anybody ahead of the WNBA Trade Deadline last night, although it likely didn't help (in my speculation) that Atlanta was neither a mover nor a shaker, in the run-up to the Deadline or during the lion's share of this regular season.

Although the idea that the playoffs were still a slim possibility was a bit rosy, Nusbaum offered some good nuggets about interim coach Darius Taylor's ability to directly address what had been, through last week, a historically woeful team defense. His compiled data showed the Dream were giving up a record 22 assisted baskets per game, including a league-record 9.1 threes at an unprecedented 40.1 3FG% clip. The blowouts have come despite Atlanta earning a league-record 9.6 extra attempts per game over their opponents, in part due to the leading the league in steals. At least now, the blowout results are fewer and farther between.

The last three games under Taylor, Atlanta has held opponents below 90 points, including an OT loss in Los Angeles. Until yesterday, Elizabeth Williams being used like the pivot she is paid to be has helped narrow the deficits during the losing streak.

The lapse came yesterday against Phoenix, as the short-staffed Dream were doubled up on assists (22-11) and almost rebounds (47-24) while ultimately allowing the Merc to swish 9 out of 19 three-point attempts. Queen Elizabeth took as many shots from the field, and collected three more rebounds, than you did over the course of her 33 minutes on the floor. Conversely, Phoenix guard Diana Taurasi joined Brittney Griner and former Dream draft-and-tradee Brianna Turner with point-rebound double-doubles for each.

That game was without a load-managed Tiffany Hayes, and largely without veteran forward Candice Dupree, who exited her ATL home debut just under two minutes after tipoff and didn't return. Hayes' return was intended to make a difference in the defensive effort, and it has, but Tip cannot plug the dam by herself.

 

Let's Go Competitank!

~lw3

[Spud2nique]

48 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Competitank

I think I’ve had some experience as a fan in this department with the Hawks. Go Dream! 

[lethalweapon3]

Candace Parker's back in town with the Chicago Sky, who are out to avoid a three-game skid that would rejoin them with the ranks of the musical chairs teams for the last three WNBA Playoff spots. Here's hoping Candace's time on the floor tonight (7 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast) is less problematic than it was here back in May, when she was a late scratch due to an ankle sprain and went on to miss a bunch of games.

Meanwhile, who says the Dream front office was asleep at the wheel? Let's Go Princeton Offense!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Lottery Watch: Two-Season Reverse Standings heading into this week's slate of games (which somehow includes all four of today's games at 7 PM Eastern, because WNBA scheduling is always weird):

 

Indiana 11-34, 9 games remaining (this week, vs. LVA)

New York* 13-34 (* presently in playoffs), 7 games remaining  (this week, vs. PHX twice)

ATLANTA 13-32, 9 games remaining (this week, vs. CHI, vs. LVA)

Washington 17-27, 10 games remaining (this week, vs. LAS, vs. DAL twice)

Dallas 18-28, 8 games remaining (this week, @ WAS twice)

 

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

A splendid Competitank loss came late in the fourth quarter versus Las Vegas, despite a spirited effort from Mo Billings, Yet the best part of yesterday's Dream-Aces game came in the final seconds.

~lw3

[Spud2nique]

17 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

A splendid Competitank loss came late in the fourth quarter versus Las Vegas, despite a spirited effort from Mo Billings, Yet the best part of yesterday's Dream-Aces game came in the final seconds.

~lw3

I was scoreboard watching and smiled when I saw the loss..for lottery reasons.  

[lethalweapon3]

Lottery Watch: Two-Season Reverse Standings heading into this week's slate of games. After having to play six games over the course of 12 days coming out of the Break, the Dream got a full week off and will kick off a two-game series in playoff-hungry Dallas on Thursday.

Indiana 11-35, 8 games remaining (this week, vs. LAS, vs. PHX)

New York* 13-36 (* presently in playoffs), 5 games remaining  (this week, @ MIN, @ SEA)

ATLANTA 13-34, 7 games remaining (this week, @ DAL twice)

Washington 19-28, 7 games remaining (this week, vs. CON, @ MIN)

Dallas* 19-29 (*presently in playoffs), 8 games remaining (this week, vs. ATL twice)

Los Angeles 25-23, 8 games remaining (this week, @ IND, @ MIN)

 

Chennedy posted a note on IG(?) indicating last Wednesday she remains in contact with the team. But no announcements as to her status as Atlanta prepares to hit the road.

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

As noted previously, the league plans to reveal the 25 members of their 25th Anniversary team this Sunday, during the Aces-Sky game on ABC (3 PM Eastern).

Here were the members of the "Top 20@20" from 2016. and the WNBA All-Decade team from 2011.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WNBA_Top_20@20

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WNBA_All-Decade_Team

I took my crack at the most worthy selections.

Who's out from the Top 20@20? I gave great weight to players who had at least a league MVP or DPOY award, were selected for at least five All-Star Games, 1st-Team All-WNBA, and/or 1st-Team All-Defensive at least five times. Also, if you remain Top-10 All-time in at least three categories (Points, Rebounds, Assists, Steals, Blocks, 3FGMs), you stayed in regardless.

My tough cuts included Finals heroes Swin Cash, Tweety Nolan, and Teresa Weatherspoon, along with super guards Becky Hammon and Ticha Penicheiro. Close calls that stayed in were Seimone Augustus, Yolanda Griffith, Maya Moore, Cappie Pondexter, Katie Smith and Lindsay Whalen.

Who else just missed the cut? There just wasn't room on my list for Alana Beard, Katie Douglas or Nykesha Sales. Tina Charles, Elena Delle Donne and Sylvia Fowles are slam-dunk additions, but I found myself making room for a current member of the Dream (Candice Dupree), a former franchise face (Angel McCoughtry), and eight others.

My final list for the "W25" team ("new" members not from the Top20@20 in Bold; active/not-officially-retired players denoted with an asterisk):

Seimone Augustus

Sue Bird*

Rebekkah Brunson

Tamika Catchings

Tina Charles*

Cynthia Cooper

Elena Delle Donne*

Candice Dupree*

Sylvia Fowles*

Yolanda Griffith

Brittney Griner*

Lauren Jackson

Lisa Leslie

Angel McCoughtry*

Maya Moore*

Nneka Ogwumike*

Candace Parker*

Cappie Pondexter

Katie Smith

Breanna Stewart*

Sheryl Swoopes

Diana Taurasi*

Tina Thompson

Lindsay Whalen

A'ja Wilson*

The final running of GOAT votes will likely be waged between Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi, and Lisa Leslie for the older-head fans. But I do hope a bunch of ##WNBAGoatVotes are directed toward my pick, Tamika Catchings.

~lw3

[Spud2nique]

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

The final running of GOAT votes will likely be waged between Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi, and Lisa Leslie for the older-head fans. But I do hope a bunch of ##WNBAGoatVotes are directed toward my pick, Tamika Catchings.

 

What about Sheryl Swoopes? I remember she was a boss back in the early days. I think the first and one of the few inaugural games I watched was her vs LA spark.

Oh sorry not retired my bad.

[lethalweapon3]

31 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

What about Sheryl Swoopes? I remember she was a boss back in the early days. I think the first and one of the few inaugural games I watched was her vs LA spark.

Oh sorry not retired my bad.

Swoopes had better get some ##WNBAGoatVote love, too! I believe she's the only player to win MVP and DPOY on at least three occasions each.

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

You can'r lose 'em all! (Try as one might.)

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Lottery Watch: Two-Season Reverse Standings heading into this week's slate of games. Despite holding, now, the longest losing streak in The W, the Liberty are hanging on to the good side (for Atlanta) of the Playoff line.

Indiana 12-36, 6 games remaining (this week, vs. PHX, @ MIN twice)

New York* 13-38 (* presently in playoffs, % points ahead of WAS, 0.5 games ahead of LAS), 3 games remaining  (this week, @ DAL)

ATLANTA 14-35, 5 games remaining (this week, vs. PHX, @ WAS)

Washington 19-30, 5 games remaining (this week, @ SEA, vs. ATL, @ CHI)

Dallas* 20-30 (*presently in playoffs, 1.5 games ahead of 8-seed NYL), 4 games remaining (this week, vs. CON, vs. NYL)

Los Angeles 25-25, 4 games remaining (this week, vs. CON, vs. SEA)

 

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

I was 22 for 25 on the All-Time list. Most fans are surprised to see Swin still making the cut. But it's good to see Angel in the mix.

 

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Competitank City! At mid-week, our Atlanta Dream were on the verge of winning its second-straight game, in front of a not-quite capacity crowd in College Park, against a Phoenix Mercury team that, while scorching hot, had shelved Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner pregame while easing Skylar Diggins-Smith off the gas. Thankfully, at least for me, Elizabeth Williams would have none of it.

Up two, Atlanta's E-Will fouled Mercury three-point shooter Shay Peddy with under four seconds to go. Peddy did as Peddy does at the charity stripe. Crisis, in this here household, avoided. Where there's E-Will, there's a way.

Now the Dream (7-21) have three of their final four contests of 2021 versus teams we hope will be joining us in the Lottery. Tonight's hosts, the Washington Mystics (7 PM, NBATV) will be followed up on the Dream schedule with home games next week by Indiana (6-21) and Los Angeles (10-19). (FWIW, L.A.'s pick goes to Dallas, while the Wings' pick heads to Chicago). The Mystics, Fever, and one of either the Sparks or the Wings all missing the playoffs means the New York Liberty (11-18, losers of six straight) get in and thus avoid leapfrogging the Dream in terms of pre-Lottery odds.

The Mystics, it seems, and as I suspected around the time of the league returning from the Olympic Break, are leaning toward shutting down Elena Delle Donne (back injury) for the balance of the season. An opening-round home playoff game is an impossibility for coach Mike Thibault and the Mystics, who like New York have also dropped a half-dozen straight. Those two teams will meet in Gotham next week in the season finale. Go Libs!

As Atlanta has shown, opponents shutting down their stars does not an automatic W make. Fortunately, in my estimation.

Neither of Washington or L.A. can catch the Dream in terms of two-season record compilation ahead of the Lottery, so the only real Stone-Cold-Must-Lose game on the docket is next week against Indy, who have dead-cat-bounced by splitting their last ten games after a dreadful 1-16 start.

The active veterans on the Dream, be it Courtney Williams, Tiffany Hayes, E-Will, Shekinna Stricklen and Odyssey Sims, are each playing for their next contract. Unless they have it on good authority (Yesterday, ATL just hired the newest authority, President/COO Morgan Shaw Parker, from Arthur Blank's sports office to fill the management vacuum, so no) that they'll be coming back in 2022, they ought to feel free to go for broke, tonight (excepting Sims, who is out for personal reasons) and next week against the Sparks.

You got that, Queen Elizabeth? Feel free to not-foul the three-point shooters. But if you can't resist, we wholly understand. We built this city for Competitank!

 

Let's "Go" Dream!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Lottery Watch: Two-Season Reverse Standings heading into this week's slate of games. I think I'd better let it go... looks like a Lottery TKO! This weekend's win by Marina Mabrey and the Wings in New York was doubly bad for the ATL. Despite losing this afternoon, Dallas had already clinched a seventh playoff spot, and they relegated New York down to leapfrog Atlanta for second-best Lottery odds. The only spot left is Washington's, and the only hope for the Dream is for the Libs to end what will likely be an eight-game skid in their home and season finale. The Fever reverted back to their old selves with a four-game slide. Even a win in their visit to Atlanta tomorrow wouldn't be enough by itself for a shot at top-odds. I tried to hold on, but my strength is gone, it's just another sad song. Sing it with me, Teddy!

 

Indiana 12-39, 3 games remaining (@ ATL, vs. MIN, @ CHI)

New York 13-39, 2 games remaining  (@ CON, vs. WAS)

ATLANTA 14-37, 3 games remaining (vs. IND, vs. LAS, @ CON)

Washington* 21-31 (*presently in playoffs, 1.0 game ahead of LAS and NYL), 2 games remaining (@ NYL, vs. MIN)

Los Angeles 26-26, 2 games remaining (this week, @ ATL, @ DAL)

 

~lw3

[Spud2nique]

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Lottery Watch: Two-Season Reverse Standings heading into this week's slate of games. I think I'd better let it go... looks like a Lottery TKO! This weekend's win by Marina Mabrey and the Wings in New York was doubly bad for the ATL. Despite losing this afternoon, Dallas had already clinched a seventh playoff spot, and they relegated New York down to leapfrog Atlanta for second-best Lottery odds. The only spot left is Washington's, and the only hope for the Dream is for the Libs to end what will likely be an eight-game skid in their home and season finale. The Fever reverted back to their old selves with a four-game slide. Even a win in their visit to Atlanta tomorrow wouldn't be enough by itself for a shot at top-odds. I tried to hold on, but my strength is gone, it's just another sad song. Sing it with me, Teddy!

 

Indiana 12-39, 3 games remaining (@ ATL, vs. MIN, @ CHI)

New York 13-39, 2 games remaining  (@ CON, vs. WAS)

ATLANTA 14-37, 3 games remaining (vs. IND, vs. LAS, @ CON)

Washington* 21-31 (*presently in playoffs, 1.0 game ahead of LAS and NYL), 2 games remaining (@ NYL, vs. MIN)

Los Angeles 26-26, 2 games remaining (this week, @ ATL, @ DAL)

 

~lw3

Go Indy and NY!  

[lethalweapon3]

Dream lose the finale, predictably and decisively, against the stunning steamroller that's Connecticut (winners of 14 in a row, plus the Sun's Alyssa Thomas is back right on time for the WNBA Playoffs). Yet Atlanta might still "win" today, if an L.A. Sparks loss in Dallas (game nearing halftime on NBATV) backs the New York Liberty into the final 8-spot. For reasons you understand by now.

Let's Go Wings!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Just vibes!

As the curtain has closed on a tumultuous 2021 WNBA regular season, the Atlanta Dream Basketball Club has precious little to hang their hats on, a trifling amount of substance to pique interest among current and future fans of the sport.

The new, New England-based ownership regime and their mission remains nebulous, at best. There is reason to hope their new Chief Operations Officer, experienced from her years with Nike, the NFL and Arthur Blank’s sports-and-entertainment arm, can sort out this franchise’s sordid recent history and rebuild from the ground up. But reason to hope is not quite the same as hope.

Investment partner and PR face Renee Montgomery can light up any room, but is not enough of a fan draw, by her notoriously busy lonesome, to keep the lights on in College Park’s Gateway Center. Montgomery can sell you “vibes”, that is for certain. Yet Renee was never enough of an attendance attraction, frankly, when she was wrapping up her playing career here.

A team needs routinely active flagship performers, at least one, that can entice casual sports fans and bend game outcomes to their will. For eight, nine and perhaps ten of the league’s 12 current franchises, you can rattle off the first or last names of those show-stopping, scene-stealing superstars, without taking in as much as a full breath to ponder.

In turn, those players need a management regime that can craft a competitive supporting collective around them, and a coaching and player development faction that commits to nurturing the core into something resembling championship quality. After many fits and starts, the gentlemen hooping downtown this fall, led onto the court by sorcerer Trae Young, bolstered by competent oversight in the coaching box and sage shepherding in the front office, are only now demonstrating they’re figuring all this out.

As for the Dream, moving on from WNBA all-timer Angel McCoughtry, or vice versa, was the proper decision for both parties, although 2020 may have been at least a year too long. But after having followed up a 7-15 campaign with an 8-24 one, there is no one in this WNBA town who is worthy of seizing and sustaining the spotlight. With all respect due to Courtney Williams.

2021 was an opportunity for Atlanta to show they’ve got at least one of those players in tow. Chennedy Carter looked the part during her promising 2020 All-Rookie season. Sadly, she has gained more popularity, at least online, by her aggrieved absence and suspension from the team, a circumstance that, it appears, shall extend deep into the offseason amid all the transition, in the locker room and behind the scenes.

Should Carter (14.2 PPG, 3.3 APG, 48.0 2FG%, 1.1 3FGAs/game through 11 games this season, down from 17.5, 3.4, 49.0%, and 2.0 in 2020, respectively) return with a new lease on professional life in the ATL, there’s a good chance “Hollywood” will get the chance she craves to be The Show. Beyond the new GM and head coach that assuredly will arrive by next winter, the veteran teammates that Carter opposed, specifically All-Star mid-range killer “C-Will” and franchise anchorwoman Tiffany Hayes, will be in high demand as free agent targets by title contenders.

Of Atlanta’s nine pending free agents, only improved role players Monique Billings and Crystal Bradford will be restricted, pending the team’s submittal of qualifying offers to these sparkplug reserves. 2021 first-round pick Aari McDonald is a cinch to be named to the All-Rookie team soon, a product of a dreadfully underutilized rookie class around the league. McDonald (13.8 points per-36, 32.2 FG%, 4 starts in 30 games) bided her time patiently behind veteran guard Odyssey Sims for much of this season, and it is not beyond the realm of possibility she subs for Carter in 2022.

Chennedy may find her surroundings more amenable with a significantly different cast. Cheyenne Parker, likely to return after short-circuiting 2021 for maternity leave, and frontcourt mate Tianna Hawkins (unguaranteed deal for 2022) are the only other Dreamettes under contract for next season, assuming overseas guard and 2019 second-rounder Maite Cazorla never bothers to set sail.

On second thought, vets like the Georgia-raised Williams and Hayes, with family and/or business interests situated close to their current WNBA venue, may have satisficed with the option of extending their pro careers in Atlanta, and will await offers to re-up. If so, the incoming GM faces crucial decisions – whether the individual to build this team around is Carter, McDonald, or some future upstart, one that won’t be drafted until at least next April. If it’s not Carter, the time to maneuver a deal that recoups positive value for her arrives early, not later, in the new GM’s tenure.

Putting a lid on Atlanta’s trashcan of a season, interim coach Darius Taylor may be brought back, but almost certainly not in a lead capacity. The club played more cohesively after the Olympic Break, with the Carter situation shoved into a cupboard, Hayes returning after departing due to injury in June, and players like Elizabeth Williams contributing in more conventional ways.

The sense of improvement under the auspices of Coach Taylor was not McMillan-esque (thankfully, for the sake of draft capital), but more in the context of blowout defeats coming fewer and farther between. Including the season finale versus blazing hot Connecticut, three of the Dream’s 11 defeats after the Break came by double-digit deficits, compared to 8 of the 13 under former interim Mike Petersen’s watch.

The combined product of an above-average pace, C-Will’s and Mo Billings’ assertive nature on the offensive boards, and a dogged determination to produce stops via turnovers, Atlanta produced a league-record 73.5 field goal attempts per game, 2.8 more than second-place Dallas. That eclipsed a WNBA record for shot attempts that Diana Taurasi’s and Cappie Pondexter’s Phoenix Mercury (73.1) established in 2008.

Unfortunately, shot opportunities alone does not a functional offense make. The Dream extended their long-running proficiency at dwelling at or around the league basement in perimeter accuracy (31.0 team 3FG%, 11^th in WNBA). In twelve of Atlanta’s 14 seasons of existence as a franchise, they’ve finished regular seasons among the bottom-4 teams for 3FG%, including dead-last in seven seasons, and next-to-last in, now, three others. The late-season re-addition of guard Blake Dietrick to the squad, by whosoever is running the team, was too little, too late.

Interior scoring (45.6 team 2FG%, 10^th in WNBA) was grossly inefficient as well. As improper as it is to blame Courtney individually, dogged with extra defenders coming her way in Hayes’ and Carter’s absences, the All-Star’s 42.6 2FG% represented a career-low, her elbow-heavy volume of 13.9 two-point shots surpassing the career-high from 2020 (46.2 2FG% that year), her first season in a Dream uniform.

Sealing the deal on Atlanta’s league-low shot efficiency (48.9 team TS%) was a league-worst 72.0 FT%. For perspective, nine of the other WNBA clubs shot 80 percent or better from the charity stripe, and none of those eleven teams shot anywhere nearly as poor as 75 percent.

The free-throw (in)accuracy was the lowest for Atlanta since a league-low 69.4 percent in 2011, and only two other WNBA teams from the prior nine seasons – C-Will’s and Shekinna Stricklen’s Connecticut teams of 2016 and 2019 – clanked free throws more profusely. It’s indicative of a club, and a franchise, that treks uphill, as best they can, with feet riddled by bullets of their own shooting.

In a similar vein as the high-chance-creation, low-result offense, one can see a defense that finished second in the league with 15.1 turnovers forced per game – their minus-4.0 turnover margin tied for the league high with Derek Fisher’s Sparks – plus, tied for second with 4.6 blocks per contest, and for first with Las Vegas with just 13.1 points allowed per-40 off turnovers. Thank goodness for those values, given it kept the team that finished fourth-worst in defensive efficiency from threatening to claim the bottom spot.

With perimeter defenders non-existent either in deed, or indeed, Atlanta foes found their open spots and fired away at ease from outside (WNBA-high 38.6 opponent 3FG%, incl. 46.8% on corner shots). Before ebbing in recent weeks, that three-point proficiency came perilously close to making Atlanta the first club ever to allow opponents to swish 40 percent of their perimeter attempts.

Only Washington matched Atlanta’s 52.0 opponent eFG%, while only Los Angeles fared worse than the Dream’s 29.7% opponent free throw attempt rate and 31.1 opponent O-Reb%. In the other teams’ cases, one can see the detrimental effect of absent frontcourt stars impacting performances, a status for which Cheyenne has yet to qualify.

Atlanta’s extended unwillingness to develop E-Will, over the years, into a floor-spacing, or at least back-to-basket, power forward, and its disinclination to pair her with a starter bearing size and skill more worthy of starting at the five-spot, contributed to, arguably, the most overmatched values of her six-season Dream tenure. Career-lows of 8.8 points, including 2.5 FTAs, per-36, plus a hellacious 50.9 FT% tell just part of the story. Struggles to be a threat to roll to the basket, or to pick-and-pop, rendered her ineffective as an offensive contributor after setting screens.

Among traditional bigs logging over 20 minutes per contest, only last-place Indiana’s Jantel Lavender (12.0 D-Reb%) registered a lower defensive rebounding rate than Elizabeth Williams’ paltry 12.7. Defensive rebounding was left largely to the wiry yet willing wing Courtney Williams, whose 135 pounds checks in about 20 below the next lightest Dream player.

C-Will supplementing a beast of a pivot, as in likely league MVP Jonquel Jones, can work to devastating effect, as she showed in 2019’s playoff run with Connecticut. As the top option in Atlanta, with E-Will and the Dream bigs settling for second-banana glass-crashing roles, in a league defined by nimble and crafty giants patrolling the paint, not so much.

This is all way more of an epitaph than the Dream, as constructed by season’s end, deserves. But the questions of this club’s seaworthiness will persist until a different configuration arrives to replace the incumbents. Even then, given the likelihood of new participants unfamiliar with competing together, acclimating to a new coach and a transforming philosophy, the waves will probably remain rough for quite some time.

There remains a glimmer of hope for the future of WNBA hoops in Atlanta. Barring trades, they’ll have their third consecutive lottery pick to join the team next spring, presumably, someone who will complement the guards (Carter, and/or McDonald). Further, there’s a pair of veterans, in Parker and probably Hawkins, who will have a better sense of preparedness than they did entering their first seasons in this topsy-turvy WNBA town.

This remains a progressive sports market that would be receptive to exciting growth under competent, competitive stewardship. Fans will gravitate to a club that finds its Sue, its Diana, its Candace or Elena or A'ja or Jonquel or Maya or Brittney or Arike or Skylar or Sabrina or Breanna, and has a cogent understanding of how to foster and grow around that All-League talent. It's not the fault of the new regime that its many predecessors could not craft and sustain a cohesive and steady cohort, around an increasingly unsteady Angel, through her prime years. But she's long gone, and as it stands, it is not obvious as to what this team, and its organization, has going for it.

At this stage of Atlanta's WNBA history, approaching 15 seasons in existence, the team needs to be selling an emerging fortress with a clear flagship, not sandcastles at risk of being washed away with the next wave of displeasing news. No one anticipates any magical carpet rides in the season to come. But 2022 will feel like a relative success for the Dream, no matter the record, if its supporters can cease experiencing the concussive effect of rugs getting repeatedly pulled out from under them.

Beyond that, and until then, what does Atlanta Dream, Inc., have to offer its small regional legion of WNBA fans? Vibes! Just vibes.

 

Let’s Go Dream!

~lw3