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2021 Atlanta Dream and WNBA Previews


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9 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

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.

This draft?

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1 minute ago, Spud2nique said:

This draft?

We can hope, especially if they can leapfrog Indiana in the Lottery, and either Rhyne Howard or any of the projected top post players turn out to be a real deal. I'm partial to Jessika Carter, although the Georgia native and Miss State center has a fresh new legal issue to sort through first.

The likely path forward is similar to that of New York, who got to double-dip with Lottery wins in 2020 (Sabrina) and 2021 (traded out from the top spot for recent Player of the Week Natasha Howard) and will continue leveraging draft capital to build around Sabrina.

Whether we already have our Sabrina depends, first, on what the as-yet unknown future GM thinks of Chennedy and, second, what Chennedy thinks of this team.

~lw3

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2 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

We can hope, especially if they can leapfrog Indiana in the Lottery, and either Rhyne Howard or any of the projected top post players turn out to be a real deal. I'm partial to Jessika Carter, although the Georgia native and Miss State center has a fresh new legal issue to sort through first.

The likely path forward is similar to that of New York, who got to double-dip with Lottery wins in 2020 (Sabrina) and 2021 (traded out from the top spot for recent Player of the Week Natasha Howard) and will continue leveraging draft capital to build around Sabrina.

Whether we already have our Sabrina depends, first, on what the as-yet unknown future GM thinks of Chennedy and, second, what Chennedy thinks of this team.

~lw3

Nice. Do you think this is a WNBA draft is like a 84,96,2003 type of NBA draft. 
 

We need our 2020 Sabrina. :biggrin:

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Chennedy and Jessika aka The Carter 👯‍♀️ Has a certain sponsorship ring to it. :banjo:

Jessika’s got some nice moves around the basket, Ryhne’s got that release from straight away downtown with ease, she just steps right into that thing. Go Dream!

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35 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

Nice. Do you think this is a WNBA draft is like a 84,96,2003 type of NBA draft. 
 

We need our 2020 Sabrina. :biggrin:

I don't suspect we'll be filling up the WNBA 50 at 50 team with the first-rounders of this incoming class. But it has no choice but to be better than the inert rookie class of 2021. The league will strain to fill out an All-Rookie team this year, although, to be fair, players like 2019 second-rounder Marina Mabrey (now shining in Dallas) show that it may take a few years for the real impacts to show. The PF/C talent in this draft seems promising (Lines.com just moved Italian power forward Loreia Cubaj of Georgia Tech into its first-round mock), and impact bigs are exactly what Atlanta needs to replenish.

~lw3

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Regular-Season-Ending WNBA Power Poll time!

 

Connecticut Sun (26-6) – The Commissioner’s Cup loss is but the only blemish for coach Curt Miller’s crew since Independence Day. Miller’s looking like Coach of the Year, while Jonquel Jones seized what was a multifaceted MVP conversation for just herself. Four others, including DeWanna Bonner and Brionna Jones, played in every game. Need we mention their glue-gal, Alyssa Thomas, is ready to go? Hey, who said this season was just Seattle and Vegas, and that this team wasn’t deep?

Las Vegas Aces (24-8) – On a team with two otherworldly interior stars in A’ja Wilson and Liz Cambage holding it down, the most eye-opening development has been September’s Player of the Month, Kelsey Plum, and fellow former #1-overall pick Jackie Young, coming into their own as reliable stars. Coach Bill Laimbeer’s collective has only lost two in a row once all season, just before the Break, and they’ve gone 10-2 since. Can you say, tough out?

Minnesota Lynx (22-10) – Having won nine of their last ten to close the regular season, with the sole loss coming in Vegas, one can only imagine how terrifying the prospect of facing a Cheryl Reeve-coached club hitting their stride would be, if not for the season-ending foot injury for Damiris Dantas, and a fibula injury for her recovering fellow ex-Dream player, Layshia Clarendon. As magnificent as Sylvia Fowles has been, she’s not the team’s most anticipated returnee for 2022.

Seattle Storm (21-11) – They fell off after winning the Commissioner’s Cup, and the nagging foot that caused Breanna Stewart to miss the final four games didn’t necessarily help matters. On the bright side, they did win three of those final games without Stewart, propelled by All-Star co-star Jewell Loyd’s amazing season-ending flourish. Once a near-lock for The Finals, coach Noelle Quinn will need to rely on supporting casts every game to seal the deal, with or without Stewie at 100%.

Phoenix Mercury (19-13) – The anticipation that we could witness the grooming of the definitive, most dominant big in basketball has waned, and long ago at that. But we’re also well past the point of seeing any reason to nitpick at Brittney Griner’s stellar play. Yes, the Merc eked past Atlanta, then dropped their final three games after rattling off ten post-Break wins. But for coach Sandy Brondello, it was about preserving Griner and Diana Taurasi, in hopes of knocking off a title contender.

Chicago Sky (16-16) – Half-full, half-empty. Lose seven in a row, win seven in a row, finish out the season dead-even. Half-empty? Diamond Deshields and Azura Stevens haven’t made the big leaps once anticipated. Half-full? 2021 All-Star Kahleah Copper has. 15-8 with Candace Parker, 1-8 without. The half-baked run under coach James Wade should be seen as no more than half-bad. That is, unless it concludes with a half-hearted elimination game this week at home.

Dallas Wings (14-18) – They drafted All-Star Arike Ogunbowale in 2019, and then came three Top-7 picks in 2020, Then, three Top-5 picks in 2021. All are still there, getting a taste of playoff experience for the first time under coach Vickie Johnson this week. Next spring? Two more top-7 picks are on the docket. All of the vets are comfortably in their 20’s, and everyone’s under contract. Atlanta, if you’re building a team, organically and through fine maneuvering, take copious notes.

New York Liberty (12-20) – Akin to her 2020 award-winning campaign in Atlanta, Betnijah Laney took matters into her own hands for a team that was missing a key contributor (Natasha Howard) for long spells. Laney was MVP-level out of the gates but grew wild and sloppy as the Libs slumped in the back half of the season. Sami Whitcomb and ROY-by-default Michaela Onyenwere are emerging. But Sabrina Ionescu’s team will ascend once Laney accepts an efficient lesser role.

Washington Mystics (12-20) – Best case scenario? Elena Delle Donne and Alysha Clark return with cleaner bills of health in 2022, as does coach Mike Thibault. Emma Meesseman chooses to re-sign, while Tina Charles and Myisha Hines-Allen get retained. Oh, and throw in a Lottery pick, for good measure. Just like the prior season, an awful lot has to go right to get 2019’s champs back in the thick of things. But if they do… watch out!

Los Angeles Sparks (12-20) – Despite the effervescent energy of defensive wing Brittney Sykes, this club managed to grow stale around Nneka Ogwumike and the aging Kristi Toliver. LA is missing the playoffs for the first time in eons, and there’s no 2022 first-rounder to show for the trouble. Virtually every veteran on the current roster comes off the books after next season, raising the possibility that next year’s Trade Deadline could be a fire sale.

Indiana Fever (6-26) – Ownership has to look at this languishing outfit and assess whether it’s time to move on from the Mitchells, to ride with center Teaira McCowan from the jump, to kick coach Marianne Stanley to the curb, to proclaim Julie Allemand and Kysre Gondrezick as the future. Before any of that, they’ll need to decide whether Hall of Famer Tamika Catchings, the GM, should continue pulling the strings on all of it.

ATLANTA DREAM (8-24) – Is anybody out there? Is anybody in here?

 

~lw3

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Chicago is going to want to see a lot of "Isogunbowale", with Arike creating mostly for herself instead of her Dallas Wingmates, early and often. That will make it easier for Chicago to coast behind three-point markswoman Allie Quigley, dish-master Courtney Vandersloot, and interior defender and post scorer Candace Parker. The Sky have been subpar at home, though, while the Wings have the same record in away games as they had at home.

 

New York's only real chance at victory is to keep the turnovers down, Betnijah Laney in particular having a big night in all the other columns of the boxscore sheet to take pressure off of Sabrina Ionescu in her postseason debut. That, and the Mercury's Diana Taurasi being perhaps a bit slow in her return to action.

~lw3

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1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Chicago is going to want to see a lot of "Isogunbowale", with Arike creating mostly for herself instead of her Dallas Wingmates, early and often. That will make it easier for Chicago to coast behind three-point markswoman Allie Quigley, dish-master Courtney Vandersloot, and interior defender and post scorer Candace Parker. The Sky have been subpar at home, though, while the Wings have the same record in away games as they had at home.

 

New York's only real chance at victory is to keep the turnovers down, Betnijah Laney in particular having a big night in all the other columns of the boxscore sheet to take pressure off of Sabrina Ionescu in her postseason debut. That, and the Mercury's Diana Taurasi being perhaps a bit slow in her return to action.

~lw3

Taurasi and Griner is like Nash and Shaq. :biggrin: I think I’ll root for them.

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Rest in Power, Single-Elimination rounds!

These first- and second-round eliminators were made with under-accomplished teams like the Dream, Fever and Wings in mind. Make them earn their keep, was the prevailing thought. But now that two sacred cows have had their seasons "altar'd" -- one, from a cold hand (Seattle's Jewell Loyd unable to compensate for the absence of Breanna Stewart), the other, from a hot hand (Minnesota unable to do anything with Chicago's Courtney Vandersloot) -- we're likely to hear about a shift back to best-two-out-of-three for at least the second round sooner, rather than later.

With that, the WNBA semifinals are here! Inject some MVP Jonquel into my veins!

~lw3

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53 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Rest in Power, Single-Elimination rounds!

These first- and second-round eliminators were made with under-accomplished teams like the Dream, Fever and Wings in mind. Make them earn their keep, was the prevailing thought. But now that two sacred cows have had their seasons "altar'd" -- one, from a cold hand (Seattle's Jewell Loyd unable to compensate for the absence of Breanna Stewart), the other, from a hot hand (Minnesota unable to do anything with Chicago's Courtney Vandersloot) -- we're likely to hear about a shift back to best-two-out-of-three for at least the second round sooner, rather than later.

With that, the WNBA semifinals are here! Inject some MVP Jonquel into my veins!

~lw3

Oh nice. I want Candace. I like her I can’t lie. She’s just got it goin on! I like Griner and Taurasi but that’s going against Angel Mc. 🤔 May the best teams win! Go WNBA semis! 

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