In Depth WNBA Draft Analysis

No, seriously. I'm not joking about that headline.

The 2008 WNBA Draft was yesterday and I watched every minute of it. (By the way, the fact that ESPN2 switched off the second and third rounds to show basketball bloopers is a sad, sad commentary. Granted you are talking 0.1 ratings, but the WNBA Draft is more interesting than a repeat blooper reel.) There were no surprises at the top, but it's time to break this down much more in depth, team-by-team.

Los Angeles Sparks - Candace Parker (R1, P1), Shannon Bobbitt (R2, P15), Sharnee Zoll (R3, P29)

There's really no question the first pick of the draft should've been Candace Parker. Anyone who says otherwise, clearly doesn't understand the current state of the league. Personally, I think Sylvia Fowles will have a great career in the WNBA. I think she will actually have just as big an on-court impact as Parker - it's impossible to overstate the necessity of a true center in basketball. But Parker is the one who will sell tickets and merchandise. Oh, and she'll be very good as a player too. She is, obviously, a very difficult match-up for any power forward. The Tim Duncan-David Robinson comparison with Lisa Leslie and Parker is a very accurate one.

Moving on from Parker, I think the draft is weak at best. Shannon Bobbitt is no better than a back-up in the WNBA. And I think Marta Fernandez, a rookie last year, can be an All-Star in the league. She has a ton of talent and is just 26, with international experience and great physical tools. Bobbitt is fast, yes, but she has almost the exact same skill set as Temeka Johnson, who's already on the roster. Fernandez and Johnson provide a nice tandem at point guard. And Sherill Baker isn't bad either. What the Sparks really needed was a true shooting guard or small forward. Maybe they want to play Fernandez as more of a two guard, but frankly I think she'd be better as a point. She has great court vision and good handle. At the top of the second round, there were still plenty of talented players - specifically, talented scorers - that the Sparks needed much more than an undersized point. Quianna Chaney, Allie Quigley and Chioma Nnamaka would've all been better picks. Sharnee Zoll is a nice third-round pick, though she's also a point guard.

Overall Grade: B+
The grade is almost exclusively about Parker. She makes any draft automatically a B+. And since Michael Cooper didn't do anything more than that, that's the grade they get. Apparently the Sparks really think they need a point guard. I think Fernandez can play point, but I guess Cooper doesn't. It looks like he wants to play more up-tempo, but even though Parker is a great athlete, Leslie is getting old. They should play like the San Antonio Spurs, not the showtime Lakers. You have the best frontcourt in the history of the WNBA, take advantage of that. Leslie is not going to be able to run up and down the court. But I assure you, no team in the WNBA will be able to guard both her and Parker in the halfcourt.


Chicago Sky - Sylvia Fowles (R1, P2), Quianna Chaney (R2, P19), Angela Tisdale (R3, P33)

Just like Parker was the obvious pick at No. 1, Fowles was the obvious choice at No. 2. As I mentioned in the Sparks write-up, I think Fowles will have a very good career. I know Phoenix won last season with a more up-tempo pace (though Tangela Smith was underrated), but a true center is still an amazing asset in basketball. Fowles is probably the third best true center in the WNBA, as a rookie. Lauren Jackson is No. 1 and Leslie is No. 2, but there is a huge opening after that. When Margo Dydek is (or was in 2007) a starting center on one of the best teams in the East, there is definitely a massive hole in the starting center area in the league. I never understood why LSU didn't give her the ball a lot more, because she has great hands and great athleticism and can catch just about any pass into the post. With Candice Dupree taking away the double teams, she should be even better. People talk about this a ton in men's college basketball when a player is transitioning to the NBA, but it is even more relevent in the WNBA. If you watched every team in the Final Four this year, they all had a star player and only one star player. With Tennessee and LSU, teams didn't just double team Parker or Fowles, they tripled them. In the WNBA, these stars will see completey different defenses and be able to thrive much more.

Quianna Chaney was a nice second round pick and she already has plenty of chemistry with Fowles. They were college roommates. Chaney probably had better talent than she showed at LSU. She has great athleticism and shot 39 percent from 3-point range, which is a rare combination. She's going to have to play the two guard in the WNBA, and work on creating her shot more, but if she can do that she can be a starter in the league. The Sky have Armintie Price at the shooting guard position, even though she is only 5-foot-9. She's really not a point guard, though she should probably play it at the next level. The third round selection of Angela Tisdale gives them a true point guard. Their point guard, Dominique Canty, is a very good passer, but an awful scorer.

Overall Grade: A-
Again, just like the Parker selection, the Fowles selection automatically gives the Sky a B+ in their grade. I do like the addition of Chaney and Tisdale is someone who has some promise. The Sky is a team that needs a lot of help - much moreso than the Sparks - so they won't be very good this year. I'm not a big fan of Armintie Price at the pro level, but Dupree and Fowles give the Sky a very nice basis for the future.


Minnesota Lynx - Candice Wiggins (R1, P3), Nicky Anosike (R2, P16), Charde Houston (R3, P30)

The third spot in the draft was the most coveted for other teams, because the Lynx needed post players and were in a position where Candice Wiggins was the obvious pick. They didn't trade out though and they drafted Wiggins and appear to be keeping her. I love watching Wiggins play, though I do worry some how her game will transfer to the next level. She'll have to play the two guard, which I do think she can do, and she'll have to work on creating her own shot, which again I think she can do. But that does mean she'll have two big things to work on and that can be worrisome for a No. 3 overall pick. She's a tremendous scorer and hardworker though, so I think she'll turn into a smart pick even if she fills a very similar role as Anna DeForge.

As for the second and third rounds, the Lynx may have been the best in the draft. Anosike will be a tremendous player for the Lynx. You can sum up her impact in three words - consistent physical presence. Every team can benefit from a consistent physical presence and Anosike will provide that. I don't think she'll be a star in the league by any means, but she will have a long career and give the team toughness in the post. She'll give you 10 points and 10 rebounds consistently and that's certainly not a bad thing. Charde Houston has, by far, the most upside of any player in the third round. I saw every game she played in college and she was as painfully inconsistent as every analyst says, but she has a lot of talent. She will be a bench player in the pros and that's a good role for her. She has the athleticism to play small forward too, so don't worry about her being an undersized four in the WNBA.

Overall Grade: A
The Lynx could've easily blown this draft. They needed a lot of talent, because their team is legitimately awful. They have Seimone Augustus to build around and they did that with this draft. Yes, they still need a star in the paint because at times Augustus and Wiggins aren't going to be knocking down shots. And no, I don't think Anosike will fill that. But outside of Parker and Fowles I don't think any player in this draft would've filled it. Erlana Larkins, LaToya Pringle and Laura Harper are all accessory pieces in the WNBA anyway. According to the Hartford Courant, the Connecticut Sun offered their two first round picks (No. 9 and No. 12) this year and their first round pick next year for the third pick (with which they'd have selected Wiggins). That seems like a lot, but frankly there was no post depth in this draft. There was a lot of mediocre post depth, but the Lynx got Anosike in the second round, who is about the same as Larkins or Pringle. And Wiggins has the opportunity to be a superior talent. You can't trade superior talent for multiple average talents in the WNBA (or any basketball league). You only have five starters and those five starters will determine the outcome of 95 percent of your team's games, not depth. The Lynx are building for next year anyway, when they can draft a post player and have a starting five of Lindsey Harding, Wiggins, DeForge, Augustus and hopefully a very athletic center so you can play a very uptempo style.


Detroit Shock - Alexis Hornbuckle (R1, P4), Tasha Humphrey (R1, P11), Olayinka Sanni (R2, P18), Natasha Lacy (R2, P28), Valeriya Berezhynska (R3, P42)

The Shock had a ton of picks in this draft thanks to a pair of trades with Atlanta and San Antonio. Detroit is also in the enviable position of already being a very good team, so nothing they added in this draft was anything more than a bonus. Katie Smith, Deanna Nolan, Cheryl Ford and Kara Braxton are obviously a great foundation already. They lost some players in the offseason (Katie Feenstra, Swin Cash, Ivory Latta) and addressed those losses very well this draft. I don't think Alexis Hornbuckle is a great player by any stretch of the imagination, but she's not bad either. I wonder what role she'll fill in the WNBA is the only question. She's a combo guard. I'd make her into a point guard and have her backup Smith. Tasha Humphrey is a great addition to the roster, with their late first round pick. She should step right into the position Cash held in a couple years. She won't need to be a star this year, so she should be able to learn to play power forward in the pros. She's also the perfect physical player for Bill Laimbeer.

Olayinka Sanni is a very athletic post player who should give the team nice interior depth, with the loss of the plodding Feenstra. She's not the defensive player Feenstra is, but she's better offensively. Lacy and Berezhynska are picks that offer depth. Berezhynska has nice size and Lacy has some point potential, but both came from small colleges (Rice and UTEP respectively), so they are players worth drafting if they turn out good and easy to cut if not.

Overall Grade: B+
The Shock didn't need much in the draft, so anything they got with their bounty of picks was just bonus. I like the pick of Humphrey more than I like Hornbuckle. I think they reached with Hornbuckle and would've been better served to draft Matee Ajavon, and have her as more of a true backup point guard. The additions of Sanni and Berezhynska provide depth inside.


Houston Comets - Matee Ajavon (R1, P5), Erica White (R2, P17), Crystal Kelly (R3, P31)

The run on guards continued as the Comets selected Matee Ajavon at No. 5. Ajavon was a pretty good player at Rutgers, but I think she may actually be a better pro than she was a college player. You don't hear that a lot in women's basketball, but Ajavon was limited by the offense she played for C. Vivian Stringer. Rutgers slowed the tempo and relied on their physical defense to defeat opponents. Ajavon is a superior athlete and in an uptempo offense she can be a star. Ajavon should step right in and start at point guard for the Comets. The Comets are probably the worst team in the WNBA and they could have an unbelievably bad season. They were 13-21 last year and this year they won't have Sheryl Swoopes. Tina Thompson is still very talented, but she's 33 years old. You have to imagine she's close to retirement, so the future for the Comets isn't much better than the present. No one on this team has star potential down the road.

I almost wonder whether it would be advantageous to start Erica White, their second round pick, at point guard and play Ajavon at the two guard. I like White as a player, but it's an odd selection. What the team really needed in the second round was a shooting guard. Where is this team going to get scoring outside of Thompson? Tamecka Dixon - one of three 11-year veterans on the team? Dixon isn't much of a point guard, let alone a two guard. Ajavon isn't much of a shooter, but she can score if you let her play aggressively. Their third round pick, Crystal Kelly, is a player with a ton of upside, but questions as well. She was a dominant force at Western Kentucky, posting 22.6 points and 10.5 rebounds per game as a senior. How that will transfer to the WNBA is questionable, but she's a nice pick in the third round based on potential.

Overall Grade: C
The team needed a point guard, so they did get that. Unfortunately, they got two of them and basically nothing else. Houston is going to be an awful team. They have no scoring and they are getting very old. I like Erica White, I really do, but you have to have confidence in your first and second round picks (third round picks are for potential). If they believe Ajavon will be a starting point guard, draft her with your fifth pick and draft a shooting guard/small forward in the second round. If you don't have a lot of confidence in Ajavon at point, draft a shooting guard/small forward in the first round and take White in the second. When you're the Shock and you're already a playoff team you can draft the best talent available. When you're the Comets, you need to draft for need. It looks like they had no plan at all, which means they ended up with some talent, but not a good team.


Washington Mystics - Crystal Langhorne (R1, P6), Lindsey Pluimer (R2, P20), Krystal Vaughn (R3, P34)

The Mystics have a pretty solid core with Alana Beard, DeLisha Milton-Jones, Monique Curry and Nakia Sanford, so they could stand to draft Crystal Langhorne, who played locally at Maryland. They don't have any glaring positional needs, so you might as well take who you think is the best available. And Milton-Jones (33 years old), while still very talented, isn't getting any younger. Langhorne has been criticized for being undersized, but she has a wide array of post moves and won't be counted on for a large amount of scoring right out of the shoot anyway. A wing scorer wouldn't have been a bad pick (Tamera Young, Amber Holt), but neither of them are locks to be stars in the WNBA. Langhorne is a safe pick. She may not be a star, but she'll certainly be a contributor for a long time.

Lindsey Pluimer is a 6-foot-4 forward, with a European-type game. She can step out and shoot the 3, in addition to score inside. I'm not sure she'll really develop into much of a talent, but she has size and is a very good shooter. Krystal Vaughn didn't play much until her junior year, but she's a good athlete.

Overall Grade: C+
The Mystics didn't need much from this draft, but they also didn't get much from it. Langhorne has a lot of talent, but the second and third round picks are based more on potential than anything else. It's not a bad thing to add a local college star from a championship team who will probably average 14 and 7 with regular playing time. It's just not a splashy pick.


New York Liberty - Essence Carson (R1, P7), Erlana Larkins (R1, P14), Wanisha Smith (R2, P27), Alberta Auguste (R3, P35)

Thanks to some wheeling and dealing last year, the Liberty ended up with two first round picks this draft. That was definitely a good idea, considering the depth of the draft, and will continue to be a sound strategy for any team in the future. To be blatantly honest, the overall talent level coming into the WNBA improves almost every draft. As more girls play, and as more college parity exists, the drafts will get better. That's really not any groundbreaking statement, but teams need to realize that draft picks will become more important. That's a tangent, but teams should really try to stockpile draft picks whenever possible. The Liberty went local just like Washington in picking Rutgers guard Essence Carson with the seventh overall pick. I saw Carson play a lot in college and she's a legitimate perimeter defender - something very rare in basketball. She has some offensive game, but really needs to put it together consistently. Just like Matee Ajavon, Carson may flourish in a pro-style offense. She certainly has the athleticism to do so and she did shoot 42 percent this past year, largely on mid-range jumpers, even if she only averaged 10.8 points per game. She may only average about the same in the WNBA, but the Liberty now have two of the best perimeter defenders in the league, with her and Ashley Battle. With the number of talented wing players coming into the league every year (and already in the league), that is going to grow in importance. If Carson can develop into a Bruce Bowen type, that'd be great. With their second first round pick, the Liberty selected Erlana Larkins from North Carolina. Larkins really dropped in this draft. She was predicted as the third or fourth pick in the draft as little as a month or two ago, but she ended up dropping to 14. I'm not sure Larkins is really going to be that good in the WNBA - she's undersized and not very athletic - but at the end of the first round, it was worth the pick. When you already had a first round pick and you have a chance to grab a player whose value is dropping, it's always worth it. I don't think she'll be a scorer in the pros, but she can at least rebound and she's a good passer for a post.

Wanisha Smith and Alberta Auguste are both winning college players (from Duke and Tennessee respectively), which is something that's never bad to have. They are both very similar players, though. They obviously had talent, but never really developed it. Smith never played up to her potential at Duke, after making the Freshman All-ACC team. Auguste was maybe the best junior college player in the country in 2006, but she was only a minor piece on Tennessee's last two championship teams. At times, watching her I would think "Wow, she's got a lot of talent for scoring." And at other times, she would just disappear entirely.

Overall Grade: B-
New York did pretty well with their first two picks, but Smith and Auguste are probably wasted picks. The Liberty was set at point guard with Loree Moore, maybe the best young point guard in the league along with Lindsay Whalen, and both Janel McCarville and Cathrine Kraayeveld developed as respectable post players last season. The only question about the draft is whether they got scoring. Shameka Christon was their leading scorer last year and she averaged just 11.2 points per game. Tamera Young and Amber Holt, the next two picks, would've been better scorers than Carson. I'm not sure Carson can't be a pretty good scorer in the league though. Smith and Auguste are both possible scorers, but only if they take a major step forward. Larkins, a post player, wasn't a necessity, but considering how far she dropped it wasn't a bad selection.


Atlanta Dream - Tamera Young (R1, P8), Morenike Atunrase (R2, P24), Danielle Hood (R3, P32); traded Atunrase and veteran Ann Wauters for Camille Little and Chioma Nnamaka (R2, P21)

The expansion Dream's first draft is certainly off the board, name wise. They went the undervalued, underrated route for sure. Tamera Young, their first pick, was certainly a very good player at James Madison, but with any mid-major player you have to look at what she did against top competition. This year against ranked competition, Young was 12-of-26 for 28 points against Maryland, 8-of-21 for 20 points against George Washington and 6-of-17 for 14 points and 8-of-19 for 17 points in two games against Old Dominion. That's a fairly small body of evidence to measure her against, but shooting 41 percent against those three teams isn't awful. She has legit size, at 6-foot-2, so she's certainly an intriguing prospect at the next level. You do worry about the fact that she isn't a good shooter though. She was bad from 3-point range in her career (142-of-478, 29.7 percent) and she's barely an average free throw shooter (67.1 percent for her career), so it's natural to assume much of her scoring came close to the basket. Not having seen her play, I can't say how good she'll be in the WNBA, but the team certainly needs a wing scorer.

Chioma Nnamaka, who they traded for in the second round, and Danielle Hood, their third round pick, both fill the same wing scorer role. Nnamaka is almost solely a 3-point shooter, but she's very good at it. Last year, 61 percent of her field goal attempts came from behind the arc and she shot 39 percent. She'll be a nice player to bring off the bench and stretch the defense, so they can go to their strength, which will be their inside presence with Erika DeSouza, Katie Feenstra and Camille Little, who they traded for on draft day. I saw Hood play quite a bit in college and she has the ability to be a contributor as well. She's very reminiscent of Charde Houston, both in size and skill.

Overall Grade: B
It's hard to know how to grade the Dream on their first draft. If Tamera Young develops into the player they hope - a consistent 15 to 17 point scorer - the grade deserves to be bumped up a little. If she doesn't develop at the next level, then the grade deserves to go down into the C range. Either way, I like that the Dream didn't stand pat on draft day and made a trade to acquire Camille Little, who should contribute immediately. Nnamaka and Hood are at the very least intriguing picks with some pro potential. Also, Atlanta did a good job of acquiring positional needs, unlike Houston.


Connecticut Sun - Amber Holt (R1, P9), Ketia Swanier (R1, P12), Jolene Anderson (R2, P23), Lauren Ervin (R3, P37)

Connecticut was left with a devastated roster due to injuries, defections and pregnancies, so they had a lot of work to do. With Nykesha Sales sitting out the season due to injury and Katie Douglas requesting a trade to Indiana, the Sun was desperately in need of some scoring. The selection of Amber Holt was made for that reason. Holt, out of Middle Tennessee State, is another mid-major player. She scored an absurd amount of points (27.3 ppg as a senior) and she did score against top level competition. She had 16 points against Maryland, 28 points against Tennessee and 41 points against LSU (with no Sylvia Fowles). She's not very big (6-foot) and not a good 3-point shooter (29.3 percent for her career) which are definite red flags, but coach Mike Thibault has always been a good talent evaluater so I guess you have to trust him. I have my doubts and they badly need Holt this year, not down the road. Ketia Swanier, the Sun's second first round pick, fills the need for a backup point guard while Erin Phillips is in Australia with the national team. I saw every game Swanier played in college (and covered the team her freshman year) and she definitely improved her junior and senior years, but the Sun probably reached for her a little. She won't be a starter in the league and while I realize she won't need to be one (with Lindsay Whalen being a very talented point), it would be nice to get a starter with a first round pick. You also figure in the fact that Phillips - a player that looked very talented in 2006 - will be back eventually and the Swanier pick was probably a reach. You probably could've gotten by with Jamie Carey playing the sole backup.

The second round pick of Jolene Anderson is pretty underwhelming. Anderson was a good scorer in the Big Ten, for Wisconsin, but is just 5-foot-8 and not particularly good at any one thing. She was an average 3-point shooter (32 percent for her career) and an okay shooter for a guard (42 percent for her career). She was a good rebounder for a guard, but I doubt that will translate to the next level. She's scrappy and physical, but she's not a very exciting pick. Lauren Ervin tore her ACL this season and will not play in 2008. She is a very good talent though and a nice pick for the third round. Thibault is big on drafting players (both foreign and domestic) for down the road. It's worked some and it's not worked some, but it is definitely worth the risk. Ervin is 6-foot-3 and both a good scorer and rebounder. She definitely has the potential to be a very good player in the WNBA if she bounces back from injury.

Overall Grade: C+
Like with Atlanta, and their selection of Tamera Young, this grade depends on how good Amber Holt is. Since I really have no idea if she'll be any good, I can't properly assess the draft. If I was going to guess, I'd say Holt won't be a big time player in the league. If she is, it'll probably take a couple years. There's no question Mike Thibault coveted Candice Wiggins in this draft and tried to do all he could to trade up for her. The Lynx wouldn't budge, however, and it left the Sun in a tough position from a standpoint of need. They need an instant scorer on the next level, but none was available at pick No. 9. They went with the closest thing to it in Holt and are going to need to hope for the best. The pick of Ketia Swanier fills a short term hole, but I'm not sure about the long term benefits of it. It would surprise me tremendously if Jolene Anderson contributed and Lauren Ervin is a pick for next year. It would not surprise me at all to see the Sun struggle at times this season.

Sacramento Monarchs - Laura Harper (R1, P10), A'Quonesia Franklin (R3, P38), Izabela Piekarska (R3, P40), Charel Allen (R3, P43)

The Monarchs didn't have any picks in the second round this year, so their first round pick was especially important. With that pick they took Laura Harper, from Maryland. Harper is a solid player and I think she will have a successful, but unremarkable career. Don't get me wrong, though, there's nothing wrong with that. She's good at a lot of things, but not especially great at anything. She'll probably be the same in the pros. She averaged 14.1 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game last year. The far-and-away biggest need for the Monarchs was to get some size and Harper certainly addresses that. The loss of Yolanda Griffith to free agency was a big loss for the team in the post and Harper is actually a very similar player. If they can get nine points and five rebounds per game - what Griffith gave them last year - out of Harper, that would be all they need.

Sacramento did have three third round picks, and they used them to draft for a lot of potential. A'Quonesia Franklin was completely blown out of proportion in college. Texas A&M had a great season, and Franklin was their marquee name, but she's really not a very good player. She doesn't shoot the ball well (35 percent for her career, 31 percent from 3-point range), she's undersized (5-foot-3) and she wasn't even 2-to-1 in assist-to-turnover ratio last year. When you compare her to Kimberly Beck, who went just two picks prior, it's not even close. Beck is a much better player in every respect. And for the record, with Kara Lawson and Ticha Penicheiro the Monarchs didn't need a point guard. Izabela Piekarska is a nice pick for interior depth. She's 6-foot-5, though she does have (maybe obviously) more of a European game. She can step outside and shoot the 3-pointer pretty well. She is, however, now the tallest player on Sacramento's roster. Charel Allen, the very last pick in the draft, is maybe my favorite selection of the entire draft. I saw Allen play fairly often at Notre Dame and she is a very skilled player. Yes, she's undersized (5-foot-11) and she needs to add some muscle, but she has the ability to create her own shot. She's really a poor man's Candice Wiggins. She's a very good shooter and she's a good rebounder for her size too (5.9 rebounds per game over her final two seasons). She shot 44 percent from the field last year and she took all mid-range jumpers. Allen destroyed Oklahoma in the NCAA tournament this year, scoring 35 points. They just couldn't stop her to save their life.

Overall Grade: B+
The Monarchs started their draft with a good pick and they closed their draft with a good pick. Harper addresses an immediate need and should be a solid contributor for the Monarchs, even in the first season. Harper's not a star in the WNBA, like many of the picks in the first half of the first round could be, but she's a player who will post 13 points and 7 rebounds per game for a long time. Sacramento is already a good team. They have two good forwards in Rebekkah Brunson and Nicole Powell and probably the best point guard tandem in the league with Ticha Penicheiro and Kara Lawson. Harper addresses the center position vacated by Yolanda Griffith and I honestly believe Charel Allen could be the answer at the two guard. Chelsea Newton, who stars there now, is not a big time player. I know Allen has some physical development to take care of, but I don't think there's a doubt in my mind she's the steal of this draft. A team like Connecticut should've taken Allen in the second or third round.


Phoenix Mercury - LaToya Pringle (R1, P13), Leilani Mitchell (R2, P25), Marscilla Packer (R3, P41)

The defending champion Mercury had a pretty quiet draft, but after a 23-11 season and a WNBA title, you don't exactly need to make many improvements. There's no question the Mercury needed to draft a post player in the first round and LaToya Pringle was the choice. The Mercury had a few options - Pringle, Erlana Larkins, Nicky Anosike, Olayinka Sanni - and they made the right choice in selecting Pringle, the most athletic of the bunch. Paul Westhead is gone as coach, but I assume the team will still run an uptempo offense. Larkins would've been decimated running up and down the court and Sanni and Anosike aren't much better runners. Pringle comes from a run-and-gun style at North Carolina and will fit in perfectly in the same system in Phoenix. Tangela Smith is getting older (31 years old) and the team has little to no interior depth. The team played with three guards last year (Cappie Pondexter, Kelly Miller, Diana Taurasi), so the addition of Pringle gives them the ability to play a little bigger with her and Smith, which will be very important this year with the Lauren Jackson-Swin Cash combo in Seattle and of course the Lisa Leslie-Candace Parker combo in Los Angeles.

The Mercury's second round pick, Leilani Mitchell, gives them a younger point guard to backup Kelly Miller. She's only 5-foot-5, but she had great numbers at Utah as a senior - 7.5 assists per game and a 47 percent shooter. Marscilla Packer is a 3-point shooter, who would fit into the system nicely, though she's probably more of a pick just for the hell of it.

Overall Grade: B
The Mercury didn't do much of anything with their second and third round picks (though Leilani Mitchell is a darkhorse pick), but the LaToya Pringle pick was a perfect one in my eyes. There are a lot of stupid picks in the WNBA Draft, where teams can't seem to figure out their positional needs or system needs or seem to just be picking a player for marketing purposes. Pringle is the perfect pick because the Mercury needed a post player and she fits the Phoenix system, straight out of college. Any WNBA personnel person should be hoping to get one good player out of a draft. Mitchell and Marscilla Packer may not be anything of need, but Pringle will almost certainly fit the bill of a good player.


San Antonio Silver Stars - Chioma Nnamaka (R2, P21), Alex Anderson (R3, P39); traded Nnamaka and Camille Little to Atlanta for Ann Wauters and Morenike Atunrase (R2, P24)

The Silver Stars might as well have just ignored the draft. They didn't have a first round pick and they traded their second round pick, and Camille Little, to pick up veteran center Ann Wauters and Morenike Atunrase. That doesn't leave me with much to analyze. Wauters is a veteran, so you know what you are getting there. She's not a great player, but San Antonio is a good team and they added post depth with Wauters. I guess they don't have much confidence in Sandora Irvin. It's not a bad trade for a team that was 20-14 and thinks they can get over the hump if they give Ruth Riley some help inside.

As for their actual picks, Morenike Atunrase is an average player. She doesn't score particularly well and she's undersized to play the two guard. She's a good defender, but it's unlikely that alone will sustain her at the next level. If she was a better shooter or could create her own shot she could get by, but she shoots 37 percent from the field (35 percent from 3) and will have a hard time creating her own shot at the next level with her limited ball-handling skills (more turnovers than assists as a 5-foot-10 guard/forward). I do like her hair though. Alex Anderson, their third round pick, is a mid-major pick. She went to Tennessee-Chattanooga and averaged 18.9 points and 9.4 rebounds per game over her final two seasons. Chattanooga played against Tennessee early this past season and Anderson was awful - 3-of-12 for eight points with six turnovers. Against Kansas St. in the first round of the NCAA tournament, Anderson was 3-of-14 for nine points. Those are not good signs. She won't be keyed on in the pros like she was at Chattanooga, but you still can't have any confidence in her ability at the next level. She's listed as a guard/forward, but she's really a forward. She's 6-foot-1, but she has shown no outside shooting ability.

Overall Grade: D
Again, basically San Antonio ignored the draft this year. Clearly that was the plan, so they probably don't care that they had an awful draft. They did trade for Ann Wauters, but that was basically Wauters for Camille Little, so I can't factor that in to the draft grade. The Silver Stars have Becky Hammon and Sophia Young, so they don't need a lot of help. If they can get some more out of Ruth Riley, the addition of Wauters will make the team better, but they aren't a title contender in my eyes. And I don't see this year's draft providing any help. San Antonio also gave Atlanta their first round pick next year, so this team better win soon and I just don't see any chance in the world of that happening.


Indiana Fever - Khadijah Whittington (R2, P26)

The Fever went the trade route as well, though they did it before the draft. They made the blockbuster trade of the offseason, sending Tamika Whitmore to the Connecticut Sun for all-star Katie Douglas. That left the Fever with a big hole in the paint, but Douglas is a very good player who will definitely improve the team immediately. The real question is how healthy Tamika Catchings will be coming off her Achilles' tendon injury. The team also loses Anna DeForge, who signed with the Lynx.

The Fever drafted Khadijah Whittington with their only pick in the draft, 26th overall. Whittington is actually a player reminiscent of Catchings, though to compare her to Catchings is getting way ahead of ourselves. Whittington has a very versatile game, offensively and defensively, and was a good pick for Indiana. The only negative is that the Fever probably would've benefited from a post player over a wing. With Tully Bevilaqua, K.B. Sharp and Tan White the team has plenty of point guard depth. Catchings is obviously an MVP candidate at shooting guard (really more of a combo guard) and Katie Douglas is a perennial all-star at small forward. Tammy Sutton-Brown is an all-star at center. So the obvious need was at power forward, with Whitmore going to the Sun, but there were no power forwards worth drafting at that point.

Overall Grade: C-
Like the Silver Stars, there's not a lot to grade here. However, for only having one pick and a team that is already a contender for Eastern Conference champions, the Khadijah Whittington pick is a pretty good one. If they want to work Catchings back into the lineup slowly as she recovers from injury, Whittington fits into her spot well. I'm surprised Whittington dropped as far as she did, so in that respect it worked out very well for the Fever, even if post depth was a bigger need.


Seattle Storm - Allie Quigley (R2, P22), Kimberly Beck (R3, P36)

Everyone's hot pick to win the 2008 WNBA title actually had a good draft despite trading away their first round pick. I have a bit of a soft spot for Allie Quigley, who I think is a very good, gritty player. She's one of those intangibles players, though she's also pretty good statistically-speaking. She can create her own shot decently well and she's a good shooter (43 percent for her career). For some reason her 3-point shooting declined as her college career went on, even though she was taking more shots as a freshman. She was 79-of-173 (45.7 percent) her freshman year from 3, but the next three years - even though she was taking fewer 3-pointers - she shot 36 percent every year. If she can pick her average up some, and not even necessarily as good as her freshman year, she would be better off at the next level. The Storm is as stacked as stacked can be, but the one thing they could use is a shooting guard.

I also really like the Storm's third round pick, Kimberly Beck. Beck played at George Washington, so you worry a little about the transition to the pros, but she had great numbers in college. Obviously the Storm have Sue Bird at point guard, so Beck is as far from a need as you can get. Then again, Beck is also a third round pick. She has decent size, at 5-foot-8, and had a 2.6-to-1 assist to turnover ratio as a senior. She's also a 41 percent career shooter, which is pretty good, though she's not a scorer. To nab her as a third round pick, when a player like Angela Tisdale - a point guard with worse numbers in every regard though from a larger program - goes ahead of Beck could turn into a huge steal. At worse, it's a third round pick you can easily lose.

Overall Grade: C+
Considering the Storm had no first round pick and very little in the way of needs, this was a pretty good draft. The Storm have Sue Bird, an all-star point guard, Sheryl Swoopes, a legend even if she's aging, at small forward, Swin Cash, an all-star power forward, and Lauren Jackson, clearly the best player in the league, at center. The Atlanta Dream took both Betty Lennox and Iziane Castro Marques in the expansion draft, so they really needed to get a two guard. Hopefully Allie Quigley will help fill that role. The team also needed help at backup point guard and Kimberly Beck could address that. Tanisha Wright is really their only backup at point and she's hardly anything special, as she turns the ball over way too much.