Round One
Pick, Team, Player, School
1. Phoenix Mercury 6'8 C Brittney Griner, Baylor
2. Chicago Sky 6'5 F Elena Delle Donne, Delaware
3. Tulsa Shock 5'9 G Skylar Diggins, Notre Dame
4. Washington Mystics 6'3 F Tianna Hawkins, Maryland
5. New York Liberty 5'9 G A'dia Mathies, Kentucky
6. Seattle Storm 5'7 PG Alex Bentley, Penn State
7. Atlanta Dream 5'10 G Tayler Hill, Ohio State
8. San Antonio Silver Stars 5'4 PG Angel Goodrich, Kansas
9. Indiana Fever 6'3 F Carolyn Davis, Kansas
10. Los Angeles Sparks 5'11 G Sugar Rodgers, Georgetown
11. Connecticut Sun 6'1 F Destiny Williams, Baylor
12. Minnesota Lynx 5'9 PG Lindsey Moore, Nebraska
Round Two
Pick, Team, Player, School
13. Washington Mystics 5'8 PG Nadirah McKenith, St. John's
14. Minnesota Lynx (via Pho) 6'1 W Markel Walker, UCLA
15. Tulsa Shock 6'1 W Monique Reid, Louisville
16. San Antonio Silver Stars (via Chi) 6'4 C Kayla Alexander, Syracuse
17. New York Liberty 6'1 W Shenneika Smith, St. John's
18. Seattle Storm 5'9 G Anna Martin, DePaul
19. Atlanta Dream 6'2 F Jasmine Hassell, Georgia
20. San Antonio Silver Stars 6'1 F Brooklyn Pope, Baylor
21. Indiana Fever 6'3 C Monique Oliver, Rutgers
22. Los Angeles Sparks 5'9 PG Jasmine James, Georgia
23. Connecticut Sun 6'1 W Taber Spani, Tennessee
24. Minnesota Lynx 6'2 F Chelsea Poppens, Iowa State
If you are consistent posting these mock drafts, I will try to be consistent with criticism/praise. So here goes...
ReplyDeleteFIRST ROUND:
The first three at this point go without saying.
I would not be surprised to see Tianna Hawkins' stock rise high enough with some Maryland success, where she ends up a Mystic. If I were a Mystic fan, she would probably be the pick that would be disappoint me most after last season though. She does not have enough "wow factor" to improve the team by herself.
As a Storm fan I would be against picking Alex Bentley over Tayler Hill for a number of reasons. They both get good steal numbers, but Alex is not a great defender like Tayler is. I believe Tayler Hill has a higher ceiling in which to grow. But if B.Ags feels like he must draft a scorer to help the bench offense, I would hope he would agree with you before considering Sugar Rodgers.
Angel Goodrich to the Silver Stars could happen, but I do not see them drafting two first round point guards in three years (especially while Shenise Johnson could be groomed into a serviceable point guard in a pinch). Post is something that will need to be addressed at some point for them. I am not sure this is the year though. Maybe they can pick someone up through free agency.
It is hard to say what Indiana might want to do. I wonder if you are just putting Carolyn Davis here because you think she is too good to drop much further...
I LOVE the prediction of Sugar Rodgers to the Sparks. I think they should snatch her up in a hurry if she is available. Some people might think another high volume shooter might suck up even more shots from Nneka and Candace Parker. I am not so sure. I think Carol Ross could find a way to get Sugar to compliment those players along with Kristi Toliver. If Sharnee Zoll comes back, this team will have a deep backcourt with this pick. If Delisha Milton-Jones sticks around, I would like to see her take Sugar under her wing to learn how to defend at the pro level. She could be a real steal for them, but more to team fit, than just because she is that good. I see some potential for Sugar to be a scary WNBA player, but it will have to be with the right team and a good coach who can utilise her, and not make her feel like she has to win the game herself.
If I were a Sun fan, Destiny Williams would seem like a +/- or neutral/boring pick. I wonder if Mike Thibault still sees no need for change in the team? It would be justified after winning the East, but...
I think the Lynx's pick depends a lot on what happens in free agency. I hope they do not overreact and blow up the team too much. They will not get rid of any of the starters (Taj is a question mark, but welcome to return), but it will be interesting to see if all of Monica Wright, Candice Wiggins, Jessica Adair, and Amber Harris are still on this team next year. Some team may either need an extra guard or think they can get more out of the latter two than Minnesota has. At this point, Lindsey Moore is a safe pick for you to put at #12 (same with Markel Walker in the second round), but I see those fluctuating a bit in the future.
SECOND ROUND:
ReplyDeleteI am not sure either of the St. John's players will get drafted that high. I want to see more of them to be sure. How will they do with a new coach? The Shock could sure use a player like Monique Reid was before the injury, although I hesitate to call her a wing if she is still the same player, or if she fails to recapture what she once had. Kayla Alexander seems like she could possibly make the Silver Stars if they can not find any better options earlier in the offseason. I would love if the Storm were to draft Anna Martin. I am not sure she could make the team unless she develops more point guard skills though. Also, her pick cancels itself out if we get Alex Bentley earlier on. They are similar players who are 10X more effective with the ball in their hands than coming off the ball, which is something they would both need to improve upon if they were to get drafted by the veteran-laden Storm. We need players who can make plays away from the ball so Brian Agler can get confidence in playing them. Anna Martin reminds me of Ashley Corral from USC. The Storm had her in training camp last season, and she was one of the final cuts. They are the same height, but Ashley is a better shooter. Anna Martin can is a little quicker and can probably contribute more, so I would give her a chance at making the team if Brian Agler forces himself to get younger. Besides seeing you put Ms. Martin on the Storm, I am also happy to see that someone is on high on her as I am. Do the Silver Stars need another undersized power forward with Brooklyn Pope? I want to see Monique Oliver have success in the WNBA, but sometimes she plays smaller than her size. She can rebound, so she could end up helping a lot of teams, but again, why are you putting her with the Fever, a pick after the Silver Stars, and after they already chose Carolyn Davis? Jasmine James could be a solid pickup for any team, and could probably work her way onto just about any roster, especially teams needing backcourt depth. I am practically in love with Taber Spani. I would love to see her drafted that high. Unfortunately, I am not sure she will if she plays like she did coming off her bone spur last season. She is another player I hope ends up in Seattle, if for no other reason than to see her in a Storm uni. Even if she can come back healthy, she will have a tough going this year, as she may find herself as a go-to scorer with the Lady Vols. Having Chelsea Poppens so low is interesting, because everywhere I hear how she could challenge for that #4 overall, but at the least is a first rounder. I have a hard time placing her, because I have never seen her play that well. I must be bad luck for her, because everytime I watch her she has an awful shooting game. I did see one game where she gobbled up a bunch of rebounds, but I struggle to see her doing that in the Association.
SNUBS:
ReplyDeleteJaime Printy from Iowa. If she returns to what she was before her ACL tear, I think she at least deserves to be drafted in the first two rounds. Will she make a team? I don't know. I fail to see her being much better than an impactful college player. Morgan Johnson from Iowa also had a good year, and played very well near the end of the year. She can defend and rebound. Just what you want from a post. If she builds on that, she will be drafted. Whitney Hand has been a good college player and has a good pedigree (although how many successful WNBA players come from Oklahoma?). Kelly Faris from UCONN is a winner, so maybe she could win her way onto a roster. This is way out of nowhere, and is probably more wishful thinking than anything, but I want to see Kristi Kingma from Washington get drafted. Before her ACL tear, she was a very good shooter and a good college defender. There was not much else to her game, but she could run the point, and she seems to be a good leader. I honestly do not see this happening because she probably will be slowed down too much from injury, and UW will probably be too out of national perspective for her to get much notice. But she is a great person and works very hard, so since I live in Seattle, I would not at least mind seeing her get invited to training camp here depending on the upcoming season.