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In preparation for the 2009 WNBA Draft, Hall-of-Famer and ESPN analyst Nancy Lieberman gives us the players she is looking at position by position. We’ve also posed a question or two about the players at each position to get her take on which prospects she values most in this year’s draft class.
Point Guards
Here are the players from the point guard position that I put in my grouping of possible draftees: Renee Montgomery (Connecticut), Kristi Toliver (Maryland), Briann January (Arizona State), Abby Waner (Duke), Whitney Boddie (Auburn), Sha Brooks (Florida), Shalee Lehning (Kansas State), Kristi Cirone (Illinois State), Mandy Morales (Montana), Dellena Criner (Nevada), Brianne O´Rourke (Penn State) and Kristi Smith (Iowa).
WNBA.com: Would you take Kristi Toliver or Renee Montgomery?
I would take Montgomery, because she can score, she’s a shooter, she’s a great leader, she’s a wonderful decision maker and she defends on a high level. I think Renee Montgomery is going to be the No. 1 pick in the draft, I really do. I think Atlanta could use her because it’s a team that is still very young. They wouldn’t go wrong if they picked McCoughtry or if they picked a point. Right now their point guards are [Nikki] Teasley and [Ivory] Latta. Teasley has been out and Ivory, I don’t think she’s a starter in this league, she is an energy sub. They could go McCoughtry, but I do think you need to have great leadership, so Montgomery is who I would pick.
Shooting Guards / Small Forwards
Here are the top 2-3s that I’m looking at: Angel McCoughtry (Louisville), Marissa Coleman (Maryland), DeWanna Bonner (Auburn), Lyndra Littles (Virginia), Shavonte Zellous (Pitt), Takia Starks (Texas A&M), Marshae Dotson (Florida), Rashanda McCants (UNC), Janae Davis-Cain (FSU), Danielle Gant (Texas A&M) and Shayla Fields (NC State). Someone that is sometimes overlooked is Shantia Grace from South Florida.
WNBA.com: Who do you think will have a better WNBA career: Angel McCoughtry or Marissa Coleman?
That is hard to say. They are both going to be impact players. McCoughtry’s not a pure shooter; as a matter of fact, she’s an average shooter but a great scorer, she defends, she competes, she rebounds, she’s proven she’s a winner. I mean she’s lifted that Louisville program from nothing. And she’s emotional and I like emotional players, I’m sure Kara Lawson doesn’t (laughs), but I like somebody like that, so I think she’s going to be an excellent pro.
Coleman, I didn’t know she could score in the 40s the way she did, but she’s a solid 3-2, she can handle and rebound. She’ll need to work on her defense at the next level, she’ll probably be a better defender at the 3 than she will be at the 2, but she’ll be a tough kid that gets out there and she’ll give you a lot every night, she’ll give you the best of what she has.
Here are some of the other wing players that I think will have an impact.
DeWanna Bonner: she lacks a little strength right now, but she’ll put on a little weight. She has ability and toughness, she’s more of a 3 than a 2 and she can play the 4 as well. She’s long, she can extend your defense, she’s a very good defender, she blocks shots.
Lyndra Littles: I don’t know many players that have worked as hard as her to become a complete player. She was a 4 a year ago and now she is an accomplished 3. She can hit the 3 point shot, she can take you off the bounce, she can work in traffic, she can defend, and she’s got a good pro body.
Shavonte Zellous: she’s every explosive, she’s got that up and down game, she scores in bunches, she’s got a dangerous pull up jumper, but she can also get to the basket. You’ve got to have players in this league. In talking to a lot of coaches, you have to have people that can knock shots down.
Takia Starks: She has a toughness, she can player the 2 or the 3, she defends, she’s great at using screens, coming off of screens, getting her body and her hips into her shot, she has a beautiful shot, but she is going to need to extend her range as a pro.
WNBA.com: Before we get to the other positions, I have a follow up question about this group of players. You’ve mentioned a lot of these players are combo players, how important is that this year with the limited roster size?
You just said the key words ... limited roster means more versatility. I was talking with someone today and when I was coaching in the league some coaches want to keep four bigs, some coaches wanted to keep five bigs. If you’re Laimbeer, you want to have more bigs. If you’re Lieberman, you want more perimeter, wing combo players, maybe its just our comfortably.
With 11 players, I think you’re going to have to have five posts, but some of those fives are going to have to player the 4. If you limit yourself to two or three players that can only play one position that becomes a problem. I think versatility will give you more options.
We have a lot of players in this draft that are versatile and I think you kind of have to be now. These kids, even post players, you have to be able to pass, you have to be able to put the ball on the floor; you almost want to have that European mentality, that Lauren Jackson, Candace Parker, Lisa Leslie type where you can put your back to the basket if need be and get some traditional step through, drop step scores, or you can push it out to wing and hit the outside face up shot or you can take someone off the dribble and slash. I just think there is a need for that versatility.
WNBA.com: How much does not having that versatility will hurt a player like Courtney Paris?
Honestly, I think Courtney is going to drop. I think Courtney is going to be somewhere around nine, 10 or 11 in the draft. We know what she can do; she’s going to come in and be a great teammate, she’ll be very consistent and work hard, but right now she has to prove that she can get up and down with the pace of the game. I do believe she’ll be able to do it, but she has to make a commitment – and I know she’s tired of hearing this – to her body like her sister did.
Ashley losing the weight was a little bit of a cheat for us because we got a chance to see what Courtney could look like. Ashley gave us a chance to close our eyes and go man if only she got in shape what would she look like? Well now we know what she would look like. I just think at some point she’s going to have to make that commitment. She’ll be a specialist to start her career; she’s going to get a lot of rebounds, she’s going to box out she’s going to do what she does well. Cheryl Ford came into the league as a rebounding specialist, but she has expanded her game.
In Courtney’s defense, for someone that is not fast and someone that can’t jump very high, it tells you how skilled and how brilliant she is with her IQ, that she is one of the all time leading shot blockers in the history of college basketball. She’s showed us so much with her consistency and her competitiveness; I think she’ll be a very good solid pro, but she’s got work to do, and that’s okay, because we all do.
Power Forwards
I am looking at Ashley Walker (California), Ashley Paris (Oklahoma), Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton (Purdue), Carrem Gay (Duke) and Candyce Bingham (Louisville), who really helped herself by how she played in the tournament.
WNBA.com: Of those players which one stands out the most to you?
Ashley Walker: I mean she just produces big numbers for an undersized post. She’s a good finisher and she averaged over 20 points per game. She’s undersized but there are some other kids in the league that are undersized that have a skill set that makes it work.
Ashley Paris: She’s a great rebounder and we talked about how she’s lost the 40 pounds since she’s been at Oklahoma. She had a great senior year with career numbers across the board. You can tell her conditioning has helped her lateral quickness and her transition on both ends of the floor.
Wisdom-Hlylton: She came back and was as strong as ever off of her knee injury and she’ll continue to progress in the summer. She’s big, strong and highly skilled; she’s a good shooter and passer. The one thing she lacks is height and a little quickness, but she’s smart enough that she’ll be okay.
Centers
There are some goodies in this group. You have Courtney Paris (Oklahoma) that we’ve already discussed; Kia Vaughn (Rutgers), who is just a keeper; she’s big, she’s strong, she can score on the inside, she can run, she defends, I don’t know how good her lateral quickness is, but she’ll grow as a pro.
Chante Black (Duke) can play the 4 or the 5.she has great defensive quickness, and she’s got the ability to defend the 3. She might be the most versatile player in the draft with the greatest upside because she can score inside and out and she’s even moving it toward the 3 point line. She’s also an excellent ball handler and passer.
Jess Adair (GW) is a big, she may be a little bit overlooked, but she’s a good percentage shooter and she can handle the battles in the lane.
My sleeper in the post is Quanitra Hollingsworth from VCU; she’s a great shooter and rebounder. The other sleeper is
The other one is Aisha Mohammed from Virginia. She lacks some height, but she’s a specialist, she’s a rebounding machine, she’ll defend, she’s long, she’ll block shots and she’s got a strong body. She’s a little one-dimensional on offense though.
