Donovan: Storm Looking at Wing

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Kevin Pelton, storm.wnba.com | March 28, 2007

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With the 2007 WNBA Draft just a week away, Seattle Storm Head Coach and Director of Player Personnel Anne Donovan was one of four coaches who participated in a conference call Wednesday with media around the league to preview the draft.

Donovan has been consistent that the addition of 2006 first-round pick Tye'sha Fluker in the January Dispersal Draft meant the Storm was relatively set up front. During the conference call, she made the Storm's focus on wing prospects even clearer.

Shay Murphy is one of the wing prospects the Storm could be looking at with the seventh pick of the WNBA Draft. Jeff Gross/Getty Images

"I think, at the seventh pick, we’ll end up with a very quality player," said Donovan. "And I think that the beauty of this draft is that there is, positionally, great players at every position. So if you need a point guard, there’s a great point guard. If you need a big, there’s bigs. And for us, we are probably looking at a wing-player/guard position. We don’t know who will still be there, but we know we’ll get a good one at seven."

Several players could fit in to that mix. Top shooting guards available include Pac-10 stars Noelle Quinn (UCLA) and Shay Murphy (USC), as well as NCAA Tournament standout Armintie Price from Mississippi. Katie Gearlds is another wing expected to go in the first round, as could small forwards Jessica Dickson and Kamesha Hairston. (See storm.wnba.com's analysis of shooting guards and small forwards.)

Donovan told reporters that she anticipates the Storm will keep the pick and not look to move it. The upside is that, while this draft is considered to potentially be lacking in impact players along the lines of 2006 rookies Seimone Augustus and Cappie Pondexter, the pool of available players is deep.

"This is one of those drafts where there are not a lot of stars in it right now," said Connecticut Coach Mike Thibault. "There’s a lot of really good basketball players and you have just as good a chance maybe where Anne is picking at seven to pick a player comparable to somebody at two or three."

"I definitely believe that this is a draft of very solid players as Mike said," Donovan added.

Though the Draft is drawing near, there is still time for teams' draft boards to change over the next week. In addition to a handful of players taking part in this weekend's Final Four in Cleveland, the WNBA will hold its Pre-Draft Camp Friday and Saturday in conjunction with the Final Four.

"I think it’s a great opportunity for us to see these players that might not play in the stronger conferences against strong competition," explained Donovan, who cited 2005 Storm second-round pick Ashley Battle as an example of a player who helped her stock in the Pre-Draft Camp. "They are going against the top 40 or 50 players and selling in a drill set and in a lot of game situations. We’ll see them go head to head.

"I don’t really anticipate for any of us that we go into pre-draft camp and completely change the work we have done over the last couple of years, but it is nice to solidify. In particular, I think that in the second or third round you can really start to get more clarity on the picks. And of course there is always the underdogs, if you will, that are invited to the Pre-Draft Camp to get an opportunity to showcase (their skills)."