The Dream have myriad options with the 10th pick in Thursday’s WNBA draft.
Because the talent pool isn’t as deep as in past years, and the Dream’s starting five is set, they can either trade the pick to acquire a second-round selection that they currently don’t have, trade to target someone with a specific skill set, or simply go with the best player available. The Dream finished 19-15 to win the Eastern Conference last year. They were beaten by Chicago 2-1 in the semifinals of the playoffs.
“Based upon the quality of the candidates, most of us don’t know what’s going to happen with the picks ahead of us, except for picks one and two,” general manager Angela Taylor said. “There are several candidates that we would be happy to pick.”
Two of the top three picks are expected to be two underclassmen: Notre Dame 5-foot-10 guard Jewell Loyd and Minnesota 6-5 center Amanda Zahui B, who declared for the draft after their junior seasons. The third player most feel will go as one of the top three is Connecticut 5-11 guard Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis.
Beyond that it could be a toss-up for who goes where.
Taylor said she thinks the Dream have the best frontcourt in the WNBA with Erika de Souza, Sancho Lyttle Aneika Henry and combo player Angel McCoughtry. If the Dream were to pick a center or forward, it likely would be a role player that coach Michael Cooper and his staff could develop.
The team also is solid at guard with two-time league scoring champ McCoughtry, Tiffany Hayes, Celine Dumerc and Shoni Schimmel.
Taylor said the team needs to improve its 3-point shooting. The Dream were one of the worst 3-point shooting teams last season, at 30.3 percent.
The Dream needs to make more of those shots to cause defenses to expand, which gives de Souza, Henry and Lyttle more room inside, and give McCoughtry and Schimmel space to drive.
So, that is one of the specific needs that Taylor could target if there is a player available that she likes.
“In order for us to be the dominant team we think we can be, we have to be able to score consistently from the perimeter,” she said.
