Dream coach Michael Cooper believes the team selected four players that, combined with a change in the WNBA’s playoff format, will get the team back into the postseason.
“It’s going to be fun this year,” Cooper said.
The team’s draft was balanced between boosting its offense and defense, both of which had issues last season.
The team ranked last in the league in average points allowed (79.8 points per game). While it ranked second in scoring (77.8 points per game), it ranked among the worst in overall shooting (41.1 percent), 3-point shooting (32 percent) and turnovers (16).
The team selected West Virginia’s Bria Holmes with the 11th pick in the first round. She scored more than 2,000 points and dished out more than 300 assists, while grabbing almost 500 rebounds in an All-American career. Cooper believes that she will be a key backup for Angel McCoughtry, the team’s leading scorer with an average of 20.1 points per game last season.
“She’s a defensive demon who will do multiple things,” Cooper said of Holmes.
The Dream added more defense with their next pick, Rutger’s Rachel Hollivay. The 6-foot-4 center averaged 6.6 points and 3.3 blocks per game last season. Cooper recruited her when he was at USC, and he’s glad to finally get an opportunity to coach her. The Dream averaged 3.7 blocks per game last season.
“She’s one that will only get better and nastier as the season goes on,” Cooper said.
The team turned its focus back to offense with its last two selections: Texas A&M guard Courtney Walker, who averaged an SEC-best 18.4 points per game and was three times named an AP All-American, and Baylor’s Niya Johnson, who averaged a Division I-best 8.7 assists per game last season. Cooper envisions Walker as a backup to Tiffany Hayes, who averaged 12.9 points per game last season. Johnson should push Shoni Schimmel at point guard.
“She can create her own shot,” Cooper said of Walker. “She can really put the ball in the basket.”
Now, the work begins when the team opens training camp April 23. The WNBA altered its playoff format structure in January so that the eight teams who finish the regular season with the highest winning percentage, regardless of conference, will make it to the postseason.
“This playoff format suits us,” Cooper said.
It remains to be seen how many of the new players will be on the roster, should the Dream make the playoffs.
As much success as the team has had since its inaugural season in 2008 in competing in three WNBA championship series, not much of it has been built through the draft.
Of the 22 players selected by the team since its inaugural season in 2008, just four are still with the team. Two, McCoughtry and Hayes, are key players. After a solid rookie season, Schimmel reported to camp last year out of shape but was able to mostly replicate her rookie averages.
Cooper wouldn’t promise that any of the selected players will make the squad. He said it’s up to them to fight for their positions. But he does like the team’s depth and the new possibilities they bring.
“These are players that fill our needs,” he said.
