By Wednesday night’s final buzzer, the Dream wrote the same on-court tale. They walked off of the home floor with a narrow defeat in a game that they previously had control of, but roster attrition took over and added another loss to the team’s record as the season draws to a close.
Each of the Dream players and staff members walked through the tunnels with heads held high, however. The result stung, but it also didn’t hold much significance for a team that has shown obvious development and brightened their future outlook.
“I want to shout out our coaches, staff and players who have withstood a lot of change,” said Larry Gottesdiener, the Dream’s majority owner. “The winds of change have blown, and they’ve built windmills. Despite the recent win-loss record, we have competed really hard. I’m proud of our organization despite a challenging year.”
A big piece of the Dream’s rebuild came a few hours earlier, and that became the organization’s biggest win of the season. The team, albeit still without a general manager to pilot the basketball decisions, began to lay out their collaborative vision for a rebuild with a major front-office hire. On Wednesday morning, the team added Morgan Shaw Parker as team president and chief operating officer. She came to the organization after many years as the vice president and chief marketing officer for the Falcons and AMBSE group under Arthur Blank.
Credit: Photo courtesy of the Atlanta Dream
Credit: Photo courtesy of the Atlanta Dream
The Dream, who are 7-21 and have lost 19 of their past 22 games, have spun through a revolving door of transition over recent months that includes two coaching changes from Nicki Collen leaving for Baylor and two interim coaches — Mike Petersen and Darius Taylor — filling a void in a matter of months. The Dream faced a heap of injuries and a suspension of their young star guard Chennedy Carter. More change is coming with plenty of unrestricted free agents on the active roster.
The addition of Shaw Parker is the first major hire under the ownership group of Gottesdiener, Renee Montgomery and Suzanne Abair. Montgomery took pride in the addition of a known executive, because she said it made the WNBA a destination spot rather than a steppingstone for those climbing their way through professional sports.
“We’re building, you know, that’s what we’re doing. We’re building, and we’re building it the right way,” Montgomery said. “It might not be at anyone’s pace, and it might not be what everyone wants us to do at whatever time we want to do it, but we’re putting quality pieces in place to build a franchise.”
Shaw Parker’s role will serve the Dream in a number of facets, but it’s a role focused on the longtime executive’s expertise with marketing the organization, building interest within the fan base and having a goal of making the Dream a premier sports destination throughout the city of Atlanta. She also voiced her interest in maintaining the Dream’s work toward social-justice initiatives, which surged in 2020 and earned Sports Humanitarian Team of the Year honors.
“Bring on the underdogs. The opportunity is huge in terms of what this market will bear,” Shaw Parker said. “It takes time, and you have to build trust within the Atlanta market. We have to take time to see how we can serve our fans to where they can be reflected.”
A general manager or a decision-maker with a similar title has been missing since firing Chris Sienko in April, who held the position since 2017. His dismissal came as one of the ownership group’s first moves in the quest for a new beginning with the Dream.
“We will wait until we find the right hire in the GM search,” Gottesdiener said. “We’re going to look for someone of (Shaw Parker’s) caliber to join the team. I’m sure we will, actually. We have a lot of decisions to make in the offseason. Sooner would be better, but we’re not going to rush it.”
A number of questions loom for the team in the coming offseason. The organization likely needs a roster overhaul as eight players are free agents, five of whom are unrestricted. This includes longtime Dream fixtures Elizabeth Williams and Tiffany Hayes, along with All-Star guard Courtney Williams. The status of second-year guard Chennedy Carter also remains in question after a suspension July 4 that has yet to reach a resolution.
“At this point, we can only go up. We have a great hire in our new COO as she’s someone with a great history in sports in Atlanta,” Williams said. “Our new ownership group and the changes ahead make me optimistic that we will move forward from this season. We can try to take the positives out of everything.”
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