Subscribe to Full Court PressBay Area Deals Fall Through; League to Conduct Monarchs’ Dispersal Draft Monday
Credit: Original Artwork by Lee Michaelson/Full Court Press©/Monarchs Logo Courtesy WNBA©
By Lee Michaelson
Correspondent
With negotiations with Bay Area investors to move the Sacramento Monarchs to the Bay Area apparently haven broken down, the WNBA will conduct dispersal draft for those Monarchs’ players who are not free agents. The draft will take place Monday, Dec. 14, WNBA President Donna Orender announced Monday. Orender also announced the league will seek to add a team to the Bay Area for the 2011 season.
“A number of potential investors have come forward and expressed interest in relocating the Monarchs to the Bay Area, a market that we continue to see as desirable,” said Orender. “Ultimately, we made the judgment that we would not be able to complete a transaction in time for a successful new-market launch in 2010. We will therefore focus our energy on adding a team in the Bay Area for the 2011 campaign.”
If, in fact, there are investors prepared to step in but not ready to bring a team on board for 2010, the league would have the Maloofs to thank for a last-minute departure of one of their eight cornerstone franchises that caught everybody, including Sacramento’s own head coach and general manager John Whisenant, by surprise. (See Monarchs May Move to the Bay Area as Maloofs Withdraw.) The Maloofs waited two months after the close of the regular season to make the announcement that they were discontinuing their ownership of the team.
In its release announcing the dispersal draft, the league continues to claim “a third consecutive season of increased attendance” for its 13th season in 2009, despite reports from fans and media “nose counters” indicating that announced attendance in many arenas appeared to be overstated by as much as 20 percent. The league has yet to respond to Full Court’s request for a request for an interview with Orender about how those attendance figures are calculated.
In any event, the WNBA will play the 2010 season with 12 teams. Monarchs’ season ticket holders will be notified in the near future of a procedure for refunds, the league stated.
The demise of the Monarchs makes it more likely that the new team in Tulsa will be sited in the Western Conference in order to bring the total teams in each conference to six.
Current Monarchs players, with the exception of unrestricted free agents Kara Lawson, Hamchetou Maiga-Ba and Ticha Penicheiro, are eligible to be selected in the Dispersal Draft. The order of selection will be based on the inverse order of 2009 regular-season finish, giving the New York Liberty the first pick in the Monarch’s dispersal draft.
The complete order of selection is as follows:
1) New York
2) Minnesota
3) Connecticut
4) Chicago
5) San Antonio
6) Washington
7) Tulsa
8) Los Angeles
9) Atlanta
10) Seattle
11) Indiana
12) Phoenix
As one of the league’s original eight teams in 1997, the Monarchs were a perennial power in the Western Conference, making nine trips to the playoffs, winning the WNBA championship in 2005 and the Western Conference crown in 2006. Last year, however, the Monarchs (minus Yolanda Griffith, who for many years had been the heart and soul of the team) the Monarchs finished dead last.
Of the players up for grabs in the dispersal draft, Stanford sharpshooter Nicole Powell (6-2, wing) would appear to be the pick of the litter. Powell, who will be starting her sixth year as a pro, was the league’s eighth-highest scorer, averaging 16.7 points per game last season for the Monarchs, well above her respectable career average of 11.4 points per game, and ranks No. 12 in the league in efficiency (15.79). She brings strong shooting skills, both from the floor (41.6 percent) and from beyond the arc (36.3 percent last year, down from a career average of 38.6 percent).She is also ranks in the league’s to 20 (No. 18) in rebounding, hauling down an average just shy of six boards per game (5.9—also an improvement over her career average of 4.3). She ranks eighth in the WNBA in double-doubles and first in free-throw percentage (97.9 percent).
6-3 post Rebekkah Brunson (Georgetown) would also appear to be a good pick-up. Brunson, who will be entering her sixth year in the league, averaged the best season of her career with 12.3 points per game last season for the Monarchs, well above her career average of 8.8 points per game. Her rebounding (seven boards per game) was also up slightly over her career average of 6.2 per game. She ranks in the top 20 in the league (No. 16) in points per 40 minutes played (7.46).
Six-three forward DeMya Walker (Virginia), who will be entering her 10th year as a pro, has also been effective in spurts, though injury prone. Her averages are unimpressive—8.6 points and 4.6 rebounds a game last season, 8.3 points and 3.9 boards per game for her career. Her best season will be five years in the past when she takes the floor next summer—she averaged 14.1 points and 5.3 boards per game in 2005—but has not come close to equaling that level of production since then. Her career highs of 24 points (June 26, 2005) and 14 boards (June 26, 2002) are also well behind her.
Though 6-4 rookie center Courtney Paris (Oklahoma) spent much of last season working her way into WNBA playing shape, her impressive collegiate career would make her a solid investment for the future. Paris averaged only 4.8 points and 4.1 rebounds per game last year, coming off the bench for 13.4 minutes per game. But though her absolute numbers are low, she ranks No. 3 in the league in rebounds per 40 minutes (12.1) and No. 15 in efficiency per 40 minutes (22.07). She had the highs of her young career with 19 points against New York (August 7, 2009) and 15 boards against Minnesota (September 13, 2009). If someone can whip her into condition to play anything close to a full game, she could be quite a catch.
The remainder of the roster available in the draft consists of bench material, some of it pretty deep. The group includes:
| Postion | Player | Height | Years Pro | College | C | Laura Harper | 6-5 | 2 | Maryland |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | Kristin Haynie | 5-6 | 5 | Michigan State |
| G | Chelsea Newton | 5-11 | 5 | Rutgers |
| G | Scholanda Robinson | 5-11 | 4 | LSU |
Of course, the most valuable cast-off from the Monarchs may not be a player but rather its coach, John Whisenant. He was said to be interested in the Los Angeles position, but that spot has reportedly gone to Jennifer Gillom, with a public announcement expected in the near future. Gillom is a delightful person, but her rookie year of professional coaching experience at Minnesota netting a record of 14-20 (albeit with most of the losses following the season-ending injury of Seimone Augustus), seems a rather thin resume when compared to Whisenant’s rich experience and WNBA championship and Western Conference crown with the Monarchs. (For that matter, her record is pretty weak as compared to those of others known to be in the hunt, including L.A. assistant coach Marianne Stanley, Detroit Assistant Cheryl Reeves who reportedly will be replacing Gillom at the helm of the Lynx, or Detroit head coach and long-time assistant Rick Mahorn, though he has some bad blood with the Sparks due to the infamous rumble at the Palace.)
Originally published Wed, December 09, 2009
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