A couple of weeks ago, 12 WNBA personalities got together for the WNBA All-Time draft. The results of the draft are settled and came be found here. With the teams set, Justin Carter and Bobby Mummery are here to hand out awards to the best of the best.
Best Team
Justin
I’m going with Kurtis Zimmerman’s team. Getting Cynthia Cooper from the ninth spot was just wildly good value and following that up with Yolanda Griffith at Pick 16 was an added bonus. Kurtis also managed to get Ticha Penicheiro in the third round and Jonquel Jones in the fourth, plus a lot of good bench pieces. Sheri Sam at pick 105 stands out as one of his top picks. Really like this team’s ability to play at multiple levels. They could run a lot of fun Jones/Natasha Howard frontcourt lineups out. They have a great passing point guard. Lots of great stuff here.
Bobby
Richard’s team has a litany of skilled wings and awesome defenders. The team has the ability to play big or small without sacrificing either end of the floor. And he has Courtney Vandersloot as his floor general? Unfair.
Most Surprising First Round Pick
Justin
I think I’m going to actually go with the very first pick in this whole thing. I love Sheryl Swoopes. She’s one of the all-time greats and should have been a first rounder. But I was surprised to see her go before Maya Moore, Lauren Jackson, and some others. Nothing at all against Swoopes, who rules, but not exactly who I thought would go with this pick.
Bobby
Cooper falling to 9. Coop would have been my #1 because of positional value and the absolute absurdity of some of her advanced numbers.
Best Value Pick
Justin
For this, I’m only looking outside the first five rounds. I think my pick of Brandy Reed in Round 6 — a pick that features one of the best offensive seasons in league history but that also comes with a lot of off-court issues — was great value. But if I’m taking a player I didn’t draft, my favorite value was actually the final player taken in the draft, when Natalie took 2001-2002 Merlakia Jones. A three-time All-Star, Jones averaged 13.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.4 steals per game in 2001. She should not have lasted all the way until the very end of the draft like she did.
The Lineup You’d Love To See Play
Justin
I want to maximize fun here, especially my personal concept of fun, which involves bigs shooting threes and other players also shooting threes.
For that reason, I’d love to see Gabe run out a lineup with Emma Meesseman at center, Maya Moore at the four, and then Teresa Weatherspoon, Kara Lawson, and Sugar Rodgers.
Want a lineup with more bench players? What about Lyndsey playing a lineup that features neither of her first two picks (Becky Hammon and Rebecca Lobo)? Dearica Hamby, Nicole Powell, Betty Lennon, Seimone Augustus, and Skylar Diggins-Smith?
Bobby
Richard could run a Beard-Arcain-Mabika-Pierson-Jackson death star.
Natalie could also have a super cool elite shooting Latta-Toliver-Stricklen-Swoopes-Bullett that melds eras and has great ballhandling guards.
I would also love to see Rachel’s team trot out a group of Bird-Quigley-Johnson-Milton-Jones-Thompson which would be so smart and spaced. But I don’t think her roster construction is super amenable to that.
