WNBA 2016 Season

[CKR13]

Draft Day is on April 14, 2016 where the Storm gets to pick first overall for the second consecutive year.

Meanwhile, Dallas Red Wings signed Glory Johnson to a multi-year contract.

[CKR13]

Candice Wiggins has announced her retirement after eight seasons. She is one of the Stanford greats and perhaps one of the collegiate pantheons as well. NY Liberty will greatly miss her presence off the bench.

[carlo]

Former Seattle Storm great and Australian NT legend Lauren Jackson officially announced her retirement. Her career was plagued by persistent injuries since the last three years.

Jackson won two WNBA titles with the Storm and one WC with Australian NT, but she never won gold at the Olympics.

http://storm.wnba.com/news/lauren-jackson-announces-retirement/

[CKR13]

Breanna Stewart drafted 1st overall by the Storm. Their front-court is loaded.

[carlo]

No surprise on #1 pick, interestingly top three picks went to the same college trio for the first time in WNBA draft history!
Julie Allemand (Bel), is the only non-USA draftee who played outside USA, she's just 19-year old.
Lia Galdeira (ex Washington St) skipped her final college season and has played in Bulgaria.
Among not drafted players, Courtney Williams (Texas A&M) is surprisingly out.

[carlo]

NY Liberty added Shavonte Zellous and Shoni Schimmel to their backcourt, to replace injured Epiphanny Prince. Schimmel was traded from Atlanta Dream, after being recently criticized for showing up to training camp out of shape.

[carlo]

Brazilian F/C Damiris Dantas suspended for the whole season by Atlanta Dream. She didn't report to Dream's training camp and won't play for any WNBA team in the current season.

http://dream.wnba.com/news/atlanta-dream-waives-four-finalize-roster/

On the other hand, Dantas will join Brazilian NT on June 2.

https://twitter.com/basquetebrasil/status/730720987076018176

[carlo]

After the (unexpected) release of rookie Jamie Weisner by Sun, a record five Canadian players have started the new WNBA season. They are two veterans, Natalie Achonwa and Kayla Alexander, and three Rookies, Adut Bulgak, Nirra Fields and Ruth Hamblin.

[CKR13]

Candace Parker dominated Storm's front-line with an emphatic 34pts performance to lead the rout. Makes me wonder again why Parker is not on Team USA's Rio finalists.

[CKR13]

Vintage Diana Taurasi tonight as Phoenix got their first win. Taurasi was all the difference maker. Still, at her age, Taurasi won't be able to handle this much usage especially early in the season. Phoenix will need to get better as a team in achieving cohesion in the offense. They just can't hope for Taurasi to bail them out like tonight.

[carlo]

Fever's guard Maggie Lucas done for the season with torn ACL.

http://espn.go.com/wnba/story/_/id/15885554/maggie-lucas-indiana-fever-miss-rest-season-torn-acl

[carlo]

Guess who made Rookie of the Month...

http://www.wnba.com/news/breanna-stewart-wnba-rookie-of-month-may-2016/

[carlo]

It's not only Breanna Stewart making a splash among this season's rookies. Former college teammate Morgan Tuck was high yesterday for Connecticut's win over Seattle, with 20 points in 20' (8/10 FG shooting). Seattle is btw Stewart's squad.
Another rookie, center Imani Boyette topped Chicago over Indiana with 16 pts (8/12 FG) and 12 rebounds.

[carlo]

Nneka Ogwumike led undefeated LA Sparks over Dallas with 32 pts finishing perfect in shooting, 12/12 FG (incl. one three) and 7/7 FT. She also grabbed 10 rebounds.

[Macrosient]

Some wnba highlights this season:
Courtney Vandersloot 10 Pts 8 Asts vs Washington Mystics (01.06.16)

https://youtu.be/gAWQrtovEx8

Kayla McBride 20 Pts Full Highlights vs Los Angeles Sparks (02.06.16)

https://youtu.be/4uTYCVjjIL0

Candace Parker 26 Pts 9 Rebs Full Highlights vs Chicago Sky (24.05.16)

https://youtu.be/IMg7WJoMEfI