Three Third Round Picks for Atlanta

Jacqua Williams makes a Dookie's life miserable.

There has been much discussion about two matters at RebKell:

a) The fact that WNBA roster sizes are shrinking from 13 to 11, and
b) The fact that a third round pick is going to have very little chance of getting on a roster somewhere - there has been some discussion as to whether or not the third round of the WNBA Draft should be dispensed with.

I don't agree with the above proposition found in b). First, when the economy gets better about 10 years from now, the roster sizes might expand. Heck, Donna Orender has talked about the league expanding in 2010. In which case, that third round is going to be useful.

Second, as Clay Kellam wrote at RebKell, the third round of the WNBA Draft gives a chance for papers all across the country to write "Local Girl Drafted in Third Round of WNBA" papers. It's free publicity at least. Furthermore, it might help some of these young women catch on in European ball or even around the league.

Therefore, here is my choice of potential third round draft picks for Atlanta. I hope to have 10 of these, but I'll just name the first two so far....

1. Jacqua Williams, Georgia Tech. Williams has just set the record for most steals ever in an ACC career, so there's no question that Williams can play defense - and Atlanta has been lacking defense. There's already a Georgia Tech-Atlanta Dream connection in that both Kasha Terry and Chioma Nnamaka ended up in Powder Blue last year. Why not pick Williams for the third round? Let's see if Williams can harass WNBA players as well as she harasses her ACC opponents.

2. Brittany Hollins, Georgia State. Why not look at the other Division I school based in Atlanta? She was team captain as a sophomore and junior, so you know she provides leadership? She was on the CAA-All Defensive team for the last three years, so you know that she can play defense. Furthermore, she's in the Top 10 in steals all time for the CAA. She's not much of a scorer, but if Tamera Young from the CAA can make it to the bigs, why not give Hollins a look?

3. Greteya Kelley, Kennesaw State. Another Georgia school. Kelley is a redshirt senior who was the Atlantic Sun Defensive Player of the Year and she also led the Atlantic Sun in steals in 2008 - unfortunately, Kennesaw State is the middle of transferring into Division I, so her "fifth-ranked in steals nationally" doesn't count.

That's just three. Hopefully, seven more to come.