Monday, April 20, 2009

The Dream Starting Five



Josh Bagriansky down at Score Atlanta has a chat with both Marynell Meadors and with Angel McCoughtry about the upcoming 2009 Atlanta Dream season.

Meadors gives away some info as to how she sees the starting five:

Meadors is also looking to put all of her options to good use, and gave a bit of insight as to how the lineup will look on opening day.

“I’m not sure who’s going to start at 2,” she said, “But I’d have to save Izzy Castro-Marques will start there. And we’ve got Tamera Young and Ivory [Latta]. The 2 and 3 are really interchangeable in our offense. And when Nikki needs a break Ivory will run the point.”


We furthermore know that if Chamique Holdsclaw is played anywhere, it will be at small forward, according to Meadors.

So who will fill the power forward and center spots? Angel McCoughtry is not a power forward. Erika de Souza is sort of a slide between a power forward and a center. My guess is that since we went out of our way to acquire Michelle Snow, and Snow is a true center, this is what our starting five will look like:

So this is how it looks:

PG: Nikki Teasley
SG: Iziane Castro Marques
SF: Chamique Holdsclaw
PF: Sancho Lyttle
C: Michelle Snow

I think we can compete with this five. That is, if Nikki's knees don't give out and Iziane doesn't become her streaky self and if the depression doesn't grab Chamique and....

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ivory at this point is better than Nikki...then I can pretty much agree with everything else

pilight said...

I think Teasley is pretty much done. Latta should be starting at the point.

Anonymous said...

Hold your fire until you see Teasley back in action...in her best shape of the past few years and very motivated to play well...

KatiaSilene said...

DeSouza instead Lyttle..
and i really wished that izzy doesnt get the starting five

Pusser said...

Have you heard how Shalee has been doing in workouts?

pt said...

Anonymous #1 and #2, and pilight: If I were the coach of the Dream - and I'm not - I would have put Ivory at starting point and Nikki in back. On the other hand, Nikki has started in every WNBA game she's played, so I'm willing to give MM the benefit of the doubt in putting Nikki at point.

Katia: Yeah, I think that Erika is better, too, but the problem is that Michelle was signed to a free agent contract and they'll never put Michelle on the bench.

As for Izi, are you still thinking about her meltdown for the Brazil team?

Pusser: I don't know if Shalee has even made it to Altanta or if she's working out with the Dream players here. She could still be taking classes for all I know. I'll try to find out.

Anonymous said...

yeah i think latta and desouza should start too, and I would give Tamera or Angel a try at SG b/c of defense and rebounding...if they cant knock down jump shots then I would make a change

Anonymous said...

Despite the criticism from acidic fans eager to pile on, coach meadors is not as stupid as some think. Right now she is going to name all veterans as the starters out of respect, and let camp and first few games show who the real starters are. Desouza may actually do better off the bench as a power sub because of how often she gets in foul trouble when in for extended time.

pilight said...

DeSouza is better than Lyttle. She's not better than Snow.

Anonymous said...

Interestingly I would argue the opposite. Lyttle is getting better every year and has been dominating with almost consistent double double games overseas against some good teams. Snow is still a great player but probably trending in opposite direction...Desouza is a different style player than both of them with much more banging and less finesse....