Kristin Haynie Traded from Shock to Monarchs

According to the WNBA on Twitter, Trade: @monarchs acquire guard Kristin Haynie from @DETShock in exchange for forward Crystal Kelly.

Haynie was on the 2008 Atlanta Dream roster. For those of you out there who are Kristin Haynie fans, this guarantees one more visit to Philips Arena for Haynie.

Dream Could Match Record Tonight Against Shock

Some info regarding tonight's Shock-Dream Game:

* The Dream played the Shock three times last year, and lost all of them. The first was a home game on May 23rd where the Dream lost 88-76. The Dream led that game 45-32 at the half, and then the Shock woke up, beating the Dream by double-digits in both the third and fourth quarters. Our leading scorers were Betty Lennox (21), Camille Little (13), and Ivory Latta (10), none of whom are with the franchise anymore.

* The second game was a 21-point loss at home, 97-76. Ivory Latta had a 26-point game against her former team along with 10 rebounds. Those were both career highs for Latta. So why did we lose? Probably because Betty Lennox had zero points and four personal fouls.

* The third loss was a 100-92 loss in Detroit. We managed to get it to within 96-92 but with 41 seconds left, Deanna Nolan scored a jumper to make the score 98-92. Still a two-possession game, but Tamera Young had the ball stolen by Alexis Hornbuckle and the Shock converted it.

* The Shock went on to a WNBA championship. The Dream finished at the bottom of the league and almost set a record for futility with a 4-30 season.

* Since those awful days, Atlanta is 3-4 in 2009. Detroit is 1-4 and has Cheryl Ford fighting off the effects of an injury and Kara Braxton still suspended for a DUI. With Plenette Pierson out for the season and with Braxton suspended, they're playing with nine players and new arrival Sherill Baker.

* Furthermore, Trader Bill is gone. That leaves Rick Mahorn as the Shock's coach. I don't know if Meadors is better than Mahorn but Lin Dunn depantsed Mahorn in front of a paying crowd in Indianapolis, coach-wise.

* If the Dream win tonight, it will be their fourth win of the season, tying their entire total from 2008.

In short, if the stars could ever be aligned for a Dream win, it looks like they're lined up. Of course, I thought that about the Liberty, and look what happened.

Attrition II

An update of the "Attrition" photo that I posted earlier this year...with one more player being "attrited".

This means that there are only four players from last year's team that are still on the squad: Iziane Castro Marques, Erika de Souza, Jennifer Lacy and Tamera Young.

Michelle Snow Signs With the Atlanta Dream

This hasn't been posted at the Atlanta Dream website, so I'll just post the press release "verbatim":

Atlanta, February 18, 2009 - The Atlanta Dream announced today that the team has signed unrestricted free agent center Michelle Snow. Snow was widely regarded as one of the top available free agents this off-season. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"We are excited about adding an experienced post player to our roster," said Dream General Manager and Head Coach Marynell Meadors. "Snow is an extremely athletic center and we expect her to make an immediate impact for us. We are thrilled that she chose to be here in Atlanta."

Snow, a 6-5 center, spent her first seven seasons in the WNBA as a member of the Houston Comets where she was originally selected with the tenth overall pick in the 2002 Draft. The two-time All-Star started all 34 games last year for Houston, averaging 9.9 points and 6.8 rebounds while shooting 52.9% from the field.

"I am so excited to become an Atlanta Dream team member," said Snow. "This is an organization that I believe exemplifies inspiration, hope and commitment to its fans, as well as to the business and community sectors at large. The namesake alone 'DREAM' creates a mindset and feeling that allows for the reality that anything is possible. I look forward to adding my leadership abilities to an already strong group of professionals who are committed to establishing 'The Dream' as a stellar team that uplifts all."

A standout at the University of Tennessee, Snow averaged 10.9 points and 6.5 rebounds in four seasons for the Lady Vols. Snow scored over 1,000 career points in her collegiate career and earned Associated Press All-American Honorable Mention recognition as a senior. She also made headlines by recording three dunks in her collegiate career.

"We are thrilled not only about adding Michelle to our team on the court, but also excited about the opportunity Michelle will have to make a difference in the Atlanta community both with her charitable work and her passion for building her business career here long-term," said Dream President and COO Bill Bolen.

The Atlanta Dream: offering a daily dose of OH HELL YES! We might even have an Atlanta Dream dunk next year, if Marynell allows it.

2008 Dream Player Efficiency Ratings

At last, I've finally managed to enter the results of every season played by every player in my WNBA Player Biofile database. This includes a calculation of John Hollinger's Player Efficiency Rating (PER) for every player. My ratings are different than the ones on Basketball-Reference. There are some irregularities at the B-R.com site - I won't name all the examples but I cast a sort of jaundiced eye at my results. (GIGO)

Here are the final PER ratings for the Atlanta Dream in 2008. They have been split into three groups:

Erika de Souza: 21.84
Betty Lennox: 18.72
Katie Mattera: 16.25
Stacey Lovelace: 15.28
Ivory Latta: 15.03

Alison Bales: 13.66
Iziane Castro Marques: 11.32
Camille Little: 10.40
Kristin Haynie: 10.00
Kasha Terry: 9.64
Ann Strother: 9.54
Tamera Young: 9.31

Jennifer Lacy: 8.31
Kristen Mann: 7.35
Chioma Nnamaka: 3.08

Players in italics departed the Dream in mid-season.

The first group is the group of players with better than average PER ratings. PER is equalized so that 15.00 is the automatic average rating for whole league in any season.

Erika's rating makes her a "Borderline All-Star", and if you saw her play for Ros Casares this year, you'd definitely agree. All you can do is sigh and wish she'd been healthy in 2008 and hitting the boards for the DReam.

Betty Lennox might be the Dream's leading scorer, but PER has her as a "Solid Second Option". Katie Mattera, Stacy Lovelace, and Ivory Latta are given some praise, at least - they're "Pretty Good Players".

The second group are players that are worse than average players, but are better than the bottom of the bench. According to Hollinger, Alison Bales is "In the Rotation". Whereas Iziane Castro Marques and Camille Little, in a just world, would be "Scrounging for Minutes". Kasha Terry, Ann Strother, and Tamera Young should visit a realtor, because they are "Definitely Renting" according to Hollinger's PER rating.

The third group are players that are playing below replacement level in Hollinger's eyes. Replacement level is 9.00, which is supposedly the thin line between being the worst of WNBA players and being an emergency replacement - maybe someone who got washed out of a pre-draft camp that you can call and not have to pay too much money.

According to Hollinger, Jennifer Lacy and Kristen Mann are on "The Next Train to Yakima". Unfortunately, the WNBA doesn't have a Continental Basketball Association franchise. What would be the WNBA equivalent? "Next Plane to Albania? Next Plane to Malta?"

Chioma Nnamaka's 3.08 PER isn't even dignified with a cute name by Hollinger.

Oh well. Maybe next year the Dream will please the APBRmetric gods.