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.

Happy Birthday To....

Maybe a Milo who played better for the enemy than she did for us. But Happy Birthday, anyway.

Camille Little Traded to Storm

The big news among Atlanta Dream fans is that Camille Little just got traded to the Seattle Storm for a second round draft pick in 2009. Of course, we're not going to know if this is a brilliant move until 2009.

Right now, I have Little as somewhere on the best-to-worst chart in the Jennifer Lacy/Izi Castro Marques area. She's not a starter. It's not as if Betty Lennox went back to the Storm. And certainly, the Dream can finish dead last in the Eastern Conference just as easily without Little as with her. With coach Maryann Meadors seemingly unable to settle on a consistent rotation, it means that everyone else will get that much more playing time until Erika DeSousa returns.

So how much will we get for Little when 2009 comes around? I'm looking at the second round of last year's draft -- not much of an analysis, I'd have to look at the second rounds of all drafts. Let's assume that the Storm finish in the middle of the pack. So far, there have been only three quality players to emerge from the second round of 2008: Nicky Anosike of the Lynx, Erica White of the Comets and maybe Leilani Mitchell of the Mercury. After the seventh pick, only Mitchell was available of those three above. If there's an Anosike player later in the draft, it's going to be very hard for Meadors to find her.

Another complication is the affect this will have on Ivory Latta. Latta and Little were teammates on the North Carolina women's team, and theoretically know each other very well. Were they friends? Hard to tell. Maybe Ivory will be pissed that Little got traded; maybe she's glad to be rid of her.

In short, we can't tell if this trade is going to be a barn burner, but we can't tell if it will be a bust, either. Who knows? Maybe Meadors is expecting the Storm to bottom out and for us to move up in the second round. (/joke)