Friday, August 15, 2008

Atlanta Dream Sign Nikki Teasley

I'm excerpting this right from RebKell:

DREAM SIGNS FREE AGENT POINT GUARD NIKKI TEASLEY
-- Atlanta Signs Former University of North Carolina Star --

Atlanta, August 15, 2008— The Atlanta Dream announced today the signing of free agent point guard Nikki Teasley for the remainder of the season. Teasley spent the last two seasons with the Washington Mystics before parting ways with the team in March. She gave birth to her daughter in June and has missed all of the 2008 season to date.

“To have a 6-foot point guard is definitely an advantage,” said Dream Head Coach Marynell Meadors. “Nikki is a tremendous talent and excels at seeing the floor. She will be a huge plus for us and provides us with size at the point guard position.”

In her six year WNBA career, Teasley is averaging 8.7 points 3.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game. She started 33 games for the Mystics last season, averaging 5.2 points, 2.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game. Teasley was originally selected with the fifth overall pick in the 2002 WNBA Draft and spent her first four seasons in the league with the Los Angeles Sparks, where she hit the game winning shot in the 2002 WNBA Championship. Teasley was also named the MVP of the 2003 WNBA All-Star game.

During her collegiate career at the University of North Carolina, Teasley averaged an Atlantic Coast Conference record 5.8 assists per game. She finished her career as the Tar Heels all-time leader in assists (728) and three-pointers (236). She was the first player in conference history to lead the ACC in assists all four years and was only the second player to record 1,500 points and 600 assists in her career.


This will be very interesting. Wonder why she didn't decide to return to the Mystics.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow. Big pickup for Atlanta and big signal that a decent free agent would choose to sign there (other teams definitely wanted her and know her last couple years in DC were not indicative of her real skills)

Bet they move Ivory to playing more shooting guard time to maximize her offense.

Who knows how it will work out, but this is a very interesting signing for the expansion team.

Anonymous said...

I'm looking over Nikki Teasley's career stats on basketball-reference...has height...good three-point shooter...leader in assists but also has a lot of turnovers; but A/T ratio is greater than 1.0...if Teasley returns to her LA form, this is going to be an oustanding acquisition...and it adds to the North Carolina mafia...had some depression issues in college but those seem to have cleared up. If she returns to her pre-pregnancy form quickly, it will be interesting to see Teasley wearing powder blue.

Anonymous said...

even though league rules dont allow it, my guess is that this is really a 2009 signing. Dont think we see her in 2008 on a court. Smart move to wrap her up though and dream coach knows her from dc so probably knows her past issues and how to deal with her. agree with other post, this tells league that atl is legit.