Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Shalee Lehning vs. Everybody
Q over at Rethinking Basketball writes a long post about Atlanta Dream rookie starting point guard Shalee Lehning.
She had her detractors when she came out of college.
She was dismissed as irrelevant after the WNBA draft given the 11 player rosters this year.
She was dismissed after making the Atlanta Dream over incumbent point guard Ivory Latta.
I ignored her when I wrote about the WNBA's talented group of rookie point guards earlier this year.
She was dismissed as nothing more than a “ra-ra” player after becoming an important part of the Dream’s rotation.
And now she’s still dismissed after transitioning into a more substantive full-time starter on a potential playoff team. She is not even included among WNBA.com’s top 10 rookies despite starting 8 games for her team, tied for the most of any rookie.
During the Dream’s four game winning streak from July 22- August 1st, Lehning had 17 assists and 2 turnovers.
It's a very good article. And I'll say in my defense that even though I've knocked the rookie around a bit on the blog, the Senior Prospects Metric had her ranked #6 among WNBA prospects.
P. S.: I'm working on the next version of the SPM. So who's best, Tina Charles or Jayne Appel?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Yep, the focus on offense has led people to completely overlook the fact that she clearly commands the team and has the respect of the veterans, something you just don't see very often from a rookie. I also think the Leilani comparisons are bad for this reason - Mitchell played well last year but frankly does not command the floor like Lehning and does not pass as well...
Post a Comment