Update on the Dream Overseas

Note: an update on the teams where we can find Atlanta Dream players in the off-season. New information on Alison Bales and Brittainey Raven.

Sancho Lyttle and Erika de Souza will be playing for Perfumerias in Spain. Perfumerias finished second in the Spanish League last year and Ros Casares - Erika's previous team - finished first. Erika will be joining Sancho Lyttle for the first time this year and this makes Perfumerias an automatic championship contender...not just of the Liga Femenina, but of Euroleague as well.

Angel McCoughtry will move to the MKB Euroleasing team, in Hungary. McCoughtry was the second-leading scorer in Euroleague behind Diana Taurasi, taking her Good Angels Kosice team to the Euroleague quarterfinals. MKB Euroleasing has finished four straight years at the top of Hungary's A Division but last years 5th place finish in Group C in Euroleague was a disappointment. It looks like Euroleasing will repair that mistake.

Yelena Leuchanka has just signed with AZS Gorzow of Poland. Gorzow made the jump from Eurocup to Eurloleague last year but finished in last place in Group C. Only the Polish PLKK is any consolation, where Gorzow has come up short in the PLKK finals for the last two years. Gorzow is hoping for an extra push.

Right now, we don't know where Iziane Castro Marques, Coco Miller or Kelly Miller will end up. Castro Marques played for Krakow and Kelly Miller played for Spartak Moscow. Coco Miller went...with her sister, where she trained with Spartak Moscow but I suspect she did not play there. Marques will not be playing for Krakow this year, but she'll be playing somewhere undoubtedly; the Miller twins are a bigger question mark.

Shalee Lehning and Armintie Price have other options for the off-season. Lehning has a coaching in with Kansas State, Price has one with Mississippi. Lehning (from my understanding) hadn't made up her mind about Europe yet, at least not at the beginning of the 2010 WNBA season. I don't know about Price.

Alison Bales will be playing with Union Hainaut Basket in France. Another player joining Bales will be Brittainey Raven, who I believe (but can't prove) will be playing for Lattes Montpelier. Both teams are at the highest level of French basketball. I also understand that Raven is there on a three-month contract and won't be eligible to play until November 6th when Lattes Montpelier takes on Challes.

Dream Games Overseas

Ros Casares 87, Ibiza 74: Ros Casares moves up to a 9-0 record in the Liga Femenina of Spain with yet another win, this time 87-74 over Ibiza (1-8). Despite being at the bottom of the table, Ibiza should be happy - 13 points is as close as anyone else has been able to get to El Ros. Erika de Souza had 19 points and 7 rebounds.

Perfumerias 80, Estudiantes 56: Perfumerias remains one game behind Ros Casares, tied with Rivas Ecopolis for second place (Rivas is the only team to beat Perfumerias in Liga Femenina play). Sancho Lyttle not only had 11 points and 7 rebounds, but also picked up seven steals as well!

Gorzow 83, Krakow 76: Wisla Can-Pack Krakow went up against undefeated Gorzow, which remained undefeated in the Polish League with a road win to lead the PLKK 11-0. (Krakow, at 7-4, is in fourth place). Iziane Castro Marques scored 11 points, but only with 2-for-7 shooting.

Košice 84, Poprad 46: Slovakia never tells you how any of their games went, so it's a cold war secret as to how well Angel McCoughtry is doing. However, the Good Angels are 13-0 while Poprad falls to 6-7.

Coco Miller in Moscow?

At least according to the 2009-10 WNBA Overseas Roster. I've not seen any confirmation about this on the Russian websites or at Eurobasket.

However, Kelly Miller is playing for Spartak Moscow. Maybe the W, like many others, can't tell the difference either.

The Atlanta Dream and the 2009-10 Offseason

Here's what we know about our Dream players off-season.

Erika de Souza is returning to Ros Casares in Spain where she'll be playing in both the Spanish League and the Euroleague. (Euroleague and Eurocup are "superleagues" involving teams from multiple countries.) She played for El Ros last year as well.

Sancho Lyttle is moving to Perfumerias in Spain. She'll also be playing in both the Spanish League and Euroleague. Ros Casares and Perfumerias finished 1-2 last year in Spain; expect those Ros Casares/Perfumerias games to be big-time matchups.

Michelle Snow is leaving the Spanish League and playing for Dynamo Kursk in the Russian Superleague A. Dynamo Kursk will also be playing in Eurocup, which is a competition very much like Euroleague - Eurocup is the less prestigious of the two.

Shalee Lehning has already stated that when the season ends, she'll return to Manhattan, Kansas to finish up her degree work and graduate after Fall Semester 2009.

Angel McCoughtry Twittered on August 5th that she was still trying to "figure out where I may end up overseas". We don't know if she's received any offers just yet.

Everyone else, we don't know about.

Armintie Price played for top team Joventut in the Spanish League last year, but no word as to if she has re-signed with them.

Jennifer Lacy went all the way to Beijing in China last year. Lacy was very popular in China.

Ivory Latta played for a Turkish team last year before she was acquired by Maccabi Ramat Hen of Israel for a late season championship push. I expect Latta to definitely be playing overseas in 2009-10, but I don't know where.

Chamique Holdsclaw played for Krakow (Wisla Can-Pack) in Poland last year until an injury ended her season. Both sides mutually canceled her contract, and I don't know if Holdsclaw wants to return to Poland or not.

Iziane Castro Marques played in the French League before being acquired by Extrugasa of the Spanish League. Extrugasa was desperately trying to avoid relegation, but Castro Marques couldn't keep them from being demoted. She'll probably play overseas again.

Coco Miller played not for the Russian Superleague A, but Russian Superleague B team Spartak Noginsk. They must have paid her well. It's not often that foreign players agree to play for B-league teams in Europe unless they have no choice.

Article About Overseas Play

Amy Brittain at Louisiana State University writes about former LSU players playing in the WNBA and overseas. It's an article worth reading.

Brittain reports that the motivators for playing overseas are several: greater job opportunities, more playing time and most likely, a higher salary than will be earned during a WNBA season. The part about higher salaries seems to be true across the board, from the marginal players who can earn a decent living overseas to the WNBA superstars who can earn six-figure salaries playing in Russia.

However, there is a cost to it all. It's definitely work and not play. Players get to travel to lands where perhaps little or no English is spoken and where the winter weather is frequently sub-zero. Furthermore, European coaches expect that WNBA players will be automatic superstars for their clubs, and anything less than 20 point-10 rebound performances for their new clubs night after night is considered a disappointment. If you play in the WNBA and overseas, it all becomes physically and mentally tiresome.

It's definitely worth a read, so go check it out.

Dream Players Overseas This Week!

Tuesday

WCBA: Yunan (0-1) vs. Beijing (0-1)

Wednesday

Euroleague Group C: Prague (0-1) vs. Ros Casares (1-0) *
Euroleague Group C: Sibenik (0-1) vs. Union Hainaut (1-0) *

Thursday

Eurocup Group J: Ribera (Italy) (0-0) vs. Extrugasa (0-0) *

Friday

TBBL: Besiktas (1-0) vs. Samsun (1-0)
TBBL: Ceyhan (1-0) vs. Pankup (0-0)

Saturday

LFB (Spain): Olesa (3-1) vs. Ros Casares (3-1)
LFB (Spain): Zaragosa (1-3) vs. Extrugasa (2-2)
LFB (France): Aix-en-Provence (4-2) vs. Union Hainaut (4-2)
PLKK: Utex Row Rybnik (4-4) vs. Inea AZS Poznan (5-2)
WCBA: Beijing vs. Ningbo

* - playoff stats

We also have some photos of Ros Casares vs. Perfumerias at this link. No Erika de Souza photos, though.

More Information on Dream Overseas Play

A post on the RebKell Message Boards has solved some of the mysteries of where various members of the Atlanta Dream will be playing in Europe.

Alison Bales - Samsun (Turkey)
Erika DeSouza - Ros Casares Valencia (Spain)
Jennifer Lacy - China (don't know team name)
Ivory Latta - Ceylan Belediyespor (Turkey)
Chioma Nnamaka - Union Hainaut (France)
Kasha Terry - Utex Row Rybnik (Poland)
Tamera Young - Extragusa Valencia (Spain)
Yelena Leuchanka - UMMC Ekaterinburg (Russia)

Katie Feenstra is getting married this fall and will not play until after that.
Nikki Teasley is not likely to play until January when she will be in game shape after working out all fall
Chantelle Anderson likely will focus only on rehab to ensure in good shape for 09

Izi Castro Marques, Betty Lennox, Ann Strother, and Kristin Haynie are all still finalizing deals on where they play

Congratulations to WBD for posting that.

Double congratulations to Katie Feenstra. Happy Honeymoon! I'll be following the players in the off season as best I can, and will do my best to update you.