Draft Acquisition Profile: Angel McCoughtry

Name: Angel McCoughtry
Born: September 10, 1986
Place of Birth: Baltimore, MD
Height: 6-1 (1.85 m)
Weight: 160 lbs (73 kg)
High Schools: St. Francis High School (Baltimore); the Patterson School (North Carolina)

Position: Forward

Kudos:

Baltimore Metro Player of the Year (2003)
Led St. Francis to Catholic League Championship (2004)
WBCA High School Star (2004)
Led Patterson to National Championship (2005)
Big East All-Freshman Team (2006)
Big East Player of the Year (2007)
Gold Medal winner for United States at Pan Am Game s(2007)
All Big East First Team (2007-08)

Nickname: None yet.

Profile

Angel McCoughtry was born in Baltimore Maryland, the daughter of Roi and Sharon McCoughtry. Roi was the head pastor at Holy Nation Tabernacle in Baltimore, and Angel got her ball playing genes from Daddy - he was a 6-5 center at Coppin State in his playing days.

Angel's mother Sharon said that Angel was a temperamental child, often driving her mother to tears. She found a way to work off this temperament in basketball, playing against boys in her Northwood neighborhood. She was the star of her high school team, even though Brenda Frese of Maryland felt she was raw in talent and that she was "difficult to like" - McCoughtry already had a reputation for being outspoken. However, Angel had a lot of desire with this temperament. At 16, she pestered her father to play on his men's team at the church. Roi didn't want his daughter to get hurt...but Angel ended up stealing the ball from him and ringing up points.

She decided to play for St. John's, but ran into a problem - academic deficiency. She couldn't post a good SAT score. McCoughtry wanted to move on to junior college, the tried-and-true way out for those with academic difficulties. The problem was her parents wouldn't have it. They sent her to Patterson, a Christian school in North Carolina where she would spend a year working on academics.

McCoughtry hated it at Patterson, comparing the place to a prison where there was no TV and nothing to do. She was forced to buckle down with the books, but her parents had to talk her into staying. Angel stuck it out and led Patterson to a basketball championship. It became time for McCoughtry to enter the recruiting process all over again.

Maryland was a natural choice. The problem was that Maryland would have Marissa Coleman as a freshman and Angel felt they were too similar - indeed, Coleman would be the #2 pick in the 2009 Draft after McCoughtry. Angel didn't want to have to compete with playing time. McCoughtry had taken a visit to Louisville just to get time away from the Patterson campus and she liked the place.

Her first year was a struggle where she had an attitude. She slept during workouts. She mouthed off to referees. She didn't shoot free throws. Tom Collen turned her attitude around by telling her that he didn't want her shooting at all after a bad performance because "You can't shoot!" She was determined to prove him wrong, working on her shooting whenever she could.

Jeff Walz became coach at Louisville after Collen left after McCoughtry's freshman year. This is when he put together the now-famous tape of McCoughtry's slouching, sighing and negative body language whenever her teammates missed a pass from her. McCoughtry was shocked when she saw it. She had never seen what other people had seen. She'll never have a "poker face" - she's too passionate - but she's a lot better at hiding her frustration than before.

Angel plans on writing a fiction book - well, more a roman a clef - called "The Angel Who Wanted to B-more". It's about...oh, a girl growing up in Baltimore who plays basketball and grows up to become a leader. The book is carried around on a flash drive and Angel continues to update it. Here's hoping that one of those chapters of the book is where the main character celebrates a WNBA championship in Atlanta.

Get to Know Your Dream

The Official Blog of the Atlanta Dream, Dream Diary, has updated with a ton of stuff.

First, the blog points to a multimedia page. There are five complete Dream games on tap that can be viewed from beginning to end. And for many of the other games, there are game highlight clips. No excuse in missing your favorite Dream moments.

Second, we now have a "Get to Know" page, which is packed full of player profiles (for detailed background) and "get to know" features (for fun stuff). Pages exist on all of the Dream players excepting Alison Bales (for some unknown reason).

In order to get you to drop by, I'm forced to whet your whistle. Here's a list of ten questions that can only be answered by going to the page.

1. One of the Dream players recently purchased her "dream car" - a Mercedes CL 500. Name the player.
2. Which player wants to work in law enforcement after her career is over?
3. Whose favorite movie is "The ATL"?
4. Whose favorite TV show is "Lost"?
5. Whose favorite TV show is "Martin"?
6. Whose favorite book is "The Da Vinci Code"?
7. Two players mention family members who wore #44. Who are those two players?
8. Who has been "tearing up some Waffle House" since she got to Atlanta?
9. Whose favorite player growing up was her father?
10. Whose favorite player growing up was Joe Dumars?

The Psycho

The Women's Hoops Blog has two links featuring Betty Lennox. The common theme of the links is comparison between Betty Lennox and Allen Iverson.

I wonder if part of Seattle's woes are caused by not having "The Psycho" present.

"To this day, I still don't see why I got traded," she said. "(Minnesota coach Brian Agler) portrayed to me that I was damaged goods. But I still don't believe that. The player they replaced me with didn't even play. I was very upset with that. When I see Brian Agler (now an assistant with Phoenix), it still kind of hurts me."

No wonder the Storm let Betty go. (Agler is currently the head coach of the Storm.) I hope Betty brings that righteous fury to the court when we play the Storm.

Player Profile: Tamera Young

Name: Tamera Young
Born: October 30, 1986 (21)
Place of Birth: Wilmington, North Carolina
Height: 6-2
Weight: unknown

High School: Laney High School, Wilmington, NC
College: James Madison University
College major: Kinesiology and sports management

Years Pro: None -- rookie year is 2008

Position: Guard

Kudos:

1) McDonald's All-American nominee in high school
2) All time scoring record in the Colonial Athletic Association
3) Led James Madison as a senior to the the third round of the 2008 Women's National Invitational Tournament
4) #8 pick in 2008 WNBA draft - also first player from James Madison ever to be picked in the WNBA draft

Nickname: T. Young, T. Tam (from college)

Profile: Once again, there's not much to tell about Tamera Young. This is a side effect of the coverage of women's basketball in general. If you're an NBA player, I can find out just about anything about you through the internet, down to your elementary school. If you're WNBA, unless you're Lisa Leslie winnowing out information will be difficult.

We do know that Young comes by her basketball pedigree honestly. Both her brother A. J. and older sister Nikia played basketball growing up. Sports runs in the family, her cousin Willie Williams was a cornerback in the National Football League from 1993 to 2005. You might have also heard of Laney High School. There's someone else who graduated from Laney who might be better known as a basketball player -- last name of "Jordan".

Each of the two sisters would play AAU ball until the cost would force one of the two Young girls to give up. Nikia bowed out, and Tamera would be allowed to play under the tight finances.

We know that she likes fashion. We know that she's a self-proclaimed "computer freak". Aside from that, we also know a few minor facts from a WNBA article about Young's being drafted to play for the Dream.

Favorite Book: "B-More Careful." B-More Careful belongs to a genre called "street lit", or "ghetto lit", one of several books written about life growing up black in a poor, urban environment. Urbanbooksource.com has the book listed as the second best street lit novel of all time.

Favorite Movie: "Love and Basketball". A story of a young boy and girl, both good at basketball, both growing up together, both good enough to be in the pros. Even though the young man becomes an NBA star and the young woman has to go to Europe (this story takes place before the WNBA), a romance develops between the two main characters.

Favorite Album: "Mario's new album that just came out." (Probably "Go!" by Mario, an R&B/pop singer.)

Favorite TV show: "The Parkers." A UPN program about a mother and daughter who end up going to college together. Nominated for numerous NAACP Image awards.

Favorite luxury item: "My cell phone." (No information there. Nokia? iPhone?)

Aside from the trivia above, what else we can find out about Young will have to be found by mining her hometown newspapers. She wears #23, which was Jordan's number of course. It looks like Young has taste, if nothing else. Of course, the Dream will be the beneficiary of not only her taste, but her basketball skills.

Player Profile: Kristin Haynie

Name: Kristin Haynie
Born: Jun 17, 1983 (to turn 25)
Place of Birth: Mason, Michigan
Height: 5-9 (1.75 m)
Weight: 147 (66.7 kg)

Colleges: Michigan State

Years Pro: 3

Position: Guard

Kudos: Michigan State record holder in career assists and steals.

Nickname: None

Profile: Kristin Haynie came up to play in the WNBA, but it wasn't easy. Unlike some kids who made it to the WNBA through battling poverty, Haynie had to battle a health condition. In fourth grade, polyps were found in her large intestine that doctors thought might be cancerous. As a precautionary measure, Haynie's entire large intestine was removed.

The result, however, was that Haynie suffered from chronic fatigue, a condition that was not properly diagnosed until her college career. Nutritionists discovered the problem -- without a large intestine, Kristin was not absorbing enough vitamins to provide pep. Haynie was put on a 3,000-4,000 calorie a day diet. Normally, someone on that diet would blow up like Boss Hogg, but Haynie's pro-level workouts keep the weight off.

The story of Haynie's left-handed layup is also intersting. At home, her driveway was only surfaced with cement on the left side, forcing her to dribble-and-layup well only on one side of the driveway. However, it's a skill that has served her in good stead.

Haynie plays in Europe during the off-season. She has played for TEO Vilnius in Lithuania and CSKA-Samara for the Russians.

During the off-season, Haynie tends to travel back to home and Michigan State, being one of a few players out there who maintain strong ties with their universities and hometowns.

Other than the above, not much is known about Kristin Haynie, but we're glad to have her on the Dream. We'll keep you posted.

Player Profile: Iziane Castro Marques

Name: Iziane Castro Marques
Born: March 13, 1982 (26)
Place of Birth: Sao Luis, Maranhao, Brazil
Height: 6-0 (1.83 m)
Weight: 140 (63.5 kg)

Colleges: None.

Years Pro: 5

Position: Guard/Small Forward

Kudos: 1) Led Paulista League in Brazil in scoring -- at the age of 19
2) Represented Brazil in the 2004 Olympics. The Brazil team finished fourth, with Castro Marques scoring 15 points per game -- second on the Brazil team.

Nickname: Izi

Profile: Castro Marques has been a professional player since the age of 15. After growing up in Sao Luis (near the Amazon), "Izi" moved to Sao Paulo to join the Osasco team and played with them from 1997 to 2001. She would play in Spain for three months, until she was signed to play with the Miami Sol in the 2002 WNBA season.

She left to play for Aix-en-Provence for the offseason, and in 2003, she would play for the Phoenix Mercury. During the offseason, she would continue to perfect her game with European teams in Spain.

Supposedly, Castro Marques had trouble understanding the WNBA game because of the language barrier. When Claudia Neves was also signed by the Sol, Castro Marques finally had a teammate with which she could speak Portuguese.

After playing for the Mercury, Castro Marques would play with the Storm for three years. Seattle figured that Castro Marques would ask for the maximum salary in 2009 and Castro Marques was traded to Atlanta along with the #8 pick in the draft in exchange for the #4 pick and 5-11 guard Roneeka Hodges.

The big deal was that both Castro Marques and Erika DeSousa decided to play this season rather than stay with the Brazilian National Team. She'll probably miss some time during the pre-Olympic qualifying tournament. At least, Castro Marques will have DeSouza to speak her native tongue, and Betty Lennox will be an old Storm teammate also on the Dream roster.

There really isn't much that can be found out about "Izi" on the internet. Izi didn't have a college career in the States, and I'm sure most of the background articles about her are in Portuguese. However, we'll definitely be extending her a warm Atlanta welcome!

Player Profile: Katie Feenstra

Name: Katie Feenstra
Born: November 17, 1982 (25)
Place of Birth: Grand Rapids, Michigan
Height: 6-8 (2.03 m)
Weight: 240 (108.9 kg)

High School: Grand Rapids Baptist High School, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Colleges: Liberty

Years Pro: 3

Position: Center

Kudos:
1) Scored 46 points in a game in high school
2) Missed the first 14 games of her college career due to a dislocated knee.
3) Big South all-time leader in blocked shots
4) One of only two players in NCAA history to lead the nation in field goal percentage in two consecutive seasons (2004-05) at Liberty.
5) First player in Big South history to be named Player of the Year three times.
6) Only player in the country to lead her conference in points, rebounds, blocks and field goal percentage as a senior.
7) Got to play alongside her sister, Maribeth Anderson, at Liberty.
8) Member of the 2007 USA Women's Basketball Team

Nickname: Kit, after the character from "A League of Their Own".

Profile: As they say in Wikipeida, Katherine Ruth Feenstra is one of the tallest players in WNBA history. She's in a tie for second tallest player ever (Zheng Haixia is the tallest ever) and she's the current active tallest player. She comes by her height honestly, the child of a 7-0 father and a 6-4 mother.

Most likely, however, Feenstra took more abuse because of her height than her religion. She was a foot taller than the other girls, and the abuse would rain down from the rafters whenever her high school played road cames.

Feenstra, however, toughed it out. At the end of her high school career, she wanted to go to a college where others shared her strong Christian beliefs. Despite big-name women's basketball programs knocking on the door, this left only places like Oral Roberts or Liberty.

Feenstra chose Liberty, where she majored in physical education. After her successful career at Liberty -- where the Flames actually made it to a Sweet Sixteen berth -- Feenstra plans on teaching and coaching.

After Liberty, Feenstra ended up with the Silver Stars, managing 8.8 points a game. One of the toughest adjustments for the somewhat sheltered Feenstra (in her words) was the fact that there are open lesbians in the WNBA. Rather than making a scene, Feenstra simply learned to deal with it and as far as we know, Feenstra's beliefs don't disrupt team chemistry. However, living in San Antonio gave her a chance to share both church attendance and faith with NBA player David Robinson.

Size, of course, brings its advantages and disadvantages. Feenstra wears a size 17 men's sneaker, so finding shoes that fit must be a chore. What's worse, Feenstra has been stalked, and more than once. I found some of the biographical info for this entry on a page for "amazons", written by someone who apparently had a fetish for tall women. (Author's note: Stalking is NOT COOL. If you don't know that, go back to kindergarden and/or get different parents to teach you.)

One interesting tidbit: Feenstra eats a mint before stepping out on court. Thank goodness that Feenstra hasn't been showered with mints tossed from the stands - although if I ever get to meet her, I might hand her one with a "good luck".

A worrisome fact is that Feenstra's minutes seem to increase with bad teams and decrease with better ones. Furthermore, she might be top ten in field goal percentage, but she's also top ten in turnovers. If Feenstra can hang on to the orange-and-white ball, this might be a good opening season for the Dream.

Player Profile: Ivory Latta

Name: Ivory Latta
Born: September 24, 1984
Place of Birth: McConnells, South Carolina
Height: 5-6 (1.68 m) (but more likely 5-4, or 1.63 m)
Weight: 143 (64.9 kg)

High School: York Comprehensive High School (South Carolina)
Colleges: North Carolina

Years Pro: 2

Position: Point guard

Kudos: 1) Named the 2003 Morgan Wooten National Girls HS Basketball Player of the Year, an award given in conjunction with the McDonald's All-American Game.
2) January 10, 2003 was Ivory Latta Day in York, South Carolina.
3) Scored 70 points in a HS game. Had 50 or more points eight times in her senior year, averaged 44.6 points per game.
4) Homecoming Queen at York HS.
5) Two-time South Carolina Miss Basketball.
6) All-ACC Freshman Team in 2004
7) All-ACC First Team in 2005 and 2007
8) Whew. Pretty much the Everyone-and-her-grandmother's Player of the Year in 2006.
9) Her #12 is one of only two jersey numbers retired by the North Carolina Women's Team.
9) Drafted as a first round pick (#11) in 2007 by the Detroit Shock.

Nickname: Lacking one. The worst thing she's been called is "Latta Nothing".

Profile:

Ivory Latta was born as a rather sickly child in McConnells, South Carolina, with a population of 312. After several long stays at a hospital in Rock Hill, Ivory's illness was finally diagnosed - asthma.

Like many asthma suffers in infancy, as her respiratory system got bigger, the asthma abated. Ivory said that "the more she ran, the better she felt" and she took up sports with a vengeance, including taking up basketball at the age of five.

However, since childhood her small size was a handicap. Taller players would routinely try to post up on her -- that is, turn their backs towards her, receive the ball and try to physically bump her out of position through incidental contact in the area close to the basket, like a truck backing up.

Latta preservered and was pretty much a superstar in Girls Basketball in South Carolina. She would graduate high school with a GPA of 3.9, and the outgoing and energetic Latta would be named Homecoming Queen.

Latta went to the University of North Carolina, where she majored in exercise and sport science. She was just as stellar at UNC as she was in high school. (She even made friends with Ludacris!) While at UNC, Latta brought her emotion and exuberance to her game, listening to a lot of music to get in the right state of mind.

Her greatest challenge was an injury that occurred in 2006 during a NCAA Final Four loss to Maryland, where she tore her lateral meniscus and required knee surgery. She rehabbed during the 2006-2007 off-season.

In 2007, she was drafted by the Detroit Shock, but she proved unable to crack the lineup despite being a #1 draft pick. Was it because she had limited mobility from the surgery (as some claim) or was it because the Shock were a well-disciplined championship squad that simply had no room for an extra player as a starter?

Latta went to Israel to play with Elizur Holon in the 2007-08 offseason. During the offseason, she was selected from the Shock by the Atlanta Dream in the WNBA Expansion Draft.

The sad part of the story is that since Latta has not played regularly, she hasn't had a chance to answer the naysayers, who claim either limited height, limited mobility, or both make Latta one of those players who were great in college but are role-players at best in the WNBA. Hopefully, time with the Atlanta Dream as a starter will give Dream fans (and WNBA followers) an answer one way or another.

Player Profile: Betty Lennox

Name: Betty Lennox
Born: December 4, 1976 (age 32)
Place of Birth: Hugo, Oklahoma
Height: 5-8 (1.73 m) (but she's actually 5-6, or about 1.68 m)
Weight: 143 (64.9 kg)

High School: Fort Osage High School, Independence, Missouri
Colleges: Trinity Valley Community College
Louisiana Tech (graduated 2000)

Years Pro: 8

Position: Point guard

Kudos:
1) Trinity Valley won the Junior College National Championship in the 1996-97 season.
2) Was a first round draft pick in 2000 by the NBA, picked by the Minnesota Lynx at #6
3) Led the Seattle Storm to an NBA championship in 2004.
4) WNBA Finals MVP in 2004
5) Received a Community Assist award from the WNBA.
6) Founder of the Lennox Foundation, created to support neglected and abused children.

Nickname: B-Money -- this is an improvement over her college nickname of "Psycho". She's called "B-Money" due to her shooting percentage -- having her shoot is "money in the bank".

Profile:

Betty "B-Money" Lennox comes by her name honestly -- growing up the eighth of nine children, she quickly learned the value of a dollar, having to load 30 to 40 pount bales into a truck at age 10 at four cents per bale. Knowing that her life offered no easy street, Lennox became hypercompetitive.

In high school, they were still playing a six-on-six game in girls' basketball. It was half-court ball, three on offense, and three on defense.

Moving to college, she had to learn how to play standard basketball. In college, she wasn't hesitant to mix it up with bigger players. She was known as a trash talker.

In the WNBA, she had a reputation for being uncoachable, as well as "streaky" and being a "ball hog". She's also been rather unfortunate, playing for two WNBA franchises that folded (Cleveland and Miami). However, she led the Storm to a WNBA championship in 2004. She is a self-proclaimed gym rat, which accounts for her buffed-up physique. She has tattoos, and says that she regrets getting them.

Lennox has worked for Habitat for Humanity, serving a full internship from 2006-2007 over the winter. In the early part of 2008, she played for a Russian team before joining the Storm.