McCoughtry's Complaint: "No Cream Cheese"

Angel McCoughtry, Shalee Lehning, Brittainey Raven and Chanel Mokango all make appearances in the latest Atlanta Dream video. McCoughtry speaks about taking a leadership role and whipping the rookies into shape, while Lehning plays good cop to McCoughtry's tough cop.

The video link is right here.

The 2010 Atlanta Dream motto: "No cream cheese!"

Shalee Lehning Interviewed by K-Stated Blog

The K-Stated Blog asks Shalee Lehning a few questions:

Do you ever see yourself going into broadcasting now that you’re a coach?

Coaching was first and foremost, that has always been a dream of mine to get into coaching. I didn’t realize it would happen this early into my career, but broadcasting would probably be my second choice. At some time down the road, if I get out of coaching, broadcasting will definitely be an option.

Will you do any recruiting while you’re out [in Atlanta]?

Yeah, as much as I can. I’ll probably be out making a lot of phone calls and writing a lot of e-mails. For that stuff it doesn’t matter where I’m at. As far as going out and watching, I won’t be able to do that. They’ll just send somebody out in place of me. But at the same time I can do a lot of my work without being in Manhattan.

MaChelle Joseph of Georgia Tech better watch out. There's a new recruiter in town.

Lehning Adds Coach to Her Accomplishments

Shalee Lehning has just been named an assistant coach at Kansas State. From the linked article:

"Shalee Lehning is a tremendous addition to our staff," said Patterson about her new assistant. "Like Andria Jones, before her, she is a KSU women's basketball program alum who epitomizes the excellence of character and achievement, the passion, intensity and loyalty that the Kansas State women's basketball program is known for. Shalee brings a great work ethic and tremendous people and leadership skills to our staff and program. Her passion for and thorough knowledge of our program philosophies and system, her teaching skills and her love of Kansas State University are all attributes that will make her an excellent recruiter and coach."

Lehning becomes the second part-time coach on the Dream staff. Armintie Price is a coach for Mississippi. I use the phrase "part time" because her work as a coach will not interfere with playing on the Dream. Congratulations, Shalee!

Top Atlanta Dream Moments of 2009

Women Talk Sports has asked its members to come up with the “Best of ‘09”, the best moments in women’s sports in 2009. I’ve had some difficulty in completing this example for two reasons:

1) Real life. Normally, real life isn’t something to be condemned. We all want as much of a real life as possible, the alternative being several orders of magnitude worse. However, this month might be the month when Real Life (all caps) has made the most demands on my time. I don’t believe that I’ve ever abandoned the blog for 10 days before, and trust me, it wasn’t because I was somewhere on a Caribbean shore drinking a glass of orange juice on a sandy beach. November and December have been months of encroachment – good encroachment and bad encroachment combined.

2) A “Dream centric” approach. The problem is that even though I religiously follow the WNBA, I have not only barely kept up with anything going on in women’s sports, I have neglected the entire realm of sports outside of the WNBA and possibly Georgia Tech women’s basketball. If you were to ask me the “Best of ‘09” in women’s sports, I would be at a loss. I don’t know who is leading the LPGA. I don’t know who won women’s singles at Wimbleton. Did North Carolina win another NCAA women’s soccer championship?

You got me, sister. Only so many hours in the day.

On the other hand – I know about the Atlanta Dream. You might have heard of them, you know, that organization where thousands of people meet on weekday nights that completely escapes the eyes of the Atlanta sports media. And I think that I can tell you what the best moments for the Atlanta Dream were in 2009.

1. The acquisition of Chamique Holdsclaw. In their inaugural 2008 season, the Atlanta Dream finished with a 4-30 record, after starting out with 17 straight losses. Undoubtedly, the hope for 2009 was simply not to finish at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. Those WNBA fans in it for the long haul thought that the Dream might contend in about five years.

However, the Dream were about to make a bold move. In December of 2008, the Dream traded the 13th draft pick in the 2009 draft to the Sparks for the rights to Holdsclaw. Would she even play? She returned from Poland in February with a bad knee and for many Dream fans, they would believe that The Claw was back when they saw it.

Well, they saw it. And how. Holdsclaw only averaged about 14 points a game, about four points off her career average. She only played in 25 regular season games and injuries limited her effectiveness. However, Dream fans saw flashes of the old Holdsclaw, who might be one of the best players in the WNBA in moving the ball. Rumor has it that Holdsclaw’s presence returned stabilitiy to the locker room after a contentious 2008 season that saw two players (Camille Little and Stacey Lovelace) essentially jump ship.

2. The drafting of Angel McCoughtry. In 2009 it was, “in with the old (Holdsclaw) and in with the new (McCoughtry).” Despite their 4-30 finish, the Dream could at least look forward to securing the #1 draft pick in the 2009 draft. There was much discussion regarding that choice, which would have an immediate impact on 2009.

Should it be Renee Montgomery? Or Marissa Coleman? Or Courtney Paris? No, it would be Angel McCoughtry out of Louisville. McCoughtry managed to lead her Cardinals to the NCAA title game in her senior year, and this got the attention of Dream head coach Marynell Meadors, who was impressed with McCoughtry putting the team on her back. Perhaps McCoughtry could do the same for the Dream.

In Meadors’s universe, rookies – even super-rookies – don’t start. Dream fans were treated to McCoughtry coming off the bench, and when she came on the floor the game of the entire team picked up. The hard part for McCoughtry was to learn not to do too much by herself – not just yet, anyway.

It became obvious that despite any perceived deficiencies in Meadors’s coaching, Meadors knows how to evaluate talent. McCoughtry scored 12.8 points a season and was the only high point of a playoff sweep by the Detroit Shock, averaging 19 points a game over both losses. The question was whether or not McCoughtry would finish in front of DeWanna Bonner. McCoughtry triumphed with a Rookie of the Year Award, was named to the United States Women’s Basketball Team in the off-season and last I heard she was tearing it up in Europe.

The frightening thing? McCoughtry will be better this year than she was last year. I don’t want to put the “game-changer” label on McCoughtry just yet; that might have to wait until 2010.

3. The surprise of Shalee Lehning. Over the course of the off-season, the Dream stocked up. They picked up Carol Ross, formerly head coach at Mississippi, to join the coaching staff. They picked up big time free agents in Sancho Lyttle and Michelle Snow. And of course, they added Holdsclaw and McCoughtry as well.

When Shalee Lehning of Kansas State was drafted in the second round, the fan reaction was “nod pleasantly”. Lehning wasn’t considered a top rank point guard, although she did score high on the Senior Prospects Metric. There was certainly no buzz about Lehning, no hint that she was overlooked – second round seemed a correct assessment. She’d most likely either get cut at training camp, or, if she was lucky, she’d ride the bench.

Then the bombshell went off in June when Meadors announced that popular point guard Ivory Latta failed to make the cut – and Lehning was going to be the point guard behind Nikki Teasley. The sound heard in Kansas was the sound of swear words from Latta fans across Atlanta. Lehning? The Dream’s starter? Realllly?

Oh yes, really. And even though her role seemed limited to pushing the ball into the post, Lehning would become the dream’s starting point guard. Lehning had a devoted following from Kansas State, each of whom became long distance Dream fans. Lehning supporters in and out of Kansas attributed to Lehning the qualities of an athlete out of a story book – soft spoken, saying “yes m’aam” and without any flash, the prototypical Selfless Athlete.

Latta returned when Teasley was dealt to the Shock – but Lehning stayed, and kept her starting role. A severe shoulder separation denied her the chance to go to the playoffs, but she was with the team to the bitter end. 2010 will reveal if Lehning has more surprises for us.

4. The Twin Towers. It seems that if you put two post players together that are each taller than 6’2”, you can call them the “Twin Towers”. I always thought of Ruth Riley and Ann Wauters being San Antonio’s version of the Towers; but Sancho Lyttle and Erika de Souza deserved that name.

Lyttle came to the Dream from the Houston dispersal draft. For Lyttle, who grew up overseas and learned basketball late in life, it seemed that she was following the quick trajectory of a person who was making quantum leaps in her acquisition of basketball knowledge.

As for Erika de Souza, Dream fans were denied seeing much of de Souza in 2009, due to injuries. What they saw surprised them. De Souza, who had come off a grueling season in the Spanish League, and who had the added burden of Euroleague games with Ros Casares, seemed to play with fresh legs every night. Meadors said something to the effect that “she is a beast”, and the Beast from Brazil was born.

The combination of Lyttle and de Souza in the post added two things that the Dream didn’t have in 2008. The first was height – with Michelle Snow as a back-up post, the Dream were the tallest team in the league. The second was toughness. In 2008, Dream opponents could waltz into a combination of Mattera and Lacy and come up with two points; in 2009 opposing teams ended up terrorized.

Lyttle and de Souza made it to the 2009 All-Star Game, their first seasons as All-Stars. Lyttle and de Souza were exactly as important to the Dream’s playoff season as Holdsclaw or McCoughtry were; all of the pieces needed to be there for it to happen.

5. Dream 106, Mercury 76. The Dream were already having a much better season, but there was still talk of the awful 2008 season. The old joke was that one person would say, “last night, the Dream were up 15 points in the fourth quarter” and the response would be “wow! Did they win?”

The Dream’s 106-76 demolishment of the Phoenix Mercury killed the ghost. There would be no asterisk next to this win – it wasn’t as if Diana Taurasi was in jail or Cappie Pondexter was recovering from a bad perm. The Dream blew out the Mercury in the first three quarters, had a 40-point lead late in the game, and near the end the Dream were trying impossible shots just to see if they would go in.

It was the first time that the Dream had not merely beaten a quality opponent – but whipped them. Granted the Dream had beaten opponents before – they beat the Sparks late in the 2008 season while on the road – but sometimes, you can stumble into a win. There was no “yes, butting” the 106-76 victory. One game doesn’t normally prove a season, but this game did. It meant that the rest of the league could no longer count on the Dream being an easy win.

6. Playoff glory. Near the end of the 2009 season, the Dream were managing to hang on to second place – barely – behind the Indiana Fever. Behind the Dream was a pack of barking dogs – the defending WNBA champion Detroit Shock, the Chicago Sky, the Washington Mystics and the Connecticut Sun. (Only the Liberty had played themselves out of contention.)

Near the end of the season one needed a calculator to determine who went where in the post season with what combination of wins and losses. In the 33rd game of the season – just before the final season game – the Dream beat the Connecticut Sun 88-64 to clinch second place and home field advantage in the playoffs.

Then it all fell apart. Shalee Lehning separated her shoulder in a meaningless final game in Washington. The Detroit Shock won easily in Detroit. The Atlanta Dream was bumped out of its home court second game by Sesame Street, of all things. At Gwinnett Arena, Deanna Nolan came back on fire from a first-game injury. The Dream played listlessly, and proved that playoff glory can be fleeting.

Dream fans took the good with the bad. Bad to lose the playoffs – but worse not to even go.

7. Coach of the Year. Head coach Marynell Meadors has been called a lot of things – even by Dream fans – but she’s never been considered Coach of the Year material.

The argument, however, could be made that we’ve never seen Meadors with a good team. Meadors was one of the eight original coaches of the WNBA, and only got two years with the Charlotte Sting before being fired in the middle of the third season. After that, she served at the college and WNBA levels in supporting coaching roles until Ron Terwilliger hired Meadors for another building project in 2008.

Meadors’s 2009 Atlanta Dream won 14 more games than the previous model, and made the playoffs. Even if Meadors were not a good coach, she was a great GM. Perhaps the feeling around the league was that she deserved it more than (relatively) new coach Lin Dunn. Meadors was given the honor of Coach of the Year in 2009, which sets the bar even higher for 2010.

8. The Dream survive. With a bad economy, a disastrous previous season and the Atlanta media treating the Dream as if it were a contagious case of cancer, the Dream’s attendance and gate suffered. Ron Terwilliger, who made his money in real estate, could now longer afford the Dream when the real estate market plunged in the off-season.

The big question was if Terwillger would find a buyer. If he didn’t, the Dream would be dispersed after just two years, the shortest life span of any WNBA team. There was also the threat that the Dream would leave Atlanta and end up in Oklahoma, as Tulsa investors were searching for a team.

The Dream, however, would be rescued. Kathy Betty, the widow of the CEO of Earthlink and a successful businesswoman in her own right, purchased the Dream, guaranteeing the survival of the team to at least the 2010 season. With the Detroit Shock ending up in Tulsa and the Sacramento Monarchs outright folding, the Dream’s survival was a close call.


So from the Pleasant Dreams blog, here's wishing all WNBA fans and Atlanta Dream fans a Happy New Year. "Next year is trophy year!"

Lehning Blogs Again

Next stop: either the Atlanta Dream, or ESPN.

And this was a lonnnnng blog entry! The complete entry can be found at Dream Diary: The Atlanta Dream Blog:

To give you a little perspective on the magnitude of my injury, Sam Bradford, quarterback for Oklahoma, had a 2nd degree sprain in his shoulder and missed most of his season… I had a 4th degree separation. Doctors say my injury is the equivalent to an ACL tear in the knee. My original plan was to graduate in December from Kansas State and then go to Europe to play in January. It appears that God had a different plan for me.

...

So I’m sure all of you are thinking what happens now? My priority right now is rehabbing my shoulder. I plan to stay here at KSU to work out and rehab. I’m on schedule as it relates to my progress and we are shooting for me to be completely released to play full contact in February. As of now, my shoulder is recovering nicely. I’ve been out of the sling for almost two months and can do all normal daily activities just fine without noticing my shoulder holding me back.


(* * *)

And what would an entry about Shalee Lehning's graduation be without photographs? The Atlanta Dream website hosts three photos on their website...take a look!

Shalee Lehning Graduates from Kansas State

Today was the Fall 2009 commencement ceremony for Kansas State University. According to @atlantadream on Twitter, Shalee Lehning has graduated Kansas State University. When she was drafted by the Dream, she still needed a few more credits to graduate. She eschewed going overseas right away in order to finish her last few courses and get her degree. Congratulations!

I can't find any specific information on her major. The last I heard, it was broadcast jouralism. Who knows, in a few years it might be LaChina and Shalee behind the microphone at Dream games?

Shalee Lehning at Hoops for Hope

A new do for Lehning?

Shalee Lehning was one of several current and former WNBA players who took part in the Hoops for Hope Game in Ashland, Kansas. The event was scheduled to provide a digital mammogram machine to Ashland in order to provide better protective care for the citizens of five small Kansas communities. Those citizens would have to drive 2 1/2 hours to obtain a mammogram otherwise.

Among the players there were Ruth Riley, Cynthia Cooper and Jackie Stiles. You can find Ruth Riley's diary of the event right here and a gallery of game images starting here.

Believe Again

SI.com - Sports Illustrated's internet brach - writes about the game in Ashland, Kansas in which Shalee Lehning took part. Joe Posnanski writes:

Among the bad is this: The closest mammogram machine to Ashland is two and a half hours away, in Wichita. Mammogram machines, you know, are used to detect the early stages of breast cancer ? the No. 1 form of cancer for women in the United States. The numbers are pretty staggering: The most commonly recited statistic I hear is that one in eight women in the U.S. will develop breast cancer at some point in their lives.

...

I often wonder why the George Bailey scene in It's A Wonderful Life has made so many people cry happily through the years. I'm sure that Mister Potter (and his bitter Twitter equivalent @HenryFPotter) would say it's sentimental hogwash, but I think it's because many people want to believe that, deep down, we do want to help each other, and because many want to believe that in our moment of crisis people want to help us. There are plenty of moments in our lives when it's hard to buy into any of that. But, every now and again, people will find their way to a small town in Kansas to help out because ... well, just because. And it's just enough to make you believe again.

Shalee Lehning to Play in Hoops for Hope Game

Hoops for Hope will play a basketball game in Ashland, Kansas on Friday, October 30th. And it looks like Shalee Lehning will put her books down for long enough to take part. Lehning is finishing up her degree at Kansas State in the off-season.

The roster:

Coach: Jackie Styles (WNBA)
Coach: Cynthia Cooper-Dyke (WNBA, Prairie View)

Shalee Lehning (Atlanta Dream), G
Marcy Sudbeck (Wichita State), F
Katie Smith (Kansas), G - not the Detroit Shock Katie Smith
Tasha Trundle (Missouri), G
Shahidrah Roberts-Cowgill (Nebraska), G
Ann Cavey-Jameson (Missouri State), C
Jannica Shultze (Sterling College), G
Molly Carter (Drury), G
Kelsey Konrade (Ashland HS), G
Naomi Bonilla (Ashland HS), G
Ashley Odermann (Ashlahd HS), G
Kira Hart (Ashland HS), PG
Nicole Preisner (Ashland HS), P
Megan Cunningham (Ashland HS), G

The money goes to the Kay Yow Fund and to cancer-preventative care provided by the WEPAC Alliance.

It's Official: Lehning Out for the Playoffs

Nothing we didn't already know, but the Dream front office has officially confirmed it:

ATLANTA, September 16, 2009— Dream guard Shalee Lehning underwent successful surgery on her left shoulder, the team announced today. A full recovery is expected, but Lehning will not be active during the playoffs.

Lehning suffered the injury (separated shoulder) during the second quarter of the Dream’s regular season finale against the Washington Mystics in a midcourt collision with Mystics guard Lindsey Harding as both players went after a loose ball.

Good luck. Don't forget the meds. Remember, you take the medication before the pain peaks, not when the pain peaks.

Voepel Implies that Lehning Will Play in Playoffs

An article by Mechelle Voepel for her old newspaper, the Kansas City Star, implies that Lehning will play in the playoffs:

Lehning laughed through the ache as she said that. Her coach, Marynell Meadors, acknowledges that when the collision happened, she feared a serious head or neck injury. Thankfully, it wasn’t that. But Lehning — who didn’t return in that game — still has an injured left shoulder that leaves her availability for tonight’s WNBA playoff opener with Detroit as a game-time decision.

“It’s going to take something pretty significant to keep me out,” Lehning said. “Tape it up and play.”

Meadors said, “She’s pretty banged-up. But she’s just a tough kid. Oh my goodness, is she tough.”


I doubt that Lehning is going to play. If she does play, we're going to have to give her a nickname. Like "True Grit" or something.

Lehning Out For The Season?

According to two posters on the Atlanta Dream Message Board, Lehning suffered a Type IV shoulder separation. There are six types of shoulder separation; this type has a displacement of the clavicle behind the acromioclavicular joint for those of you taking notes and in Lehning's case it involves ligament damage. She'll have surgery on Tuesday, followed by 4 to 5 months of rehab. (The types are not ordered in ascending severity; they merely describe six categories of injury.) Without having direct knowledge, I suspect that the surgery will be arthroscopic surgery.

Forget the playoffs. Hopefully, the rehab won't interfere with her studies at Kansas State where she finishes her degree. We'll have Lehning back next season.

The argument all season from a vocal segment of Dream fans is that Ivory Latta is the better point guard. Well, if there's any time to prove that assertion, it's now, because the playoffs start in Detroit on Wednesday.

Lehning Day-to-Day

According to the Mystics Insider, Shalee Lehning is now day-to-day with a left shoulder injury. As a commenter noted in an earlier post, Lehning will have an MRI on Monday.

P. S.: Also, from the Mystics Insider:

My story for tomorrow's paper is about Lindsey Harding, who led all scorers with 25 points to help reach the WNBA postseason for the first time in her career. Coach Julie Plank told reporters that prior to the game Harding had specifically requested to guard Atlanta's leading scorer, guard Iziane Castro Marques.

"The past few games she's been scoring over 20 points and shooting over 20 times I just wanted to lock her down," Harding said. "She's a really quick player and I know that I'm fast. I just wanted to lock her down and make her shots difficult, find a way to slow her down. I've never been in this position in the WNBA where I can control if we're going to the playoffs or not. All day I was so excited for this game. I wanted to win. I've had losing seasons [in my career]. So to have a chance to go to the playoffs it's just such a real thrill."

Well, if the goal was to lock Iziane down, Castro Marques went 6-for-17 with 17 points. If Iziane had hit two more free throws - she was 2-for-4 - it would have been 19 points. I hardly call that "locking Iziane down". The only player scoring more points than Iziane was McCoughtry.

Shalee Lehning: "Our Destiny is in Our Own Hands"

Shalee Lehning has a new entry under her blog for her hometown newspaper. Lehning first mentions the long road trip that the Dream have just finished:

We spent an extra day in between games so that time was spent in Sacramento. I didn’t explore much of that city. I spent my time doing homework so that was a pretty mundane city for me. However, Joy and Cherri Anne Jacquart made the trip all the way from Sublette again to watch. They had some family that lived close so their family came as well so it was fun to meet them. Two of the girls were in high school and they made an “Atlanta Dream” sign for me so that was neat to see. Joy forgot the famous “Sublette Loves Shalee” sign so they made a new sign that said “Sublette Loves 5” and supposedly a lady came up and asked who “Sublette” was because she didn’t see anyone with that last name!

Lehning also thinks that Phoenix is beautiful. So do I. My wife, who was raised there, has come to a different conclusion.

She also mentions tonight's game:

Now we are back in Atlanta for a week before we play our last home game against Connecticut. Right now we are one win away from making the playoffs. That is such an exciting thought! To think that in my first professional season my team is lined up to make the playoffs is pretty remarkable. However, we have to take care of business our last two games or we won’t make it. Basically, our destiny is in our own hands. We have played all season to be in this position so now we need to make sure that we don’t let this opportunity slip between our fingers.

To top off the excitement of the magnitude of this game, my sister and her husband are coming to watch!

We'll have to say "hi" if they identify themselves.

Shalee Lehning Getting Schooled

Shalee Lehning writes a new blog entry for her local paper. As it turns out, when she's not on the court for the Dream she has plenty to occupy her time:

I am a little behind on my blog because I have started school now so my free time has been taken up with reading text books and studying. Doesn’t that sound like fun?! There is nothing quite like sitting down to enjoy a 32-page chapter out of a text book

Yep, Lehning is working on finishing up her degree from Kansas State:

Most of you are probably wondering how I am taking classes while I’m still in Atlanta playing basketball. My professors have been very helpful and understanding so they are allowing me to do whatever work I can from afar and when I get back at the end of the month I will work overtime to catch up. I am grateful for their willingness to adapt to my situation but they have acknowledged that they appreciate the fact that even as a professional athlete I am still concerned about coming back to finish my degree.

Also in the blog: Lehning's search for pizza on the tough streets of Detroit.

Lehning Moves On Up

An article by Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes about Shalee Lehning making the starting rotation of the Dream.

An excerpt:

The 22-year-old had a bigger adjustment than basketball in coming to Atlanta. Lehning is small-town. From Sublette (population 1,200) in rural Kansas, she graduated with a class of 36. It took more than just Atlanta traffic to get used to.

“My mom was freaking out because there were six lanes of traffic. I said, ‘It’s not that bad once you get used to it,’ ” Lehning said.

After several trips to the Georgia Aquarium, Stone Mountain and many restaurants she is not looking back. She will return to Kansas State following the season to finish her last semester and graduate in December. She might even head to Europe to play during the offseason.

Lehning, Bird, and a Big Hunk of Rock

Shalee Lehning has a new blog post from her hometown paper.

Some comments about the recent Storm game:

On Thursday I was matched up to guard Katie Smith from Detroit and on Saturday I guarded Sue Bird from Seattle. Both of those players are Olympians so it was an honor to be able to play against them. I’ve watched Sue Bird play since she was at UCONN and I’ve studied a lot of film on her game attempting to learn different things from her, so when I found out I would be guarding her I got a bit nervous! My team is really playing well right now and with those two wins we secured 2nd place in the league so if we keep this up we will hopefully make the playoffs.

Among other things, Lehning got to see Stone Mountain:

Whitney and Kim stayed on Sunday so our group went to see Stone Mountain. I didn’t really know what we were getting ourselves into but it turned out great. We rode a gondola to the top of Stone Mountain and walked around the top of the mountain for a while. It was such a beautiful view from the top of the mountain looking down over the city. Then we rode a train around the mountain and learned a lot about the history of the park. There was also this ropes obstacle course that Whitney and I went through. We put harnesses on and dangled in the air while climbing through different obstacles. It was so fun! I sure am glad I’m not afraid of heights. That would definitely put a damper on my adventurous side.

The Dream's Resurgence and McCoughtry's Role

Sue over at the They're Playing Basketball blog asked me why Atlanta Dream is in second place after being in seventh place last year.

If I were to ask Bob Corwin, he'd probably roll his eyes and say, "Well, Pet, they have better players than they did in 2008." However, I think Sue F. is asking a more subtle question - "why is this group of players so good"?

Indeed, if you look at the Dream, they don't seem to have the kind of player like a Diana Taurasi or a Lauren Jackson, the kind of player that simply dominates every game. Yes, we have Chamique Holdsclaw, but she's not the player she was 10 years ago. Sancho Lyttle and Erika de Souza are All-Stars, but they don't strike anyone as superstars. How has the Dream been able to come together?

If I were to answer this without looking at a metric, I would say "depth". We have players like Angel McCoughtry, Michelle Snow, Ivory Latta all of whom are capable of having a breakout game - 15 plus points - on any night. Armintie Price was a former Rookie of the Year, and Jennifer Lacy isn't chopped meat. A lot of Dream games this year seem to be predicated on the philosophy, of "Okay, let's take our five starters and see if they're enough to win the game. If they can't, then we'll just find someone on the bench who is "up" tonight and wait until something clicks." It seems to be working, because it's rare the entire bench is cold.

In particular, I would have answered, "because we have Angel McCoughtry". I was thinking about a stat called "usage" which goes like this:

usage = 40 x (field goal attempts + (0.44 x free throw attempts) + (0.33 x assists) + turnovers) x (team pace / league pace) / minutes played

This is the "unadjusted" version of the stat. Technically, you need to know team pace and equalize it with league pace. But even the unadjusted version (as an estimate) can tell you a lot.

What fact did I remember about usage? I remembered that offensive efficiency declines with usage. I therefore jumped to one true conclusion and one false one:

1) That offensive efficiency increases with low usage, and that
2) Angel McCoughtry's low minutes indicated that she had a low usage rate - therefore, high offensive efficiency.

Which of the above is true and which is false? To know that, we have to know what usage really stands for:

usage = how much of a team's possessions a player uses up

Then this means that #1, above, is true. The more possessions any particular player uses up, the less efficient she's going to be. If an opposing team knows that player X is going to end up with the ball most of the time, defenses are going to key on player X and player X's efficiency will fall. Likewise, if player X doesn't have the ball, player X gets the benefit of the enemy not thinking about her.

However, as it turned out, #2 is wrong. (jaye would be chasitising me - "Really, Pet, did you think that McCoughtry wasn't using up Atlanta's possessions?")

Unadjusted Usage Rate for Atlanta Dream Players
Current roster only

McCoughtry 27.62
Holdsclaw 25.68
Castro Marques 24.31
Lyttle 21.65
Latta 18.36
De Souza 18.01
Snow 16.61
Miller 16.34
Lacy 15.62
Lehning 11.30
Price 0.00

As you can see, McCoughtry only plays 17.6 minutes a game but she gobble's up Atlanta's possessions. She's what would be called an "offense creator". McCoughtry loves to make her own shot, and the players behind her are Holdsclaw and Castro Marques...and you know that neither of them are afraid to take shots against all odds.

So McCoughtry's ability has little to do with how often she's played. What you can say is that McCoughtry, in terms of offense, is virtually a "sixth starter" - she can come off the bench and play just as well as a starter plays. She certainly controls the ball as often as a starter does. There aren't too many teams in the WNBA that have players like McCoughtry.

Look at the bottom of the list - next to Price, who has played all of 3 1/2 minutes, we have Lehning with an 11.30 usage rate - possessions don't end with Shalee Lehning for the most part. Q of Rethinking Basketball described five point guard styles: the initiator, the distributor, the facilitator, the scorer and the combo guard. Lehning's usage rate says nothing bad about her - it simply puts her at the Vickie Johnson/Tully Belivaqua end of the point guard spectrum instead of at the Sue Bird/Becky Hammon/Lindsay Whalen end.

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?

Shalee Lehning: Relaxing in Atlanta

Shalee Lehning is blogging again.

Lehning is with her family, and seeing some of the sights Atlanta has to offer:

Friday was a super fun day with the family. After practice, we all loaded up in our minivans (I made fun of my brother because he said he would never drive a minivan but now with two kids he does) and we went to the Georgia Aquarium. That was my third trip to the Aquarium this summer! The kids absolutely loved it. I felt like a tour guide because I basically have the aquarium memorized at this point. It was just a perfect afternoon for the whole family. Everyone enjoyed it and the kids were happy so it was a successful trip. That evening we went to eat at Joe’s Crab Shack which is an experience in itself.

Just remember that the Joe's Crab Shack experience isn't complete until you buy the shirt.

But will Shalee Lehning be playing overseas in the off-season? Possibly, no.

As soon as the season is over I will be going back to Manhattan [Kansas] to finish my degree. I only have one semester left so I will graduate in December.