21 July 2012
Team USA & the WNBA Draft
During the televised pre-Olympic games, the announcers mentioned that seven of the twelve players had been #1 draft picks.
Being me, I immediately tried to figure out who they were. I came up with six easily: Sue Bird (2002), Diana Taurasi (2004), Candace Parker (2008), Angel McCoughtry (2009), Tina Charles (2010), and Maya Moore (2011).
I knew the seventh had to be either Sylvia Fowles or Seimone Augustus, but I wasn't sure which. It turns out it was Seimone Augustus (2006).
The other five players are:
- two #2's: Swin Cash (2002) and Sylvia Fowles (2008)
- one #3: Tamika Catchings (2001)
- two #4's: Asjha Jones (2002) and Lindsay Whalen (2004)
(For the record, the only reason Tamika Catchings dropped all the way to #3 is because she was injured. So injured, in fact, that her rookie season was in 2002.)
What struck me is that there are NO players on the team from 2003, 2005, or 2007. Those were BAD draft years. 2007 hasn't even produced a single All-Star player! 2003 had Kara Lawson at #5, and she was on the Olympic team in 2008, but that's it. (2005 had Sancho Lyttle at #5, who plays for the Spanish Nation Team.)
By the way...
Sue Bird has returned to the team. They played Croatia (who is also their first opponent in the Olympics) and crushed them.
Being me, I immediately tried to figure out who they were. I came up with six easily: Sue Bird (2002), Diana Taurasi (2004), Candace Parker (2008), Angel McCoughtry (2009), Tina Charles (2010), and Maya Moore (2011).
I knew the seventh had to be either Sylvia Fowles or Seimone Augustus, but I wasn't sure which. It turns out it was Seimone Augustus (2006).
The other five players are:
- two #2's: Swin Cash (2002) and Sylvia Fowles (2008)
- one #3: Tamika Catchings (2001)
- two #4's: Asjha Jones (2002) and Lindsay Whalen (2004)
(For the record, the only reason Tamika Catchings dropped all the way to #3 is because she was injured. So injured, in fact, that her rookie season was in 2002.)
What struck me is that there are NO players on the team from 2003, 2005, or 2007. Those were BAD draft years. 2007 hasn't even produced a single All-Star player! 2003 had Kara Lawson at #5, and she was on the Olympic team in 2008, but that's it. (2005 had Sancho Lyttle at #5, who plays for the Spanish Nation Team.)
By the way...
Sue Bird has returned to the team. They played Croatia (who is also their first opponent in the Olympics) and crushed them.
Labels: Olympics, Seattle Storm, WNBA
# posted by mamurd @ 10:19 PM 
