Looking to Guards to Make an Impact

The 2006 WNBA draft will be a good one -- if your team is looking for guards.

The draft will be a solid one -- if your team is not looking for an impact player beyond the first five or six picks.

Otherwise, today’s draft will be like shopping at Tiffany’s with a Wal-Mart coupon.

Coaches and general managers attending Monday’s pre-draft camp here at Emanuel College have said, “We’ll take the best player available.” Which is code for, “We’ll pick whoever’s left.”

“I think the top five-six have become clear,” Minnesota Coach Suzie McConnell Serio said.

“It’s pretty much who people predicted they would be, although there could always be some surprises. You never really know what coaches are thinking.”

McConnell Serio’s Lynx have the first pick after winning the league’s draft lottery.

It should be a no-brainer: Louisiana State guard Seimone Augustus, the NCAA’s leading scorer with a 23-point average and a two-time Wade Trophy winner who helped LSU reach the Final Four in three consecutive seasons.

Still, McConnell Serio pointed out that her team needed a point guard, and that Rutgers’ Cappie Pondexter is available.

Assuming Minnesota takes Augustus, Phoenix, drafting second, is expected to take Pondexter, although there has been talk of trading her after the selection. Phoenix General Manager Seth Sulka huddled here with Detroit Coach Bill Laimbeer and San Antonio Coach Dan Hughes, but no deal was struck.

Charlotte is third and figures to take Duke guard Monique Currie, although Baylor forward Sophia Young also appeals to General Manager Trudi Lacey.

If Charlotte does take Young, San Antonio figures to take Currie with the fourth pick.

After that ...

“You do have players that can come into the league and have an immediate impact, like [Diana] Taurasi and Lauren Jackson, but that’s rare,” Lacey said. “Most players, especially big players, take a year or so to make the adjustment from college to pro.”

The Sparks have the fifth pick as part of the trade that sent Nikki Teasley to Washington for Temeka Johnson.

General Manager Penny Toler wouldn’t comment, but other sources within the organization indicated that the Sparks were considering Georgia guard Sherrill Baker, barring an unexpected shake-up.

UCLA guards Lisa Willis and Nikki Blue could get first-round calls.

Willis had a tremendous senior season, starting with a gold medal with the USA women’s team at the World University Games in Izmir, Turkey. She was the most valuable player of the Pacific 10 Conference tournament, and ended her college career as UCLA’s all-time leader in three-point shots and the conference’s all-time leader in steals.

Willis and Connecticut’s Barbara Turner raised their stock the highest in the eyes of some coaches and general managers.

“I believe Lisa will go in the top 10,” said John Whisenant, coach and general manager of league champion Sacramento, which has the 13th and 14th picks of the first round.