The Whiteboard: 5 things to watch for in tonight’s WNBA Draft

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Every professional sports league has found themselves grappling with a new reality during the coronavirus shutdown, but the WNBA’s schedule is unique and so are their circumstances. They normally play a relatively short summer season and they don’t know exactly when that will be able to begin. But they held their free-agent period as normal (other than the fact that nobody could really meet face to face).

Now, tonight, they’ll be running their draft, fully digital. The entire thing will be aired on ESPN and, in addition to the structural peculiarities, they’ll be selecting from a pool of college players who had their seasons interrupted. Another day, another entirely new scenario unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.

The draft begins tonight at 7 p.m. ET and will almost certainly start with Oregon star Sabrina Ionescu being selected first by the New York Liberty. After that, everything is up in the air. Here are a few things to watch out for.

Does a digital draft actually work?

This is the first experiment for a major professional sports league with a fully digital draft. As anyone who’s tried to Zoom with their parents during quarantine can tell you, no digital communication platform is without its flaws. And that’s not even factoring in human error. Does the structure of the actual draft work as expected? What happens if a tree falls in the woods and takes out a team’s internet connection? Is it a compelling watch? What tips will the NFL pick up for their digital draft on Thursday, Apr. 23?

What are the Wings building?

The Dallas Wings are the team that will have the most power to shape this draft. Everyone knows Ionescu is going No. 1 but there isn’t a no-brainer waiting for the Wings at No. 2. And, with the No. 5 and No. 7 picks in hand as well, they have the capital to implement of variety of strategies. Arike Ogunbowale put up an eye-popping 19.1 points per game as a rookie last season but shot under 40 percent from the field and suffered from a lack of other threats to help keep the defense honest.

Allisha Gray was the only other player who made better than 35 percent of their 3s last season and adding some shooting, particularly in the frontcourt, could really help open the floor for Ogunbowale. Oregon’s Satou Sabally would add size and she made better 37.8 percent of her 3s over three college seasons. She’s in the No. 2 slot on a lot of mock drafts but Dallas has also been linked with Baylor’s Lauren Cox, who isn’t likely to fall out of the top 3. At High Post Hoops, Howard Megdal raised the possibility of Dallas trading No. 5 and No. 7 to Indiana to move up and get both Cox and Sabally but there are a lot of moving parts in the scenario.

Ultimately, the Wings are going to enter next season with a big influx of young talent. Who it is and exactly how it will complement Ogunbowale should be fascinating to unpack.

How about the Liberty?

The Liberty’s first pick is pretty much in the bag, setting them up for a star backcourt with Kia Nurse and last year’s top pick Asia Durr, pairing with Ionescu. But the Liberty have two other first-round picks (No. 9 and No. 12) and two of the first three picks in the second. New York traded their frontcourt anchor, Tina Charles, to fill their war chest of draft picks and, after taking Ionescu, will have used their last three top first-round picks on guards.

New York has some interesting pieces in the frontcourt but the roster is far from finished in that regard. How will they look to shore things up with all those picks, and what type of frontcourt players will they target?

Can a contender grab the missing piece?

The Washington Mystics were head and shoulders above the rest of the league last season — their point differential was 10.7 points per 100 possessions ahead of the second place Las Vegas Aces. Washington doesn’t have a first-round pick after trading theirs to New York for Charles, and neither do the next three teams with the highest point differentials from last season — Las Vegas, the Connecticut Sun and the Los Angeles Sparks. However, that doesn’t mean there won’t be contenders hunting for the final piece of the puzzle.

The Seattle Storm won the 2018 WNBA title but fell off dramatically last season as Breanna Stewart and Sue Bird were out with injuries. Both should be back and healthy; Natasha Howard had a chance to grow her skill set as an offensive leader; Jordin Canada got plenty of high-leverage developmental minutes and the Storm will be adding the No. 11 pick. There could be plenty of options available to them for plug-and-play contributors who could help them chase another title.

The Phoenix Mercury are in a similar boat, having played most of last season without Diana Taurasi. She’s healthy and focused on one more deep playoff run. The Mercury did lose DeWanna Bonner to Connecticut but added Skylar Diggins-Smith this offseason. They have the No. 10 pick and could also add a polished contributor to try and help them break the Mystics stranglehold on the top.

What skills do teams value right now?

Howard Megdal’s most recent mock draft at High Post Hoops didn’t have a single “pure” center going in the first round, ditto for ESPN’s. Going by positional designations may be splitting hairs but Beatrice Mompremier and Ruthy Hebard are the only players regularly mocked in the first round who would be considered traditional, paint-bound bigs. The WNBA is evolving towards mobility, ball-handling and shooting, just like every other professional basketball league on the planet. Seeing who rises and falls on draft night may just emphasize how the league is changing and how teams are looking to stay ahead of the curve.

#OtherContent

SBNation’s Matt Ellentuck is hosting a WNBA Draft party on his Twitch channel, with special guests Natasha Cloud, Gabby Williams and Alex Bazzell. If you’re looking for fun and analysis as you follow along with the draft, this is a great second-screen choice.

Many of us are coping with quarantine and social isolation by spending a lot more time in the kitchen. Here, the staff of The Step Back shares some of their favorite NBA-themed recipes. I’ll be trying the Danilo Cavatelli next week. Stay tuned for a report.

The NBA has established a new and more viable pathway for top high school prospects to bypass the NCAA and head straight to the G League for a year of seasoning and intense development. The financial incentives are much more reasonable than what the NCAA offers and the developmental scenarios are probably much more meaningful. Kudos to the league for putting it together and kudos to Jalen Green for being the first elite prospect to jump in.