April 10, 2010 - 11:23am
The weather in Uncasville didnt matter April 8: The sun was definitely shining in the Mohegan casino, home of the happiest draft day franchise.
Sure, everyone knew Connecticut was going to get premier post Tina Charles with the first pick, but by the time the last players name had been announced, the Sun had set themselves up for this year and next.
First, the 6-4 Charles gives Mike Thibault immediate depth in the post, if not a starter. Sandrine Gruda and DeMya Walker are both very solid WNBA players, and Charles addition means the Sun wont have to rely on the inconsistent, and 33-year-old, Tamika Whitmore.
Then, for no apparent reason, Allison Hightower dropped all the way to 15, and Connecticut was able to add an athletic, long wing who just spent two years playing for Van Chancellor at LSU, and is probably as WNBA-ready as any guard in the draft.
So the Sun are looking at two potential rotation players with those two picks and also traded for the number three overall choice, and selected Kelsey Griffin of Nebraska. Most mock drafts had Griffin going much lower, and theres a serious question about her ability to play the post in the WNBA (and she has no perimeter game to speak of), but Thibault rolled the dice.
He also rolled the dice on the Maya Moore sweepstakes, giving up his number one pick in the 2011 draft to get Griffin, in essence saying that Griffin gives Connecticut more than whoever the Suns top choice in 2011 would be able to.
There is a fallback, though: With the seventh pick (lifted from Tulsa for a pair of disposable parts), the Sun took Danielle McCray, who will miss this season with a torn ACL, and wont count against the salary cap. Shell be ready to go, presumably, in 2011, and thus will be the stand-in for the number-one choice that Connecticut traded for Griffin.
Yes, theres an element of risk, especially if Connecticut crashes and burns and winds up with the top pick in next years draft. Then, like New York this year, the Sun will watch someone else cherrypick the best player. But barring that, Thibaults plan seems sound and the Sun restocked their roster with some solid young talent on draft day.
As for the rest of the draft: