WNBA Draft Rewind

Ameryst Alston’s numbers really stand out to me. The second scorer on her team averages 10 ppg. Alston has to do everything herself, and is apparently slotted in as their PG. She used to be Kelsey Mitchell’s sidekick at Ohio State, and was still a pretty good scorer back then, but not as an overall playmaker like this.

Although, I’ve come to understand that this is Turkey’s secondary league that she’s doing this in (TKBL, as opposed to the primary KBSL), so maybe anything that comes outta here is generally ignored by W GMs. The only other notable American in this league is Sasha Goodlett, who herself is doing it all for her team.

Alleyne is a slightly undersized 4, for better or worse. She’s gotten multiple camp invites over the years. Maybe she gets another one, maybe she doesn’t. If she doesn’t suffer that ACL tear her senior year at Oregon, maybe she would’ve stuck, cuz she was prolific at a time when Oregon wbb was just starting to be on the rise.

I’ll work on doing 2017’s forgotten bunch later.

Alston's numbers are impressive but she's playing in the Turkish second division. She's racking up big numbers against second tier local players and the occasional decent import. She's also put up big numbers in Iceland and Switzerland in recent years, but those are definitely minor European leagues. She needs to play against better competition full stop.

2017 Draftees who’ve been MIA from the league – where are they now?

’22-’23 overseas stats from current team only


Evelyn Akhator – unknown (last played in Nov. ’22 for Landes [France] but has not been on roster since)
Oderah Chidom – France: Hainaut – 11 gp, 20 ppg on 56% 2pt, 8 rpg, 1.5 spg
Shayla Cooper – Egypt: Alexandria Sporting Club – stats unknown
Feyonda Fitzgerald – Turkey: Antalya 07 – 16 gp, 23 ppg on 49% 2pt & 38% 3pt, 4.8 apg to 3.9 topg, 2.3 spg
Saicha Grant-Allen – Russia: Nika – 19 gp, 12 ppg on 50% 2pt & 32% 3pt, 9 rpg, 0.8 bpg
Kai James – Spain: Tenerife – 18 gp, 9 ppg on 39% 2pt, 7 rpg
Jessica January – unknown (last played in Dec. ’22 for Sosnowiec [Poland] but has not been on roster since)
Alexis Jones – Poland: Torun – 15 gp, 22 ppg on 53% 2pt & 39% 3pt, 6 rpg, 6.1 apg to 5.3 topg, 1.5 spg
Mehryn Kraker – Sweden: Lulea Basket – 3 gp, 9 ppg on 73% 2pt & 12% 3pt, 5 rpg, 3.7 apg to 2.0 topg, 2.3 spg
Adrienne Motley – Romania: Rapid – 8 gp, 17 ppg on 46% 2pt & 48% 3pt, 5 rpg, 4.4 apg to 2.5 topg, 1.4 spg
Schaquilla Nunn – Hungary: Vasas Csata – 17 gp, 9 ppg on 48% 2pt, 8 rpg
Alexis Peterson – France: Angers – 11 gp, 16 ppg on 43% 2pt & 41% 3pt, 5.5 apg to 3.7 topg, 2.0 spg – Eurocup stats: 8 gp, 18 ppg on 49% 2pt & 50% 3pt, 4.0 apg to 3.4 topg, 3.3 spg
Alexis Prince – Turkey: Hatay – 16 gp, 20 ppg on 47% 2pt & 37% 3pt, 9 rpg – Eurocup stats: 8 gp, 16 ppg on 43% 2pt & 35% 3pt, 10 rpg, 0.9 bpg
Jordan Reynolds – unknown (last played in Nov. ’22 for Fribourg [Switzerland] but has not been on roster since)
Leticia Romero – Spain: Valencia – 18 gp, 10 ppg on 48% 2pt & 43% 3pt, 2.7 apg to 1.6 topg – Euroleague stats: 11 gp, 9 ppg on 44% 2pt & 39% 3pt, 4.0 apg to 2.4 topg, 1.9 spg

Maybe not anyone from the 2017 draft. I'm working on the 2018 redraft and that class has turned out very well. I wonder if anyone from 2020 or 2021 gets into a training camp. Stephanie Watts? Shyla Heal? Slocum? Guirantes? Megan Walker? Te'a Cooper?

I think Guirantes will get an invite and I wouldn't be surprised if the other Americans did as well (though not particularly keen on any of them). I'd be surprised if Heal got an invite - she's had several substandard WNBL seasons and doesn't look close to WNBA quality atm.

Thanks for doing these toad455, they are interesting food for thought.

I think that's a pretty solid 2018 redraft. I might draft Stevens over DeShields but I can see the argument for doing vice versa.

Ariel Atkins is an interesting example of a highly ranked high school player (#3 in ESPN 100) who didn't play up to her ranking in college but has flourished in the WNBA. She has lived up to her college recruit ranking... after college lol.

Marie Gülich has developed into a solid post in Europe - she has a nice inside-outside game (can legitimately hit threes consistently) and is a decent post defender. I think she could be a solid WNBA bench player (at least) but like so many other Europeans, she falls into that "I'm making good dollars in Europe, why would I bother struggling to make a WNBA bench" category.