|
|
Liberty Selects Doron!
Lior Klinger
,04/04/2007 |
The dream has come true. The New York Liberty selected Shay Doron with the 16th overall pick of the 2007 WNBA draft, the 3rd pick in the 2nd round. Doron's reaction moments after her selection plus a review of her new team – inside.
With the 16th pick of the 2007 WNBA draft, the New York Liberty selects Shay Doron, of the University of Maryland. After four amazing years in college park, Shay Doron arrived at The Renaissance Hotel in Cleveland tonight to find out what will be the first stop in her professional career.
Even before the draft, there were some talk about New York being an option, since Doron calls NY home and went to Christ The King high school. The first pick of the draft by Phoenix was Duke's Lindsey Harding, who was soon traded to Minnesota in a move that didn't come as a surprise. The next trade however, was quite a shocker. The New York Liberty, who selected Texas' Tiffany Jackson with the 5th overall pick, traded their franchise player Becky Hammon to San Antonio in exchange for the 2nd overall pick in the draft, Jessica Davenport of Ohio State.
Without Hammon the Liberty had a major void to fill at the 2-guard position, and they knew exactly who could help them do that. New York chose Shay Doron with their first pick in the 2nd round, 16th overall. "I cannot even speak right now," Doron told WNBA.COM moments after hearing her name called, "I'm so happy right now. I'm shaking. I grew up wanting to play at MSG and I cannot wait to play for that franchise. I cannot wait to help them out in any way I can".
The next question was how has playing in Maryland helped prepare her for the next level. "I Definitely think I'm ready", said Doron, "Brenda [Frese] is a great coach and I've played with great talent, which I will also do at the next level. I've had so many opportunities and experiences at Maryland. To go from 8th in the ACC to the national championship, Maryland has prepared me for the next level."
"It's an incredible pick, I am overjoyed" said Galit Musai, who coached Doron at Ramat Hasharon until 10th grade. "This was her dream, we had a private joke between us that she would end up playing for the Liberty and it came true. I'm stunned and I hope she succeeds," she continued, "she is a coach's player who just needs a chance to show what she can do".
In the 3rd round New York selected center Martina Webber of Iona, so Doron is the only guard selected by the team this year. Trading Becky Hammon, the face of the Liberty and the team's captain after 8 seasons in New York is definitely one of the biggest surprises in league history. New York's management has never made such a gutsy move. Maybe after watching the playoffs on TV for a few years they decided it was time to rebuild.
Shay Doron will have to earn her spot on the final roster in the team's training camp which starts on the 22nd of April, but she couldn't have asked for a better situation. At the point guard position the Liberty has Loree Moore, 3rd year player out of Tennessee who started 29 games and averaged 6.1 points and 2.1 assists per game last season. At shooting guard where Hammon used to play, the Liberty's top option is Sherill Baker, a speedy guard who was the team's 1st round pick last year (12th overall) and averaged 7.4 points in 17.9 minutes per game as a rookie. Also at the two New York has Erin Thorn, a very good but one dimensional 3-point shooter entering her 4th season in the league.
At the 3 spot the Liberty boast Shameka Christon, definitely not a stranger to Israeli basketball fans who should now become the team's #1 star with Hammon gone. Christon's back up is UConn grad Ashley Battle, who played 13.9 minutes and scored 4.3 points per game last year. The team's front line includes of course Jessica Davenport & Tiffany Jackson, along with Cathrine Kraayeveld, Barbara Farris and Janel McCarville.
With the 3rd pick of the draft the Chicago Sky selected Armintie Price of Mississippi, who should be one of the front runners for Rookie of the Year. UCLA's Noell Quinn was a surprising pick at #4 to the Minnesota Lynx, The Washington Mystics picked up Bernice Mosby of Baylor with the 6th pick. Purdue's Katie Gearlds was the 7th pick to Seattle, and the Houston Comets pick S.W Tenn's Ashley Shields with the 8th pick. The Indiana Fever got a steal with Duke's Alison Bales at #9, Vanderbilt's Carla Thomas went #10 to Chicago. The defending champions Detroit Shock finally picked up UNC's Ivory Latta who was projected to go top 3 in every mock draft with the 11th overall pick, and the finalists Connecticut Sun picked up Kamesha Hairston of Temple and Sandrine Gruda of Valenciennes, France with the last picks of the 1st round.
Latest stories
|
|
|
Print
|
|
|
|
|