2007 WNBA draft
General information
SportBasketball
Date(s)January 8 – April 4, 2007
LocationCleveland, Ohio (main draft)
Network(s)ESPN2, NBATV, ESPNU
Overview
LeagueWNBA
Merging teamsCharlotte Sting
(folded in 2006)
First selectionLindsey Harding
Minnesota Lynx

The 2007 WNBA draft was the league's annual process for determining which teams receive the rights to negotiate with players entering the league.

The first phase, held January 8, 2007 via conference call, was a dispersal draft from the roster of the Charlotte Sting, which folded on January 3.[1] This was the first dispersal draft since before the 2004 season, after the Cleveland Rockers folded.[2] The teams selected in inverse order of their 2006 won-loss record, without regard to the results of the WNBA draft lottery. All Sting players were available except for unrestricted free agents Allison Feaster and Tammy Sutton-Brown.[2]

The main draft was held on April 4, 2007, inside the Renaissance Hotel on Cleveland's Public Square, the day after the 2007 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament ended.[3]

The previous year's draft was held in Boston the night before the championship game of the 2006 NCAA women's basketball tournament, which was also in Boston. This marked the first WNBA draft ever held outside of New Jersey.

A lottery was held on October 26, 2006, among the teams with the worst records in the previous season to determine the order of the top six picks in the first round of the draft. As in the NBA draft, the teams' chances were weighted so that the team with the worst record, in this case the Chicago Sky, had the best chance of receiving the top pick. The lottery was used to determine only the top two picks, with picks 3 through 6 going to the other lottery teams in inverse order of record. The Phoenix Mercury, despite having the best record of the six teams involved and thus the worst mathematical chance of winning, drew the top pick. It was the first time since the institution of the lottery for the 2002 Draft that the top pick was earned by the team with the worst mathematical chance of winning. Also for the first time, the team with the second-worst odds of earning the top pick, in this case the San Antonio Silver Stars, received the second pick.[4] The remaining first-round picks, plus all picks in the second and third rounds, are allocated in inverse order of regular-season record, without regard to playoff results (as in the NBA Draft).

Key

+ Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-Star Game
Bold Denotes player who won Rookie of the Year

Dispersal Draft

Pick Player Nationality New Team Former Team
1 Monique Currie  United States Chicago Sky Charlotte Sting
2 Tangela Smith  United States Minnesota Lynx Charlotte Sting
3 Janel McCarville  United States New York Liberty Charlotte Sting
4 Helen Darling  United States San Antonio Silver Stars Charlotte Sting
5 Kelly Mazzante  United States Phoenix Mercury Charlotte Sting
6 Teana Miller  United States Washington Mystics Charlotte Sting
7 Tye'sha Fluker  United States Seattle Storm Charlotte Sting
8 Yelena Leuchanka  Belarus Houston Comets Charlotte Sting
9 Sheri Sam  United States Indiana Fever Charlotte Sting
10 LaToya Bond  United States Sacramento Monarchs Charlotte Sting
11 Passed Detroit Shock Charlotte Sting
12 Ayana Walker  United States Los Angeles Sparks Charlotte Sting
13 Passed Connecticut Sun Charlotte Sting
Note: Two former Sting players, Tasha Butts and Summer Erb, were not selected in this draft.

College draft

Round 1

Pick Player Nationality Team School / club team
1 Lindsey Harding  United States Phoenix Mercury (traded to Minn.) Duke
2 Jessica Davenport  United States San Antonio Silver Stars (traded to N.Y.) Ohio State
3 Armintie Price  United States Chicago Sky Ole Miss
4 Noelle Quinn  United States Minnesota Lynx UCLA
5 Tiffany Jackson  United States New York Liberty Texas
6 Bernice Mosby  United States Washington Mystics Baylor
7 Katie Gearlds  United States Seattle Storm Purdue
8 Ashley Shields  United States Houston Comets Southwest Tennessee CC
9 Alison Bales  United States Indiana Fever Duke
10 Carla Thomas  United States Chicago Sky (from Sac.) Vanderbilt
11 Ivory Latta +  United States Detroit Shock North Carolina
12 Kamesha Hairston  United States Connecticut Sun (from L.A.) Temple
13 Sandrine Gruda  France Connecticut Sun Valenciennes (France)

Round 2

Pick Player Nationality Team School / club team
14 Dee Davis  United States Houston Comets (from Chicago) Vanderbilt
15 Shay Murphy  United States Minnesota Lynx USC
16 Shay Doron  Israel New York Liberty Maryland
17 Camille Little  United States San Antonio Silver Stars North Carolina
18 Tyresa Smith  United States Phoenix Mercury Delaware
19 Megan Vogel  United States Washington Mystics South Dakota State
20 Stephanie Raymond  United States Chicago Sky (from Sea.) Northern Illinois
21 Jessica Dickson  United States Chicago Sky (from Hou.) South Florida
22 Lyndsey Medders  United States Indiana Fever Iowa State
23 Brooke Smith  United States Sacramento Monarchs Stanford
24 Kathrin Ress  Italy Minnesota Lynx (from Det.) Boston College
25 Sidney Spencer  United States Los Angeles Sparks Tennessee
26 Cori Chambers  United States Connecticut Sun Georgia

Round 3

Pick Player Nationality Team School / club team
27 Jenna Rubino  United States Chicago Sky DePaul
28 Leah Rush  United States Phoenix Mercury (from Minn.) Oklahoma
29 Martina Weber  Germany New York Liberty Iona
30 Nare Diawara  Mali San Antonio Silver Stars Virginia Tech
31 Chrissy Givens  United States Phoenix Mercury Middle Tennessee
32 Gillian Goring  Trinidad and Tobago Washington Mystics North Carolina State
33 Brandie Hoskins  United States Seattle Storm Ohio State
34 Kristen Newlin  United States Houston Comets Stanford
35 Ashley Key  United States Indiana Fever North Carolina State
36 Meg Bulger  United States Sacramento Monarchs West Virginia
37 Emily Westerberg  United States Phoenix Mercury (from Det.) Arizona State
38 Amanda Brown  Canada Los Angeles Sparks Penn State
39 Kiera Hardy  United States Connecticut Sun Nebraska

See also

References

General
  • "All-Time WNBA draft history". WNBA. Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved June 4, 2008.
Specific
  1. ↑ "Chicago Sky Selects Monique Currie in Dispersal Draft". WNBA. January 8, 2007. Archived from the original on January 27, 2007. Retrieved January 8, 2007.
  2. 1 2 "Charlotte Sting Dispersal Draft To Be Held on January 8". WNBA. January 4, 2007. Archived from the original on January 10, 2007. Retrieved January 6, 2007.
  3. ↑ "2007 WNBA Draft to Cap Weeklong Celebration of Women's Basketball in Cleveland". WNBA. February 7, 2007. Archived from the original on March 14, 2007. Retrieved March 9, 2007.
  4. ↑ "Phoenix Mercury Win Top Pick in 2007 WNBA Draft". WNBA. October 26, 2006. Archived from the original on January 28, 2007. Retrieved January 6, 2007.
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