Melissa Smith, Ryan Howard, Howard discussed on WNBA Nation
Automatic TRANSCRIPT
So it's a way for you to be able to freely support the coverage of women's basketball. So we do appreciate all of the Twitch love that we have over there. Let's get into this. Let's hop in and actually start talking about this draft. I'm actually going to tie each of these picks not only to the number of pick, but to the actual team. And I went a little more in depth this time as far as looking at team needs or team personalities. Or where I think that teams might be maybe they're history of players that have been successful for them as a franchise, could influence if I had a couple of two or three players that were really close. That I was looking at in a specific pick for a specific team. I went really in depth into each of the team rosters and kind of where they're at and tried to make some determinations there. But let's go ahead and get started with our number one pick that is going to go with the Washington mystics and if you would have asked me a week or two ago to have this episode, I would have switched my number one picks. But the last couple of weeks have been good to the Kentucky wildcats and to Ryan Howard in particular. Starting to turn things around here. So I think Washington is going to go with Ryan Howard for the number one overall pick. For the last two weeks, I moved nalyssa Smith up from number two up to number one. Simply because Kentucky was looking like they were struggling. Howard seemed to be still putting up some pretty good numbers, but just wasn't being it wasn't able to take over games in ways that she could and should. She had a really strong showing against South Carolina, which ended up in a 9 point loss for Kentucky. But since then, they've rattled off 5 straight W's and are looking like they are going to make the NCAA tournament, which it was looking pretty shaky there for a few weeks, but it looks like they are going to be making the tournament as long as the wheels don't totally fall off. These last few games of the season. So Ryan Howard, here's the reason why she is still my number one overall pick. And that is simply because she is a big guard that she has some really great size for a guard. That's been a really helpful element for a lot of successful guards in the WNBA. Not only that, but she is so comfortable with the ball in her hands. When she's dribbling, shooting, passing, everything she does, it just looks easy. It looks natural. And so I think that, you know, getting into a WNBA franchise working alongside with teammates that are going to be significantly better than her Kentucky teammates, I think that she's going to be really, really able to flourish as a point guard. She's got a fantastic basketball IQ. She has a nose for the ball on defense. She honestly, she's a faster version of Chelsea gray and has a better shot. That's kind of where I see that. So she's really solid there. So I've got Ryan Howard as my number one overall pick again that could easily change. It's still a razor thin margin between Howard and Melissa Smith and B but also, again, taking into consideration team need. I do think that the Washington mystics that Howard fits their roster and fits their team needs very well there. I think that being able to have Howard as kind of an incoming young generation of a guard in that in that roster is going to be a really solid move for them. They've already got quite a few big bodies and so that's why I leaned with Howard going number one as opposed to Alyssa Smith. So I bet you can't guess who is going number two overall to Indiana, Kenya. Number two, overall pick going to the Indiana fever is Melissa Smith. Melissa Smith has done absolutely everything this season to secure her as a lock for the number one number two spot. And she's currently averaging 21.2 points per game, 11, just over 11 rebounds per game as well. And she isn't like a prolific block blocker, you know, she doesn't she doesn't block a ton of shots, but she does play some really solid defense in his in positions to cause the other team, not that she gets a hand on the ball, but the way that she positions herself defensively can affect a lot of the other teams shooting and that's also why she's in place for so many defensive rebounds. She had 14 defensive rebounds just the other day against Oklahoma state. So she's a fantastic player, really excited to see what Alyssa can do in the WNBA. She actually, the way that she moves, I feel that she has a similar vibe, she's kind of like an Asia Wilson light right now. She has a she can move into space on offense. She has a real, just natural, she naturally finds herself where her teammates can get her the ball. And that helps her. She's one of the best, she's one of the most efficient scorers in all of basketball right now. She's shooting 55% from the field. And her free throw shootings looking better and better as the season progresses. She's now up to 70 7% from the line. Started out a little shakier than that. Previously, but looking really strong right now. Melissa Smith, here's the thing. Whether Smith goes to Washington or Indiana. She's going to be a mainstay in this league for a long time. I think there was a lot of question marks about the last couple top prospects going into the league last year. I don't have any question marks around Alyssa Smith. I think she's going to come in and probably be an immediate contributor to whoever decides to take her, whether that's Washington or Indiana. I don't see a circumstance where we see like we had last year with Charlie Collier and owa queer in Dallas where they both got drafted number one number two and then really didn't sniff the floor. So I don't see that being the case for either Howard or Smith here, I think that they're going to be immediate contributors and I'm excited to see what they do. There is a little bit of a gap. I feel like Smith and Howard, number one, number two, I think that's a lock at this point. I mean, even, I mean, even a major injury to either of these players, I still think they go number one number two overall. And which makes the next few picks really interesting. I've gone back and forth and there's been a lot of moving up and down for my picks like three through 12. All right. I constantly am tweaking these picks a lot more than I am my number one number two. However, my number three pick is actually someone who I've had up at number three for the majority of this season. I really, really like what I see from this player. And that is 6 foot 5 center out of old miss Shakira Austin. Shakira Austin has a WNBA ready body. She's able to not just her height, but the strength that she has, she moves really well. I like a lot from what we see from Shakira Austin. If she wants to study some film, if I were her, I would do everything I could to become Sylvia falls two..