The Utah Starzz lost second-year guard Kim Williams to the Minnesota Lynx in Tuesday's WNBA expansion draft.
Williams was the third choice in the draft. Minnesota's first pick of the draft was forward Brandy Reed from the Phoenix Mercury, followed by Andrea Congreaves of the Charlotte Sting, who was drafted by the other expansion team, the Orlando Miracle.The other five players taken in Tuesday's draft were No. 4 Kisha Ford (from New York Liberty) by the Miracle, No. 5 Octavia Blue (Los Angeles Sparks) by the Lynx, No. 6 Yolanda Moore (Houston Comets) by the Miracle, No. 7 Adia Barnes (Sacramento Monarchs) by the Lynx and No. 8 Adrienne Johnson (Cleveland Rockers) by the Miracle.
Management personnel of WNBA teams were forbidden by the league to talk about players made available for Tuesday's expansion draft.
The only ones supposed to know which players were made available were the Minnesota Lynx, who had the first pick Tuesday, and the Orlando Miracle, the other 1999 expansion team. They had the established teams' unprotected lists to study for about two weeks.
The 10 teams that played the 1998 season could each protect six players, leaving another five or more unprotected. Minnesota and Orlando were to select four players each, meaning two established teams would lose no players. No team could lose more than one.
The Utah Starzz' management took the league's gag order to heart and refused to discuss anything about the protected lists prior to the draft.
But conventional wisdom says the Starzz protected their big three of Wendy Palmer, Elena Baranova and Margo Dydek. As rookies, LaTonya Johnson and Olympia Scott Richardson, whose baby girl was due to be born Tuesday, showed promise and were Utah's No. 2 and 3 draft picks in 1998 behind the 7-foot-2 Dydek, so they might have been among the protected.
That would leave one more, probably from the guard line -- most likely veteran guard Tammi Reiss -- to protect. She missed some of last season with an ankle injury but still started 16 of the 21 games in which she played. In her two years with the Starzz, she started 42 of her 49 games.
Assuming Reiss, that likely left Williams, forward Jessie Hicks, who set out 1998 on materniaty leave, guards Dena Head, Chantel Tremitiere, Tricia Bader and Erin Alexander as those available to either the Lynx or Miracle to choose from.
Complicating such expansion-draft prognostications are the issues of players who are pregnant and unavailable for all or part of the '99 season, of second-year WNBA players who technically don't have contracts now and of the 2000 Olympics.
Standard WNBA contracts are for one year plus an option year at the team's discretion, and that year is up for those who played in 1997. Also, some players want to be available for the 2000 Olympics and may not wish to be obligated to the WNBA next season, meaning the expansion teams might avoid picking them.
The WNBA free-agent draft is set for April 27.
WNBA'S LABOR WOES: Utah Starzz management remains mum, by league order, to developments surrounding the WNBA's looming labor strife that could erupt as early as this week and threatens to delay the start of the regular season in June.
If this all sounds familiar to the just-concluded NBA lockout, well, it is. The recently formed WNBA Players' Association, a part of the NBA Players Association, has asked for large salary raises, a limit on the number of players absorbed by the WNBA from the defunct American Basketball League and a year-round insurance and benefits package. The factions are well apart on salary and ABL issues.
No talks are reportedly scheduled, but WNBA coaches and management are planning to be at the Pre-Draft Combine next week in Chicago to size up candidates for the regular April 27 draft, when collegians, ABL refugees and other free agents can be picked.
"Business as usual," was Utah Starzz coach Frank Layden's only statement regarding the labor problems. Starzz management is preparing as though everything will happen on schedule, including the Starzz' own free-agent camp to be held April 30 through May 2 at a site to be determined, Layden said.
Media reports from around the country indicate that the WNBA's proposal would raise minimum salaries for the three-month season from $15,000 to $20,000, while the players' union originally wanted $65,000 but reportedly dropped to $45,000, claiming that staying in shape is a full-time off-season job for pro athletes. The league has said it would grant a benefits package, and one media report had that combined with salaries reaching $60,000.
The other sticky spot is that the union wants the league to allow no more than two former ABL players per WNBA team, saying loyalty to the WNBA should be in their favor. The ABL was said to have superior talent, and it paid salaries in the $80,000 range.