We're sunsetting PodQuest on 2025-07-28. Thank you for your support!
Export Podcast Subscriptions
cover of episode 4/10/23 - Final WNBA Mock Draft 2023

4/10/23 - Final WNBA Mock Draft 2023

2023/4/10
logo of podcast WNBA Nation

WNBA Nation

AI Deep Dive AI Chapters Transcript
People
K
Kyle Haywood
Topics
@Kyle Haywood 对2023年WNBA选秀进行了模拟预测,分析了各支球队的选秀策略以及球员的潜力。他认为今年的选秀内线球员较少,大部分首轮球员是后卫。他详细分析了每个选秀顺位他预测的球员,包括球员的场上表现、特点以及与球队的契合度。例如,他预测Aaliyah Boston将成为状元秀,并分析了她的实力以及在印第安纳狂热队的潜在作用。他还预测了Diamond Miller、Jordan Horston、Matty Segrist等球员的去向,并对这些球员的潜力和特点进行了详细的分析。此外,他还分析了今年选秀的一些特点,例如新的NIL规则对球员选秀决策的影响,以及一些球员选择继续学业而退出选秀的情况。总的来说,Kyle Haywood的模拟选秀预测涵盖了多方面的内容,包括球员实力分析、球队策略分析以及选秀大环境分析,为观众提供了对2023年WNBA选秀的全面了解。

Deep Dive

Chapters
Kyle Haywood discusses the 2023 WNBA Mock Draft, highlighting the importance of the new NIL rules and the impact on player decisions to stay in college or join the WNBA. He also notes the shallow draft for big players and emphasizes the year of the guard.

Shownotes Transcript

Translations:
中文

7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Hey guys, this is Liz Cambage. This is Nikki Collin. What up guys, this is F.E. Starcy. Hey, this is Imani McGee Stafford. Hey, this is Jordan Canada. This is AJ Olsen. Welcome to the WNBA Nation. Welcome back WNBA Nation to another fun episode. My name is Kyle Haywood. If you are tuning in for the first time and maybe you're hoping to hear someone's name called out in my mock draft,

But congratulations, everybody. We've officially made it. It is draft day. Of course, as you're listening to this on Monday the 10th, we had to drop a little last-minute mock draft action your way as we prepare for draft night tonight. And I hope that those of you, whoever your WNBA team is or maybe your favorite college player, I hope that things work out well for you tonight.

And, yeah, before we get too far in, let me just give a shout-out real quick to all of our...

Awesome listeners. You, if you want to support our show in any way, uh, probably the best way to do that is to check us out, uh, online, just our website, WNBA nation.com. That's where you can find our merch store. That's where you can find our episodes, our blog, uh, everything else on there. You can contact us through that website as well. Uh, go ahead and check it out. WNBA nation.com. We have an absolute, uh, blast putting content up on there. So go ahead and check it out.

But before we get any further, I just want to hop right in to some mock draft. I'm not going to have this belated intro. Let's just hop right into things. First of all, shout out to the seven teams that have a first round draft pick this 2023 WNBA draft. If you are a fan of New York, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Connecticut, or Chicago, I will not be covering any of the picks that you have this draft with.

you are going to have to wait a while to end up getting a pick because only seven of the 12 teams actually have a first round draft pick in 2023, which I think is really, really interesting. All right, a couple notes on this draft overall, just overall thoughts on this draft before I hop in and actually go one by one

Player by player and who I think is going to end up where I have to say that I think because of the new NIL rules and because of some of the other things that are going on with the women's college game and the amount of money that's being put into that.

I think it's really interesting. I think we will start seeing more and more players taking like five years, exercising options to stay in school as long as possible because they can make good money. Not every WNBA franchise has the same facilities that a lot of these universities have. And so I think we saw that with several players returning back to, you know,

to play and hopefully come out in the 2024 class. There were several players who I obviously had on my board before, uh, Tiana Jackson, Elizabeth Kittley, uh, you know, a lot of players like that, that Rekia Jackson that were going to be in my first round draft, but obviously have taken their name off of the board and have decided to return to school for another year. Um,

Um, also one other thing that really sticks out to me about this draft is in my opinion, this is a very shallow draft as far as bigs go. There's going to be a few bigs taken. Um, obviously, uh, you know, the, the best player in the country, uh, for this draft is going to be a forward, but the remain, the vast majority of my picks in the first round are going to be guards and

and that's simply because I think that that's the best player available. I think if some of these teams are looking to shore up things in the front court, this is a very hard draft to do that. There's only a couple of options that I think are worthy of going in the first round. So if you're wondering why my draft is a little bit guard heavy, I really do think that this is the year for guards. There's not a lot of forwards and centers that I think are...

are going to be key pieces moving forward for WNBA franchises out of this mock draft. Now, I will say anything that I say today, a player in the future proves me wrong and they end up absolutely being a breakout player if I'm not super big on them, whatever.

I am here for that. I famously mentioned that Ariel Adkins was going to be a bust in the WNBA, and she has done nothing but prove me absolutely wrong, and she's become one of my favorite players for that. So...

With all of those notes and thoughts out of the way, let's go ahead and hop right in to the actual 2023 WNBA Mock Draft. Indiana, you're on the clock. Oh, wow. That was really fast. It seems like you already had that prepared. Aaliyah Boston, number one overall forward out of South Carolina, back-to-back defensive player of the year in the country, last year's player of the year.

champion in South Carolina. She's six foot five and does everything on both, both ends of the court.

A lot of people are going to be surprised because her points per game are only 13.3 points per game. And, you know, she doesn't have a ton of assists or anything. What people don't realize when they see Aaliyah Boston's numbers is that she has spent the last couple seasons being doubled and oftentimes even triple teamed by...

other teams trying to stop her. If you noticed and watched what Iowa did and was actually very successful at in the women's Final Four semifinal game is they absolutely suffocated everything around Aaliyah Boston. And

they aren't the first team to have tried that by the way. And so, yes, when her points are not as high as other players, that's not an indication that she isn't as good as other players. She's been double teamed essentially for two or three years straight. Now she is absolutely phenomenal. And when she makes it to the league, you can't double team in the league. It's just not, I mean, you can, but you're leaving open a WNBA level player. So, um,

Aaliyah Boston, number one overall to Indiana. I think that she could be a great spark for Indiana. And now all of a sudden, Indiana with Queen Eggbone, Alyssa Smith and Aaliyah Boston seem to have an absolutely phenomenal frontcourt.

starting up there in the Hoosier State. So Indiana might just turn some heads with a very young, very inexperienced, but a very talented front court that I think a lot of other teams would be jealous of. So excited for Indiana and them taking Aaliyah Boston.

Moving on to my number two pick, Minnesota. Pretty crazy that Minnesota actually has the number two pick. They've been a contender for a long time and all of a sudden seem to find themselves right towards the bottom of the pile in this last year. And I wouldn't be surprised if they try, quote unquote, try...

to find themselves in the lottery again next year because next year's draft class, especially with so many players returning, next year's draft class really seems to be shaping up to be very intriguing. So...

Minnesota at number two, I have Diamond Miller going to Minnesota guard out of Maryland. She's six foot three. She's very tall, very long guard, um, averaging nearly 20 points per game, six and a half rebounds per game and two and a half, uh, 2.8 assists. Um, these are all regular season. This is not taken into account post season. Um,

Post-season stats, by the way. This is all pre-March stuff. This is regular season. Diamond Miller, phenomenal player. We actually had her on the show. We had her and Aaliyah Boston both on the show earlier at the start of the college season.

And I'm very excited about what Diamond Miller was able to show for this Maryland squad. I think she physically is very ready for the WNBA. She's got good size. She's got very athletic instincts.

And she's extremely smart. I really like what I see from Diamond Miller. I think she is a really solid number two option. If you're not going to get Aaliyah Boston, I think Minnesota, you can't go wrong with a player like Diamond Miller. I think that she could very easily carve out a nice career for herself in the WNBA. All right. Third, Dallas Wings on the clock now.

Dallas, I've got them taking Jordan Horston guard out of Tennessee, who, you know, I think a lot of people were looking at this Tennessee squad as, you know, potentially the one team that could challenge South Carolina in the SEC. And they, they really did look solid through a lot of the year. Ironically, it wasn't Tennessee or South Carolina that ended up,

being the SEC team with the title at the end of the season that belonged to LSU. But this Tennessee squad really was held down by Horston and the aforementioned Rekia Jackson, who has returned to Tennessee. But Jordan Horston, very, very good player, very talented. Again, really good-sized guard at 6'2", 15 points per game, 7 rebounds, 3.5 assists per game.

Really, really solid player. I like what Jordan Horstin brings, and I think she's a good fit in Dallas. I think Dallas right now has a lot of potential at positions across the board, at guard, at forward, at center. They've got a lot of potential, and outside of Agumbo Wale, they don't necessarily have real star power. And so I think if I was in Dallas' shoes, what I'm doing is I am taking...

I'm taking who I consider the best player available regardless of position because I don't know if there's necessarily a glaring weak spot for Dallas this upcoming season because of, you know, you've got – they might be a team that could benefit from maybe a solid, like, forward, but I think a lot of teams could.

That being said, I don't think that this class is deep enough at the forward position. I think if you're Dallas, you're just going to take best available. And for me, that's Jordan Horstin at number three. All right, number four, Washington Mystics.

who are a really intriguing team coming into the season. I'm not really sure which way Washington's going to go, if they're going to be in this rebuild phase, if they're going to be in a, we're going to throw all our chips on the table, go all in on this season. Who knows? But Washington, I think back in our –

What's that episode called? The beginning of the year. Oh, your new year's resolutions. That's what it is. Our new year's resolutions episode. We mentioned that Washington needed to make a decision on if they were going to rebuild or if they were going to actually go and try to compete this season. And, um,

So I'm really intrigued in what they're going to do. I've got them taking a player who skyrocketed up a lot of people's boards. I had this player, I believe, in the top six, maybe top seven. I can't remember. But I've got them taking Matty Segrist forward out of Villanova, who averaged nearly 30 points a game for Villanova this season. Phenomenal player. The only player in the country who was outscoring Caitlin Clark in

9.1 rebounds per game as well. This is a really solid player. So I think that Matty Segrist is going to be a great pick. I think that if Washington sees that Deladon is probably... Deladon has struggled with a lot of...

uh, you know, injury prone issues over the last couple of seasons. If they're looking for someone who can come in and be a Deladon type player, you know, kind of a, um, a good scoring wing slash, uh,

I think that Segrist is probably better served at the three where Della Dawn plays more of a four. But I do think that Segrist is the type of scorer that you're going to need if Washington is going to make a run at doing something this season. Maddie Segrist might be that key piece that could help them with that. So that's why I've got her going at number four to Washington. All right, number five, Dallas again, I think is probably just going to be taking the best available here.

And in my opinion, I was pretty high on this player. Had them up at number two at the beginning of the season. Felt a little underwhelmed at their performances throughout this season. And especially an early exit from the NCAA tournament where this player really struggled to do much. And that's Haley Jones out of Stanford.

Now, it sounds like I was just really dogging on Haley Jones. Haley Jones is still a phenomenal basketball player. She's a good-sized guard who averages nearly nine rebounds per game at someone who's going to be pretty much the point guard, bringing the ball down the court. For someone at that position to average nine rebounds per

per game, uh, while put, you know, while throwing in four assists and 13 and a half points per game at Stanford, this is a solid player. Um, I think that she's got a very low floor, um, but I don't know if she's necessarily got a high ceiling. I think she's probably, if you're gonna, uh, if you're gonna look for someone who can kind of just shore up and, and be a safe pick, uh,

Um, that's where I think Haley Jones probably sits. I think her size, her athleticism and her, uh, history of being able to fill up a stat sheet across the board bodes well for her as she, uh, as she's been here again, I had her as high as number two. I've dropped her to number five and I think Dallas would be happy to pick her up at that spot.

Number six, Atlanta is on the clock. This is their first selection of the draft. I've got Atlanta taking a South Carolina guard, Zia Cook.

5'9", Zia Cook out of South Carolina. I really, really like Zia Cook. She's not necessarily a really tall player. I think that a lot of these guards at 6'1", 6'2", even 6'3". And her at 5'9", I think she's a little... Some people would be concerned. Maybe she's a little undersized. But I actually really like...

her fit in Atlanta. I think some people may call this a bit of a reach. I think I know a lot of people have her down in the 8-9-10 range. But I think that Zia Cook has proven herself. All season long, she's played with

top level talent. She knows, you know, she knows how, what it is to, to play with really solid, talented players. Everybody was, has been gunning for them all last season, all this season. And she's been phenomenal. She's stepped up and played really, really well. She was the player keeping South Carolina kind of in the game, uh, in that loss that they had against Iowa. Zyka, I think could pan out to be really, really strong. And, um,

Yeah, I think that she fits well there for Atlanta.

We're driven by the search for better. But when it comes to hiring, the best way to search for a candidate isn't to search at all. Don't search, match with Indeed. Indeed is your matching and hiring platform with over 350 million global monthly visitors, according to Indeed data, and a matching engine that helps you find quality candidates fast. Leveraging over 140 million qualifications and preferences every day, Indeed's matching engine is constantly learning from your preferences.

Join more than 3.5 million businesses worldwide that use Indeed to hire great talent fast. And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at Indeed.com slash BlueWire. Just go to Indeed.com slash BlueWire right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast.

Indeed.com slash blue wire. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? You need Indeed. Okay, we're halfway through, and this is the part of the draft where I decide that I'm going to take a...

leap. All right. I feel like it's always right around this range. I mean, we've seen it as high as like four, but it's always kind of in this middle of the first round range that we see a team take a player that a lot of people weren't expecting. Indiana also has a history of doing that same thing.

However, I think that oftentimes that doesn't pan out. I actually have a lot of confidence in this player, but if you just go check most mock drafts right now, you're not going to see this player going in the first round hardly anywhere. And I've got her up at number seven. This is my deep cut. I'm throwing this out there as I think this player really could make a difference. I've got Maddie Williams out of Oklahoma heading to Indiana.

All right. She's a, she's a slightly undersized wing slash guard. Um, she's only five 11, but I think she might be the smartest, like, like,

basketball wise, the smartest player in this draft. Um, if you go watch any Oklahoma basketball game from the last couple of seasons, you'll see exactly what I'm talking about. This is one that I'm picking simply based on the eye test alone. Um, she, she puts up decent stats. I mean, she's got 16 points a game, six rebounds, two and a half assists. She's not, you know, she's not blowing anybody out of the water. However, um,

Maddie Williams is the type of player that...

Seems so in control, has great court vision, always is looking to make her teammates better and put her teammates in a position where they can score. And I really think that she could be a key piece for this Indiana Fever team. She's the type of player that if Indiana does have a strong front court with Boston and Egbo and Smith, this is the type of player that you want to pair with them. And so...

There's a bit of a reach. If Matty Williams doesn't end up getting taken to the third round, I'm going to look like an idiot, but you got to take one of these. And I really do think I would be surprised. I would not be surprised if somebody takes Matty Williams in the first round. So got Matty Williams out of Oklahoma going at seven. All right. Heading into my number eight pick. This again is Atlanta. So this is Atlanta's second pick. Indiana, Dallas, and Atlanta have all had two picks in

So far, and we're only at number eight. So I've got... I think that Atlanta is probably going to try and stretch for one of those last remaining bigs in this pretty shallow forward center class. And so I think this is probably the one that they're going to reach for. That's Lou Lopez-Sanajal out of UConn. The path that we've seen for Lopez-Sanajal...

On her way to the WNBA has been really interesting, but I think she's had a really solid, solid season. 15.5 points per game, 3.1 rebounds. She's a little undersized. She's only 6'1". She's technically listed as a forward, but she's a great, great scorer. And by bigs, she's not necessarily – I can't really say she's a big – she's not your traditional forward –

Um, she's listed as a forward. She plays more of a three. So I guess she is a little bit more like your, um, you know, there, there's some other players in here that kind of would fit into that mold as well. Um, she's, she's a little bit more, you know, on the, on the wing, not necessarily like a backcourt, bring the ball up the, up the court, but she's a great scorer. And I think Atlanta needs to put some points up.

That is that Atlanta has struggled putting the ball in the hoop. And I think that getting a, someone who can shoot from the three who can distribute. I think that Atlanta is probably, this is going to be their best option at number eight right here. Moving on to Seattle. I've got Seattle taking grace burger out of Indiana at number nine. Grace burger. I think there's, there's,

At this point, I think there's a lot of options. I think that it's really just going to come down to preference for these teams. This 9, 10, 11, 12. Honestly, probably 8 through 16 on my big board right now. Very, very fluid. I think that it's really going to come down to who has preference there.

Right now, I think Seattle looks at Grace Berger, and I think that she fits well for what they need in Seattle. Seattle's in a rebuild. Grace Berger is the kind of player who comes in and really helped kind of rebuild, I guess you could say, this Indiana squad. They weren't super impressive a couple seasons ago. Last year, they came on strong and looked solid.

And now all of a sudden this season, obviously coming in at the number two overall seed that, you know, they were the number one seed in their, in their region, but the number two overall seed in NCAA tournament,

That is no small task. And if you're Seattle, you need someone who knows how to win some basketball games. And Grace Berger is exactly that. She puts in 12 and a half points per game, 4.6 rebounds. But here is where I really like Grace Berger for Seattle. Grace Berger has nearly six assists per game. And in a, in a,

team that really has lost a lot of assist making abilities recently. I think that Grace Berger is a great fit there. All right, let's talk about LA at the number 10 spot. This one, I did not have, I did not have this player going until late second round until March, March,

And this player showed up big and I think has really turned a lot of heads. I've got LA taking Alexis Morris out of LSU. Um,

Pretty undersized guard. She's listed at 5'6", but I'm telling you right now, LSU does not sniff that national championship without Alexis Morris. I know so many headlines right now have been about Angel Reese and Deservedly So and Kim Mulkey and all that. Alexis Morris, to me, someone who was there in person at the Final Four in Dallas, Alexis Morris, to me, was...

She was the story. She was the story behind why that LSU squad ended up coming out with a national title. In both games that we watched her play against Virginia Tech and against Iowa, she

Absolutely impressed at her composure, impressed at her drive. She played phenomenal basketball. And I think if you can do that on the biggest stage, you're probably going to be able to find a spot for you in the WNBA.

Now, LA has a backcourt that I think has a lot of question marks. You know, they've got Leisha Clarendon. They've got Lexi Brown. They've got... Oh, why am I blinking right now? They've got... Oh, Jordan Canada. Like, they've got some decent backcourt players right now. But Alexis Morris might just be that person that steps in. And this is going to sound crazy, but I could...

I could easily see Alexis Morris even stepping into a starting position, maybe alongside Jasmine Thomas in the backcourt for LA by mid season this year. We'll see. It might be a bold prediction, but I was absolutely blown away and impressed by Alexis Morris. And I think that she probably should have been higher on a lot of draft boards. But yeah,

I think was overshadowed by other players in particular, even, you know, on her own team. So Alexis Morris, solid, solid player. I would love to see here in LA. All right. A couple of picks left. We only got two left. Number 11, Dallas again, Dallas's third pick in this first round and,

And I think they're just going to go with best available here. Again, I've said that about them three times now. And right now, Dallas has to find someone else able to score alongside Agumbo Wale.

And I think that that just might be Ashley Jones out of Iowa State. I think that, I think that Jones is a really solid player. She's been a solid, solid scoring option for Iowa State for the last couple seasons. Really like what we see from her. I don't think she's necessarily like a huge needle mover. I don't think she's an X factor for Dallas in, you know,

being in like a top three seed or something for this upcoming season, but somebody who can shoot and score the way that Ashley Jones does. I think if you're Dallas at this point late in the first round, take a flyer on Jones and, and go for that. I think that she could, she very well could pan out for Dallas. All right. Last but not least, Minnesota, let's get back to you. We've it's been a while since we've heard from Minnesota. They, uh, after I have them drafting diamond Miller at number two, uh,

I did not have this player in my, uh, I did not have this player in my first round and it really ended up being because of players like Kit Lee, Jackson, Osborne, and others that removed their name. Uh, actually both Jackson's Rekia and Tiana. Um,

taking their name from the draft that this player popped up. Now I've seen this player go very high. I think as high as number five, but I've got Bria Beal out of, uh, Brie Beal from South Carolina going to Minnesota. I think that Brie Beal has a lot of potential, but I have a lot of question marks surrounding or surrounding her play. I know she's a great defender and,

But I also have seen South Carolina make decisions to not have her guarding the other team's best players throughout the season. So if she really is that phenomenal of a defender, I would expect a coach like Dawn Staley to put her in that position more. And that's the only, like, this is not a knock on Bree Beal at all. I'm just, it's the question that I have. I noticed as I watched a lot of South Carolina games this season that

she wasn't always being put on the best player of the other team. And if that's not what you're getting from her and she's only putting up six points per game, granted, she's also sharing the floor with Zaya Cook, Aaliyah Boston and other phenomenal scorers. Okay. I get that. I totally understand. There's only so many points per game going around, but it's, I think it's going to be a really tough to see a player like Beal and

make a difference on a WNBA team if you aren't necessarily an offensive threat. I don't feel like she's been an offensive threat, and I don't know if she's really, truly panned out to be the defensive-minded player that so many people have tagged her as. Now, Bree, if you're listening, by all means, please prove me wrong. However, if there was a team...

that could take a player that, you know, like this and really, uh, turn her into something special. I think it's Minnesota. I think that Minnesota is a fantastic fit for Beal. Um, and I, I think that a lot of Minnesota fans would be stoked if Beal dropped to number 12. I don't know if she will drop. This is my mock draft. This is how, this is how I think these players should go. Um,

I think that if a lot of other mock drafters are correct, Beal won't even sniff the end of the first round. She's going to be taking middle of the first round. So I'm willing to take that risk. But I think that Minnesota could do very well. If she's available at 12, I think... If I was Minnesota, I would take her at 12 based on who else would be left on the board. So...

There you have it. There is my first round of the 2023 WNBA mock draft. We'll see what happens tonight as we check out the draft. If you are looking, if you're looking for any more WNBA content, please continue to listen to our show. Feel free to hit subscribe. Leave us a five-star review. If you're listening on Spotify or Apple podcasts, we love those five-star reviews and we appreciate them very much.

Also, go check out other WNBA podcast websites, especially some of those independent people who aren't necessarily getting paid to do it and who are doing it just out of the love of their hearts. Some of the best content I've seen over the last couple years has come from some of those bootstrapping groups.

you know, businesses, I guess you could say, or coverage individuals, check it out. Feel free. Anytime that you can support WNBA content, do so go get some downloads on some podcasts, go get some website clicks on, on articles that people are writing and support WNBA content across the board.

Women's basketball is skyrocketing in popularity right now, everybody. Please, please don't let this momentum slip as we leave college basketball and head into the WNBA season. This could be a phenomenal year for women's basketball and the growth there. So make sure you're checking all that out. Thanks so much. That's all I've got for you tonight. For WNBA Nation, I'm Kyle Haywood, and we got you next time.

We're sunsetting PodQuest on 2025-07-28. Thank you for your support!

Export Podcast Subscriptions