May 17, 2024
Locked On Women’s Basketball: Recapping the Atlanta Dream’s first game and looking ahead to the next 39
By The Next
Tina Charles makes an impact, more on player development
On today’s episode of Locked On Women’s Basketball, The Next’s Atlanta Dream beat reporter Hunter Cruse joined host Natalie Heavren to recap the Atlanta Dream debut game and look ahead to the rest of their season.
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First, they discussed Tina Charles‘ impact on the team since her arrival:
“So if you look at the box score, you’re gonna really see Tina Charles impact on this game,” Cruse said. “She is the oldest player in Dream history to score 20 points in a game and she did in her first game. She’s gonna score a lot of buckets for Atlanta. And one thing Tanisha Wright talked about postgame was just how it opens up things offensively for Atlanta. Just by the threat of Tina Charles and what she does in the post, how she’s able to draw defenders over, draw help over, then kind of open up things for Rhyne Howard, Alicia Grey. And it’s so helpful for Atlanta’s offense though.”
Then, they talked about how the Atlanta Dream has focused on player development over the previous offseason, including players that went overseas and those that stayed stateside to participate in Athletes Unlimited and train at home.
“As you know, a lot of players go overseas in the offseason. So not many players like the NBA can stay in market can work with the player development coach the staff and really come up with a plan for them to continue improving. So for [Haley Jones], along with Nia Coffey, they were the two players that stayed in Atlanta for most of the offseason,” Cruse said. “Nia was in Atlanta the entire offseason, but Haley was coming in and out. [Jones] worked a lot with the player development coach and also just coordinating with Tanisha, being able to really develop her game so she can be prepared for this next season. She didn’t go overseas, but she went to Athletes Unlimited.”
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“I think Athletes Unlimited is not like my favorite context for players, but I like it for her from the standpoint that she just needed to get more aggressive. And she’s really come into the season aggressive. So I think that’s the main thing that Atlanta has been focusing on is just getting her to be more confident, take those shots, so she’s able to continue to improve her game,” he continued.
Tune in to hear more about Atlanta’s debut and what they’re working on to improve in the coming games. Make sure to subscribe to the Locked On Women’s Basketball podcast to keep learning about the WNBA, women’s college basketball, basketball history and much more!
