New York Liberty signed guard Leilani Mitchell, who was previously with the Phoenix Mercury, as their 25th draft pick.

As a reminder, we’re currently in pre-season.  The regular season begins on May 17th, however I don’t expect to accumulate enough data until at least 5 games in, possibly more.  I’m looking forward to it!  Remember to subscribe to the picks newsletter to the right.

The draft has been taking place over the last week, and there’s been some interesting picks.  Los Angeles Sparks picked Candace Parker, who had just finished leading Tennessee to a second straight NCAA title.  Parker was the AP player of the year, and joins Lisa Leslie, making the LA Sparks one of the strongest looking teams in the WNBA.  All five Tennessee starters got drafed, with Shannon Bobbitt going to Los Angeles as well, and Anosike to Minnesota.  Alberta Auguste is headed to New York.

Loree Moore, the New York Liberty guard who scored a career-best 9.6 per games last season, has signed a 3 year contract extension to the team.

The Detroit Shock also re-signed Pienette Pierson, the teams second leading scorer last season, and the 2007 WNBA 6th Women of the Year, to a new contract.

The WNBA draft will be held the day after the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championships, on April 9th.  It will be in Palm Harbor, Florida.

The Indiana Fever were given some great news over the past 24 hours, when their franchise player Tamika Catchings signed a contract extension. Catchings was the highest paid player in the WNBA last season, and has signed until 2011. Fever also signed all-star guard Katie Douglas from Connecticut recently, which most likely helped in the decision.

The WNBA board have aproved the sale of the Seattle Storm to four Seattle based women. The women are longtime Storm season-ticket holders Anne Levinson, Lisa Brummel, Ginny Gilder and Dawn Trudeau. Storm will be playing its home games at KeyArena through 2010. It cost approximately $10,000,000 to purchase the Storm.

Erin Phillips may be able to play this season for the Connecticut Sun.  She missed last season to a knee injury, and was planning to bypass this year to secure a spot for herself in the 2008 olympics, but there is a good chance she will be able to do both.

The Indiana Fever have appointed Lin Dunn as the new head coach.

I’ve got mixed feelings on the issue.  Part of me likes the idea, because it’s something that will obviously get a lot of PR and see a lot more people tune into WNBA games - at least on the short term.  It would get a lot of press nationwide, and help put the WNBA on the map.

The problems however is that Rodman isn’t exactly qualified - he has no real experience in this regard.  Is it worth hiring a head coach with no experience, just to get some press?  Furthermore it would take away from the legitimacy of the WNBA, by hiring Rodman purely as a marketing move, and reminds me of the old US soccer league, which became a joke because of these type of players.

Regardless it’s an interesting article, and Jim brings up some good points.  You can read the full article here.

In other WNBA news, Atlanta have announced that the fans will be allowed to pick the nickname of the new WNBA franchise.  There is a shortlist of Dream, Flight, Sizzle and Surge.  You can vote here.

The new WNBA Atlanta Franchise announced Marynell Meadors as the General Manager and Head Coach this weekend.  Meadors has a long history of coaching, with more than 500 wins stretching through four collega and pro teams.  Meaders began her managerial career at Tennessee Tech University, where she spent 20 years.  She also coached Florida State University.  In the pro world, she coached the Charlotte Sting in 1997, 1998 and 1999, where she did a fantastic job, and is fondly remembered.

There’s no debate on the greatest WNBA player, and that’s Lauren Jackson. The Syndey Morning Herald wrote an excellent article, calling her the “Michael Jordan of Womens Basketball”.

Kara Lawson wrote a blog where she covers playing with Team USA compared to the Monarchs, the Evolution of her game and more.

Jamie Carey, silver medalist in the 2003 USA Basketball Team, and a former point guard at the University of Texas, has joined the USA Basketball Womens National Team College Tour.

Deanna Nolan was announced as Detroit Shocks 2007 MVP, as she moved into the top 25 in league history in PPG.