With the Draft of the WNBA of Barril for Monday, the anticipation is brewing for the beginning of the Golden State Valkyries season.
But what are the expectations for the expansion team, the first of the League in 17 years, which will choose the fifth in general and bring together the majority of their list through the expansion draft in December and free agency?
At a telephone conference with journalists last week, the game announcer for ESPN game, Ryan Ruocco, who called the WNBA games for the network since 2013, said that building a culture should be a priority for the new league franchise.
“You want to build an experience in the sand. You want to build an atmosphere,” Ruocco said. “I think it is not reluctant to see an expansion team that chooses the fifth place in the draft and say that this team will be a contestant this year. They will not be a contender this year.”
Ruocco believes that a season in which the team can demonstrate that it can compete would be a positive step, Special considering that next year’s free agent class will include 21 or 24 All-stars Last season.
“The backdrop of this season is that almost all veterans will be a free agent at the end of this year,” Ruocco said. “Then, despite the fact that the Valkyries are arriving without the amplitude of the assets they hope to have in the near future, if the experience and everything that it has in this regard is the first rate … I think they can also have a lot of impulse to the summer and a summer in which they are potentially watching the first selection in the draft next year too.”
Washington has the third, fourth and sixth selection in the first round, which will affect what Golden State does with the fifth selection.
“We are really excited to be at age three. “With just one choice, maybe you can do one thing at a time. But I think we have the opportunity to generate depth. I think we have the opportunity to build strongly at the same time.”
Only with the Valkyries who chose the fifth, Andray Carter, ESPN, said that it is possible and perhaps equally likely that the team can find a rookie who contributes immediately.
“I hope that the Valkyries are very intentional with this election, since some fans will get excited, that they will fit the culture and the system, especially leaving the university season we have just had,” he said. “Take that emotion of the University’s Fan Base to the Valkyrian Fan Base,” I think it will be really important. “