| | PORTLAND, Ore. -- For the first draft pick in the Portland
WNBA team's history, coach and general manager Linda Hargrove went
after a player she drafted once before.
Alisa Burras, a 6-foot-3 center with the Cleveland Rockers, was
selected by Portland in the first round of the WNBA expansion draft
Wednesday. Burras, who averaged 7.5 points per game for the Rockers
last season, was chosen by Colorado of the now-defunct ABL last
season when Hargrove was coach there.
"Alisa has proven herself as a part-time starter in the WNBA
and has the potential be one of the better centers in the League,"
Hargrove said. "She's agile, has great hands and will be very
strong on the boards for us."
Portland, which still does not have a name or logo, got six
other players from the draft, including two players who were on the
Portland Power, the city's ABL team. The existing 12 WNBA teams
could protect only five players each, leaving the unprotected
players up for grabs for the league's four expansion teams --
Portland, Seattle, Miami and Indianapolis.
Other players drafted by Portland were: Sophia Witherspoon of
New York, Tari Phillips of Orlando, Coquese Washington of New York,
Molly Goodenbour of Sacramento and Jamila Wideman of Cleveland.
A deal between Portland and the New York Liberty gave the new
team another player in addition to the six it drafted. In exchange
for selecting New York players Witherspoon and Washington, Portland
received little-used Michele VanGorp, who played just 5.6 minutes a
game as a rookie, one season after leading Duke to the NCAA
championship game.
"With VanGorp's athleticism and size, she has a tremendous
amount of potential in this league," said Hargrove. "With
extended playing time, she could become one of the top post players
in the WNBA."
Witherspoon, who is a 3-year WNBA veteran, averaged only 8.5
points last season with the Liberty but was the team's leading
scorer in 1997. Washington played the last two seasons in New York
after being the Portland Power's starting point guard.
Phillips is another of Hargrove's former players in Colorado.
She was an ABL All-Star, and was named MVP of the 1997 All-Star
game.
Goodenbour, who played for the Sacramento Monarchs last season,
also was a Portland Power refugee. She also played on two national
championship teams at Stanford, in 1990 and 1992.
Portland's final draft choice was Jamila Wideman, who was eighth
in WNBA last season in assists with 3.7 per game for Cleveland. | |
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