An infusion of new talent, and the return of Angel McCoughtry, has Nicki Collen and the Atlanta Dream thinking big.
ATLANTA — Four days into training camp, Nicki Collen found herself a little surprised.
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After hours of practice, film and a motivational speech, the Atlanta Dream’s practice was done for the day. Standing at center court in a gym at Georgia State University, Collen — the Dream’s new head coach — was talking with a few guests and some of her assistants, but she couldn’t speak softly. A sound louder than their conversation was the echoes of balls bouncing.
On one end of the court, Monique Billings was working on shots from distance. On the opposite end, another group of players were shooting around. On the sideline, Brittney Sykes was huddled next to assistant coach and a laptop, reviewing film.
The official practice may have been over, but the Atlanta players were not done.
“I’ve been really pleased with their eagerness to keep working,” Collen said. “That’s been a little bit of a surprise, because some pro’s want to get in and get out… I’ve been really happy with our effort, our energy, our comradery and our attention to detail.”
Coming off a 12-win season — their worst in franchise history aside from an inaugural four-win season in 2008 — the Dream are ready to bounce back. With a new coach, a mix of fresh and familiar faces, and a hunger to reach the playoffs, the Dream believe they have the tools to be one of the WNBA’s top teams.
Or better, if you ask Sykes.
“I think, honestly, we have one of the potentially deadliest starting fives in the league,” the 2017 All-Rookie selection said.
An official starting five is something that still has to be ironed out, but there’s no question that Atlanta has an extremely talented roster.
Along with Sykes, they return three all-stars in Tiffany Hayes, Layshia Clarendon and Elizabeth Williams — the latter pair led the league in assists and blocked shots in 2017, respectively.
In the offseason, Collen and new general manager Chris Sienko brought in Jessica Breland, an eight-year veteran and former all-star, and Renee Montgomery, a two-time WNBA champion.
Montgomery fills a void immediately, giving the team another vocal leader and depth at the point guard position, two things the Dream didn’t have much of last season. The 5-foot-7 guard averaged 9.7 points and 3.1 assists per-game last season for the league champs, the Minnesota Lynx.
“Renee Montgomery has come in here and has commanded a certain level of respect that she communicates well,” Collen said. “She’s an encourager and she’s been everything that I have anticipated she would be.”
Oh, and after a one-season hiatus from the WNBA, the Dream are also getting back Angel McCoughtry. She’s a four-time all-star, twice led the league in scoring, twice led the league in steals and a seven-time all-defensive first team selection.
After a year of rest, Collen is anxious to see how the 31-year-old Baltimore native mixes in with her old and new teammates.
“Angel is a two-time Olympian and has the ability to create her own shot. I think the thing that I’ve challenged her on is really coming in and being a leader and being a facilitator in some ways,” Collen said. “She’s somebody that can really command a double-team. Kind of being that willing passer and realizing she has a team of players that can make an open shot now.”
Connecting on open shots wasn’t something the Dream did a lot of last season. Atlanta was the worst in the WNBA at making three-pointers, connecting on just 29 percent of them. From the floor as a whole, the Dream shot 40.9 percent, which was second worst in the league.
Sykes, who averaged 13.9 points per-game as a rookie, was a key part of the Dream’s offense last year that was fourth in the league in pace under former head coach Michael Cooper. They were fast and played at a high pace, but often their shot selection was reckless.
“When you think Atlanta, you think a running team with athletic guards going up and down,” Sykes said. “For us, we like to get up and down the court and play fast. Get a bucket, pressure the ball.”
And Collen wants to keep that pace. She said she wants the Dream to lead the league in pace this season.
But she also wants to put a large emphasis on defense and efficiency.
“I’ve been a defensive coordinator for a lot of years, so I think what we’re trying to do is to create a base defensively,” Collen said. “We obviously have athletes and length and depth, so we should be good defensively. And I think good defense can lead to good offensive efficiency. We want to be a more disciplined defense.
“We want to play fast, but we want to get efficient shots, not just any shot. So, you can say run-and-gun, and if that gun is an open three in the corner, I’m all about it.”
At some point, that long two-pointer or corner three-pointer in transition may come from Monique Billings, the team’s top pick out of UCLA in this year’s draft.
At 6-foot-4, she mostly played center in college and only attempted four shots from behind the arc in her career for the Bruins, but Collen sees her more as a four and Billings has been working on expanding her range.
“I know at this level that I need that outside shot, so I’ve continued to work on that,” Billings said.
Collen called Billings “a genuine steal” because she fell to the Dream in the second round of the draft. Since she’s gotten to Atlanta, she’s been putting in extra work and has already began to discover her role for the team this season.
She contributed immediately in the Dream’s preseason opener, scoring six points and grabbing five rebounds in just nine minutes in a win over the Chicago Sky.
“Some people slept on me, so I have to wake them up,” Billings said.
Some folks are snoozing on the Dream too.
With Hayes, Clarendon, Sykes, Montgomery and McCoughtry, the Dream boast several exceptionally talented guards. And with Williams, Breland, Billings and Imani McGee-Stafford, they have a handful of versatile frontcourt players.
If they all mesh and realize Collen’s vision of leading the league in pace and defense, they could be really fun, and really dangerous.
“We’re starting to learn each other’s personalities. We have a really good group here,” Sykes said. “If you really look at who we have on this team… it’s kind of deadly.”