The 2008 Atlanta Dream season was the debut season for the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association, and their first season under head coach, Marynell Meadors. The team name was unveiled on January 23, 2008, with the expansion draft held on February 6. The Atlanta Dream had seventeen straight losses. It was the longest losing streak to start a season in WNBA history.
Transactions
Expansion draft
The list of players selected in the expansion draft were as follows: Player Nationality Former WNBA Team Carla Thomas Chicago Sky Érika de Souza Connecticut Sun Katie Feenstra Detroit Shock Roneeka Hodges Houston Comets Ann Strother Indiana Fever LaToya Thomas Los Angeles Sparks Kristen Mann Minnesota Lynx Ann Wauters New York Liberty Jennifer Lacy Phoenix Mercury Kristin Haynie Sacramento Monarchs Chantelle Anderson San Antonio Silver Stars Betty Lennox Seattle Storm Yelena Leuchanka Washington Mystics
Additionally, Atlanta immediately orchestrated three trades involving players in the expansion draft.
TradeTo Atlanta DreamTo Detroit Shock Ivory Latta LaToya Thomas and the 18th pick in the 2008 WNBA draft To Atlanta Dream To Seattle Storm Iziane Castro Marques and the 8th pick in the 2008 WNBA draft Roneeka Hodges and the 4th pick in the 2008 WNBA draft To Atlanta Dream To Indiana Fever 24th pick in the 2008 Draft Agreeing not to select specific unprotected Fever players
WNBA draft
Round Pick Player Nationality School/Team/Country 1 8 Tamera Young James Madison 2 24 Morenike Atunrase Texas A&M 3 32 Danielle Hood Hartford
Trades and Roster Changes DateTransaction February 6, 2008 Traded LaToya Thomas and a Second Round Pick in the 2008 WNBA draft to the Detroit Shock in exchange for Ivory Latta Traded Roneeka Hodges and a First Round Pick in the 2008 WNBA draft to the Seattle Storm in exchange for Iziane Castro Marques and a First Round Pick in the 2008 WNBA draft Agreed to not select any specific unprotected Indiana Fever players in exchange for the Fever's Second Round Pick in the 2008 WNBA draft February 25, 2008 Signed Tasha Butts March 24, 2008 Signed Jennifer Lacy and Brittany Jackson to Training Camp Contracts March 27, 2008 Signed Stacey Lovelace April 9, 2008 Traded Ann Wauters, the draft rights to Morenike Atunrase, and a Second Round Pick in the 2009 WNBA draft to the San Antonio Silver Stars in exchange for Camille Little, the draft rights to Chioma Nnamaka and a Second Round Pick in the 2009 WNBA draft April 11, 2008 Signed Jessica Dickson to a Training Camp Contract April 14, 2008 Signed Danielle Hood, Chioma Nnamaka, Tamera Young, and Jessica Dickson to Rookie Scale Contracts April 18, 2008 Signed Dalila Eshe to a Training Camp Contract April 22, 2008 Signed Jill Ingram to a Training Camp Contract May 4, 2008 Waived Brittany Jackson and Dalila Este May 5, 2008 Waived Tasha Butts May 14, 2008 Waived Jill Ingram, Jessica Dickson, and Danielle Hood May 15, 2008 Signed Katie Feenstra, Kristin Haynie, and Kristen Mann to Contract Extensions May 16, 2008 Waived Carla Thomas Temporarily Suspend Yelena Leuchanka due to Overseas Commitments Mau 28, 2008 Waived Chantelle Anderson June 22, 2008 Traded Camille Little to the Seattle Storm in exchange for a Second Round Pick in the 2009 WNBA draft June 23, 2008 Signed Kasha Terry July 4, 2008 Traded Kristen Mann to the Indiana Fever in exchange for Alison Bales July 8, 2008 Waived Stacey Lovelace August 15, 2008 Signed Nikki Teasley September 12, 2008 Re-Signed Iziane Castro Marques
Roster
Depth Pos.StarterBench C Alison Bales Katie Feenstra PF Érika de Souza Jennifer Lacy SF Iziane Castro Marques Tamera YoungAnn Strother SG Betty Lennox Kasha TerryChioma Nnamaka PG Ivory Latta Kristin HaynieNikki Teasley
Schedule
Preseason
|- align="center" bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 1 | May 3 | Los Angeles | L 80-86 | Thomas, Young (15) | Young (5) | Ingram (4) | Philips Arena 7,932 | 0-1 |- align="center" bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 2 | May 11 | @ Phoenix | L 84-97 | Lennox (21) | Lovelace (6) | Haynie, Lennox (4) | US Airways Center 1,845 | 0-2
Regular season The Atlanta Dream lost their first game in franchise history, 67-100. Their opponent was the Connecticut Sun; the Sun delivered a 32-8 run that stretched into the second quarter to open a 17-point lead. The lead exploded to 34 points. At the conclusion of the game, the Dream were outrebounded 53-29. For the Dream, Stacey Lovelace had 11 points, five assists and four rebounds.
|- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 1 | May 17 | @ Connecticut | 67-100 | Lennox (17) | Haynie, Lennox (7) | Lovelace (5) | Mohegan Sun Arena 7,420 | 0-1 |- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 2 | May 23 | Detroit | 76-88 | Lennox (21) | de Souza (18) | Latta (3) | Philips Arena 11,609 | 0-2 |- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 3 | May 25 | Los Angeles | 56-74 | Castro Marques (17) | de Souza, Feenstra (6) | Haynie, Latta (4) | Philips Arena 11,186 | 0-3 |- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 4 | May 27 | @ Washington | 74-80 | Lennox (29) | de Souza, Lennox, Little, Lovelace (3) | Latta (6) | Verizon Center 6,231 | 0-4
|- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 5 | June 3 | Minnesota | 81-85 | Lennox (28) | Feenstra (9) | Lennox (8) | Philips Arena 5,844 | 0-5 |- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 6 | June 6 | Chicago | 72-86 | Latta (17) | Little (7) | Latta, Lennox (5) | Philips Arena 7,418 | 0-6 |- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 7 | June 7 | @ Chicago | 70-91 | Lacy (18) | Lacy (10) | Lennox (4) | UIC Pavilion 3,182 | 0-7 |- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 8 | June 11 | New York | 77-81 | Lennox (28) | Lennox (7) | Latta (6) | Philips Arena 5,936 | 0-8 |- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 9 | June 13 | Indiana | 67-76 | Young, Latta (14) | Lacy, Young (5) | Latta (6) | Philips Arena 8,167 | 0-9 |- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 10 | June 16 | @ Houston | 79-88 | Lennox (29) | Lennox (11) | Young (3) | Reliant Arena 6,139 | 0-10 |- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 11 | June 18 | San Antonio | 66-81 | Lovelace (18) | Young (13) | Young (7) | Philips Arena 6,225 | 0-11 |- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 12 | June 20 | @ Washington | 61-72 | Lennox (18) | Lennox (9) | Latta (4) | Verizon Center 7,448 | 0-12 |- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 13 | June 22 | Detroit | 76-97 | Latta (26) | Young (11) | Latta (10) | Philips Arena 7,865 | 0-13 |- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 14 | June 27 | @ Connecticut | 101-109 (OT) | Lennox (44) | Lennox (9) | Lennox (7) | Mohegan Sun Arena 7,612 | 0-14 |- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 15 | June 29 | @ Detroit | 92-100 | Young (26) | Lennox (8) | Latta (5) | Palace of Auburn Hills 8,798 | 0-15
|- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 16 | July 1 | Phoenix | 79-97 | Lennox (18) | Lovelace, Young (7) | Latta (5) | Philips Arena 9,795 | 0-16 |- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 17 | July 3 | Houston | 65-72 | Lennox (15) | Feenstra (9) | Haynie, Strother (3) | Philips Arena 7,430 | 0-17 |- bgcolor="bbffbb" | 18 | July 5 | Chicago | 91-84 | Lacy, Latta (18) | Young (8) | Haynie (11) | Philips Arena 8,468 | 1-17 |- bgcolor="bbffbb" | 19 | July 9 | @ Minnesota | 73-67 | Lennox (24) | Bales (11) | Haynie (5) | Target Center 5,893 | 2-17 |- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 20 | July 11 | @ San Antonio | 74-82 | Lennox (22) | Bales (9) | Lennox (4) | AT&T Center 10,943 | 2-18 |- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 21 | July 13 | @ Chicago | 66-79 | Feenstra (21) | Feenstra (8) | Feenstra, Haynie, Lennox (2) | UIC Pavilion 2,907 | 2-19 |- bgcolor="bbffbb" | 22 | July 16 | @ Indiana | 81-77 | Castro Marques (24) | Bales (11) | Haynie (7) | Conseco Fieldhouse 9,303 | 3-19 |- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 23 | July 18 | @ Sacramento | 73-77 | Haynie (12) | Feenstra (8) | Haynie (4) | ARCO Arena 7,236 | 3-20 |- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 24 | July 19 | @ Phoenix | 84-110 | Latta (18) | Terry (11) | Latta (3) | US Airways Center 7,913 | 3-21 |- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 25 | July 22 | Sacramento | 66-79 | Terry, Latta (15) | Terry (9) | Haynie (4) | Philips Arena 10,431 | 3-22 |- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 26 | July 25 | Washington | 75-81 | Castro Marques (23) | Bales (7) | Haynie (3) | Philips Arena 8,279 | 3-23 |- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 27 | July 27 | New York | 76-86 | Lennox (18) | de Souza (11) | Latta (5) | Philips Arena 8,759 | 3-24
| colspan="9" align="center" valign="middle" | Summer Olympic break |- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 28 | August 29 | Connecticut | 72-98 | Lennox (19) | de Souza, Feenstra (6) | Haynie (6) | Philips Arena 11,442 | 3-25 |- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 29 | August 30 | @ Indiana | 72-87 | Lennox (27) | Bales (5) | Haynie (5) | Conseco Fieldhouse 9,280 | 3-26
|- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 30 | September 2 | Seattle | 69-83 | Lennox (25) | de Souza (8) | Latta (4) | Philips Arena 7,390 | 3-27 |- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 31 | September 5 | @ New York | 71-82 | Lennox (28) | Lennox (7) | Castro Marques (4) | Madison Square Garden 7,039 | 3-28 |- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 32 | September 8 | Indiana | 77-81 | Lennox (19) | Bales (9) | Castro Marques (6) | Philips Arena 7,706 | 3-29 |- bgcolor="bbffbb" | 33 | September 11 | @ Los Angeles | 83-72 | Castro Marques (23) | Bales (9) | Latta (10) | Staples Center 9,060 | 4-29 |- bgcolor="ffbbbb" | 34 | September 12 | @ Seattle | 72-77 | Young (20) | Feenstra, Haynie, Terry (5) | Latta (4) | KeyArena 9,686 | 4-30
Standings
Statistics
Regular season Player GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG Betty Lennox 34 33 29.7 41.5 35.8 85.5 4.2 2.4 1.3 0.1 17.5 Ivory Latta 34 31 28.2 36.2 34.4 80.2 2.1 3.6 1.3 0.0 11.4 Erika de Souza 12 8 23.1 58.5 0.0 61.5 6.6 0.7 1.4 1.8 9.3 Iziane Castro Marques 29 20 23.1 35.3 30.9 81.4 2.2 1.8 0.9 0.2 9.3 Tamera Young 33 15 22.6 33.3 32.5 69.1 4.2 1.2 0.9 0.3 7.3 Katie Feenstra 33 4 14.0 53.5 0.0 75.0 3.9 0.3 0.9 0.8 6.7 Stacey Lovelace 15 7 17.2 40.4 41.7 69.2 3.6 1.0 1.1 0.7 6.1 Jennifer Lacy 33 22 18.3 38.9 19.0 67.3 2.7 0.8 0.6 0.2 5.7Alison Bales 17 9 22.3 40.5 33.3 67.7 6.0 0.6 0.9 1.7 4.8 Camille Little 13 2 17.0 42.0 40.0 59.3 3.1 0.7 0.8 0.5 4.8 Kasha Terry 20 8 13.8 47.4 0.0 60.6 3.2 0.5 0.5 0.6 4.6 Kristen Mann 13 8 17.2 40.9 50.0 100.0 1.5 1.1 0.6 0.3 3.5 Kristin Haynie 33 3 14.7 31.6 31.3 75.0 1.7 2.5 0.9 0.1 2.8 Ann Strother 21 0 7.6 35.3 36.8 66.7 0.6 0.3 0.2 0.1 1.9 Chioma Nnamaka 12 0 7.0 23.1 18.2 66.7 1.0 0.2 0.4 0.0 1.3
References