The GM/Head Coach Scenario

I am still early into high school, and I am already considering my career options. My first option was to be a WNBA correspondent/columnist/analyst, my second option is to become a professional WNBA player, my third option is to be a coach, and my fourth is to be a sports agent or general manager.

This is also the only time I noticed they were all WNBA-related.

Let us now dwell on the being a coach and being a general manager part.

Let's say, for the 2008 WNBA season, some really, really rich and intelligent businessman like Bill Gates would be hooked onto the league, and the organization comes over to his huge mansion in Massachusetts and pitches him an idea for an independently-owned franchise in Boston.

That really rich guy would buy it and call it the Boston Shamrocks, parallel to the NBA team, but as I said, owned independently. The rich guy would hire me as his head coach or general manager, and he allots me a fixed salary cap of 2 million dollars to get together a team of 12.

Okay, now this might be out of hand already, but let's say that every single player in the WNBA is either a restricted or unrestricted free agent, and the teams' general managers are effectively bothered at the thought that this new franchise would take some of the best in the WNBA under its wing and give them the treatment of elites - the treatment that the league's players get in Europe when they play there during the WNBA offseason.

Well, they thought right.

If I was the general manager/head coach of the Boston Shamrocks, I will certainly use the salary cap to my maximum advantage to get the best players.

Here is my rough picture of an elite roster in alphabetical order:

Seimone Augustus
6'0", shooting guard
Acquired from Minnesota Lynx
Louisiana State Univeristy '06

Sue Bird
5'9", point guard
Acquired from Seattle Storm
University of Connecticut '02

Janell Burse
6'5", center
Acquired from Seattle Storm
Tulane University '01

Swin Cash
6'2", power forward

Acquired from Detroit Shock
University of Connecticut '04

Iziane Castro Marques
6'0", small forward
Acquired from Seattle Storm
Brazil

Tamika Catchings
6'2", small forward

Acquired from Indiana Fever
University of Tennessee '01

Lauren Jackson
6'5", power forward
Acquired from Seattle Storm
Australia

Ruth Riley
6'5", center
Acquired from San Antonio Silver Stars
University of Notre Dame '01

Nykesha Sales
6'0", shooting guard/small forward
Acquired from Connecticut Sun
University of Connecticut '98

Katie Smith
5'11, shooting guard
Acquired from Detroit Shock
Ohio State University '96

Diana Taurasi
6'0", shooting guard/small forward
Acquired from Phoenix Mercury
University of Connecticut '04

Lindsay Whalen
5'8", point guard
Acquired from Connecticut Sun
University of Minnesota '04

Okay, some controversial picks right there. I didn't include superstars such as Tina Thompson, Sheryl Swoopes, and Lisa Leslie because of the hint in the scenario that this team is going to carry the players that would perhaps fuel the WNBA's next decade. Tina, Sheryl, and Lisa made the league into what it is today, and it's time for the others to step up.

Who knows, in the WNBA's third decade, we might have half of the league shooting the lights out like Diana, Nykesha, Seimone, and Katie do right now. This twelve people are the most likely to pioneer the WNBA's next decade as their best game is still yet ahead of them.

Comments, suggestions, criticisms anyone? You could also post your own version of a "new" WNBA franchise with the same scenarios and your own version of the "elite" roster in the comment box!

Till then, WNBA fans...

SITE NOTES: The first widget on the right hand-side of the page there is a Featured Player of the Week. It will be updated every Sunday based on the previous week's games. Click on the featured photo and you are going to be directed on the player profile on the WNBA's official website.