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Alisha Valavanis and the Seattle Storm are not looking to settle any time soon. There is a strive to continue to improve the overall roster any where she can. Despite the fact that the Storm have re-signed nearly all of their players from last season and have the number one overall pick in this April's WNBA Draft, Valavanis is staying active during this free agency period. Just like Pete Carroll and John Schneider, this season's training camp will be all about competition.
On February 18th, the Storm announced that they had signed their 2015 third round pick, Nneka Enemkpali to a training camp contract. They also signed former Princeton Point Guard Blake Dietrick. Then on March 2nd, Seattle signed two more players to the training camp roster: Laurin Mincy and Davellyn Whyte.
Here's a quick breakdown of the four players:
Nneka Enemkpali:
Enemkpali was the Storm's third round draft choice in 2015, but sat out the entire season with a knee injury. She is a 6-1 forward who played her college agree at the University of Texas. Enemkpali is best known for her tenacious rebounding ability. During her senior season at Texas, she led the Big 12 in rebounds, averaging 10.6 RPG. She finished ninth all-time in rebounds for Texas.
Storm President and GM Alisha Valavanis had this to say, "We were impressed with Nneka leading up to the WNBA Draft last year. She is working hard in preparation to compete at the next level and we are excited to get her to Seattle."
Blake Dietrick:
Blake played her college career at Princeton and was named the 2014-2015 Ivy League Player of the year. She is a 5'10" Point Guard, where she currently plays overseas in Italy. She is averaging 15.9 PPG, 5.8 RPG, and 2.1 assists per game. She spent time with both the Washington Mystics and Los Angeles Sparks in training camp in 2015; but ultimately was cut from both teams.
While the Storm continue to look for Sue Bird's eventual replacement, it is expected that Dietrick will compete with Angel Goodrich for the backup point guard position this season.
Head Coach Jenny Boucek had this to say on Dietrick, "We had our eye on Blake since watching her lead Princeton on their history NCAA run last year. Throughout her career, she has shown leadership and competitiveness. We are excited to see how her overseas experience will translate to the WNBA."
Lauren Mincy:
Is a 6'0" shooting guard who played at Maryland in college. She was drafted in the 3rd round by the New York Liberty in the 2015 WNBA Draft. She led the Terrapins in scoring during her final season at Maryland with 13.5 points per game and also contributed 3.4 APG. She led her team to back-to-back Final Four appearances, first losing to Jewell Loyd's 2014 Notre Dame team and then to Breanna Stewarts 2015 Connecticut Huskies team.
Davellyn Whyte:
Davellyn Whyte is a WNBA veteran who was drafted by the San Antonio Stars back in 2013 in the 2nd round. She played two years with the Stars, before being forced out of the 2015 season with an injury. Whyte attended the University of Arizona and her senior season led the Wildcats in scoring 16.8 PPG, rebounds 6.3 RPG, assists 5.2 APG, and steals 2.6 SPG. She is the second all-time leading scorer in Arizona Wildcats history with 2,059 career points. She was named the PAC-10 Freshman player of the year. In her WNBA career she has averaged 4.2 points per game and 1.8 rebounds in limited minutes off the bench.
It is expected that Whyte and Mincy will be competing for a back-up shooting guard position, possibly with Jenna O'Hea.
You can check out the full Storm roster here:
http://storm.wnba.com/roster/
Storm Crazies, let us know what you think about the four latest editions to the Storm roster. Do you think any of them have a chance to make the final roster? Let us know in the comments section below!