June 17, 2023
Locked on Women’s Basketball: Early WNBA All-Rookie Team picks
By The Next
Jones, Boston, Dojkić are some of the rookies who have impressed
The latest episode of Locked on Women’s Basketball is all about WNBA rookies! Hunter Cruse, Em Adler and Lincoln Shafer discuss Aliyah Boston‘s early success for the Indiana Fever, Haley Jones‘ role with the Atlanta Dream and Ivana Dojkić‘s impact for the Seattle Storm. They also make their picks for the five-player WNBA All-Rookie Team at this point in the season.
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A 6’5 forward/center, Boston has started all 10 games for the Fever so far and is averaging 15.1 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.3 blocks in 28.9 minutes per game. Here’s Lincoln on what’s impressed him most about the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft:
“The number one thing that jumps off the screen, jumps off the page, about Aliyah Boston is the efficiency. She has a true shooting percentage over 69% right now, which … [takes] into account [her] threes and free-throw percentage. That is ridiculously high. And then having her rebounding, her defense — she just understands the game at a really high level. And she makes good decisions with the ball in her hands, she makes good decisions off the ball and she plays solid defense … It’s a joy to watch.”
Jones was the No. 6 overall pick and took some time to find her footing this season, but she has played 27 or more minutes in each of Atlanta’s last four games. On the season, the 6’1 forward/guard is averaging 5.7 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 20.9 minutes per game. Here’s Hunter on how she has grown:
“For Haley Jones, it’s just been the development in terms of just confidence in general. … After the last game against Connecticut, Haley spoke on just the accountability that [teammate] Rhyne Howard just had for her. She was picking up her dribble early. She was kind of just playing hesitant a little bit. And Rhyne was just like, ‘Okay, keep your dribble. Just keep your options open.’ And then as the game progressed, she started getting more confident. We saw in the fourth quarter, she started to kind of explode, which really helped Atlanta get a win there. But yes, in general, I’ve been extremely impressed with Haley.”
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Here at The Next, in addition to the 24/7/365 written content our staff provides, we also host the daily Locked On Women’s Basketball podcast. Join us Monday through Saturday each week as we discuss all things WNBA, collegiate basketball, basketball history and much more. Listen wherever you find podcasts or watch on YouTube.
