Ticha has signed
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I guess it is official.....
WNBA's mistake negates selection
By Melody Gutierrez - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Saturday, April 7, 2007
The WNBA voided the Monarchs' third-round selection of Meg Bulger in Wednesday's WNBA draft after the league learned the 6-foot forward from West Virginia had not declared herself eligible.
Bulger, a medical redshirt this past season, has one more year of NCAA eligibility after reinjuring her surgically repaired knee. She plans to return to the Mountaineers next season and might enter the 2008 draft.
"Basically, the league messed up," Monarchs coach Jenny Boucek said.
The WNBA is taking responsibility, calling it a miscommunication between departments at the league office resulting in Bulger being listed in its draft guide, WNBA communications director Ron Howard said. This is the first time a player was drafted into the WNBA who did not intend to be, Howard said.
The Monarchs drafted Bulger with the 36th overall pick. They will be given an additional pick at the end of the third round of the 2008 draft, if the union approves.
Boucek said she doesn't expect this decision to hurt the Monarchs because the team had not expected Bulger to be ready to play this season.
Monarchs general manager John Whisenant called his draft pick of Bulger a "gamble" before learning that she was ineligible. Bulger tore an anterior cruciate ligament in 2006, missing the final 13 games of her junior season. She then reinjured her knee and missed the 2006-07 season.
Wednesday, Whisenant said he hoped Bulger would be ready to play in 2008. Now, they no longer hold her rights.
"It won't affect us," Boucek said. "We weren't planning on her to be here next year. It basically gives us another good player in the third round (next year). Mistakes happen."
Before the WNBA realized its mistake, West Virginia coach Mike Carey cleared things up with msnsportsnet.com.
"This was not a mistake by WVU, Meg Bulger or her family," Carey told the Web site. "This was a mistake by the WNBA and the Sacramento Monarchs. Meg will be back for her senior season in 2007-08, and we're very excited to have her back for the upcoming year."
The Monarchs' second-round pick, Jessica Dickson, remains with the team. Dickson, a 5-foot-11 forward taken 21st overall, averaged 19.2 points in four seasons at South Florida.
"I definitely feel blessed to have this opportunity to play professional ball," Dickson told the Star-Banner in Ocala, Fla. "There are a lot of young ladies who didn't get the opportunity to be drafted."
With this week's draft over, Whisenant reports that Ticha Penicheiro has re-signed with the team and will return for her 10th season. He also remains optimistic about Yolanda Griffith re-signing soon.
Griffith is a core player, meaning she cannot negotiate with other teams and is awarded the WNBA's maximum salary of $93,000. She recently returned to Sacramento after playing in South Korea.
"We are still positive she will (sign)," Whisenant said earlier this week. "We've really gotten our 2005 (WNBA championship) team with improvements back. I'm really excited about it."
WNBA's mistake negates selection
By Melody Gutierrez - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Saturday, April 7, 2007
The WNBA voided the Monarchs' third-round selection of Meg Bulger in Wednesday's WNBA draft after the league learned the 6-foot forward from West Virginia had not declared herself eligible.
Bulger, a medical redshirt this past season, has one more year of NCAA eligibility after reinjuring her surgically repaired knee. She plans to return to the Mountaineers next season and might enter the 2008 draft.
"Basically, the league messed up," Monarchs coach Jenny Boucek said.
The WNBA is taking responsibility, calling it a miscommunication between departments at the league office resulting in Bulger being listed in its draft guide, WNBA communications director Ron Howard said. This is the first time a player was drafted into the WNBA who did not intend to be, Howard said.
The Monarchs drafted Bulger with the 36th overall pick. They will be given an additional pick at the end of the third round of the 2008 draft, if the union approves.
Boucek said she doesn't expect this decision to hurt the Monarchs because the team had not expected Bulger to be ready to play this season.
Monarchs general manager John Whisenant called his draft pick of Bulger a "gamble" before learning that she was ineligible. Bulger tore an anterior cruciate ligament in 2006, missing the final 13 games of her junior season. She then reinjured her knee and missed the 2006-07 season.
Wednesday, Whisenant said he hoped Bulger would be ready to play in 2008. Now, they no longer hold her rights.
"It won't affect us," Boucek said. "We weren't planning on her to be here next year. It basically gives us another good player in the third round (next year). Mistakes happen."
Before the WNBA realized its mistake, West Virginia coach Mike Carey cleared things up with msnsportsnet.com.
"This was not a mistake by WVU, Meg Bulger or her family," Carey told the Web site. "This was a mistake by the WNBA and the Sacramento Monarchs. Meg will be back for her senior season in 2007-08, and we're very excited to have her back for the upcoming year."
The Monarchs' second-round pick, Jessica Dickson, remains with the team. Dickson, a 5-foot-11 forward taken 21st overall, averaged 19.2 points in four seasons at South Florida.
"I definitely feel blessed to have this opportunity to play professional ball," Dickson told the Star-Banner in Ocala, Fla. "There are a lot of young ladies who didn't get the opportunity to be drafted."
With this week's draft over, Whisenant reports that Ticha Penicheiro has re-signed with the team and will return for her 10th season. He also remains optimistic about Yolanda Griffith re-signing soon.
Griffith is a core player, meaning she cannot negotiate with other teams and is awarded the WNBA's maximum salary of $93,000. She recently returned to Sacramento after playing in South Korea.
"We are still positive she will (sign)," Whisenant said earlier this week. "We've really gotten our 2005 (WNBA championship) team with improvements back. I'm really excited about it."
If the league expands in 08 (like Donna keeps threatening to do...
) it could even be lower than that.
I agree with 6th, that extra pick next year has as much a chance as Bulger did this year of making the final 13, so I consider it a wash. Except for the fact that with Bulger out essentially the entirety of 2007 with an ACL injury - we would have possibly held her rights until she was healthy enough to come to camp in 2008. Which would have been a nice look-see at a player who could replacing someone we lost in expansion. Or roughly, being equivalent to an extra pick in 2008 anyway. Eh, or to be circular...a wash.
The first and second rounds next year are where the real action is. I'd like to see Whiz get us a 2nd round pick back somehow, but maybe that will be unnecessary if some of the 2007 draft class gets displaced on rosters by the deeper 2008 class. This could be an interesting offseason around the league.
) it could even be lower than that. I agree with 6th, that extra pick next year has as much a chance as Bulger did this year of making the final 13, so I consider it a wash. Except for the fact that with Bulger out essentially the entirety of 2007 with an ACL injury - we would have possibly held her rights until she was healthy enough to come to camp in 2008. Which would have been a nice look-see at a player who could replacing someone we lost in expansion. Or roughly, being equivalent to an extra pick in 2008 anyway. Eh, or to be circular...a wash.
The first and second rounds next year are where the real action is. I'd like to see Whiz get us a 2nd round pick back somehow, but maybe that will be unnecessary if some of the 2007 draft class gets displaced on rosters by the deeper 2008 class. This could be an interesting offseason around the league.
I think the WNBA should consider just allowing us to keep the rights to Meg Bulger since that would represent the least "change".
#1 we weren't expecting her to play anyway opting to gamble on how her injury goes
#2 if we get the 40th pick then no matter which way you look at it, IT is not the 36th pick.
#3 if they give us the 36th pick, then the teams picking after us (the real 36, 37, 38, 39...etc) would also pick 1 spot later.
Yes, this may be nit picking but I think letting us keep the rights to Bulger would be the BEST solution. *PLUS* if she turns out to be "under the radar" and a "steal" because of her injury then all the better for the monarchs.
#1 we weren't expecting her to play anyway opting to gamble on how her injury goes
#2 if we get the 40th pick then no matter which way you look at it, IT is not the 36th pick.
#3 if they give us the 36th pick, then the teams picking after us (the real 36, 37, 38, 39...etc) would also pick 1 spot later.
Yes, this may be nit picking but I think letting us keep the rights to Bulger would be the BEST solution. *PLUS* if she turns out to be "under the radar" and a "steal" because of her injury then all the better for the monarchs.
I'm sure it is "fair" to us but not exactly "fair" to the other teams, which is why perhaps the league did not go that route. If the only reason she went in the 3rd round this year is because she was hurt, the other teams will have missed out on her when she was healthy AND eligible to be drafted. The whole issue was that she wasn't eligible this year. And if she is a first round pick when healthy, she just took a huge pay cut to get drafted in the third round, so there would be more gerryrigging needed to figure out what her actual salary range should be. It was a gamble on Whiz' part since there is no guarantee she'll be healthy in 07 or as good as she was when she was healthy. It was no harm no foul as I saw it. We might have drafted differently if she wasn't on the board, but that player and the two third rounders we have next year have little chance of making this roster, so I'm not sure it really matters other than we seemingly got cheated out of something through no fault of our own.
well I think you yourself admitted that this WASN'T our fault. So putting it in that perspective, Whiz wouldn't have drafted her if she wasn't eligible (the WNBA's mistake). Putting it in this perspective one will realize that this is not a case of "no harm-no foul". We DID give something up in drafting her. We took a chance on an injured player, we lost a chance to draft another player. In the end, the monarchs chose to "take a risk" with her and her injury. If she was truly potential first round material then why did the other teams not take the risk (or even in the 2nd/early 3rd rounds) for that matter? It is because, they DID NOT want to take the risk. We took a gamble on her (not knowing we couldn't in the first place)...we should get the potential reward if there is one. Remember even if they give us a draft pick next year at 36th or 40th or whatever, it will not be fair, so the question is what is least disruptive?...I humbly think keeping the rights would be the most reasonable choice. If she gets injured again or does not become the same player, that is the price we pay. If she becomes good, then that is the reward for the gamble we chose on her. REMEMBER, if the other teams say no to "another draft pick" how will we be compensated? It's not really a matter of 3rd round players making the roster, it's really a matter of principle here.
Sure it wasn't our mistake, I certainly agree there. Sure it would make sense for us to get compensated for a mistake that isn't ours. However, we would be asking her to "pay" for the league's mistake as well. How do you assess where she would have gone in the draft should she be healthy in 2008 and play to the degree that would make her be considered a first round pick? Sorry Meg, the league screwed up and despite you never declaring for the draft, you're stuck as a third rounder and consequently with the salary range associated with that for the next four years. Oops. We gambled and lost thanks to a league screw up. Why does she have to pay for it too? She never declared herself for this draft, and should be free to be selected whereever she will be selected next year.
We took a gamble on her precisely because of who she was and what her current injury status was I reckon. We apparently didn't need any other player as much as we were willing to take a chance on what she *might* give us. Other players available did not give us that same luxury - they were a body we would need to deal with this year.
Nobody took her earlier because it would have been a crazy move. Sure somebody else could have taken her earlier in the third round and we wouldn't be having this discussion because we would have selected a player who only would have been here for the duration of training camp or until our regular roster players returned from their overseas committments.
I agree, we should get something "on principle" I just don't agree that it should be at the expense of her salary cap slot. She has just as much right to be compensated "on principle" as we do because it is even less of a mistake or gamble on her part
We took a gamble on her precisely because of who she was and what her current injury status was I reckon. We apparently didn't need any other player as much as we were willing to take a chance on what she *might* give us. Other players available did not give us that same luxury - they were a body we would need to deal with this year.
Nobody took her earlier because it would have been a crazy move. Sure somebody else could have taken her earlier in the third round and we wouldn't be having this discussion because we would have selected a player who only would have been here for the duration of training camp or until our regular roster players returned from their overseas committments.
I agree, we should get something "on principle" I just don't agree that it should be at the expense of her salary cap slot. She has just as much right to be compensated "on principle" as we do because it is even less of a mistake or gamble on her part
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I keep thinking, how awful for her. I mean, we only picked her because we didn't want her anyway and weren't going to let her play. Like being asked to the dance only because all the other girls already said 'no'. I guess it's better than not getting asked, but not by much. Like, "OK, here's this really neat chance at a professional basketball job, which you earned, but we only want you to sit on the bench and be one we weed out because we really have our championship team back, but we need to weed someone, so 'tag, you're it!'"
I'd go another year to school, too, given that option.
I'd go another year to school, too, given that option.
We picked her because she's currently unable to play because she has a ACL injury and won't be able to play right now and thus was available to draft in the latter part of the third round. This I believe is her second tear of the ACL in that knee so she hasn't played basketball for about a year and a half. From the way GM Whiz and coach JB talked, they expected her to have an opportunity to go to camp with the Monarchs next year and compete for a job if she was healthy at the start of training camp in 2008.
She's going back to school because she never declared herself eligible for this draft since she planned to play her senior year not because she wasn't happy where she was picked. With the nature of the talent coming in and the fact that there are so few open roster spots, she's not guaranteed a job next year either regardless of who picks her unless possibly she is chosen in the first round in 2008 or the early part of the 2nd.
She's going back to school because she never declared herself eligible for this draft since she planned to play her senior year not because she wasn't happy where she was picked. With the nature of the talent coming in and the fact that there are so few open roster spots, she's not guaranteed a job next year either regardless of who picks her unless possibly she is chosen in the first round in 2008 or the early part of the 2nd.