Looking for offensive spark off the bench, Sun select three guards in WNBA draft

The Sun selected three guards in Thursday’s WNBA draft. From left, DiJonai Carrington, Micaela Kelly and Aleah Goodman (Graphic courtesy Connecticut Sun)

The Connecticut Sun face a 2021 campaign without their engine or the player that made the Sun go – Alyssa Thomas, who will be out for the season after tearing her achilles tendon in January playing in Europe. So head coach and general manager Curt Miller was hoping to find some additional offense for the Sun in Thursday’s WNBA draft.

The Sun had three picks in the draft and selected Baylor’s DiJonai Carrington with the No. 20 pick in the second round, Central Michigan’s Micaela Kelly with the No. 21 pick and Oregon State’s Aleah Goodman with the No. 30 pick in the third round.

“We (drafted) three different guards that score at different levels,” Sun coach and general manager Curt Miller said. “Aleah is one of the premier three-point shooters in the country. Micaela had a fantastic year from (outside) the arc and DiJonai scores from all three levels. It played out as well as we could have hoped.”

Kelly was actually outside shooting baskets during the draft at her home instead of sitting in front of the television waiting for her name to be called.

Carrington comes to the Connecticut Sun after a successful season with Baylor. As a graduate transfer from Stanford, the 5-11 guard came off the bench to help lead her team to the Elite 8 where the Bears fell to Connecticut in a thriller. She was named the Big 12 Sixth Woman of the Year as well as Newcomer of the Year. In 27 games with the Bears, she averaged 14.1 points and 4.9 rebounds while getting 56 steals.

Prior to her time at Baylor, she spent four years at Stanford where she helped the Cardinal win two Pac-12 titles and advance to the Final Four (2017) and Elite 8 (2019) of the NCAA Tournament.

“DiJonai is one of the best two-way wings in the draft,” Miller said. “She is a physical guard that scores at multiple levels and defends with physicality. She has played under two legendary coaches (Tara VanDerveer at Stanford and Kim Mulkey at Baylor) in our coaching profession.”

The Sun thought Carrington might go late in the first round of the draft but were thrilled when teams continued to pass her. “We certainly didn’t expect her to drop to No. 20 but we were excited as we saw that beginning to happen. We’re very fortunate to have her as a part of our team.”

Kelly is just the second player in Central Michigan University’s history to be drafted by a WNBA team. She was ranked fifth in Division I in scoring in 2021, scoring 23.9 points a game. She drained 71 three-point shots, just slightly below her career-high of 75 three-pointers as a junior. She was also a two-time selection on the Middle American Conference’s All-Defensive team.

“Micaela is an athletic and dynamic guard that stuffs the stat sheet,” Miller said of the second round draftee. “She can play on and off the ball offensively and is a proven rebounding guard.”

Goodman comes from Oregon State where she leaves as the best three-point shooter (43.7 percent) in school history and in the top 10 of the best three-point shooters in Pac-12 history. In her collegiate career, she had 1,162 points and sank 241 three-point shots.

“Aleah is an efficient combo guard that shot nearly 50% from the 3-point line,” said Miller. “She is a floor leader that makes all those around her better.”

Miller is thrilled as the prospect that these three draft picks will make the Sun better from the opening day of training camp. Making the actual 12-person roster will be difficult with the injured Alyssa Thomas taking up one roster spot and the veteran players returning for 2021.

“We are really excited about that competition we brought in for camp,” Miller said. “We talked about really trying to create a tremendous training camp competition between these guards fighting it out for spots.

“It is exactly what we wanted — competition between these guards in camp coupled with some of the free agents we signed,” Miller said. “We have a lot of our veterans under contract coming late to camp which really creates and an opportunity for these rookies and free agents to really compete against each other. I am excited about that competition in camp that we will have from day one. Everyone will be getting after it everybody, scratching and clawing to try and be on this opening day roster.”

The Sun’s 19th season in Connecticut begins on May 14 when the Sun travel to Atlanta to face the Dream. Two days later, the Sun will play their first home game of the year at the Mohegan Sun Arena against Phoenix on Sunday, May 16 for a 7 p.m. tipoff.

Each team in the WNBA will play 32 games this season with a four-week break between mid-July and mid-August for members of the league to participate in the 2021 Summer Olympics in Japan.

2021 Connecticut Sun schedule