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2001 WNBA Draft To Be Televised By Espn2
In addition to ESPN2's first-round coverage, all four rounds of the draft will be carried live on NBA.com TV and online at WNBA.com, with complete analysis and comprehensive information on all 16 teams' selections. WNBA President Val Ackerman will introduce those drafted players who will be in attendance. The Seattle Storm will have the first selection in the draft, with the other seven teams that did not qualify for the 2000 WNBA Playoffs choosing in inverse order of last year's regular season win-loss records. The eight non-playoff teams will be followed by the eight teams that did qualify for postseason play, with the latter teams also selecting in inverse order of their 2000 regular season win-loss records. Ties between teams with the same record were broken using the WNBA tiebreak formula. The WNBA also announced that, beginning with the 2002 WNBA Draft, a lottery will be held to determine the draft's top three choices. The draft lottery will be conducted among the eight teams that do not qualify for the playoffs and will be weighted according to each team's win-loss record. The team that finishes the regular season with the fewest wins will be guaranteed at least the fourth highest draft choice. The WNBA will tip off its fifth season on Monday, May 28, Memorial Day, with a rematch of last year's Western Conference Finals between the WNBA Champion Houston Comets and the Los Angeles Sparks. The nationally televised contest, to be played at the Compaq Center in Houston, will air on NBC beginning at 3:00 p.m. EDT. The Memorial Day game will be the first of 10 regular season telecasts on NBC. The Portland Fire will begin their second season at the Rose Garden in a Western Conference matchup against the Minnesota Lynx at 7:00 p.m. The complete Fire schedule can be found on the Fire's web site, www.firebasketball.com. The 2001 WNBA regular season will end on Tuesday, August 14, with the playoffs scheduled to begin on Thursday, August 16. THE DRAFT ORDER FOR ALL FOUR ROUNDS OF THE 2001 WNBA DRAFT FOLLOWS.
NOTES: (1) Minnesota traded Kristin Folkl and the first round draft choice it received from New York in exchange for Grace Daley (September 13, 2000) to Portland for Lynn Pride and Michele VanGorp (February 20, 2001). (2) Both Phoenix and New York finished the regular season with 20-12 records. Phoenix won the tiebreaker based upon having a better record against teams in the opposite conference and therefore selects after New York. (3) Seattle traded its third round draft choice to Houston in exchange for Andrea Garner on May 27, 2000. (4) Miami traded its fourth round draft choice to Phoenix in exchange for Shantia Owens on April 25, 2000. [For more information on the WNBA, log onto www.wnba.com or contact Jill Wiggins, Portland Fire Director of Communications, at 503-797-9929. Season tickets for the second season of Fire basketball are available by calling 503-797-WNBA.]
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PORTLAND, OR.
The WNBA announced today that the 2001 WNBA Draft will be
televised live on ESPN2, marking the first time in the league's five-year history that the draft will air on national television. The four-round draft will be held via conference call with
representatives of the 16 teams on Friday, April 20 beginning at 11 a.m. EDT at the NBA Entertainment studios in Secaucus, New Jersey. The Fire will have the fourth overall
selection in the 2001 WNBA Draft. In addition, Portland owns the 12th overall pick, which they received from the Minnesota
Lynx (via the New York Liberty) in the February 20 trade with Kristin
Folkl. In the following three rounds, the Fire will select with the 20th, 36th, and 52nd picks overall.