The Atlanta Dream is a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in the city of Atlanta, Georgia. The team began its first season in 2008.

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Franchise history

Franchise origin

Even before the success of the United States women's basketball team in the 1996 Olympic Games, the American Basketball League had interest in placing a women's professional basketball team in Atlanta. Plans were made to place a women's pro team in Atlanta as early as 1995. ^[1] Eight of the twelve Olympians would play on ABL teams when the league began play in October 1996. ^[2] The Atlanta Glory played at Forbes Arena and would last two seasons before folding before the start of the 1998-99 season, which would be the ABL's final.

The Dream for a New Team

Atlanta had been mentioned as a possible future city for WNBA expansion, but efforts did not come together until the beginning of 2007. An organizing committee with Atlanta businessmen and politicians began the effort to attract an expansion team. ^[3] The inability of the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA to draw crowds was a concern of the WNBA, and the committee kicked off an effort in February 2007 to gain volunteers and petition signatures, as well as pledges for season tickets.

Philips Arena, the Gwinnett Arena and Alexander Memorial Coliseum were candidates for venues. By May 2007, the committee had over 1,000 pledges for season tickets, although the goal was 8,000 season tickets in ninety days. ^{[4] [5]} By July the committee had 1,200 commitments. The next step was to find an owner for the team. ^[6]

On October 16, 2007 word broke that Ron Terwilliger, an Atlanta businessman and CEO of a national real estate company would be the future owner of an Atlanta franchise. The next day, at a news conference at Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park, WNBA president Donna Orender made the announcement that Atlanta would officially be granted a WNBA expansion franchise. ^[7]

Building the Team

On November 27, 2007 Atlanta named Marynell Meadors the first head coach/general manager in franchise history. For Meadors, a coach with extensive experience at the college level, this was her second role as a coach/general manager in the WNBA. Meadors had been one of the WNBA's first eight coaches as the head coach/general manager of the Charlotte Sting when that team began in 1997. Afterwards, Meadors had served as a scouting director for the Miami Sol and had been an assistant coach under Richie Adubato and Tree Rollins for the Washington Mystics. ^[8]

(Amusingly, former NBA player Dennis Rodman volunteered his name as head coach for the Dream. Terwilliger declined, stating that he wanted someone with more coaching experience and he felt that the head coach should be a woman, as the WNBA was a women's league. ^[9])

On December 5, 2007, an online contest was announced for people to choose the team name and team colors - the final choice would rest with owner Ron Terwilliger. The names offered as choices were "Dream", "Flight", "Surge" and "Sizzle". There were also options for team colors such as lime green or hot pink. Voters had four different names and four different colors from which to choose. ^[10]

Atlanta's WNBA franchise announced that the team name will be the Dream on January 23, 2008. The name was inspired, in part, by the famous speech of Atlanta native Martin Luther King, Jr. ^[11] The team colors would be sky blue, red, and white. ^[12]

Atlanta held their expansion draft on February 6, 2008 when they selected one player from each of the thirteen teams in the league. Atlanta traded Roneeka Hodges and their number four pick in the 2008 WNBA Draft to the Seattle Storm for Iziane Castro Marques and Seattle's eighth pick in the 2008 WNBA Draft. Also, the Dream traded the 18th pick and LaToya Thomas to the Detroit Shock for Ivory Latta.

Living the Dream (2008-present)

From May 17, 2008 with a season opening loss against the Connecticut Sun to July 3, 2008 with a home loss against the Houston Comets, the Atlanta Dream lost 17 consecutive games, setting the WNBA all-time records both for consecutive losses and for losses from opening day. The 2006 Chicago Sky had previously lost 13 consecutive games, and the 2002 Detroit Shock had opened their season 0-13. (The Portland Fire had lost 14 straight games over two seasons, ending the 2001 season with 11 straight losses and opening 2002 with three straight losses.) They would later finish with a 4-30 record.

On July 5, 2008, the Dream earned their first win in Atlanta against the Chicago Sky, ending the losing streak. They beat the Sky 91-84.

The 2008/2009 offseason was a busy one. Head coach/general manager Meadors did not want a repeat of 2008. She made key moves by acquiring players like Sancho Lyttle, Nikki Teasley, Chamique Holdsclaw, Angel McCoughtry, and Michelle Snow.

By the 2009 All-Star break, the Dream had already surpassed their entire win total of their inaugural season. The Dream, however, were on the losing side of many close games and remained under .500 going into the break.

Current home

The Atlanta Dream currently play in Philips Arena in downtown Atlanta, Georgia.

Season-by-season records

Season	Team	Conference		Regular season			Playoff Results
				W	L	PCT
Atlanta Dream
2008	2008	East	7th	4	30	.118
2009	2009	East	2nd	14	12	.538	TBD
Regular season				17	41	.293	0 Conference Championships
Playoffs				0	0	.000	0 WNBA Championships

Players

Current roster

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Former players

• Alison Bales
• Katie Feenstra
• Betty Lennox, now a member of the Los Angeles Sparks
• Camille Little, now a member of the Seattle Storm
• Stacey Lovelace-Tolbert
• Kristen Mann, now a member of the Washington Mystics
• Chioma Nnamaka
• Ann Strother
• Nikki Teasley
• Kasha Terry

Coaches

Head Coaches:

• Marynell Meadors (2008-present)

Assistant Coaches:

• Katy Steding (2008)
• Fred Williams (2008-present)
• Carol Ross (2009-present)

All-Stars

• 2008 : No All-Star Game
• 2009 : Erika DeSouza, Sancho Lyttle

Media coverage

Atlanta Dream games are carried on Super Talk 1230 and 1340, WALR. Art Eckman provides play-by-play. ^[13]

References

1. Women's Basketball Timeline: 1990s
2. American Basketball League profile by Interbasket
3. "Atlanta group launching effort to attract WNBA team"
4. WNBA-ATL website.
5. "Atlanta courts WNBA."
6. "Atlanta committee looking for potential owner for WNBA team.
7. "Atlanta lands WNBA's 14th team."
8. "Atlanta Franchise Names Marynell Meadors Head Coach and General Manager."
9. "Atlanta WNBA owner says he's not interested in Rodman as coach."
10. Names in the Game
11. Atlanta Dream video at 13:15
12. Atlanta's WNBA team named Atlanta Dream
13. 2008 Radio Schedule