The Sky waived 22nd overall draft pick Aleighsa Welch on Wednesday, giving the South Carolina forward a chance to catch on with another team before the first preseason games start on Friday.
Welch was projected as a first-round pick and was one of 12 prospects invited to last month’s WNBA draft night broadcast in Uncasville, Conn., and Sky coach and general manager Pokey Chatman couldn’t pass her up when she fell to the 10th pick in the second round.
But after six practices since the start of training camp this week, it was clear the rookie wouldn’t emerge from a logjam of power forwards on the Sky’s roster. Chatman brought in free agents who can play the four or five, such as 6-1 Brazilian Clarissa Dos Santos and 6-4 Temple product Victoria Macaulay, both of whome have played overseas. Jessica Breland starts at power forward and versatile star Elena Delle Donne plays there at times as well. The Sky also activated Allie Quigley, adn
At 6-feet Welch is undersized compared to her competition and faced long odds from the outset. “The bottom line, she played a four in college, and she’s probably the size of a three, which is the wrong transition for her to make at the pro level. So you want her to play at her natural position,” Chatman said. “There were just some things that she struggled with.”
But she called Welch a “good kid” and a hard worker, and noted that she validated everything that women’s basketball legend and Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley said about her before the draft.
“Unfortunaly we don’t have developmental leagues, semipro leagues … like a lot of these other leagues,” Chatman said. “Our draft is so different. you don’t know in February if a certain player will be there in April. So you fill a need at (certain) positions and to be quite honest with you I was pleasantly surprised that Aleighsa Welch was there for my last pick. So I wanted to give her an opportunity to come in.”
The Sky also activated Allie Quigley, and needed to release a player to remain at the 15-player limit for the preseason. Rosters must be cut to 12 by June 4.
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