Sun, Miller face tough roster decisions

UNCASVILLE — Nia Clouden walked out of the player tunnel and into the bright lights of Mohegan Sun Arena. Over 3,000 fans were in attendance. The warm-up music was blasting, and it all felt surreal. Her first game as a professional women’s basketball player.

“It’s my first WNBA game so I was kinda taking it all in and it was crazy,”

Coulden said.

The 22-year-old was Connecticut’s first-round draft pick three weeks ago and was the first player off the bench in Sunday’s preseason game against Atlanta.

Yet, she’s one of 10 players fighting for the Sun’s five open roster spots during the final week of training camp.

Connecticut currently has 15 players at training camp and is still missing 12-year veteran DeWanna Bonner who is playing overseas (there is no timeline for when she’ll return to Connecticut). Six of the Sun’s veterans — Jonquel Jones, Brionna Jones,

Alyssa Thomas, Courtney Williams, Jasmine Thomas and Bonner — are protected and have guaranteed spots on the 11-player roster.

The other 10, including Clouden, are left to the mercy of remaining salary cap room to make up the team’s reserves. Connecticut head coach and general manager Curt Miller has until May 5 to make final decisions on who gets a spot on the opening day roster and who will get cut.

“I’ve been committed to creating as competitive as a training camp as we could create and let those battles play out,” Miller said. “I’ve never wanted our young pros to get complacent. I wanted them to be fighting for their spot each and every year. … It’s really difficult because I believe all 15, every single one of the people currently in our camp has the talent to be on a WNBA roster.”

Sunday’s preseason 94-78 win over the Dream was the only live-game audition the 10 players in contention for roster spots will get this spring. In a game that won’t count for or against Connecticut and Atlanta ahead of next weekend’s season opener

(Sun open at New York at 6 p.m. on May 7), it allowed Miller to evaluate his players for the first time under the lights and in front of fans in a live game.

None of Connecticut’s five starters ( Jonquel Jones, Brionna Jones, Alyssa Thomas, Jasmine Thomas and Williams) played more than nine minutes in the first half as Miller used all 15 players within the first 20 minutes. About four and a-half-minutes into the game Miller replaced Williams with Clouden, giving the rookie her first minutes as a professional.

Clouden had standout performance in the second quarter, making two clutch corner 3-pointers and recorded the team’s only block of the opening half. When she checked out of the game, Jasmine Thomas grabbed her shoulders and shook her in celebration, while Williams shouted at her ‘Shoot that thing!’ The rookie finished with eight points, one assist, one rebound and one block in eight and-a-half minutes.

Knowing he needed to see as much from as many players as possible, Miller sat his starters for most of

the second and fourth quarters to give more reserves a chance to play.

Yvonne Anderson took advantage of the moment. The 32-year-old had an impressive Sun debut after missing the majority of the first two weeks of training camp due to her overseas commitment in Italy. In 21 minutes — the second most minutes on the team — she recorded 11 points, three assists and four rebounds.

“Yvonne’s been the shortest in camp (time wise) so what we don’t have is a lot of practice film, a lot of time watching her, so very intent-full we needed to see her play,” Miller said. “Really happy with how she managed the game when she was at the point guard. We’re still learning about each other, she’s learning our system, we’re learning her.”

After playing collegiately at Texas, Anderson has only been invited to two WNBA training camps since going undrafted in 2012: the Sun’s this year and the Sky’s in 2017. This was the first spring she made it to the team’s preseason game. Anderson has spent the majority of her career playing overseas and most recently for the Serbia national team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“I’m a veteran at this point so I knew my time was going to be short so you just have to make the most of the time you get,” Anderson said. “Even at this age I think I’m still peaking which is an amazing thing to be able to say but I just like to play this game and if I had the opportunity to play at home (the U.S.) I would love to, be another thing to check off the basketball bucket list honestly.”

Second-year Sun guardforward DiJonai Carrington also stepped-up Sunday in a team-high 23 minutes. She finished with 12 points, six rebounds and a teamhigh three steals. The former Baylor standout showed she’s improved from her rookie season last year.

While the team was as loud as ever from the bench, full of smiles and supporting cheers, not one player is naive to the reality that will take place over the next four days with over half the roster still fighting for spots.

If the team resigns all five of its reserves from last season, it won’t have room for players like Clouden or Anderson.

“That weighs on you,” Miller said. “Our locker room’s not dumb. They

understand what’s going on. We have to still cut five players in that locker room. It’s not gonna be easy and so they want to play and I feel obligated to give them a shot.”

Clouden’s first-round draft pick salary of $66,306 puts her as the third-most expensive player in the 10 vying for spots behind Sun backup point guard Natisha Hiedeman and two-year vet Kaila Charles. Yet, even players like Hiedeman, Charles and Carrington, who have previously played for the Sun, aren’t safe from being cut.

It’s up to Miller to figure out between now and Thursday which five players are the missing pieces to push Connecticut one level further to reach this year’s finals. The Sun set the franchise record with 26 wins last season but fell in the playoff semifinals for the second straight year.

It’s a decision that never gets easier for the two-time WNBA Coach of the Year.

“If I get used to waiving players then I need to get out,” Miller said. “It’s not a professionally easy thing to talk to the player that they’re being waived and won’t be on the opening day roster. Those discussions are not easy for me but essential to what my job

entails, but I have a philosophy of putting together a tremendous training camp to really take care of no complacency, that you come back and you’re fighting for your job.”

WILLIAMS’ RETURN

Williams made her return debut for the Sun against her former team. The six-year vet spent the past two seasons playing for the Dream after last playing for Connecticut in 2019.

Williams’ start on Sunday allowed her to regain familiarity playing in the Connecticut lineup and will be her only live-game action until May 17. The South Florida alumna will sit out the first two games of the Sun’s regular season due a league suspension she received last fall after a video released online showing her involved in a physical altercation outside a club in Atlanta.

PRO HUSKIES

Megan Walker played 19 minutes recording two points, three rebounds and one block Sunday for the Dream. Fellow former Husky and Atlanta teammate Tiffany Hayes remains overseas.

Miller