2016 Atlanta Dream season

The 2016 WNBA season is the 9th season for the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association. The regular season began May 14 and concluded September 18.^[1][2] The Dream qualified for the playoffs as the sixth seed after missing the playoffs the previous year, finishing 17–17. The Dream defeated the Seattle Storm in the first round of the playoffs before falling to the Chicago Sky in the second round to end their season.

2016 Atlanta Dream season
Coach	Michael Cooper
Arena	Philips Arena
Attendance	5,614 per game
Results
Record	17–17 (.500)
Place	4th (Eastern)
Playoff finish	Lost in Second Round to Chicago Sky
Team Leaders
Points	Angel McCoughtry – 19.5
Rebounds	Elizabeth Williams – 8.1
Assists	Layshia Clarendon – 3.5
← 2015 season 2017 season →

Transactions

WNBA draft

See also: 2016 WNBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/team/country
1	11	Bria Holmes	United States	West Virginia
2	13	Rachel Hollivay	United States	Rutgers
2	16	Courtney Walker	United States	Texas A&M
3	28	Niya Johnson	United States	Baylor

Trades and Roster Changes

Date	Transaction
January 5, 2016	Exercised 4th-Year Team Options on Damiris Dantas and Shoni Schimmel
January 6, 2016	Extended Qualifying Offers to Amanda Thompson, Aneika Henry-Morello, Tiffany Hayes, and Cierra Burdick
February 1, 2016	Signed Tiffany Hayes[3]
February 2, 2016	Signed Carla Cortijo[4]
February 3, 2016	Traded the 4th Overall Pick in the 2016 WNBA draft to the Connecticut Sun in exchange for Elizabeth Williams[5]
February 10, 2016	Signed Matee Ajavon[6]
March 1, 2016	Signed Cierra Burdick
	Signed Ariel Massengale to a rookie-scale contract[7]
March 3, 2016	Signed Kara Braxton, Amanda Thompson, Meighan Simmons to training-camp contracts[8]
April 19, 2016	Signed Tina Roy to a training-camp contract[9]
	Signed Bria Holmes to a rookie-scale contract
April 21, 2016	Signed Niya Johnson and Courtney Walker to rookie-scale contracts
April 27, 2016	Waived Kara Braxton[10]
April 29, 2016	Waived Tina Roy and Amanda Thompson
May 2, 2016	Traded Shoni Schimmel to the New York Liberty in exchange for a 2nd Round Pick in the 2017 WNBA draft[11]
May 9, 2016	Claimed Jordan Jones of the Waivers[12]
May 10, 2016	Waived Ariel Massengale and Niya Johnson
	Traded the 2nd Round Pick received from the Liberty to the Indiana Fever in exchange for Layshia Clarendon[13]
May 11, 2016	Suspended Damiris Dantas for the Full Season due to Overseas Commitments
May 12, 2016	Waived DeLisha Milton-Jones, Courtney Walker, Jordan Jones, and Roneeka Hodges[14]
May 13, 2016	Signed Rachel Hollivay to their rookie-scale contract
June 10, 2016	Temporarily Suspend Sancho Lyttle due to Overseas Commitments
	Signed Avery Warley-Talbert
June 19, 2016	Waived Avery Warley-Talbert
June 21, 2016	Activated Sancho Lyttle from the Temporary Suspension
June 27, 2016	Waived Cierra Burdick
	Claimed Markeisha Gatling of a Waivers[15]
December 6, 2016	Exercised the 4th-Year Team Option on Reshanda Gray and Elizabeth Williams

Roster

2016 Atlanta Dream roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Height Weight DOB From Yrs G 10 Ajavon, Matee 5' 8" (1.73m) 160 lb (73kg) 1986-05-07 Rutgers 8 G 23 Clarendon, Layshia 5' 9" (1.75m) 140 lb (64kg) 1991-05-02 California 3 G 8 Cortijo, Carla 5' 8" (1.73m) 135 lb (61kg) 1987-07-21 Texas 1 C 12 Dantas, Damiris (S) 6' 3" (1.91m) 196 lb (89kg) 1992-11-17 Brazil 2 C 34 Gatling, Markeisha 6' 5" (1.96m) 195 lb (88kg) 1992-07-14 NC State 2 F 21 Gray, Reshanda 6' 2" (1.88m) 192 lb (87kg) 1993-06-01 California 1 G 15 Hayes, Tiffany 5' 10" (1.78m) 155 lb (70kg) 1989-09-20 Connecticut 4 C 14 Hollivay, Rachel 6' 4" (1.93m) 210 lb (95kg) 1993-10-24 Rutgers R G 32 Holmes, Bria 6' 1" (1.85m) 170 lb (77kg) 1994-04-19 West Virginia R F 20 Lyttle, Sancho 6' 4" (1.93m) 175 lb (79kg) 1983-09-20 Houston 11 F 35 McCoughtry, Angel 6' 1" (1.85m) 160 lb (73kg) 1986-09-10 Louisville 7 G 0 Simmons, Meighan 5' 9" (1.75m) 140 lb (64kg) 1992-01-25 Tennessee R F/C 52 Williams, Elizabeth 6' 3" (1.91m) 192 lb (87kg) 1993-06-23 Duke 1	Head coach Michael Cooper (New Mexico) Assistant coaches Miles Cooper (USC) Karleen Thompson (USC) Athletic trainer Michael Douglas (Morehouse) Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Depth

Pos.	Starter	Bench
C	Elizabeth Williams	Rachel Hollivay Markeisha Gatling
PF	Sancho Lyttle	Reshanda Gray
SF	Angel McCoughtry	Bria Holmes
SG	Tiffany Hayes	Matee Ajavon Meighan Simmons
PG	Layshia Clarendon	Carla Cortijo

Schedule

Preseason

2016 Game Log: Preseason
Total: 0–4 (Home: 1–0; Road: 0–0) Game Date Opponent Score High points High rebounds High assists Location/Attendance Record 1 May 4 vs. San Antonio L 67–74 Simmons (10) Williams (10) Tied (3) Mohegan Sun Arena 4,199 0–1 2 May 5 vs. Chicago L 75–95 Williams (12) Hollivay (6) Holmes (8) Mohegan Sun Arena 4,025 0–2 3 May 7 @ Los Angeles L 80–88 Holmes (18) Gray (8) Cortijo (6) Pasadena College 460 0–3 4 May 10 Los Angeles L 63–69 Simmons (11) Williams (13) Ajavon (4) McCamish Pavilion 1,385 0–4
2016 pre-season schedule

Regular season

2016 Regular Season Total: 17–17 (Home: 11–6; Road: 6–11)
May: 5–1 (Home: 2–0; Road: 3–1) Game Date Opponent Score High points High rebounds High assists Location/Attendance Record 1 May 14 @ San Antonio W 73–63 McCoughtry (15) Williams (10) Tied (3) AT&T Center 7,572 1–0 2 May 20 @ Indiana L 85–94 Tied (19) McCoughtry (8) 3 Tied (2) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 7,608 1–1 3 May 22 Chicago W 87–81 McCoughtry (21) Clarendon (8) Cortijo (5) Philips Arena 6,152 2–1 4 May 24 @ New York W 85–79 (OT) Hayes (27) Lyttle (14) Tied (3) Madison Square Garden 14,503 3–1 5 May 27 @ Dallas W 102–93 McCoughtry (26) Lyttle (10) Lyttle (6) College Park Center 4,712 4–1 6 May 29 Indiana W 85–76 McCoughtry (22) Williams (7) Hayes (6) Philips Arena 5,233 5–1
June: 3–7 (Home: 2–3; Road: 1–4) Game Date Opponent Score High points High rebounds High assists Location/Attendance Record 7 June 3 @ Connecticut W 83–77 Hayes (23) Lyttle (11) McCoughtry (4) Mohegan Sun Arena 4,541 6–1 8 June 5 Washington L 79–86 McCoughtry (28) Lyttle (11) Cortijo (5) Philips Arena 3,611 6–2 9 June 10 Minnesota L 78–110 Hayes (23) Clarendon (7) McCoughtry (4) Philips Arena 5,368 6–3 10 June 12 Connecticut W 93–87 Williams (20) Williams (10) Clarendon (9) Philips Arena 4,486 7–3 11 June 17 Chicago W 101–97 McCoughtry (22) Williams (9) Hayes (5) Philips Arena 4,560 8–3 12 June 18 @ Washington L 65–95 Hayes (12) McCoughtry (8) Cortijo (4) Verizon Center 6,977 8–4 13 June 22 New York L 79–90 McCoughtry (22) Lyttle (11) Tied (4) Philips Arena 10,345 8–5 14 June 25 @ San Antonio L 69–73 McCoughtry (23) Williams (10) Tied (3) AT&T Center 9,439 8–6 15 June 28 @ Seattle L 81–84 McCoughtry (22) Hollivay (9) Tied (3) KeyArena 4,648 8–7 16 June 30 @ Los Angeles L 75–84 Hayes (32) Williams (10) Clarendon (7) Staples Center 10,215 8–8
July: 5–4 (Home: 4–1; Road: 1–3) Game Date Opponent Score High points High rebounds High assists Location/Attendance Record 17 July 3 Phoenix L 87–95 Hayes (26) Williams (9) Hayes (5) Philips Arena 6,557 8–9 18 July 5 Seattle W 77–64 Lyttle (22) Lyttle (11) Tied (4) Philips Arena 3,983 9–9 19 July 8 Dallas W 95–90 (OT) Tied (27) Lyttle (14) McCoughtry (9) Philips Arena 6,745 10–9 20 July 10 @ Connecticut W 67–63 McCoughtry (26) Lyttle (14) Lyttle (3) Mohegan Sun Arena 5,857 11–9 21 July 13 @ New York L 86–62 Hayes (12) Lyttle (9) Clarendon (3) Madison Square Garden 11,317 11–10 22 July 15 @ Indiana L 72–78 Cortijo (20) Williams (8) McCoughtry (6) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 8,612 11–11 23 July 17 Los Angeles W 91–74 Tied (17) Williams (12) Clarendon (6) Philips Arena 7,551 12–11 24 July 20 @ Minnesota L 65–83 Clarendon (11) Williams (8) Tied (2) Target Center 16,132 12–12 25 July 22 Dallas W 93–88 Gray (22) Williams (11) McCoughtry (5) McCamish Pavilion 4,749 13–12
August: 1–1 (Home: 1–0; Road: 0–1) Game Date Opponent Score High points High rebounds High assists Location/Attendance Record 26 August 26 @ Chicago L 82–90 Tied (19) Williams (9) Tied (4) Allstate Arena 6,016 13–13 27 August 28 Connecticut W 87–73 McCoughtry (22) Williams (8) 3 Tied (5) Philips Arena 7,055 14–13
September: 3–4 (Home: 2–2; Road: 1–2) Game Date Opponent Score High points High rebounds High assists Location/Attendance Record 28 September 4 Seattle L 82–91 McCoughtry (32) Williams (6) Williams (4) Philips Arena 5,695 14–14 29 September 6 Phoenix W 91–87 McCoughtry (27) McCoughtry (8) Clarendon (6) Philips Arena 3,625 15–14 30 September 8 @ Los Angeles W 86–81 McCoughtry (32) Williams (12) Clarendon (6) Staples Center 6,152 16–14 31 September 11 @ Phoenix L 75–86 Hayes (22) Williams (16) Clarendon (4) Talking Stick Resort Arena 9,877 16–15 32 September 13 San Antonio L 67–71 Holmes (20) Williams (12) Hayes (4) Philips Arena 5,312 16–16 33 September 15 Washington W 94–91 McCoughtry (31) Williams (10) Clarendon (9) Philips Arena 4,404 17–16 34 September 17 @ Minnesota L 87–95 McCoughtry (18) Williams (9) Clarendon (7) Target Center 11,663 17–17
2016 season schedule

Playoffs

2016 Playoffs
Total: 1–1 (Home: 1–0; Road: 0–1) Game Date Opponent Score High points High rebounds High assists Location/Attendance Record 1 September 21 Seattle W 94–85 McCoughtry (37) Williams (16) Tied (7) McCamish Pavilion 2,553 1–0 2 September 25 @ Chicago L 98–108 Hayes (30) Williams (9) McCoughtry (9) Allstate Arena 3,922 0–1
2016 playoff schedule

Standings

Eastern Conference v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
3 - New York Liberty	21	13	.618	—	10–7	11–6	11–5
4 - Chicago Sky	18	16	.529	3	11–6	7–10	8–8
5 - Indiana Fever	17	17	.500	4	8–9	9–8	8–8
6 - Atlanta Dream	17	17	.500	4	11–6	6–11	9–7
e - Connecticut Sun	14	20	.412	7	8–9	6–11	4–12
e - Washington Mystics	13	21	.382	8	5–12	8–9	8–8

Western Conference v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
1 - Minnesota Lynx	28	6	.824	—	15–2	13–4	15–1
2 - Los Angeles Sparks	26	8	.765	2	14–3	12–5	11–5
7 - Seattle Storm	16	18	.471	12	10–7	6–11	7–9
8 - Phoenix Mercury	16	18	.471	12	11–6	5–12	6–10
e - Dallas Wings	11	23	.324	17	6–11	5–12	8–8
e - San Antonio Stars	7	27	.206	21	4–13	3–14	1–15

Playoffs

	First round Single elimination (Sept. 21)					Second round Single elimination (Sept. 24 and 25)					Semifinals Best-of-5 (Sept. 28 – Oct. 6)					WNBA Finals Best-of-5 (Oct. 9 – 20)
											1	Minnesota Lynx	3
						3	New York Liberty	94			8	Phoenix Mercury	0
	5	Indiana Fever	78			8	Phoenix Mercury	101								1	Minnesota Lynx	2
	8	Phoenix Mercury	89													2	Los Angeles Sparks	3
											2	Los Angeles Sparks	3
						4	Chicago Sky	108			4	Chicago Sky	1
	6	Atlanta Dream	94			6	Atlanta Dream	98
	7	Seattle Storm	85

Note: Teams re-seeded after the second round and semifinals.

• Bold – Game or series winner
• Italic – Team with home-court advantage

Statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage	TO	Turnovers per game
PF	Fouls per game		Team leader		League leader

Regular Season

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Angel McCoughtry	33	32	30.0	.434	.302	.788	5.7	2.8	1.6	0.7	19.5
Tiffany Hayes	33	33	30.8	.441	.274	.804	3.4	2.4	1.2	0.2	15.0
Elizabeth Williams	34	34	34.7	.442	.000	.692	8.1	1.2	0.8	2.3	11.9
Layshia Clarendon	34	32	28.2	.466	.346	.765	4.3	3.5	0.7	0.1	10.4
Sancho Lyttle	19	18	30.1	.416	.222	.760	7.8	1.8	2.1	1.0	7.6
Bria Holmes	33	10	21.3	.435	.274	.774	2.6	1.2	0.9	0.2	7.5
Carla Cortijo	27	1	10.9	.354	.289	.781	1.6	1.6	0.3	0.0	4.7
Reshanda Gray	28	5	9.6	.521	.000	.556	2.5	0.1	0.1	0.1	3.4
Matee Ajavon	32	2	10.6	.305	.231	.750	1.6	1.2	0.4	0.3	3.3
Meighan Simmons	25	0	5.9	.289	.286	.833	0.4	0.3	0.1	0.1	2.6
Markeisha Gatling	16	2	10.5	.447	.000	.889	2.4	0.4	0.3	0.3	2.6
Rachel Hollivay	32	1	8.9	.316	.000	.469	2.1	0.1	0.1	0.4	1.2
Cierra Burdick	8	0	3.6	.125	.000	.500	0.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.4
Avery Warley-Talbert	1	0	4.0	.000	.000	.000	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

Playoffs

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Angel McCoughtry	2	2	35.0	54.8	70.0	73.3	4.5	8.0	0.5	0.0	32.0
Tiffany Hayes	1	1	37.0	58.8	42.9	87.5	6.0	2.0	1.0	0.0	30.0
Bria Holmes	2	2	35.0	50.0	28.6	62.5	5.5	2.5	0.5	0.5	15.5
Elizabeth Williams	2	2	38.5	38.1	0.0	77.8	12.5	1.5	0.5	2.5	11.5
Layshia Clarendon	2	2	32.0	53.3	25.0	62.5	6.0	6.0	0.0	1.0	11.0
Matee Ajavon	2	1	15.5	50.0	0.0	100.0	2.5	0.5	0.0	0.0	7.0
Meighan Simmons	2	0	12.5	10.0	14.3	0.0	1.5	0.5	0.0	0.0	1.5
Markeisha Gatling	2	0	7.0	0.0	0.0	75.0	0.5	0.0	0.0	0.5	1.5
Carla Cortijo	2	0	3.0	50.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0
Reshanda Gray	2	0	3.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

Awards and honors

Recipient	Award	Date awarded	Ref.
Angel McCoughtry	Eastern Conference Player of the Week	May 31	[16]
		July 11	[17]
	All-Defensive First Team	September 30	[18]
	All-WNBA Second Team	October 14	[19]
Elizabeth Williams	Most Improved Player Award	September 21	[20]