Aces add depth, upside in WNBA draft

It was nearly 3 a.m. Friday in France, but Iliana Rupert was still oozing excitement. About an hour earlier, she’d been selected by the Aces with the No. 12 pick in the WNBA draft.

An energizing experience, to say the least.

“My favorite players, I have maybe five or six favorite players, and two of them are on the Las Vegas Aces — Liz Cambage and A’ja Wilson,” she said, gleefully. “Being able to practice with them and learn from them on a daily basis … I couldn’t be more happy.”

The Aces selected the 19-year-old French center with their first draft pick Thursday and added Arkansas senior point guard Destiny Slocum moments later with the No. 14 pick.

The duo will have an opportunity to play for one of the best teams in the WNBA — one that reached the WNBA Finals last season and surely has high expectations this season.

“We’re adding pieces now. They’re complementary pieces,” said Aces coach Bill Laimbeer. “They’re both going to have to work on their game to make a significant impact in this league, let alone with our team, which is fairly deep right now. We’re positioned not only for the near term but also for the long term.”

Laimbeer indicated that Rupert and Slocum won’t be expected to play significant minutes, given the Aces’ top-end talent. Their roster includes the reigning MVP in Wilson, All-Stars like Cambage, Angel McCoughtry and Chelsea Gray, two-time reigning Sixth Woman of the Year Dearica Hamby and former No. 1 overall picks Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young.

With their firepower and depth, the Aces could afford to draft a player with upside like Rupert, who stands 6 feet, 4 inches and is the two-time reigning Euroleague Young Player of the Year after excelling with the French club Bourges Basket.

Laimbeer said she should have been picked sooner, but other teams were more focused on finding players who could help them win now.

“They couldn’t afford to take a player that’s probably going to be a year or two out for contributing,” he said. “We’re very fortunate to be positioned that we were able to do that and not affect our core nucleus.”

Slocum is more refined after a five-year college career that included stops at Maryland and Oregon State. She averaged 15 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game last season for the Razorbacks. At 5-7, she’s a natural lead guard who converted 39.7 percent of her 3-point attempts.

She’s at her best when playing with pace and is a proficient ball handler in pick-and-roll situations.

“With as talented of a roster as the Aces have, that’s going to be so much — setting up people,” Slocum said.

Las Vegas concluded the draft by using the 36th and final pick to select Towson senior guard Kionna Jeter, who averaged 23 points per game last season.

Third-round picks rarely make a roster their rookie season, but Jeter will have an opportunity to impress in training camp.

“We wanted players who would come in and would not bust our chemistry,” Laimbeer said.

Seems like he found a few.

Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.