The New York Liberty hold the tenth overall pick in the 2011 WNBA Draft, which will be held this afternoon on 3 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN. Our WNBA blog Swish Appeal has done a Mock Draft and they have the Liberty taking Ohio St. center Jantel Lavender in the first round. Here is their rationale.
The consensus remains that the Liberty need a post player. With Taj McWilliams- Franklin leaving for Minnesota center is a significant need for the Liberty. Jantel Lavender makes sense as a big center that can score and potentially replace that element of McWilliams-Franklin's game.
Here is more on Lavender from a Swish Appeal draft profile on her.
A legit 6'4", Jantel Lavender spent most of her Ohio State career with her back to the basket, fine tuning an array of post moves. When injuries forced the Buckeyes to go to a bigger lineup this year, Lavender was able to display her talents facing the basket as well. An absolutely dominating force down the stretch, Lavender earned first team All-American recognition for the second straight year, while becoming the first women's player from the BCS conferences (Big Ten, Big East, Big 12, ACC, SEC or Pac-10) to win four conference player of the year awards.