Subscribe
Follow Us
The Atlanta Dream have started training camp, and they have some new faces in the building from a year ago. Head coach Karl Smesko was the first new addition to the team after the Dream lost in the first round of the playoffs last season, and they fired Tanisha Wright. In free agency, they made a series of moves, and they're biggest one was signing Brittney Griner.
With a few days of training camp under her belt, Griner spoke about her time with the team so far.
“I feel younger here, honestly,” Griner said via Jenna Ortiz of the Arizona Republic. “I was starting to feel old, but I feel young and they’re believing in me, that’s all you can ask for. When you get this many years underneath your belt and people are still believing in you and telling you that you can do it, it just feels good.”
Griner had been with the Mercury her entire career, and now they look like a different team, with the exception of Kahleah Copper. For the Dream, they are a young team looking to get to the next level, and someone like Griner can help them do so.
Brittney Griner embracing new start with Dream
Griner is very familiar with the South, which is one of the reasons why she decided to sign with the Dream.
“I love Atlanta. Atlanta reminds me more of home. I feel like I came home,” Griner said. “I’m back in the South, and this is the best thing I could have ever did in my life.”
Besides being familiar with the area, Griner also liked what she saw from the young players on the Dream. While she played with Unrivaled, she had the chance to see the games of Rhyne Howard, Allisha Gray, and Jordin Canada up close, and they were big in her recruitment to the team.
“Those three ladies right there, honestly,” Griner said during her introductory press conference. “It started with them. Everything they've shown me and my family, and meeting everyone else here. Every time you came to play here, you just felt the atmosphere, you felt it in the gym. I knew I wanted to be a part of that.”
The Dream have a solid team this season, and the hope is that they can come together and build chemistry quickly so they can come out of the gates running.
