Now it’s time to think about yourself.
After four seasons of only thinking about the team, senior center Lady Comfort has her eyes set on her own future. Last weekend, she took part in the two-day WNBA pre-draft camp at the University of Tampa.
The camp gives a chance for coaches, scouts and executives of all 14 WNBA teams to evaluate incoming talent in preparation for tomorrow’s draft.
While Comfort statistically did not have as good of a season this year as her previous two campaigns, her 9.4 points per game and 8.4 rebounds per game, which led the team, were still good enough to garner an invite to the WNBA’s pre-draft game.
And Comfort was understatedly pleased to take part in the event.
“I was excited. Both nervous and excited,” she said. “I was invited to keep showing off my game and hopefully [turn it into] a career. Playing with [these] players I’ve been playing against for four years, [and now] they’re all of a sudden on my team. But it’s fun. It was lots of fun. [There] was lots of energy from every player, so it was exciting.”
Even though she was showcasing her talents against such elite competition, Comfort remained confident in her abilities and her performance.
“I think I did really well,” she said. “I got the chance to talk to a lot of coaches from different places, like the [Los Angeles] Sparks coach, the [Washington] Mystics and the [Houston] Comets. So that’s always a good thing. Hopefully, [it’ll] be a really good thing and they’ll want me on their team. So it’s a good experience.”
Having played for someone like Dawn Staley and on the court with two Owls-turned-WNBA players – Kamesha Hairston and Candice Dupree – Comfort certainly has had a first-hand view of what it is needed to succeed at the professional level.
“It helped me get to where I am now, playing with Kamesha and Candice,” she said. “[I’m] just following in their footsteps. So [I’ve] had some good, good influences throughout my four years with Coach [Staley] pushing me. It was good having them there.”
So now, the question becomes, did she do enough? Will she get drafted?
“Not that I think, I hope,” Comfort said. “It’s up to them now. It’s all out of my hands, so I just hope that I did well enough to see that I’ll be a great addition to any team.”
But even if she doesn’t get drafted into the WNBA, Comfort’s dream of playing professional basketball isn’t going to go away.
“I’ll try out somewhere,” she said. “I’ll go overseas. It won’t stop here.”
Todd Orodenker can be reached at todd.orodenker@temple.edu.
Be the first to comment