Player Review: Celine Dumerc

C�line Dumerc was a WNBA rookie in 2014, but calling her a rookie seems somewhat disingenuous, as the 32-year-old has a wealth of international and overseas experience and captains the French National Team.

Still, making the adjustment to playing in the WNBA for the first time proved to be challenging, particularly since Dumerc joined the team six games into the season, and therefore had no training camp to help her get adjusted to her new teammates, coaches and surroundings. In addition, though she speaks English quite well, the language barrier at times added one more hurdle to conquer.

Still, Dumerc enjoyed her first season in the United States while making a positive impact on the court.

�It was a great experience for me as a person and as a player to come here to America, to live in such a big city and play this kind of basketball,� Dumerc said. �It was completely different for me and it was a really big challenge, but I can say that I�m really happy.�

Although she was new to the WNBA, Dumerc has played internationally and for her French club team with and against several other WNBA players, so she had an idea of what to expect.

�I knew how it was in the WNBA because I have a lot of friends who play, so they talked to me before so I had a pretty clear picture of it,� she said. �But living it from the inside is always better. You can see some of the small details that I didn�t realize before.�

Dumerc appeared to be a good fit for the Dream, as she is a pure point guard who doesn�t need to score to be effective. She also came to the league with a lot of big-game experience, including leading France to a silver medal at the 2012 Olympics, and is known as a clutch performer.

As she eased her way into the Dream rotation, Dumerc showed her knack for running the offense and getting the ball to the right person to create scoring opportunities. She was a leader on the court due to her experience, almost like having a coach on the floor.

Where Dumerc really shined was in her ability as a passer. She ranked 10th in the league in assists per game at 4.0, but led the league in assists per 40 minutes (8.5). She average 4.9 assists as a starter, including 25 assists during a three-game stretch that begin July 29 vs. Connecticut when she joined the starting lineup for good.

In addition, Dumerc�s defense was better than advertised, as she ranked No. 9 in the WNBA in steals per 40 minutes (2.3).

However, although she didn�t shoot much (as expected), when she did shoot her percentage wasn�t what she had hoped, as she connected on 29.5 percent of her field goal attempts, including 23.1 percent from three-point range She was also turnover prone at times, ranking fifth in the league in turnovers per 40 minutes (4.4).

Unfortunately, Dumerc suffered a knee sprain in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals that kept her from playing in the next two games, and she watched her rookie season come to an end from the sidelines. One can only wonder if the series would have turned out differently had she been on the court for the one-point loss in the deciding Game 3.

In any case, with one season now under her belt, Dumerc should be better prepared for a second season.

�Because it was new at first and I didn�t always know what was going on, sometimes I just kind of followed along,� said Dumerc. �But now that know a little more, I think it would be better in the future.�