Thursday, April 18, 2002 | 9:56 a.m.
WNBA salaries
Here are the base salaries for 2002 WNBA draft picks: 1st- round picks 1-4$57,500 1st-round picks 5-8$56,000 1st-round picks 9-16$43,125 Second round$34,500 Third round$31,050 Fourth round$30,000 Source: WNBA
Basketball continues to take Linda Frohlich places. Now the question is: Where will be the next stop?
The 6-foot-2 forward from the small country town of Oldendorf, Germany -- "There's almost as many cows as people there," she says -- is flying to New York today along with Lady Rebels head coach Regina Miller for Friday morning's WNBA Draft across the Hudson River in Secaucus, New Jersey.
"I'm so thankful that I got invited to attend the draft," said Frohlich, who rewrote the UNLV record book en route to three straight Mountain West Conference Player of the Year awards. "Last week I got to go to Chicago for the predraft camp. I've never been to New York before. I think I'll have (this afternoon) to go and see some of the sights."
But pleasure turns into business at 8:30 a.m. (PST) when the WNBA Draft begins and Frohlich, generally regarded as a late first to mid-second round pick, finds out in which city she'll begin her professional career this summer. The first round of the draft, which lasts four rounds, will be shown live by ESPN2.
Frohlich has little inkling about which of the 16 WNBA teams might draft her.
"It's hard to say," she said. "They're all pretty secretive about it. There's a lot of good players out there. I just want to be lucky enough to have a team pick me. Hopefully, somebody will want me.
"The thing is, at this point I'm really trying not to think about that. It's not like college where you pick a school. They pick you. I just have to wait until they call my name."
And when they do?
"That's when it will all hit me and be fun," Frohlich said. "Right now there's so much uncertainity. You wonder, 'What city? What coach? What teammates?' Once you find that out you can start getting excited about playing again."
Frohlich was one of only three Mountain West Conference products among the 91 players invited to last weekend's WNBA Pre-Draft camp in Chicago. The others were BYU guard Melanie Pearson and Utah center Lauren Beckman.
"I thought Linda played well, particularly in the skill drills and the two-on-two drills," said Miller, who attended the camp with her. "She probably did about as well as she could in the scrimmages. It's kind of tough because like all-star games, whoever gets (the ball) usually shoots it. But I think there were some coaches there who recognized her all-around ability and smarts for the game."
"I think I really did struggle a little bit at the start of that camp," Frohlich said. "At a camp like that, it's very hard for post players. The guards control the ball. It's hard to get in a good post position. I'm not really a one-on-one kind of player. I'm more of a five-on-five player."
Miller and Frohlich agreed she saved her best for the last game when she scored 14 points on center court in front of the assembled WNBA coaches.
"I think I adapted to the style of play as we went along," Frohlich said. "I thought that was my best game."
Charlotte, Miami, Cleveland, New York and Sacramento are among the teams that have shown interest in Frohlich during the season, according to Miller. And in mock drafts done by the front office and coaching staff of the Seattle Storm, who own the first pick, two predicted Frohlich would be picked by Cleveland in the second round while another had her going to Miami in the second round. A fourth had her not getting picked in the first two rounds.
"That's what they think, but that was before everybody came in and played last week (at the Pre-Draft Camp)," Miller said. Hopefully, somebody will want me."
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