Can implementing Florida Gulf Coast’s offensive system propel the Dream to a winning record in 2025?
Editor’s note: This is the first post from new Peachtree Hoops contributor Collin Jones. We’re excited to have him on the staff and help with our coverage of the Atlanta Dream.
After three seasons at the helm of the Atlanta Dream, Tanisha Wright was let go at the conclusion of the 2024 season despite the Dream making the WNBA playoffs as the eight-seed.
The Dream made a splash in the early offseason hiring Karl Smesko from the college ranks, signaling a desire to shift philosophies and implement a high-efficiency offensive system emphasizing three-point shooting. The new coaching staff, with four former coaches from Florida Gulf Coast University, will look to harness the potential of a talented roster with young returning stars Rhyne Howard, Allisha Gray, and Jordin Canada, along with free agent veteran additions Brittney Griner, Brionna Jones, and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough.
Karl Smesko
Coach Smesko was announced as the new head coach for the Atlanta Dream on November 12th, 2024. According to the Atlanta Dream press release upon his hiring, Karl Smesko joined the Dream from Florida Gulf Coast University with the eighth-most wins among active head coaches in NCAA Division I women’s basketball. Smesko has been lauded throughout his career for his high-performing offenses with an emphasis on efficient shooting and three-point attempts.
Smesko’s 2023-2024 women’s Florida Gulf Coast team was second in the nation in three-point attempts with 30.1 attempts per game. Four of his players averaged at least 4.7 three-point attempts per game. To put that in perspective, the 2024 Atlanta Dream had just two players (Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray) average at least 3.0 three-point attempts per game.
There have been questions about whether or not Smesko would fully attempt to implement a similar system at the WNBA-level, particularly after signing bigs Brittney Griner and Brionna Jones to join the Dream. In their two preseason games, however, Atlanta shot 24-for-75 (32%) from three-point range, with at least 35 three-point attempts in each game.
How much of a philosophy change is that from former coach Tanisha Wright’s 2024 results?
Last year, Atlanta’s season high in three-point attempts was 31 against the Phoenix Mercury, a team also known for a recent shift to emphasizing three-point shooting after hiring head coach Nate Tibbetts from the Orlando Magic in 2024. The New York Liberty led the league with 29 three-point attempts per game. While it is a small sample, Atlanta’s preseason average of 37.5 three-point attempts would surpass the Liberty’s 2024 average easily. I expect Atlanta to challenge WNBA historical records for team three-point attempts in the 2025 season.
Winsidr’s Michael Waterloo described Atlanta’s emphasis on three-point shooting at a recent preseason practice:
With the hiring of Karl Smesko, whose “Above The Line” share-and-stretch offensive scheme has a focus on three-point shots and drives to the rim for easy layups, all the players are getting extra shots up.
Everyone will be shooting threes for the Atlanta Dream this year.
Literally, everyone.
“I’m very excited for this year,” guard Allisha Gray said with a smile on her face on the first day of practice. “We’re going to shoot a lot of threes.”
Here’s what Atlanta’s shot chart looked like in their second preseason game against Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever:
ESPN.com
Although the final numbers weren’t particularly pretty (34% field goal percentage overall), Atlanta’s commitment to Coach Smesko’s system was clear as the Dream were spacing the floor, increasing their pace of play compared to last season, and avoiding midrange shots.
Florida Gulf Coast Connections
After the NCAA basketball season concluded, the Atlanta Dream announced three more hires from Smesko’s former employer to join Atlanta’s coaching staff:
- Assistant coach Chelsea Lyles took over for Smesko as head coach at Florida Gulf Coast upon Coach Smesko’s departure. Under Lyles, FGCU fell from second in the nation in three-point shots attempted to… 18th. The philosophy of emphasizing threes carried over to the Lyles regime as the team went 30-3 with an undefeated season in the Atlantic Sun Conference before falling to 3-seeded Oklahoma in the first round of the March Madness tournament.
- While Camryn Brown did not play for Smesko in college, she spent the past three years at Florida Gulf Coast as an assistant coach. The hirings of both Lyles and Brown as assistant coaches were announced in a press release on March 31st, 2025.
- The most recent FGCU-connected addition to the Dream came on April 24th, 2025, with Sheahen Dowling named to the role of “Special Assistant to the Head Coach.” She brings experience from Florida Gulf Coast as a player under Coach Smesko and then a member of his coaching staff.
The Best of the Rest
While several members of the coaching staff are FGCU Eagles, there were two non-FGCU coaches hired for the 2025 season. In January, Brandi Poole and LaToya Sanders were announced as assistant coaches.
Poole joins Atlanta from the Connecticut Sun, where she coached free agent signing Brionna Jones. She also served as a coach for multiple college programs including Texas Tech, Indiana, Bowling Green, and West Virginia. Sanders joins Atlanta from the Washington Mystics, where she coached free agent signing Shatori Walker-Kimbrough. Sanders has experience overseas, which could be a factor for future Dream signings, as she played internationally in Turkey after a collegiate career at the University of North Carolina.
While I was not able to find any interviews from Sanders since joining the Dream, Poole was recently interviewed in a podcast interview with The Next, providing valuable insight into Atlanta’s vision for the 2025 season. Poole called for three-point shooting from both Brionna Jones and Brittney Griner (who have both averaged 0.1 three-pointers per game throughout their careers) and emphasized the importance of pushing All-Star Rhyne Howard’s field goal percentage above 40% (her career average is 37%). Poole also noted how All-Star, 2024 Kia Skills Challenge winner, and 2024 Starry 3-Point Contest winner Allisha Gray’s efficiency will be vital in the new system and praised Griner’s veteran leadership, even as she transitions to a new market.
How do you think Atlanta’s roster will implement the three-point shooting philosophy emphasized by the former Florida Gulf Coast University crew? What would you like to see implemented by the new coaching staff? Let us know in the comments!