Mohegan — Maryland rookie center Brionna Jones was asked after Thursday's WNBA Draft about the opportunity to play early and often for the Connecticut Sun.

“I don’t know about playing right away,” a laughing Jones said.

Connecticut sure hopes she can.

The Sun have endured four straight years of Murphy’s Law. They were 52-84 over that time. Only San Antonio has been worse. They’ve been through two coaches, two roster overhauls, and, perhaps most devastating of all, forced to trade Tina Charles to her hometown New York Liberty three years ago as she was willing to sit out if she didn’t get her wish.

This season got off to a dreary start before 2017 even began. Post Chiney Ogwumike needed Achilles surgery last Nov. 30, and there’s a strong chance she’ll miss the 2017 season. She’s been Connecticut's best player when healthy.

The Sun need stars in order to get out of the abyss. No one on their young roster has proven to be that kind of player. Jobs are there for the taking.

Training camp will not be dull.

“There should be a lot of wars throughout camp to see how our final roster plays out,” said Curt Miller, Connecticut’s second-year head coach and first year general manager.

The Sun drafted four players — Jones (eighth overall), forward Shayla Cooper (13th), and guards Leticia Romero (16th) and Jessica January (28th).

Ideally, the rookies could help with Connecticut's rebuild, but the consensus opinion was that the draft lacked impact players. Oh, some of the Class of 2017 will do well, but none are can’t-miss talents like a Lauren Jackson, Candace Parker or Diana Taurasi.

“It is brutally tough to make a WNBA roster,” Miller said. “I’m ecstatic with our picks. … They’ve earned the opportunity to be drafted, but now they have to come earn a roster spot.”

No team in the league’s 20-year history has won a WNBA title without at least one exceptional player. The majority of those players have been found near the top of the collegiate draft.

There have been 202 selections to the All-WNBA first and second teams.

Top six draft picks have accounted for 157 of those selections (77.7 percent).

Seventy-four of those selections were No. 1 picks (36.6).

Sixteen were either taken after the sixth pick or undrafted (Becky Hammon).

Seven of the past 13 WNBA champions also had two former No. 1 picks, too.

Connecticut has one No. 1 pick in Ogwumike. Last year, Miller grabbed four of the top eight picks in the 2016 draft. He selected forward Morgan Tuck (third overall), guard Rachel Banham (fourth) and post Jonquel Jones (sixth). He traded for Courtney Williams, taken eighth overall by Phoenix, late last June. Some believed she had top-five talent.

Alas, Banham and Tuck didn’t finish last season because both needed surgery. Miller expects them to be ready when the Sun open the regular season on May 13.

“Chiney is a huge piece to our puzzle that we need, but gosh, we have a lot of really good talent, and young talent,” Banham said. “Courtney came in and was playing incredible. I can’t wait for Morgan to be back. J.J. (Jones) has been great in her offseason (playing in South Korea). Jas played great at the end of the year, I think better than anybody ever thought she was going to be able to last year.”

Connecticut has three starters back — Alex Bentley (off-guard), Jasmine Thomas (point guard), and Alyssa Thomas (forward). The Thomases had career years last season. Bentley led the team in scoring (12.9 ppg) despite a shaky start.

Guard Allison Hightower returns after missing the previous two seasons to injury. She was once among the league’s rising stars and, in 2013, was a coaches’ selection for the All-Star Game in just her fourth season. The Sun hope the 29-year-old can return to form.

Miller traded this offseason for posts Reshanda Gray (23) and Lynetta Kizer (27). His most interesting move was signing forward Danielle Adams to a training camp contract. She’s a 2011 All-Rookie selection and averaged 11.4 points in 155 games with the San Antonio Stars.

Adams’ conditioning has been a problem her entire pro career. She was also suspended without pay for three games in 2015 for violating the league's drug program. She was out of the league last year after being waived during training camp.

Adams has played in Israel this off-season.

“I started talking to Jasmine, who's over in Israel, to see how (Adams) was playing, and our interest just took off as she continued to play really well,” Miller said. “(She has) a second opportunity in the WNBA. Her offensive skill set, to be able to score both inside and outside, is really intriguing.”

n.griffen@theday.com