The Seattle Times: Womens Hoops Blog

Monday morning dribble

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:55:03 PDT

Los Angeles star Candace Parker tweeted philosophical after her team's horrible 104-89 loss to Phoenix on Sunday. "Handle failure like u handle success! my mind is cool takin care of my body. its a process..." wrote Parker, who made her debut after giving birth to her first child in May.

Looking winded -- her daughter was up all-night prior to gameday -- Parker missed her first shot attempt and seemed to struggle to get back on defense. But a baseline drive against Mercury G Diana Taurasi was the only glimpse needed to see Parker, the 2008 MVP, will be fine once she gets in shape. Parker (pictured right by the Associated Press) finished with six points in 18 minutes.

"It's different," Parker, 23, told The Los Angeles Times of last season's debut, which also ended with Rookie of the Year honors. "Last year I was able to rely more on my athleticism and jumping over people. Now I actually have to box out. The speed, I'm not able to go past people anymore. I'm going to have to be more fundamental until that comes back."

Watching the game on NBATV, I was wishing I could listen to Phoenix's feed to hear more about Cappie Pondexter, who looks even better. (How is this possible?) Phoenix ran amuck against a LA team uninterested in defense.

The Mercury sitting atop the Western Conference with three players among the leaders in the All-Star vote makes fans look pretty smart right now. Then again, Sparks C Lisa Leslie leads her category and she may miss half of her team's six road games with a sprained right knee.

Parker also received All-Star votes and she may not even be in LA's starting lineup by the time the July 25 midseason classic rolls around. At least it was only 9,500-plus who forgot she didn't play in the first eight games of the season.

But the hot topic last week was of course Taurasi's citation for suspected DUI. Kudos to the LA crew for at least acknowledging the incident on air. More will be known in the upcoming weeks, but it's a slippery slope.

One of the reasons the Indiana Pacers are in trouble financially is because of the off-court behavior of former players (strip clubs, alcohol, guns). The same for the old Portland Trailblazers, who had to overhaul its roster and re-introduce itself to the community to battle "Jail Blazer" tag.

Taurasi is not near this point, but why not send a hard message since you can name two others -- Sacramento F Rebekkah Brunson and Kara Braxton -- who fallen into this pitfall the past year?

The incident overshadowed a positive in the women's basketball world -- five-time Olympian Teresa Edwards (Minnesota Lynx) being named as a member of the Class of 2009 who'll be inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. The U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame currently consists of 213 athletes and 13 special contributors.

"For me, it's the highest of highs because I've always looked at the Olympics as being the best that you could possibly get for women's basketball," Edwards said in a released statement. "For me, it's the most important honor ever. To be in the company of Muhammad Ali and Wilma Rudolph, that's huge. It's kind of like, pinch me, because I still can't believe it."

For the Storm, it was down week, losing road games in LA and Phoenix. After two consecutive days off, the team practiced through the weekend and finally has a stretch of home games -- eight of their upcoming 10 games.

Seeing if they can keep their home winning streak going and if Indiana can push its past eight are what I'm keeping an eye on this week.

DUI Update: Phoenix star Diana Taurasi "embarrassed"

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:54:03 PDT

One thing I'll always love about Phoenix G Diana Taurasi is she doesn't hide. As the Web world swirls with opinion about her citation for suspected drunken driving, she practiced with her team and spoke with media afterward.

Taurasi, the WNBA's top All-Star vote-getter, told local reporters, "it's just something that's embarrassing and unfortunate for my family and the organization." She didn't go into specifics, sticking to the standard public relations acknowledgement of fault. But Taurasi knows what she did.

The team still hasn't decided whether there will be repercussions for Sunday's game, waiting to see if there's a need. The police report, according to The Arizona Republic, said an officer smelled alcohol, so there could be more to this story that calls for a suspension. Yet, as many readers have noted, the WNBA has a history of double standards, treating its stars with kid gloves.

For now, it's good Taurasi took some accountability.

Phoenix star Diana Taurasi suspected of DUI

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:41:02 PDT

It's no secret that Phoenix G Diana Taurasi drinks. She'll readily talk about vodka and wine in lighter off-court moments. But it appears she went too far following the big win against Seattle on Wednesday.

Taurasi, 27, was cited for drunken driving. Phoenix GM Ann Meyers-Drysdale wouldn't comment to local reporters until more information was made available, yet expects her leading scorer (21.2) to play on Sunday in Los Angeles.

How is this right? Detroit C Kara Braxton was suspended six games this season for her second DUI offense and two for her first. Given that Taurasi (pictured right) is an important face of the league with milk commercials and leading the All-Star game vote, shouldn't she be punished to show this type of behavior is unacceptable? At the very least, Taurasi should be held out of the game until all information is revealed concerning her DUI citation to show the organization is taking this seriously.

It's the holiday weekend and this is not a good example.

Of course, I'm writing this without all of the information. But if she "refused" a breath-test because something was up, then she should accept accountability for her sake and the league's.

The WNBA has been mostly unscathed publically and the players can't fall into the off-court trap like other leagues because their popularity isn't strong enough to sustain the damage. It's already dealt with suspected rape and pot, but the incidents are countable and not by the major stars.

Here's hoping Taurasi isn't the first.

WNBA All-Star ballot returns

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:30:04 PDT

Storm stars Lauren Jackson and Sue Bird appear headed to another All-Star game as starters. First returns were released this morning and Jackson is second (18,169) behind Phoenix G Cappie Pondexter (26,701) among forwards while Bird is second (21,962) behind Mercury G Diana Taurasi (32,921) in that category.

Taurasi, whose team defeated Seattle on Wednesday, is the overall vote-getter.

Storm F Swin Cash is fourth 17,221 while C Janell Burse is fifth (6,585) and G Tanisha Wright is last (4,025) in their respective categories. Hometown product Cathrine Kraayeveld, a New York Liberty forward, received 4,060 votes in the Eastern Conference.

The balloting gives a lot of steam to Seattle fans' gripe about not having enough home games to stuff the ballot as they've done in the past. Phoenix has played seven home games, so it's no surprise that rookie DeWanna Bonner (17,973) ranks third among Western Conference forwards and first among the new class.

Voting continues through July 7, when the Storm hosts San Antonio - their fourth home game. The starters will be announced July 14. Reserves are selected by the conference coaches, who cannot vote for their own players. That lineup will be announced July 20.

The All-Star game is July 25 in Connecticut. But will you go or watch?

WNBA attendance is up a modest 2 percent, yet when I was listening to ESPN Seattle (710 AM) this morning, the consensus among male sports was that All-Star games don't matter and players don't want to participate. For fans, you get to see all of the stars at least once, so what's the big whoop?

Basketball has always made All-Star games interesting mega-events, holding skills competitions, parties, and rookie games. Is that enough for your money in this economy?

Indiana Fever safe?

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:12:03 PDT

The Indiana Fever seem to have found some solid footing after Ohio-based Kroger Grocery finalized a five-year deal with the team today to be its primary sponsor. In March, co-owner Herb Simon said he could only commit to the team for one more season because of its inability to turn a profit in nine years.

When the Storm traveled to Indiana in June, WNBA president Donna Orender was in attendance and spoke with the media about a positive future for the Fever. Perhaps she knew about this deal being in the works, which covers TV, radio, print, billboards, and the Internet.

"In this tough economic market, this is a very good partnership for both of us," Pacers Sports and Entertainment president Jim Morris told The Indianapolis Star.

It's great news for the franchise's future and this season. The Fever (6-2) are already sitting atop the Eastern Conference, but stars like Tamika Catchings and Katie Douglas admitted to the team's stability weighing on them. With this news, they can really focus on basketball and drawing fans in with wins.

Checking in on Phoenix

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:17:02 PDT

Once again, this blog won't be part of the play-by-play action for tonight's Storm rematch against the Phoenix Mercury. Too bad, because the last outing was full of drama from the Storm barely pulling out the win to Phoenix coach Corey Gaines chewing out an official.

The Mercury have only won once in their past four games, but have a chance to leapfrog the Storm for second in the Western Conference. Seattle is on a rollercoaster away from home, unable to string two wins together so far.

Mailbag: Were Bird and Jackson really benched?

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:49:02 PDT

MVP Candace Parker tweets she's back at practice. Minnesota is rebounding from losing star/leader Seimone Augustus, but what's the most popular question here? Whether stars Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson were benched on Sunday. Oh, and one call for Storm coach Brian Agler's head.

Won't touch on the latter, that's just ridiculous after one loss. Not even if that loss was by 27-points. It was one game and the Storm is tied for first in the West -- enough said.

As for the benching, yes they were. I watched and was struck by the call for a split second. Seattle had no momentum -- going scoreless the final 1:47 -- and was down 22-points at the end of the third quarter.

In 2007, Seattle was in LA and about 18-points separated the teams and then-coach Anne Donovan kept Jackson in the game. I remember asking why and if she was concerned about Jackson's health. Unfortunately, Jackson ended up getting injured later that week. I harped of overuse.

Ironically, Agler (pictured right by the WNBA) asked the same question of me, saying his staff made a judgment call to go the conservative route, and wouldn't I grill him, too, if someone ended up injured when the team was down big? Yep, I would.

"There's logic both ways," said Agler, who also didn't play Swin Cash, Tanisha Wright, or Camille Little, yanking Janell Burse early in the fourth. "Obviously you don't want to portray the bad message of we're just giving up because the people that played didn't play that way. But we also have to take into consideration a lot of things -- do we keep playing these key people or do we change gears a little bit and give some other people some playin time knowing that was our ninth game of the year? We decided to take the more conservative route."

Reserves Katie Gearlds, Shannon Johnson, Suzy Batkovic-Brown, Ashley Walker, and Ashley Robinson were outscored 15-10 by a mesh of the Sparks' stars in the fourth quarter. The spin is positive exposure for Walker, a rookie who's playing a new position at small forward, and Batkovic-Brown, who hasn't been with the team a month.

Plus, after Wednesday's game in Phoenix, the Storm will have six days before it plays a stretch of four home matchups. Agler may give the team two consecutive days off, one being a travel day, and that could do wonders as it approaches the thick of the season.

"It's been a long time since our team has had just one complete day off," Agler said.