Recently, we took a look at which teams in the WNBA East had the most to gain, and which benefited least, from the Olympic break. As the break comes to a close and the season starts anew, lets take a look at how the break is likely to have affected the teams in the league’s Western Division.
Just as in the East, the effect of the break is likely to differ from team to team in the West as well. Each team needs something specific from the time off. But the break seems unlikely to have as significant an effect on Western Division teams as it may on teams in the East. The race in the West is much closer, with all the teams still in the playoff hunt; the break will not make or break any team.
Sparks. Conventional wisdom would indicate that the Los Angeles Sparks would be hurt by the break as they lost their entire starting front court to the Olympic team. But conventional wisdom might be wrong here. The Sparks have had two major weak spots, turnovers and weak guard play. Michael Cooper would have had little choice but to concentrate on guard play during the break since his front line was MIA. If the Sparks are to come close to meeting their preseason expectations, Cooper has to find a point guard who can handle the ball and run the offense, and that person is not going to be Shannon Bobbitt. Bobbitt probably is good enough to be a backup point guard but she has too many shortcomings (pun intended) to start for a good team. She averages 21 minutes a game and turns the ball over 2.5 times per game. She is shooting a mere 28% from the field. Last year’s starting point, Temeka Johnson, has missed 10 of the team’s first 26 games and has been less than spectacular when she has played, but she still is their best option. Cooper will have to find some band-aid solution to his point guard problem. Hopefully for the Sparks, Anne Donovan has found some lasting solution for the turnover problem, because each of the Sparks’ three Olympians turned the ball over more than three times a game this WNBA season (leading their teammates in this category).
Mercury. Phoenix coach Corey Gaines hopes the Phoenix will be able to add despite subtraction over the break. Penny Taylor has said that she informed the Mercury management that she would not return to the team after the Olympics (a sprained ankle sustained during the Olympic quarterfinals would likely have cost her at least a couple of weeks in any event). Diana Taurasi’s reaction showed that information wasn’t passed on promptly to the players. The defending champions were struggling without Taylor and the best that can be hoped is that the news that they will have to play the rest of the season without her will give the remaining players a greater sense of urgency.
Gaines’ main job during the break has been to find a consistent scoring option to augment his two American Olympians. Taurasi and Cappie Pondexter score 51% of the Mercury points; each scores more than twice as many points as any other Merc player. While Phoenix average almost 89.2 points a game, they give up 89.4 points every contest, which is why they are at the bottom of the West. That speaks to their defense but also to their offensive system. Basically, the Mercury play “defense” by attempting to score more points than their opponents. While the team would be better with a stronger defense, that would require more time than Gaines has. Rather, he has to come up with more consistent scoring from players not named Taurasi or Pondexter. Tangela Smith is the only player besides the big two who takes ten shots a game. The Mercury get very little offense from their bench. Other players will have to be more aggressive in looking for their shots if the Mercury hope to make the playoffs, much less repeat as champions. If Gaines has done his job over the break, he will have encouraged them to do that, and tweaked the offense to make it easier for them to do so.
Storm. Seattle may have taken the biggest post-Olympic hit, though whether it can blame its losses completely on the Olympics remains to be seen. Other than the time to rest, what the Storm most needed from the break was for it to end and for Lauren Jackson to return to the team. Seattle is in a virtual tie with San Antonio for the Western lead and two of their nine losses came in the five games Jackson missed while she was training with the Australian Olympic team. Coach Brian Agler needed to get his team healthy and get Jackson back so they could continue to fight for a division championship.
Then came the bad news for Agler and Storm fans during the Olympic quarterfinals—Jackson wouldn’t be coming back from the Olympic break. Instead, she is returning home to Australia for remedial surgery on her ankle. Was it the fault of the Olympics? Well, she seemed to be playing quite well on it, though by the time the elimination games rolled around she was taking injections of local anesthetic to help her cope with the pain. But this was not a new injury. It is an “overuse” problem Jackson said she has been dealing with for more than a year. Still, would she have interrupted her WNBA season for surgery had that season not already been interrupted for the Olympics?
The Storm are one of the league’s most veteran teams and the remaining veterans could certainly use the time off during the Olympic Break for rest. Some of the Storm, most notably Sheryl Swoopes, are dinged up and will use the break to heal. Angler no doubt used the break to tweak both his offense (where the Storm are weak as a whole) and defense (the team’s strong point). It’s difficult to see any individual player significantly improving her offensive output, Agler, who considers himself a defensive coach, will work mainly on the team’s defense. But it would have to be one miraculous improvement to offset the loss of Jackson.
Lynx. The Minnesota Lynx started the season strong but then floundered. They were starting to get back on track just before the break. While that makes it seem as if the break came at a bad time for them, in actuality no team needed the time off more than the Lynx. In the games before the break, two of the team’s three rookies were injured. Charde Houston suffered a strained knee and, although hobbled, returned before the break. But Candice Wiggins suffered a lower back bruise and missed the two games before the break. The first and most important thing that must happen is that the pair have to heal. Other than that, Coach Don Zierden must work on the seemingly perpetual Minnesota problem—the post. The Lynx are only one loss out of third place, but if they want to make the playoffs, they will have to get more from their post players. They need more points, more rebounds and much better defense from Nicole Ohlde, Vanessa Hayden, Kristen Rasmussen and LaToya Thomas. If that group doesn’t improve after the break, it’s likely the Lynx will again be at home watching the playoffs.
Silver Stars. The season to date has gone smoothly for the San Antonio Silver Stars. At the break, the team had a half-game lead over Seattle, they were playing good basketball and they were as healthy as any team in the league. They lost starting point guard Becky Hammon to the Russian Olympic team so they would be somewhat hampered in practice over the break. Coach Dan Hughes’ team has played the way his teams usually do; they have been excellent defensively. Their offense is lacking and that is where Hughes will be affected by Hammon’s loss. It’s difficult to make major changes in an offense without the starting point guard. But the Silver Stars are also a poor rebounding team. It’s silly to assume that Hughes could make major changes during the break, but any improvement he was able to achieve will help the team in the stretch run.
Comets. The team that is the biggest surprise in the league is also the hottest team going into the break. After an ice-cold start, the Houston Comets are in the group fighting for the third and fourth playoff spots in the Western conference. They won their last five games, the longest ongoing streak in the WNBA. They lost the cornerstone of their team, Tina Thompson, to the Olympic team but that is not a bad thing. Thompson is one of the most consistent players in the WNBA. Only once this season has she scored below 12 points and only three times has she grabbed fewer than five rebounds. When she is on the floor, her contribution is a given. Any real improvements Coach Karleen Thompson can make to the Comets would have to come from the improved play of the players who would be staying at home (and therefore would be available for practice) anyway. Offensively, the Comets are a very average team. They sit in the middle of almost all major offensive categories. Since they won’t get any more from Thompson, if Thomas used her break time wisely, she spent it working on ways to get other players, especially Michelle Snow, more shots. Overall, this is a solid team who could surprise everyone and sneak into a playoff spot.
Monarchs. Heading into the break, the Sacramento Monarchs found themselves right in the mix for a playoff spot. Guard Kara Lawson was on the Olympic team but coach Jenny Boucek had the players she needed to work with in the areas that most need work. The Monarchs are a good defensive team and average on the boards, but they are weak on offense. Since Lawson isn't likely to give the team much more than the 11 points a game she does now her absence shouldn't matter too much. The Monarchs have stayed in playoff contention without a real go-to player. Nicole Powell's 13.3 points a game leads the team in scoring. There is no reason to think that someone will step up and suddenly start scoring 20 points a game, so Boucek needed to look to find a few players who can give her an extra basket or two a game. Rookie Laura Harper has shown signs of being a bigger contributor and probably could score more down the stretch. The Monarchs have ridden their defense to a current tie for third place. A little more offense would help them stay there.