There's a Big New Trend at Point Guard

By Mike Terry

May 19, 2005 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

The WNBA opens its ninth season this weekend and there is a growing trend beyond the league inching further away from mere survival and closer to fiscal solvency.

That growth is at arguably the most critical position in basketball -- point guard, which is undergoing the first evolution among players now in the league and those yet to come.

Point guards are getting bigger. When the league started in 1997, it was not unusual for point guards -- who control the offense -- to stand 5 feet 6 or less. But thanks in part to the flash and dash of the Sparks’ Nikki Teasley and the Phoenix Mercury’s Diana Taurasi, both of whom are 6 feet, coaches and general managers are prowling for taller guards who can do more than only dribble and pass.

“These are big guards who are great players,” said Houston Comet Coach Van Chancellor. “Teasley at 6 feet can do anything other guards of all sizes could do all their lives. So can Diana. They speeded up [the evolution]. They have all the skills the small guards have. These two have forced people to find one like them.”

Said New York General Manager Carol Blazejowski, herself a Hall of Fame guard: “The league as a whole is more athletic, bigger and longer. And the point [position] is an area where they are following the route of the NBA. It’s a natural progression and it’s time.”

It’s not that tall guards haven’t previously made their presence felt. Sacramento’s Ticha Penicheiro, who is 5-11, was the league’s assist leader from 1998 to 2003 until Teasley supplanted her last season. But Penicheiro isn’t considered a great shooter or defender.

Now guards are expected to do it all -- pass, shoot, rebound and defend. They should also, if possible, be interchangeable at the point and shooting slots.

Taurasi, last year’s rookie of the year, is not a pure point guard like Teasley, but she often runs the Phoenix attack. She was the league’s fourth-leading scorer at 17 points a game, averaged 4.4 rebounds, was fourth in three-point shots made (62) and among the top 20 players in blocked shots (25).

Teasley is not counted on to score for the Sparks the way Taurasi is in Phoenix. But she still averaged 9.9 points, led the league in assists (6.1) and was the second-leading three-point shooter with 68.

Other guards in that mold include Washington’s Alana Beard, Seattle’s Sue Bird, Connecticut’s Lindsay Whalen and Houston’s Janeth Arcain.

“Players are bigger and far more skilled as far as handling the ball, shooting and rebounding,” Charlotte Coach Trudi Lacey said. “We’re seeing more people coming into the league with multiple skills -- shooting, facing up to the basket, and passing.”

That doesn’t mean that guards such as Charlotte’s veteran backcourt of Dawn Staley and Helen Darling (both 5-6) are suddenly obsolete. But the more coaches use bigger guards to post up smaller guards on offense, the more smaller guards become an endangered species.

“There is a place for smaller guards, but they better have a real special skill,” Connecticut Coach Mike Thibault said. “For lack of a better term, you’d better have something great about you.”

Which brings us to the most watched rookie of 2005. And it isn’t Janel McCarville (Charlotte), Kara Braxton (Detroit), Tan White (Indiana) or Kristin Haynie (Sacramento). It’s Temeka Johnson, taken by Washington with the sixth pick, ahead of the 6-7 Braxton. Johnson is a pure point guard who took Louisiana State to consecutive Final Fours. And who stands all of 5-3.

“The Johnson kid has great quickness,” Thibault said. “Now we’ll find out if she can use it to her advantage. You will always have exceptions. The NBA still has [5-5] Earl Boykins. But they are the exceptions. And you don’t need huge point guards here, but you do need guards of pretty good size.”

Said Blazejowski: “Temeka may be the last of the true points at that size. She can really distribute the ball. And people don’t realize how strong she is. And she’s very quick. But you have to think of where you are on defense, and if you can afford to have a smaller player.”

WNBA opens

Opening weekend schedule for the 2005 WNBA season (all times Pacific):

SATURDAY

Connecticut at Detroit...10 a.m.

SPARKS at Seattle...1 p.m.

Washington at Charlotte...3 p.m.

Houston at San Antonio...5 p.m.

Sacramento at Phoenix...7 p.m.

SUNDAY

Detroit at New York...1 p.m.

Connecticut at Washington...3 p.m.

Charlotte at Indiana...4 p.m.