Sparks’ Unlucky Year Ends
A closing word about the Sparks, who end their forgettable season tonight in Houston:
How many WNBA teams could have lost their best rookie and backup center, in this case Allison Feaster and Haixia Zheng, for most of the season, then their No. 2 scorer, Tamecka Dixon, for eight games, and done much better than 12-17?
Regardless of what happens tonight against the 26-3 Comets, the Sparks’ 53-35 second half Sunday against Detroit in a one-point loss--two games after upsetting Charlotte--means Orlando Woolridge will get serious consideration as the team’s permanent coach in the off-season.
If he returns, it will be to a made-over team. To stock expansion teams Orlando and Minnesota, WNBA teams probably will be allowed to protect only six players from the expansion draft.
Here’s a guess at the Sparks’ protected list: Lisa Leslie, Dixon, Feaster, Mwadi Mabika, Penny Toler and Zheng.
And the Dawn Staley watch begins Aug. 31, when her ABL contract expires. It’s believed she will jump from the ABL’s Philadelphia Rage to the WNBA, if she can be put on the Sparks’ roster, joining Olympic teammate Leslie.
Leslie’s two-year contract, by the way, expires in late September, after a WNBA tour of Brazil.
UNION UPDATE
WNBA President Val Ackerman says she has asked the National Labor Relations Board to conduct a polling of league players, who, the National Basketball Players Assn. says, have voted nearly unanimously to be represented by that union, which already represents the men of the NBA.
When the union comes in, say goodbye to those cheap WNBA tickets. One agent predicts that player salaries will rise four-fold, to an average of around $175,000.
RATINGS DIP
NBC’s WNBA ratings were down slightly this summer, but they still topped those of the NHL and Major League Soccer.
The average rating this season was 1.6, meaning 1.6% of the nation’s 98 million TV households were tuned in to WNBA games. Last summer’s number was 2.1.
The 1.6 number is roughly double that of MLS games, 0.6, and well over the 1.4 registered by NHL games last season, NBC said.
Of Spark Coach Woolridge’s comment that backup point guard Jamila Wideman is so smart “she has head coach written all over her,” Wideman’s college coach, Tara VanDerveer, had this to say:
“I coached Jamila for four years, so I, more than anyone, know how smart she is . . . and I assure you, she’s too smart to go into coaching.”
FREE THROWS
Leslie won Sunday’s rebound matchup with Detroit’s Cindy Brown, 14-11, but it appears those two games Leslie missed in July will cost her the rebounding title. Each has one game remaining and Brown has a 19-rebound lead. . . . The Long Beach StingRays will hold tryouts for practice players Aug. 30 at the Pyramid. Candidates can call (562) 951-RAYS.
Here’s another indication of tightened budgets in the ABL, which has already hit league staffers with 10% pay cuts: Team rosters were trimmed from 11 to 10 for this season.