WNBA Is Back, Primed to Deliver

More numerous, more talented, richer and decidedly taller are the women of the WNBA, as they begin Season 2 on Thursday . . . yes, right in the heat of their big brothers’ world series, the NBA finals.

Eight teams have become 10 (Washington and Detroit are the expansion teams) and rosters have grown from 10 to 11 players, boosting the WNBA job market from 80 to 110.

And make no mistake--the talent well is deeper this time around. The WNBA, after the Women’s Final Four, scored a near-clean sweep over the rival ABL, which a year earlier had waxed the WNBA in premier player signings.

Wallets are moderately thicker. The WNBA closed the difference a bit in the salary gap with the ABL--top WNBA players went from $50,000 to $62,500. ABL stars make about $150,000.

And NBA/WNBA marketing muscle continues to pull in major sponsorship deals. To WNBA backpacks, garb, watches and hair clips, add uniformed WNBA Barbie dolls, complete with ball and hoop, due in September.

The league’s sponsorship roster is beginning to look like the “widely held” list on the stock pages: American Express, Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, General Motors, Kellogg USA, Champion, Lee Jeans, Nike, Sears, Spalding and Lady Foot Locker are all on board.

Attendance and TV ratings were both above expectations a year ago. And to say the WNBA is in a rapid growth phase--that can be taken literally.

Starting with 7-foot-2 Malgorzata (Margo) Dydek of the Utah Starzz, this is a league you can look up to. A year ago, Los Angeles’ 6-8 Haixia Zheng was the tallest WNBA player. Now she’s just another big woman. After Dydek there is 6-8 Maria Stepanova of Russia (Phoenix) and 6-8 Razija Mujanovic of Bosnia (Detroit).

In order to clear space in the Eastern Conference for the Washington and Detroit expansion teams, league champion Houston was put in the Western Conference, making the Sparks’ path to a hoped-for playoff berth more difficult.

Indeed, that move plus the arrival of Dydek in Salt Lake City, the WNBA’s first draft choice, has changed the Western Conference equation.

Reports from the Starzz training camp have Dydek routinely blocking four to six shots per scrimmage. And she dunks. A good bet: The first dunk in the women’s professional game will occur Thursday night when the Sparks open at Delta Center.

Utah was the league’s worst team (7-21) a year ago. It’s believed Dydek can make them much better. That alone was bad news for Western Conference rivals Phoenix and Los Angeles.

But now here’s Houston, with the league’s best player, Cynthia Cooper; a trim, back-from-childbirth Sheryl Swoopes; last season’s top rookie, Tina Thompson; and top draft pick Polina Tzekova (6-4) from Bulgaria.

The Eastern Conference runner-up, New York, is led again by Rebecca Lobo, Teresa Weatherspoon and Kym Hampton.

In Thursday’s openers, Los Angeles is at Utah, New York at Cleveland, Washington at Charlotte and Phoenix at Sacramento.

Why the conflict with the NBA finals? Because as the WNBA adds teams and its season lengthens, its schedule must be backed up at the front end. It can’t move back at the other end because of college and NFL football.

The 30-game regular season ends Aug. 19. The first two teams in each conference begin best-of-three playoffs Aug. 22 and the best-of-three championship series begins Aug. 27.

The TV carriers are again NBC, ESPN and Lifetime.

Capsule looks at WNBA teams, in order of last year’s finish:

HOUSTON COMETS

* 1997 record: 18-10.

* Coach: Van Chancellor.

* Best player: Cynthia Cooper.

* At a glance: In a media conference call last week, Phoenix Coach Cheryl Miller, when asked if the Sparks’ trade for Pam McGee altered the Western Conference race fundamentally, answered this way: “It doesn’t matter who traded for who--Houston is still the best team.”

The Comets retain their Big Three from their title team--Cooper, Thompson and Swoopes--and have drafted a Tzekova, who led the French league in scoring last season.

NEW YORK LIBERTY

* 1997 record: 17-11.

* Coach: Nancy Darsch.

* Best player: Rebecca Lobo.

* At a glance: New York threatened to run away and hide with a quick burst out of the blocks last season, but faded badly in the stretch, barely making it to the title game.

Guard Teresa Weatherspoon was the league’s best defensive player and Lobo showed herself to be a first-class pro, finishing sixth in rebounds. In the draft, New York added inside muscle by taking 6-2 Alicia Thompson of Texas Tech.

PHOENIX MERCURY

* 1997 record: 16-12.

* Coach: Cheryl Miller.

* Best player: Michele Timms.

* At a glance: Phoenix, which secured a playoff berth by beating the Sparks in the regular season’s last game a year ago, needed muscle inside. So Miller--who drafted exclusively for size and speed--took the 6-8 Maria Stepanova of Russia, a swift 21-year-old who did not play in the USA-Russia world championship game Sunday.

A training camp star has been 6-foot guard Brandy Reed, who had 12 steals in two exhibition games. Steady, solid Bridget Pettis returns with Timms in the backcourt. Phoenix hopes Stepanova can help out Toni Foster and Jennifer Gillom inside.

CHARLOTTE STING

* 1997 record: 15-13.

* Coach: Marynell Meadors.

* Best player: Andrea Stinson.

* At a glance: The Sting made the playoffs but was tied for last in the Eastern Conference last season and felt it needed offensive punch and leadership to challenge Cleveland and New York. So Charlotte drafted North Carolina All-American Tracy Reid. In addition to selling tickets, Reid can score from both the small and power forward spots and is an exceptional leaper.

Stinson was a consistent scorer a year ago with a 15.7-point average, and Vicky Bullett was the rebound leader with 6.4 a game. The second draft pick was point guard Christy Smith from Arkansas.

CLEVELAND ROCKERS

* 1997 record: 15-13.

* Coach: Linda Hill-MacDonald.

* Best player: Eva Nemcova.

* At a glance: Cleveland was arguably the league’s best team in the stretch last year, winning eight in a row in July and three of its last four, only to miss the playoffs on the last day. The 6-3 Nemcova is a joy to watch--smooth, smart and the WNBA’s best three-point shooter.

The Rockers needed guard help and they now have it, after drafting guards Cindy Blodgett of Maine, two-time NCAA scoring leader; and 1992 Olympian Suzie McConnell Serio, mother of four and a Pittsburgh-area high school coach a year ago.

LOS ANGELES SPARKS

* 1997 record: 14-14.

* Coach: Julie Rousseau.

* Best player: Lisa Leslie.

* At a glance: The Sparks may be the league’s most improved team. The WNBA’s No. 1 offensive and rebounding team last summer, the Sparks have added proven scorer/rebounder Pam McGee, a 6-3 power player who’s had a great training camp.

Top draft pick Allison Feaster, who scored 28 points in 27 minutes in an exhibition game at Sacramento, looks like a rookie-of-the-year candidate.

The 6-5 Leslie and 6-8 Haixia Zheng report this week from the world championships. Optimism reigns everywhere here. The only negative is guard Jamila Wideman’s back injury, which probably will cause her to sit out at least the early weeks of the season.

SACRAMENTO MONARCHS

* 1997 record: 10-18.

* Coach: Heidi VanDerveer.

* Best player: Ruthie Bolton-Holifield.

* At a glance: The Monarchs were soft at the point last year and used the league’s second pick to draft one of the best point guards to come out of the NCAA in the last 10 years, Ticha Penicheiro of Old Dominion.

Can she dish? Look for Sacramento to lead the league in ball-caused broken noses.

Without Leslie and Zheng, L.A. beat Sacramento twice in the exhibition season, but the Monarchs were missing veteran guard Ruthie Bolton-Holifield, whose two late three-point baskets helped give the United States the world title Sunday in Berlin.

UTAH STARZZ

* 1997 record: 7-21.

* Coach: Denise Taylor.

* Best player: Elena Baranova.

* At a glance: The Starzz, by all reports, have become healthy in the low post with the 7-2 Dydek, but remain weak at guard, demonstrated already in two one-sided exhibition losses to Phoenix. In the Saturday game, the surprisingly agile Dydek blocked six shots and had six rebounds.

But with little offense at the perimeter, Utah could well be headed for a repeat of last year. In 1998, that’s not altogether a bad deal. Chamique Holdsclaw, remember, comes out of Tennessee next year.

Up front, Baranova, most valuable player of the women’s World Championships, was a top three-point shooter, and Wendy Palmer was the league’s No. 2 rebounder and No. 4 scorer.

DETROIT SHOCK

* 1997 record: First season.

* Coach: Coach: Nancy Lieberman-Cline.

* Best player: Cindy Brown.

* At a glance: Speaking of the Holdsclaw sweepstakes, here’s another candidate. Charlotte, not thought to be a world-beater, turned Lieberman-Cline’s team inside out in a Saturday exhibition game, 102-61.

The 6-2 Brown, who jumped from the ABL, is a premier player up front and much is expected from the 6-8 Mujanovic. The top draft pick was Duquesne point guard Korie Hlede.

WASHINGTON MYSTICS

* 1997 record: First season.

* Coach:Jim Lewis.

* Best player: Nikki McCray.

* At a glance: McCray, a 5-11 Olympian out of Tennessee, jumped from the ABL after leading Columbus to a championship two seasons ago. She’s a premier player and should match up well with Murriel Page, a 6-2 All-American pick from Florida. Lewis expects Page to develop into a major offensive player.

Now that the world championships are over, Washington gets its international star, 6-5 Alessandra Santos de Oliveira of Brazil. Also in the post will be 6-5 Heidi Burge, who played with the Sparks last season.