It’s a Rough New World in the League

The WNBA, nearing the end of its fifth regular season, is past being a curiosity. But there are some lingering questions.

One of the most important: Is the game getting too rough?

Elbows and forearms are as prevalent as bounce passes and three-point shots. And because most women still play below the rim--a select few, such as the Sparks’ Lisa Leslie, dunk occasionally in practice but don’t do it in games--there is a lot more pushing and shoving with hips and thighs.

Add to the mix the next generation of players coming into the league, which is taller, stronger and faster thanks to weight training and better nutrition.

The players want and deserve to be judged as elite athletes. And their game should be, and is, different from the college game.

“This is professional basketball,” Spark Coach Michael Cooper said. “There will be some elbows thrown, as long as it isn’t flagrant. There will be some impeding of players going to the basket. But you have to let the players use their athleticism to make the play.

“The fans want to see scoring. But they don’t want to see it from the free-throw line.”

But will the casual fans, who still may struggle with the notion that women can be as physically aggressive as men in an athletic setting, keep supporting the WNBA?

League President Val Ackerman is betting they will.

“Basketball is a contact sport today, and no less so in our game than the NBA or college,” Ackerman said. “Like the NBA, the play at this level is extremely competitive, and has been physical from the start.

“[The league] has to manage the physical play. It’s important we avoid players getting hurt. I think, for the most part we have kept excessive physical play under control.”

Minnesota’s Katie Smith, the WNBA’s leading scorer this season, doesn’t want officiating to change.

“I don’t think it’s too rough, or getting worse,” Smith said. “You’re dealing with athletes that get quicker and stronger each and every year, but in my opinion the level of play is the same.

“If you’re kind of, ‘the woman,’ on your team, so to speak, and [opponents] want to keep you under wraps, you’re gonna take bumps and someone’s going to be in your face. For me, that’s the way it’s always been.”

Don Rutledge, the WNBA supervisor of officials, said the league is doing what it can to keep up.

“Players and coaches push the rules to limits, and I’m not saying that as a negative statement,” Rutledge said.

“Our staff is trying to regulate and balance the physical to speed and quickness. You don’t want players on the bench with cheap fouls, but you do want speedy and quick players to play with the physical players. We don’t want one aspect of the game to dominate.”

Cooper, who at times has criticized officiating, said the referees are mostly letting the players decide the outcomes.

“Early in the season they were trying to implement a lot of the rules that were set up during the fall,” Cooper said. “But now that we’re into the heart of the season, and the playoffs are approaching, they’ve kind of loosened up. And I like that.”

But if “letting the players play” means fewer whistles, doesn’t that tip the balance in favor of physical play?

And, if so, doesn’t that put the league back in a quandary?

Utah’s Marie Ferdinand is the first Haitian-American to play in the WNBA. But the rookie guard is proving to be more than a historical footnote.

Ferdinand, who attended high school in Florida and played at Louisiana State, ranks fourth among WNBA rookies in scoring at 11.4 points, third in field-goal percentage (.484) and assists (2.2), and sixth in steals (1.08).

“Utah is a good team and this is a good fit for me,” Ferdinand told the Miami Herald. “I’m happy of the way I have been able to play.”

Not as happy as Utah, which is trying to hold off Phoenix and Portland for the final Western Conference playoff berth.