No Standing on Ceremony
Like most of her teammates, Latasha Byears spent part of the off-season thinking about Saturday, when the Sparks open the WNBA season against New York.
It is the day the Sparks will receive some precious jewelry--rings for winning the 2001 WNBA title last September. Los Angeles was the first team to win the title besides Houston, which won the league’s first four championships.
“I don’t know if I’ll be emotional,” Byears said. “But it’s going to be a special moment for me, the team and my family. This was a major accomplishment. This is the reason you play this game, to reach this level. You have people that play the game all their lives and never accomplish this.”
Byears wasn’t alone.
“Everyone I talked to [after the season] kept asking, ‘When do you get the ring?’” said reserve point guard Nicky McCrimmon. “I just want to see it.”
The rest of league wants to see what the Sparks will do next.
Los Angeles posted successive 28-4 regular seasons. Last year, the Sparks were the first team to go unbeaten at home in the regular season (16-0), set a league record for consecutive wins to start the season (nine) and had a league-record 18-game winning streak.
Lisa Leslie was the league’s dominant player. She averaged 19.5 points and 9.6 rebounds, and became the first WNBA player to win the regular-season, All-Star game and playoff MVP awards in the same season.
She had strong support from three other starters--Tamecka Dixon (11.7), Mwadi Mabika (11.2) and DeLisha Milton (10.3)--who scored in double figures. Byears, acquired in a trade from Sacramento, averaged 9.3 points and 5.7 rebounds off the bench.
Still, Coach Michael Cooper does not want to let the team become content. His outlandish prediction of an undefeated regular season aside, Cooper has some goals in mind to help Los Angeles repeat.
Last season the Sparks led the WNBA in scoring, at 76.3 points a game. Cooper wants to bump the total to 90. He also plans for the Sparks to lower their points allowed from 67.6 by playing even more aggressive man-to-man defense. That means the team must be able to run for 40 minutes and willing to challenge every possession by opponents.
He also wants the Sparks to widen their rebound differential (34.5 to opponents’ 28.8) and have a tougher mind-set on the road. All four regular-season losses came away from Staples Center.
Leslie said the team must work to stay ahead of the league.
“It takes more than one player to win a championship, but I feel we’ve all done the necessary work in the off-season to bring back a better Sparks’ team this year,” Leslie said.
“We are an organization that shoots to be No. 1 and win championships. You have to set high goals. If we fall short [of 32-0], will we be disappointed? No, because we still should land somewhere among the top teams.”
The players understand that every team will want to be the one to beat L.A.
“The target has always been on us,” McCrimmon said. “Houston had the championships, but L.A. was always the team to beat. We came up short a couple of times, but last year we finally got [the title]. And this could be a better team.”
General Manager Penny Toler pulled off an impressive draft-day deal, sending starter Ukari Figgs and second-round pick Gergana Slavtcheva to Portland for rookie point guard Nikki Teasley and Sophia Witherspoon.
Teasley, the fifth pick in the draft, inherits Figgs’ starting slot and will have much to prove to teammates and to the league.
“It’s definitely a loss for me on and off the court,” Dixon said when asked about the trade of Figgs, her best friend on the team. “But Nikki is a great player; she just needs some veteran leadership to help her along the way. I’m open to that. I hope we can lead her in the right direction.”
Teasley, who left North Carolina as the school’s all-time assist leader, said she just wants to fit in.
“This is definitely a place where you can have some fun,” Teasley said. “There is pressure, but I’ve been through a lot these past two years, taking a year off from school [for treatment of depression]. I learned how to build up my character, so I feel I’m ready to take on anything now. I want them to repeat. If that means taking on a lot of pressure, so be it.”
Witherspoon, a five-year veteran who has also played with New York, is an important pickup too. She averaged 12.8 points last year in Portland, and Cooper hopes to have that kind of production coming off the bench.
“Having been a starter in Portland and New York, to come here and just want to fit in is a testament to her longevity in this league,” Cooper said. “[Witherspoon] may come off the bench. But there will be games she plays starter minutes because she’s a heck of a player. She’s another great luxury added to us.”
Witherspoon said she will be happy to play when and where Cooper needs her. And since joining the Sparks, she’s discovered there is grit under the glitz.
“Around the league, L.A. had the reputation of being snobbish and arrogant,” Witherspoon said. “Now that I have an inside look, you are taught here every day you are the best. And when you start believing that, you walk and talk like you are the best. If you’re on the outside looking in, you don’t understand that.”
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*--* Sparks’ Roster No PLAYER P HT WT C O M M E N T 00 Latasha Byears G/F 5-11 206 A s o l i d o f f e n s i v e r e b o u n d e r a n d s c o r e r 14 Erika Desouza F/C 6-5 194 B r a z i l i a n r o o k i e w i l l b a c k u p L e s l i e 21 Tamecka Dixon G 5-9 148 S e c o n d - t e a m A l l - W N B A a n d s t i l l u n d e r r a t e d Vedrana Grgin-Fonseca G/F 6-1 160 H o p e s s e a s o n i n E u r o p e h a s s h a r p e n e d h e r g a m e 44 Vicki Hall F 6-1 180 R u g g e d v e t e r a n a d d s i n s i d e m u s c l e 9 Lisa Leslie C 6-5 170 R e i g n i n g m o s t v a l u a b l e p l a y e r i n l e a g u e 4 Mwadi Mabika G/F 5-11 165 P o i s e d f o r a b r e a k o u t s e a s o n 10 Nicky McCrimmon G 5-8 125 H a s b e c o m e a d e p e n d a b l e b a c k u p 8 DeLisha Milton F 6-1 172 C a n d e f e n d e v e r y p o s i t i o n b u t p o i n t g u a r d 33 Rosalind Ross G 5-9 160 K n e e s u r g e r y p u t s c a r e e r o n h o l d a y e a r 42 Nikki Teasley G 6-0 165 H e r a l d e d r o o k i e i s u n d e r t h e m i c r o s c o p e 13 Sophia Witherspoon G 5-10 145 H o p e s t o p r o v i d e i n s t a n t o f f e n s e o f f t h e b e n c h Head Coach: Michael Cooper. Assistants: Glenn McDonald, Karlene Thompson
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