Sparks Want to Look Deep
Training camps have several things in common: a sense of renewal, a sense of recovery, a chance to restore what was once good but has now gone in other directions.
General Manager Penny Toler will add another element to the Sparks’ WNBA training camp, which opens today at Loyola Marymount: the job search.
“I expect this to be the best training camp the Sparks have ever had,” Toler said. “I also expect people to come in here to fight for a job and not be happy if they’re not in the lineup.
“And if we get the people we want to get, it could be the strongest bench we’ve ever had in our eight-year existence.”
Not having a dependable reserve group behind the starting lineup of Lisa Leslie, Nikki Teasley, DeLisha Milton-Jones, Mwadi Mabika and Tamecka Dixon caught up with the Sparks last season.
They started out 9-0 and looked as if they would have little trouble winning a third consecutive league championship but ...
* Key reserve Latasha Byears was released from the team last June, and later was investigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department after an unnamed teammate was allegedly sexually assaulted.
No charges have been filed and WNBA officials say that Byears is an unrestricted free agent, but no team has offered her a contract.
* Another reserve, Rhonda Mapp, was suspended for two years in August for violating the league’s drug policy.
Then there were injuries, none more crucial than the one to Leslie’s right knee in a collision with Detroit’s Swin Cash in the All-Star game.
Leslie sat out 11 games in the second half.
The Sparks managed to win the Western Conference regular-season title and defeated Minnesota and Sacramento in the playoffs.
But Los Angeles was dethroned by Detroit in the finals.
A big reason for that was not having a bench Coach Michael Cooper fully trusted, especially after losing Byears and Mapp.
His starters played nearly all the time in the earlier series and looked exhausted when they got to Detroit.
“That 9-0 start wasn’t a fluke; we were that good,” Cooper said. “But we struggled with all the various injuries. This year, we can better handle injuries. We will be bigger and more athletic at every position.”
Cooper will have 20 players in training camp. Many of the regulars are still playing in European leagues and will not be here until May, but that should give Cooper a long look at bench candidates.
Key off-season acquisitions include veteran guard Teresa Weatherspoon, formerly of the New York Liberty, and Italian forward Laura Macchi, who began her European club career in 1990.
Others are 2004 first- and second-round draft picks Christi Thomas of Georgia and Doneeka Hodges of Louisiana State, WNBA veterans Tausha Mills and Brandi McCain, and Raffaella Masciadri, who, like Macchi, has made her basketball reputation in Italian leagues.
Milton-Jones suffered a ligament injury in her right knee while working with the U.S. Olympic team in February and was initially feared lost for the season. But Toler said Milton-Jones had recovered enough to participate in training camp.
Her status is day to day.