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Reed, who has been quoted as saying she's the best player in the world, will have to prove it somewhere else after pouting her way through the Mercury's first seven games. Reed's skills and talent will be missed, but her personality won't.
What's really sad is that Reed had the ability to be an Olympian, and create a life story -- out of the slums of San Francisco into a good life -- that would have perfect for a TV movie. Instead, the script looks like a tragedy.
But Reed's rise and fall apparently hasn't sunk into the lower levels of the sport. Lauren Ervin, Crystal Erwin and Imani Dhahabu were all suspended for the last game of the tournament. Ervin, you might recall, quit her nationally ranked Artesia CA high school team a week or so before the playoffs began, and is supposedly transferring to Lynwood, the defending national champ, in the fall. Of course, Ervin transferred from Bishop Montgomery after her freshman year, and the Knights didn't miss a beat, winning two state titles since. Though USA Basketball isn't talking, the suspension came as a result of a fight that wound up leaving Dhahabu with a badly bruised eye. It's unclear who was at fault, but it really doesn't matter. Regardless of the circumstances, thug life running dogs are nothing but a blot on women's basketball. There's no place, and no reason, for this kind of behavior, and the powers that be shouldn't let the perpetrators get away unscathed or, in this case, under the blanket security of 'disciplinary reasons.'
Who's ever in the wrong here should have her name in bright lights, so everyone can see and understand just who's who, and how they act. Reed, after all, was protected by the same attitude, and look what happened to her.
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All that said, the Youth Festival was a great success. The rising seniors not only played four games against their peers (though some of the top players didn't attend), they also attended seminars and got a taste of USA Basketball.
And just a note to future invitees: USA Basketball is a very political organization (Vickie Johnson of the New York Liberty, for example, has been even been invited to a USA Basketball camp or tryout) and it has a long memory. Turn something down now, and you can pretty much kiss your chances of playing in the Olympics goodbye -- unless you're of the stature of Diana Taurasi.
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The fanfare about the new ESPN/ABC TV deal with the WNBA should be muted at best. No one has yet mentioned precisely how many WNBA games will be on TV this next year, and our guess is that's that because there will be many fewer. After all, if there were going to be more, don't you think it would be in big headlines?
Of course, the WNBA isn't exactly a wonderful TV game. The good teams, aside from L.A., play physical defense and no shot comes easy. Unlike the NBA, the female offensive stars have more trouble making things happen under heavy contact, and so the games are marred by missed shots and plenty of fouls.
The great athleticism that can save an NBA game with 10 or 15 jaw-droppers is simply not there in the WNBA, and though three-point shooting is fun, when it's the highlight of game, it's not great TV.
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Want to play in the WNBA? Be 25 and 6-0 tall. That's pretty much the average this season, though the range is pretty great. The smallest players are 5-3 (Debbie Black and Brandi McCain) and the tallest is 7-2. The youngest is Bernadette Ngyoisa (19) and the oldest is Tammy Jackson (39).
One note, though: The average age may be 25, but the effective players tend to be older. The youngsters fill out the rosters, but the veterans still run the show. Just look at New York.
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One of the easiest targets is always the all-star vote, but this year doesn't seem to be too bad -- so far.
Granted Swin Cash shouldn't be third at forward (37.8% shooting, twice as many turnovers as assists), but starting Chamique Holdsclaw (finally reaching her potential) and Tamika Catchings certainly makes sense. We'd probably opt for Vickie Johnson, but Catchings and Holdsclaw will do just fine for the East.
Tari Phillips is the best center, but Teresa Weatherspoon, as usual, is given too much love by the voters (and the league, for that matter). She shouldn't be first, and we don't know about Dawn Staley second -- but one of them should probably start. The other guard? Penny Taylor or Merlakia Jones.
In the West, there are just too many good players. Sure, Sheryl Swoopes and Tina Thompson are great, and if they start at forward, you can't really complain. But what about Katie Smith or Svetlana Abrosimova? Or Tamika Williams? Brandy Reed, we can safely say, will not be a late addition in 2002.
Lisa Leslie is a no-doubter at center, but Sue Bird doesn't deserve a berth -- yet. Ticha Penicheiro does, and Tamecka Dixon, Jennifer Azzi or Adrienne Goodson would also make sense.
What's interesting, though, is how the college stars have become immediate pro favorites. That indicates that, as expected, the college fans are following their local heroines when they move into the WNBA -- and have figured out how to vote pretty quickly.
6/18/02
