Friday, July 10, 2009

What does Candace Parker's return mean for Sparks, WNBA?

How long does it take to realize greatness? A year? A lifetime? A season? Sometimes, greatness doesn't wait to be recognized. Sometimes, greatness stands up and boldly proclaims "Here I am! Deal with me!" When Candace Parker finished her college career as the best female athletes since Marion Jones, people knew that she was good. After leading the league in rebounding during her first season, while taking home the Rookie Of The Year and Most Valuable Player awards, we took notice, and even thought, "She's something special." But on Sunday evening, when she entered the game against the Mercury with 5:35 left in the first quarter and less than two months since giving birth, that was the third time since the WNBA's inception that a player stood up boldly and shouted "Take Notice! Or be the only one who doesn't!"

The first time was in the WNBA's third annual finals when Cynthia Cooper decided that she could score and assist at will, propelling Houston to it's third of the Four straight championships to get the League off to a good start. The second was when Lisa Leslie, aging, but still one of the best in the League, took a fast break pass with no one in front of her and calmly, but demonstratively, stepped to the front of the rim and softly stuffed the ball through the net (possibly in response to the then-college star, parker dunking twice in a game the week before). Both of those performances were significant on the court, of course. But off the court they made statements that would help propel the league forward. Cooper's performance told the then-doubtful public "Yes, a woman can be a fearless cruch-time scorer and send chills down your spine with her ability to score when her team needs it." Lisa Leslie's performance said "Yes, we are less athletic than men. But we are still athletes! We still compete! And if average Joe-six pack thinks that he can run with us, come try me."

Parker's performance, which she would even admit was a sub-par for her standards, was significant for a completely different reason. We've all heard it said, "The WNBA is nothing but a lesbian league." "None of the women have kids because athletes can't have kids and still compete." When Parker played in Sunday's game, less than two months after giving birth to little Lailaa. Seriously, that's amazing. A woman who works in my office, sitting behind a desk needed four months to come back from pregnancy. Now of course, she's not the first mother to play in a WNBA game. Yolanda Griffith and teammate Lisa Leslie are two notable examples of WNBA Mothers. But Leslie waited until her career was almost over before having her baby - after the Championships, after the MVPs, and after most of her statistics. And then she took a whole year off. Many others, like Griffith, had babies before they knew that they would have Basketball careers. Others, like Parker's teammate Tina Thompson, don't take the entire year off, but also don't contribute significantly in the year that they return from pregnancy. Paker, though, chose to have a baby with her husband and obviously got pregnant DURING the season, giving birth a little over a month before the following season began.
What's most significant, though, is that she was the best player in the league last year. So if she can get back anywhere close to her peak ability this year, we will probably start to see a lot more players planning May/June Babies. Parker's return to action shows that young female professional athletes don't have to wait until their mid-thirties to have babies. Rather, as Leslie pointed out, Parker's age (22) will no doubt assist in her recovery from the pregnancy and allow her to fully recapture her physical prime beter than a woman in her late thirties. So instead of ending a great career early, women can just take a couple of months off in their twenties.
This, in combination with her undeniable skill on the court, charisma in interviews and charming demeanor all around (not to mention her near flawless beauty) will help to propel Parker from athlete to national and international spokeswoman for the game.

The WNBA has found it's Magic, with Leslie playing the part of Kareem, to build around for the next 15 years. Here's to hoping that she comes through on all the promise we see in her. Candace, the WNBA's future and success is in your hands... No pressure, though.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Ron Artest to the Lakers. Ariza, probably out...

Let me preface everything I'm about to tell you with two cautionary statements. First, I am perpetually dubious towards guys who have stand out numbers in contract years and especially step it up in the playoffs during contract years. Generally, it wreaks of someone who doesn't put in enough effort to maintain those same numbers over the life of his contract.

Secondly, I remain completely skeptical about guys who attack men half their size (and 1/64th their pigment) on national television without clear and indisputable evidence of their reasons for doing so. And even more so of guys who then have their barber carve the logo of their franchise into their heads. Rodman did it. T.O. did it (I think), and I'm certain that both those guys are crazier than talking carrot sticks.

Now, having said that, I LOVE Trevor Ariza and Ron Artest! With the signing of Ron Artest, the Lakers will now have 5 All-Start quality players, any of whom could score 30 points on any given night. That is, of course, if they keep Lamar Odom.

If the Lakers resign Odom, this will be a monumentally successful off season for the Lakers, even if Ariza does sign with another team, as he probably will. But even without Ariza, the Lakers' team has actually upgraded over the team that just won the championship last month.

So to recap the off-season so far:

Shaq goes to Cleavland and all but promises a ring to Cavs fans. Cavs fans and most of the media, evidently decide to ignore the fact that they are not getting 27-13 Shaq from a decade ago. They're getting the Shaq that didn't play on the second night of back-to-backs last year. They're getting the short bus Shaq. You know what I mean. This is the Everybody-gets-a-trophy Shaq. Don't make me spell it out for you, Everyone has been talking about his resurgence. Seriously? Am I the only one who noticed that it doesn't exist?

Anyway, moving on...

Charlie Villanueva and, for some reason, Ben Gordon Agree to sign with the Pistons. Ok, this one was even more perplexing than the Shaq Trade. I understand Charlie V. He's a big, mobile guy who can hit jump shots and defend a little bit. Kind of like Rasheed Wallace before he dissapeared off the face of the planet. If he can remember what defense is after playing in Milwaukee, he could fit in well with Detroit. But, uh What about Gordon?

Here's a guy who plays the two guard position pretty well. He uses screens very effectively, whether on the ball or on the weak side. He's solid, but not spectacular defensively. And offensively, he can hit jump shots with a high accuracy and consistency. He'll take big shots and is one of the best conditioned athletes in the League, so you know that he could probably play 40 minutes every night if you need him to. Though he still takes too many three point shots, He's basically been proving his critics wrong - whatever those critics wanted to say about him - since he came out of U-Conn.

So why don't I understand this signing? Read the Last paragraph again. I'll wait. Seriously, just humor me and actually read it again. Can you honestly tell if I'm talking about Ben Gordon or Richard Hamilton? Watch this:

2008-2009 Season Statistics
..........Richard Hamilton............Ben Gordon
Point.... 18.3....................... 20.7
Rebounds. 3.1........................ 3.5
Assists.. 4.4........................ 3.4
Steals... 0.6........................ 0.9
Blocks... 0.1........................ 0.3
FG%...... 44.7%...................... 45.5%
FT%...... 84.8%...................... 86.4%
3P%...... 36.8%...................... 41.0%
Minutes.. 34.0....................... 36.6
Fouls ... 2.6........................ 2.2

OK, three point percentages aside, these guys are eerily similar. They even went to the same freakin' college!!! If this were another team, I would say "Great Job, Orlando, Cleavland, New York, Seattle, Sacremento, Utah, Denver, UTAH!!! DENVER!!! or Minnesota!" But this just seems to me like a GM who had too much money to spend and not enough time to spend it. Joe Dumars must be feeling right now, like if he doesn't do SOMETHING, then he'll let too much go and he would rather just look busy than be fired for inactivity. It wreaks of that situation. Otherwise, why would they hire a Richard Hamilton Clone right after giving the Original Rich Hamilton (well, the real one anyway. The original Richard Hamilton was Reggie Miller) a big contract? It doesn't really make any sense.


Now, on with it.

The Lakers agreed to terms with Ron Artest to get him signed at somewhere around the mid-level exception. This is the biggest move so far by ANY team because of the Lakers' status. If he had gone to Cleaveland, Orlando, Boston, San Antonio or even Portland, that team would have to be considered to be seriously in the running for a Championship. But he didn't. He just made the best team in the League even better. His defense, especially, will improve the Lakers' overall team defense as well as keep someone on the floor to guard the opposing team's best perimeter players. Kobe is always up for the task, but sometimes, it takes too much to do that every night. Also, it gives the Lakers yet another person who can score on his own and command a double-team. That makes 5... at least 4, but maybe 5 on some nights .