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Showcasing talent WNBA All-Star Game projects bigger, stronger image
PHOENIX (CNNSI.com) -- Bigger, stronger, better. That's the image the WNBA will try to project during the league's second All-Star Game. "Our hope for the long term is that this will become a signature event for us, much as with other sports like baseball, the NBA, the NHL All-Star Game," WNBA president Val Ackerman said. "We look for this to be a showcase." Ackerman does not believe the league's 33 percent expansion to 16 teams this year -- adding franchises in Indiana, Miami, Portland and Seattle -- diluted the talent pool. Of the 220-plus players on this year's rosters, only 40 were around when the league made its debut with eight teams in 1997. "That speaks volumes for the quality of the newcomers," Ackerman said. "Obviously, the players from the ABL are the most heralded, but in reality the college programs have gotten better, the international players are very strong, and there are the Scottie Pippen types who may not have had distinguished college careers but keep on improving. "Brandy Reed is a case in point." Reed, a Phoenix Mercury forward who ranks among the top 15 in scoring, rebounds, steals and free-throw shooting, was the focus of the first All-Star controversy, but the broad talent base set the stage. Fans left Reed out when voting for the starters, and the coaches, allowed to pick just six more players per roster, followed suit. That forced Ackerman into the unprecedented step of adding a 12th player to the West to get Reed on the team and avoid a backlash in the host city. "I think it shows how deep the league is as far as talent," said Taj McWilliams of the Orlando Mystics, the East's starting center. "There could have been any number of All-Stars picked that weren't even on the ballot, and that's a great thing for the league." Katie Smith of Minnesota, the league's No. 2 scorer (20.6), also was left off by the fans, but was a coaches' pick. "It's a great honor," said Smith, who was chosen for both American Basketball League All-Star games before the ABL's demise in 1998. "Especially when the coaches pick you, because that shows that they respect your game and what you do. So I'll be excited to be there and hopefully represent the Lynx in a good way." The WNBA still hasn't had a dunk, but that may have more to do with increasingly intense interior defense than a lack of capable players. Expansion brought the inevitable mismatches, such as Detroit's record-setting 111-74 win over Indiana, and Houston's 80-50 rout of Seattle. But with foreign stars and former ABL standouts entrenched in most lineups, the pendulum has swung the other way, too. Two of second-place Los Angeles' three losses have come at the hands of the Western Conference expansion teams, the Miami Sol beat Eastern powers Detroit and Cleveland in a four-day span in June, and Washington coach Nancy Darsch resigned last week after a 23-point loss to Indiana. The new look is not evident in the starting lineups, though. Four of the West's starters -- Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper and Tina Thompson of the Comets, and Lisa Leslie of the Sparks -- also started last year's 79-61 win over the East. This year, Ticha Penicheiro of the Sacramento Monarchs is the point guard, replacing Michele Timms of Phoenix. Chamique Holdsclaw and Nikki McCray of the Washington Mystics are repeat starters for the East, along with Teresa Weatherspoon of the New York Liberty. McWilliams, a reserve last year, will start at center and the Liberty's Sue Wicks will make her first start at forward. The game will be televised to 154 countries in 23 languages, up from 125 and 20 last year. "The league now isn't even recognizable to me from a basketball standpoint from where we started," said Phoenix vice president Seth Sulka. "The infusion of talent, and just the fact that some of the teams have been together for several years. The officiating has improved right on a par with the play, and it's just a much better brand of basketball."
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