News on the NWBL

[StevenHW]

I don't know if anyone on this board follows the San Jose Spiders or other women's pro leagues (besides the WNBA), but I am sharing the following news and information from the San Diego Union-Tribune news website. It is about the National Women's Basketball League (NWBL).

My comments/questions are afterward.

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UNION-TRIBUNE

December 14, 2005

To allow for further evaluation of players, the National Women's Basketball League postponed its draft of tryout candidates from Monday to next Tuesday.

The new San Diego Siege has the second pick overall behind the San Jose Spiders in an order determined by draw among the four NWBL teams. A record turnout of 82 players participated in the league's tryouts last weekend at DeAnza College in Cupertino.

Tryout players typically fill the middle four spots in the 12-player roster behind the top four reserved for WNBA players, who compete in the NWBL to stay sharp during the spring.

The defending champion Colorado Chill already has 10 players under contract for 2006, including the WNBA's Becky Hammon, who led the NWBL in scoring last season. – GLAE THIEN

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After going to their website (http://www.nwbl.com), it seems that the NWBL currently have only four teams: the S.D. Siege, the S.J. Spiders, the Colorado Chill, and a new team in San Francisco (no team nickname yet) for their 2006 season.

The Dallas Fury, which won the NWBL Championship in 2004, is on uncertain status. And the Chicago Blaze decided to pass up on having a season for 2006, though I don't know if the new Chicago Sky WNBA team has anything to do with it.

Does anyone here follow the Spiders, and might be willing to go to their games, as well as the new San Francisco franchise?

 

[Monty'sBiggestFan]

I thought about going to Spiders games last year just to see if Jackie Stiles actually was going to make it back to play because she had signed on with the team that used to be in Lubbock. Other than that, the Spiders had nobody on their roster to compel me to drive a couple of hours to see them.

I'm very suprised to see how much the league has dwindled and all of the teams are now situated in the West. The league definitely has migrated from the East for sure. I doubt the Sky had anything to do with the Blaze not returning this year because their season's don't cross - this league has been bleeding money. If the SF team will be playing in a venue reachable on the BART line, I might think about a game once I see the rosters.

 

[StevenHW]

Since my first post, I read somewhere that the "new" San Francisco team is actually the Dallas Fury team being moved.

So, here is a website of their previous (2005) season roster, coached by Nancy Lieberman:
http://nwbl.thestatzone.com/ytdStatVGM.asp?season=2005&team=10

Somehow, I doubt that Nancy L. will stick around to coach the S.F. team, because she lives in the Dallas area.