I'll agree with this, even though I don't agree with much else: for starters, unless you're particularly thin-skinned, I don't think that there's a team in the WNBA that could legitimately be classified as "unprofessional" or "unsportsmanlike," Detroit included. I don't actually think that there's been a team in the league that could be considered either unprofessional or unsportsmanlike since Tot Byears and Nikki Teasley were both playing for Los Angeles. In fact, if I sat down and tried to make a list of the most unsportsmanlike players in the WNBA, I personally don't think that anybody from Detroit would make my Top 5.
I also happen not to think that Laimbeer is either a buffoon or an embarrassment to the WNBA; if there's any coach in the league that's either of those things, it's Mike F. Thibault... personally, I was more embarrassed when Boucek had her "fainting spell" at the end of the San Antonio series than by anything that Laimbeer has ever done as a coach in this league.
As a basketball player, I live in the post, and I'm partial to post play, so I've never liked to watch catch-and-shoot offenses. I do enjoy watching Pondexter play, and she's practically the only player on the Mercury that will put the ball on the floor and attack the basket. Hell, I would have watched a series of best-of-five pickup games between Pondexter and Tweety Nolan.
But, back to the point I said I was agreeing with, there's no question that the quality of play in the league is substantially better, and continues to improve. For probably five years running, each Finals series (and the playoffs in general) has been better than the one before. The quality of play in the league at large has improved by leaps and bounds, and it's led to a trickle-down effect that has influenced the improvement of the college game as well. I love the fact that we're seeing more and more great athletes make it to the WNBA and, I believe that as the athletic level continues to increase, the interest in the league will follow; I don't think that it takes dunking, but seeing more superior athletes like Pondexter, Tarausi, Nolan, Ford, Brunson, Jackson, Dupree, Price, Young, Augustus, Beard, Currie and McCarville playing alongside the technical stars like Lawson, Powell, Taylor, Hammon, Bird, Sales and Douglas will help the league in the long run. I just hope that a few more of these people who claim to like women's basketball will show up to support the teams, because we can't have great players contemplating not playing for the league because they're not getting paid, and the owners aren't going to pay these women if nobody's going to the arenas.
I also happen not to think that Laimbeer is either a buffoon or an embarrassment to the WNBA; if there's any coach in the league that's either of those things, it's Mike F. Thibault... personally, I was more embarrassed when Boucek had her "fainting spell" at the end of the San Antonio series than by anything that Laimbeer has ever done as a coach in this league.
As a basketball player, I live in the post, and I'm partial to post play, so I've never liked to watch catch-and-shoot offenses. I do enjoy watching Pondexter play, and she's practically the only player on the Mercury that will put the ball on the floor and attack the basket. Hell, I would have watched a series of best-of-five pickup games between Pondexter and Tweety Nolan.
But, back to the point I said I was agreeing with, there's no question that the quality of play in the league is substantially better, and continues to improve. For probably five years running, each Finals series (and the playoffs in general) has been better than the one before. The quality of play in the league at large has improved by leaps and bounds, and it's led to a trickle-down effect that has influenced the improvement of the college game as well. I love the fact that we're seeing more and more great athletes make it to the WNBA and, I believe that as the athletic level continues to increase, the interest in the league will follow; I don't think that it takes dunking, but seeing more superior athletes like Pondexter, Tarausi, Nolan, Ford, Brunson, Jackson, Dupree, Price, Young, Augustus, Beard, Currie and McCarville playing alongside the technical stars like Lawson, Powell, Taylor, Hammon, Bird, Sales and Douglas will help the league in the long run. I just hope that a few more of these people who claim to like women's basketball will show up to support the teams, because we can't have great players contemplating not playing for the league because they're not getting paid, and the owners aren't going to pay these women if nobody's going to the arenas.
