May 21, 2003 News & Views » News Feature

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New Season, New Owner, New Hope 

The Sting heads into a make-or-break year

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click to enlarge COURTESY OF WNBA PHOTOS - Tammy Sutton Brown of the Sting holds her own
  • Courtesy of WNBA Photos
  • Tammy Sutton Brown of the Sting holds her own

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Apathy or outright anger still runs high over the arena deal and the Hornets' messy departure. That, coupled with declining NBA attendance in general, the economic downturn, and much higher ticket and suite prices, means Johnson is going to have to dig into his billionaire pockets to win back fans.

What will be left over for the Sting, who still need a long-term investment to make the team fly? The team lost a reported $2 million last year and was next-to-last in attendance in the league (6,667 average per game). What happened with the Miami Heat and its former women's team, the Miami Sol, could play out here. The Heat have struggled so much to attract fans in sunny South Florida that the owners were willing to let go of the Sol, which drew a respectable 8,828 fans per game last season (seventh in the 14-team league). The women's team was reportedly losing about the same as the Sting did last year -- $2 million -- but the Heat owners wanted to conserve their money for the men's team.

On the court, the Sting's new beginning demands returning to old team values: defense and rebounding. Those qualities have been largely responsible for the team reaching the playoffs five out of six WNBA seasons but eluded them late last season, when they lost two straight to Washington in a best-of-three series. "We were not as focused going into the playoffs as we were the previous year," Lacey recalls. "Also, the climate had changed for us a bit. We were hunted instead of the hunter."

With all their starters back, the Sting is among the "hunted" again in the Eastern Conference, where they posted an 18-14 record in 2002. In addition to regaining their defensive and rebounding form, the Sting also have to find someone who can relieve center Sutton-Brown without the team losing ground. Last season Summer Erb, the Sting's top draft pick in 2000, was inconsistent and, as of May 14, had not signed a contract with the Sting.

"We need more balance down low," says point guard Dawn Staley. "With Tammy, she's only played a couple of years and is still a young center. We've got to give her some help."

Says shooting guard Andrea Stinson, "The main thing is to get her support so that if she extends herself early in the game, she still has something at the end. She needs a good back-up to be able to pace herself."

In separate interviews, the starting lineup's three most veteran players -- Staley, Stinson and Smith-Taylor -- singled out support for Sutton-Brown as the key to the Sting going deeper in the playoffs than last year. The Sting had three players competing for the backup spot as of May 14 -- rookie Teana McKiver out of Tulane, second-year pro Tamara Stocks from Florida and Kimbrough, acquired in the dispersal draft. None is towering -- all are six-feet-three -- but McKiver showed potential in the first two exhibitions.

Free agent Vanessa Nygaard, a five- year pro out of Stanford, saw some pre-season time at center but would likely play power forward behind Smith-Taylor if she makes the team. She and Shalonda Enis -- who played in only four games last season after giving birth to her second son on May 1, 2002 -- are battling for back-up at power forward.

Jocelyn Penn, the team's first-round 2003 draft pick from the University of South Carolina, is working at power forward but is short for the position at six feet. She could wind up at small forward if she boosts her ball-handling and three-point shooting.

Overall, the Sting plan to run more this year and depend less on set plays in their motion offense.

"Last year we didn't push the ball up every opportunity like we will this year," Lacey says. "Players will also have a little more freedom offensively. We want them to read the defense and react in the best interest of the team. They will have to be able to "think' the game."

Chief "thinker" will be point guard Staley, a master at steadying the offense and finding the open player. Her back-court sidekick, Stinson, has played in every Sting game since the team's inception in 1997 (only one other WNBA player, New York's Teresa Weatherspoon, has done the same) and has led the team in scoring every season.

But neither Staley nor "Stint" looked impressive in the team's first two exhibition games. "Stint" shot poorly, Staley's turnovers were higher than normal, and neither showed defensive quickness seen in the past. Whether they were just getting themselves cranked up or whether age and physical limitations are catching up with them is the big question. Stinson turns 36 in November, and Staley, whose knees are her biggest liability, turned 33 on May 4.

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