Trudi Lacey
Charlotte Sting
Audio

Q: Do you feel like there’s a lot of parity in the league right now?
Lacey: Absolutely, everybody got better and some of the really good teams got even better. I think parity is a good thing. It makes the league more competitive. You can’t take a night off. You have to be ready every night.

Q: With Bob Johnson providing stability in Charlotte, how does that help in selling the product to the public?
Lacey: We’re unique in that we do have new ownership, and that ownership had to get the Charlotte Sting up and running first before their NBA team. The good news is that we have a core group of fans that have been very supportive and are very excited about the Sting staying in Charlotte, and also about our veteran players returning.

Q: Can you talk about the trade to get Rushia Brown and also is Tammy Sutton-Brown back, and how is the team coming together after a shaky preseason?
Lacey: I had a few players on my radar and Rushia was one of them. Her talents always stuck in my mind. Plus, Rushia went to college at Furman, not far from here. We wanted to get some veteran players to back up Tammy Sutton-Brown. Rushia has experience in the league, she has playoff experience. We’re very excited to have her here. We think she’ll be a great addition.

Tammy-Sutton Brown is back from Russia. She’s been at training camp for a couple of days, but we’re starting to blend. Today was actually the first day we had everybody available. You never feel good about losing in the preseason, but I try to look at those games for what they are, giving myself an opportunity to look at players in game situations, so I can evaluate them further. It’s fortunate for us that we have players that play overseas and year-round. Allison Feaster plays in France year-round, and Tammy Sutton-Brown just returned. The not-so-good part is that they’re not here in camp and giving us the opportunity to work on our system and those types of things.

Bill Laimbeer
Detroit Shock
Audio

Q: Can you remember a period of your NBA career when there was as much parity as there seems to be in the WNBA this year?
Laimbeer: I don’t think so. I can speak for the Eastern Conference now, in which I think there is tremendous parity right now and everybody is going to have a good shot at it. I never saw that in the NBA when I was playing. When I was playing, there were probably three teams in the league that could win it.

Q: Is the parity a good thing or does it water-down the product?
Laimbeer: That the product has been strengthened this year, I don’t buy that a bit. I think it’s great for the fans, especially for our situation in Detroit. We started out 0-13 last year, and the players, and myself and the fans are all jacked up right now because we have a pretty good team, we think.

Q: Can you talk about some of the changes you made to the roster?
Laimbeer: It became clear to me when we caught wind of the dispersal, and all previous precedents were worst to first, so it was clear we were going to get the opportunity to pick first, and there was no question we needed a center, so right away we’re looking at Ruth Riley. Then it all depended on the lottery and how that was going to shake out. We were unfortunate in not getting the first two picks. We had more than a significant chance to get such. So, we ended up with number three. So, our cards were dealt to us that we had to go big. We could not pass on Cheryl Ford. She’s going to be a very fine player in this league and an outstanding rebounder immediately. Right there we’re sitting with 6-5 Riley and 6-3 power forward in Ford, and Swin Cash at the three spot. We were big and had a lot of post-up players. I looked at my guard core and realized I had all slashers. I don’t have any perimeter shooters, so I pretty much had to re-do my guard core, especially the bench players, to get more three-point shooting and get a little quicker to get up and down the floor. We don’t want to plod. So I went about a well-thought process of how to do that.

Q: Can you talk a little about the guard core?
Laimbeer: I’m very happy with Elaine Powell, who we traded for last year; very smart individual that really understands how to play basketball and be a good floor leader. Deanna Nolan is one of the most athletic guards in the league. A little inconsistent. Has not quite gotten out of her talent what everybody in the whole world thinks she can. So, I needed more guards, and I wanted a veteran guard. I looked around. I was looking for great range as well as defensive prowess, and Kedra Holland-Corn stood out and so I was able to make a trade for her. We get a veteran guard with experience overseas, as well as starting the last 128 regular season games in a row, so she’s durable, and played with an outstanding team in Sacramento that was playoff-bound every year, except last year. That’s a great pickup for us. And we also added Tamara Moore, who’s talented. Had a nice year last year as a rookie, and has the kind of skills I’m looking for, can shoot the three and is fairly athletic.

Q: What have been the biggest surprises in training camp?
Laimbeer: Deanna Nolan. I challenged her to be tougher, and she is. That’s a good sign. Kedra Holland-Corn just got here. She hasn’t even practiced yet. Cheryl Ford has surprised me with her ability to run the floor, and how big she is. We knew she had good size, but she just dwarfs some of the power forwards that are out there right now. But I think the greatest eye opener that we have seen is Ruth Riley. She came in Sunday from Spain, so we haven't had her for any of our exhibition games, and she’s dropped at least 15 pounds from last year, and we watched her go through some post-up drills, and all the players in the gym, their eyes got big and wide and jaws kind of dropped, because she was definitely on top of her game.

Q: What was your idea of the women’s game before you took that job, and how has that evolved?
Laimbeer: My idea of the women’s game coming in s that it’s getting better. I’ve watched the younger ranks. I was coaching my daughter’s AAU team, and the competition there is growing tremendously. As far as coaching in the professional ranks, they’re professional athletes. They’re the same as the men. They’re dedicated to their sport. They understand that this a job and that they have a responsibility. You don’t have to tell them twice. They listen better than the men. They have to play with more fundamentals, because the men can make up for mistakes with their athleticism, and a woman can’t always do that. They have to be more on top of the fundamental game in order to be successful.

Q: How is this year different, having the benefit of training camp?
Laimbeer: Last year, coming in was easy. No pressure, the team was 0-10. Had all the management backing, so that was very easy. Just came in a got them to play hard, got them in a new structure and they thrived in that environment. A little more pressure this year for us to win. We have a good squad. We have great chemistry, and that’s one of the things we’ve really worked on in training camp and that’s the identification of chemistry. We all get along really well. We have some tremendous ladies. I’ve been a little behind because two main ingredients, Ruth and Kedra have been unavailable to us. We’re very fortunate that we have extra week off. We tried to put in defensive schemes that I was never able to get to last year, as well as more offensive stuff in the post. Last year we were more of a perimeter team.

Dan Hughes
Cleveland Rockers
Audio

Q: Do you see more balance in the league and is parity a good thing?
Hughes: I think there is more parity. I’m not sure that parity isn’t going to be more evident in the West. I think parity in the East has been dramatic over the last few years when you look at the races we’ve had, the way some teams have climbed from non-playoff teams to playoff teams in one year. In the West, what I’m seeing is more teams that are capable of being playoff teams. Overall, yeah, there is no question the dispersal of players created deeper teams and created more teams that have the capability of being playoff teams.

Q: You think the product has been diluted?
Hughes: Oh, no. I think the product is better. I think the teams that I’m having to beat are better teams than I had to beat five years ago when I became a coach in this league.

Q: Do you see your team getting back in contention in the East?
Hughes: I look at us as potentially a team that has ability to be a playoff team and will battle people for that type of positioning in our league. I don’t think we are ahead of anybody in that regard, but I do think we are in the mix. We are just a deeper team than I coached a year ago. That said, when you look at how Indiana improved its roster, how New York has improved, Washington has improved, those types of situations. Those are all playoff teams who got better, as well as us. I feel like we are a little closer to the team we were two years ago than the one we were last year. But I also think other teams have improved right with us.

Q: What is the status with Ann Wauters and can you talk about picking Betty Lennox and LaToya Thomas?
Hughes: Wauters’ situation is unsigned at this point. That’s the best way I can describe it. We’ve really prepared our team and done everything we can with people that are here. She’s still unsigned and I don’t have a timetable for the signing.

In regard to Lennox and Thomas, Lennox and Thomas both bring a degree of athleticism plus skill, that addition of both things to our team, which I think has been very helpful to us. What Thomas does for us is open the game up offensively. Here’s a post player that is going to face you up as well as put her back to the basket and finishes some plays. That adds a new dimension to Cleveland. We’ve not always had that type of look. Lennox … perimeter shooting has been a question mark for us through the years and Betty brings a lot of that to the equation. At the same time, I feel we are staying pretty athletic with the way we like to play defense with both those players. They’ve both been nice additions.

Q: There’s been talk about how much better Helen Darling looks.
Hughes: I’m seeing her work pretty hard at it. I think it’s going to be up and down. I have to be honest with you. I don’t think it’s going to be all smooth sailing for Helen. But I think to dismiss as not being a factor in our season would be wrong. She’s going to be a factor but I do think that the early part of the season, you’ll see some ups and downs in her play, because she has been a way from basketball for a year and she’s had to work so hard to get her conditioning to this point, but she will be a factor. She is going to be an important cog to what we do.

Marianne Stanley
Washington Mystics
Audio

Q. Do you like what has happened as far as the Dispersal Draft or are there any concerns the product got watered down?
Stanley: Oh, not at all. I think we have a much stronger Eastern Conference. I think each team goes into the season feeling like they’ve improved in some areas whether it’s depth or having more experience at a key position or two. I think everybody is better before we even start. So that’s exciting for the Eastern Conference, it’s exciting for the league, and for the fans. It just makes the whole WNBA much more competitive this season.

Q. What is the status of Chamique Holdsclaw’s foot soreness?
Stanley: Pretty much routine, not a problem.

Q. Do you expect her to miss any time?
Stanley: No.

Q. Who were the biggest surprises in camp this year and who most accelerated her development?
Stanley: All of our players came back in great shape so I’m excited about the overall condition of our team. Now, I don’t know there’s any one person that’s been a surprise. We expected them to come back energized from the way we finished last season and they are. They’re hungry and that’s good. The whole group looks good. We are happy where we stand right now as we prepare for our opener at Charlotte on Friday. No real surprises.

Richie Adubato
New York Liberty
Audio

Q: You coached John Schumate. How do you think he’ll do as a coach?
Adubato: I think he’ll do a great job. John has been a terrific player and a very intelligent player when he played the game himself, which sometimes they say only the point guards really can wind up really knowing the game. But John is a student of the game. I was also with the Dallas Mavericks when he was with SMU and I know he works very hard. I think he has a personality, which will lend itself towards the players wanting to play for him and understanding that he knows how to treat people.

Can you talk about Elena Baranova?
Adubato: Well Baranova just finished playing in Russia, where her team won the European Championship. She brings size to our team. She is a very versatile athlete who can post up and also shoot the three. She’s intelligent, she’s intense. I had the pleasure of coaching her in the All-Star Game two years ago when I was coaching the WNBA Eastern All-Stars and I thought she was just a great person along with a terrific basketball player. She should be in camp early next week. We don’t open up until the 31st. The schedule has been at this time, helpful to us.

Q: With the parity that seems to be apparent in the league right now do you see it as a good thing or are you worried that the product might have gotten watered down?
Adubato: No, I see it as a good thing in regard to the talent level in the league because when the ABL folded and their players came into this league, we were lucky enough to get a Crystal Robinson and a Tari Phillips. I think every team was able to improve, both as a team and the product itself that people can come and view. So I think from that standpoint it’s very good. From a coach’s standpoint, no, it’s frightening to me, because people that needed a point guard were able to get it, an excellent veteran point guard. Sometimes they added All-Stars to their team. So they really made the parity, which I think again will help in regard to the product that we put on the floor and the excitement of the games because they are all going to be very exciting and very close.

Q: Having lost the Finals last year in L.A., what was your thought process after the season and how you were going to do things this year?
Adubato: My thought process was one of tremendous disappointment because we’ve been there three out of four years and we haven’t been able to win the championship. When you have a team that that’s close, you are always looking to make an addition to help you get over the hump and get the championship. So we wanted to add to our nucleus and we did. We added Elena Baranova to our nucleus and some young rookies because we also have a team that’s a little older. So, not only are we trying to approach the fact that we want to win a championship, but we want to get younger. So we drafted three point guards this year and Baranova. So therefore we are approaching both things, trying to get younger but also keeping your nucleus and adding a veteran player that can help you to possibly win the whole thing.

Q: So you thought that keeping that nucleus was still critical?
Adubato: Yes because we are still young in most positions. Sue Wicks retired so that was a player that was older. We replaced her with the 31-year-old Elena Baranova who certainly has talent. We’re going to miss Sue Wicks but we think that we got younger and improved our team. And at the point guard position because of (Teresa Weathersppon) Spoon’s age, we knew we would have to bring in a couple of point guards so we wouldn’t have to play her the minutes that we had to play her last year. Like when you have a John Stockton, they can’t play the 48 anymore, but they can give you an excellent 25 as long as you give them the rest.

Q: Can you talk about the schedule and how you open nine days after the league starts?
Adubato: Well, I really don’t know why they are doing it. I know that it’s helping us in this particular year because we’ve always opened the league, we’ve always opened it. Unfortunately for us, because we won the Eastern Conference Championship, but lost in the Finals, it’s always been against the team that beat us the year before. So two times it was the Comets and last year it was L.A. which means we open up away from home and that means maybe two days of travel. That really cuts your training camp down. Last year we had about three days of training camp. This year because we are opening up so much later, we have almost four-and-a half-weeks of training camp, but more importantly, Elena Baranova was playing in Russia up until a week ago, and Tari Phillips was playing in Italy up until a week ago. So they’re not going to get here until next Monday or Tuesday so it’s been very beneficial for us. That gives us at least four days of practice before we open up with the two players who will be in our starting line-up.

Q: Can you elaborate on how important it is to retain the core? Talk about the Fever a little bit?
Adubato: We are lucky because we do have a veteran team. They’ve been there. They’ve been with me for four years; this will be my fifth year. We did make additions to our team, which will help our team. As far as Indiana is concerned, the great acquisition that they made, making their trade with San Antonio and getting a Natalie Williams, who is an inside premier player, I think was very important for them. I think you can definitely build a team around Natalie Williams and Tamika Cathings. I expect them to contend this year with the addition of Natalie Williams, that’s how good she is. But it’s going to take time to put those pieces together. Coquese Washington was out I think. She had her knee scoped, so she’s coming back, but you still have Nikki McCray there. Unfortunately, I just heard that they lost their center from last year, Olympia Scott-Richardson. You put Olympia up there with Natalie Williams and McCray and Coquese and Catchings, you have a team that can definitely contend for the Eastern Conference Championship. I don’t know who else they have, who they’re looking at up front. That will be a loss, but I still think they’ll contend with the addition of Natalie Williams. I think anybody would love to build a team around the strong inside presence that she has and the great overall player of Catchings.

Q: Can you talk how Baranova and Phillips will play together?
Adubato: Well, I think it’s early because, first of all, Baranova will not be ready right away for us because she’s only going to be in here next week and she has to learn the whole system. So I think it will take her time. She’s going to have to come off the bench for awhile until she knows what she’s doing, so we’ll still have our starting lineup. But I think because of her talent level and what she brings to the table and the size, we’ve been looking for more size up front, we’re going to have to make a decision down the road in regard to who will be in our starting lineup. Tari is going to play somewhere up front for us. Both her and Baranova can play four and five. Tamika Whitmore can play four and three. Crystal can play three, four and two, so we have versatility there. That decision will be made after a couple of weeks after Baranova knows what we are doing. She’s here for two days. The first weekend we open up, obviously she’s going to have to come off the bench until she knows. I would say it will probably take about four games before we have to make a decision on that. But I think eventually she will start.

Q: Talk about coaching some of the players that you have?
Adubato: I’m blessed with some players that have a tremendous desire to play and tremendous determination. And they haven’t lost this desire and determination to be the champs yet. So it’s pretty easy. They come to play every night, they play hard, and they’ve gotten better. We’ve improved in every area, especially the individuals defensively. Tamika has gotten better defensively. Tari has gotten better defensively. Becky Hammon has gotten better defensively. So we have the same core group, and they have this willingness to do whatever it takes to win, so they’re a fun group to coach. And we know we get bigger challenges every year and we have more challenges this year than we’ve ever had with the Dispersal Draft. The Eastern Conference teams benefited because they were getting the high picks.

Mike Thibault
Connecticut Sun
Audio

Q: Everything about Connecticut is new. How has it been so far and how are you feeling going into this season?
Thibault: Well, it’s been hectic in the sense that it’s like having an expansion team with rights. We have the Orlando Miracle team, or a good portion of it, but you’re coming into a new state, new arena, new coaches, new management, new everything else. So from that standpoint it’s been hectic getting ready in a short amount of time. But other than that it’s been good.

Basically coming here new, in a short amount of time with basically a lot of the expansion franchise things that you have to deal with, that San Antonio had to deal with, you have players but you have everything else to do, and from an arena, to training facilities to all those things, but once we got started with camp, it’s been very, very good. The players have been great. It’s been good to deal with. I think everybody is excited about the season and we’re out to prove that we belong among the playoff teams in this league. Everybody’s excited to get started.

Q: What is your reaction to playing the defending champions on national television on Saturday?
Thibault: Well, shoot, it’s one of those things that you’ve got to play them sooner or later so why not get your team all jacked up and excited on the first day playing a great team. It’s a good way to judge where we are in the league right now, starting with the best team. Michael Cooper and I have known each other for years and he’s done a terrific coaching job with that team. They obviously are, if not the most talented team, one of the two or three most talented teams in the league and they have All-Star players. Lisa Leslie, I think most people would say she’s, if not the best, one of the two or three best players in the league. We’ve got our work cut out for us but at the same time I think it’s helped keep our team focused on our goal to get ready for the season. Our schedule in general is tough to start the season.

Q: Because you have a veteran team that picked up and moved, you don’t have to worry about a fear factor as you would if you had a brand new expansion team?
Thibault: Well I don’t think it’s a fear factor at all. I think an expansion team that would be the case. I don’t know, after Lisa dropped 27 points and 21 rebounds on them last year, I’m sure there’s a little bit of a fear factor. Our good players, and we have a lot of them, I think we’re a little bit probably underrated right now. They’re excited about the chance to go out and start something new here, start over. I think that’s a big thing for our team. They have a chance to get a rebirth a little bit.

Q: Do you have any sense for how the college fans may support the pro team or do you have to wait and see?
Thibault: I think a little of it is waiting and seeing in that we’re our own identity. It’s great that we’re coming into this great fan base. I think obviously that’s why Connecticut was a logical place to come play. The people here love women’s basketball. I think they’ll support it. It’s been good in going around the state the last month. You can sense people are excited about it. There’s a good and a bad because the expectations are high. That’s good but the people here are a little bit spoiled and they have a right to be. UConn women’s basketball is the best that you can have. But I think they understand that it doesn’t happen overnight. UConn didn’t happen overnight. This isn’t, necessarily, happening overnight; although, I hope it does. As long as we go out and play hard every night and compete to the best of our ability, I think these fans will appreciate that. I think they’re going to appreciate the style of play and eventually we’ll win them over. We don’t want them to be just UConn fans supporting Sun basketball. We want to develop our own fan base that believes in the Connecticut Sun.

Q: How has Katie Douglas been playing in the preseason? It seems like she has made perhaps more than incremental improvement each year in the league.
Thibault: No question. I think we’re counting on her for a lot this year. I think her experience in Europe this winter was a huge positive. She got to go to a team where she could be a focal part of their offense. It has helped her confidence. I think people will see how much she has improved. I expect her to be a primetime player for us. She is a terrific three-point shooter. She can drive to the basket. I think she’s worked hard in training camp on improving her defensive play. I think she’s maybe one of the more underrated players in the league and I think she’s probably going to sneak up on a few people right away.

Q: Since this is your first season in the league, can you talk about what the transition has been like and what your biggest adjustment is going to be?
Thibault: I think the transition has, from a purely coaching standpoint, has been good and easy. Coaching is coaching. I think that it’s actually been smoother than I had expected. Our players have bought into what we’re trying to do. They’re a great group, they work hard; so all of that has been good. As I said on the first question of the call, is that the most difficult part has been the short time to get ready in. When you have a new franchise, there’s a lot to get done in every phase of your organization. I think, from that standpoint, just trying to get every little thing in place. When you have a franchise that’s not owned by an NBA team, there are other things that other people have to think about that most teams in this league, I think, take for granted. A lot of the facilities of WNBA teams are shared with the NBA. Video operations, all those kinds of things are shared things. We had to go out and do all of that for ourselves here. So, there was a lot of extra work to get done. But the actual on-the-court (transition) has been very smooth and our players have been great to work with. It’s been all pleasant from that standpoint.

Nell Fortner
Indiana Fever
Audio

Q: Do you see parity as a good thing?
Fortner: I think it’s a good thing. I don’t think the product has been watered down. I think this year, we’ll probably see the best basketball we’ve ever seen in the league. That’s my opinion. Teams are very strong. Teams were able to get deeper. There’s more quality depth. I think we should see a real improved quality of play.

Q: Was it hard to make the trade for Natalie Williams?
Fortner: For me, it wasn’t hard at all. It was something we wanted and needed. We needed that presence. I’ve coached Nat many times and I knew what I was getting, and that’s why it was very important for us to get her. She brings something we need, that low-block presence that can dominate a game and dominate the boards.

Q: Do you see Williams playing at the five and Tamika Catchings at the four?
Fortner: I see Nat at the five, Kelly Schumacher at the four and Catch at the three. I see that as my dominant lineup, but Catchings will play some four, no doubt about it.

Q: How do you feel about Coretta Brown, based on what you’ve seen in preseason?
Fortner: I’m really pleased with her. I think she’s going to be a real good player in this league. She can play the one or the two, but I really think that playing the point will be her strongest suit, because she’s a very good passer and sees the floor real well and can create off the dribble. I see her playing at the two as well, but right now, she’ll be playing the point.

Q: Do you think Phoenix is for real?
Fortner: I think because they play so hard and they’re working well together as a group on the floor, I don’t think it’s a mirage. They have players that are playing hard. All the players are fighting to make that team. It’s when you get your team, do you get the same kind of effort and the same type of play out of them? That will be the interesting thing to see. But I thought that was a team that played really hard and did some nice things in the preseason.

Q: Can you talk about how Kelly Schumacher has performed so far and how her skills mesh with other members of the front line?
Fortner: I’m really pleased with Kelly. She’s worked extremely hard on her game in the offseason, and she’s come back with a variety of new skills, different post moves on the block, the ability to shoot the 15-footer. She’s more skilled than she’s been in the past, as far as her post moves. She’s highly motivated to play, and it’s just been a real pleasant surprise. I like here and Williams together on the block.

Q: Have there been any other surprises in training camp?
Fortner: A big surprise for me has been Coretta Brown out of North Carolina. She’s been outstanding, and I think she’s going to be a very good player in the league at the point or the two. She can shoot the ball well, she can create of the dribble, and her maturity is another thing that’s impressed me. She already has a pro’s mentality. She’s beyond her years and that’s been a real pleasant surprise for me as a coach. Coretta Brown will start the season at the point. Coquese Washington will start the season on the IR. She’s doing some knee rehab.