Alana Beard receives instruction from Mystics interim head coach Jessie Kenlaw. Kenlaw is the fourth head coach Beard has played for in her five years in Washington. Ned Dishman/NBAE/Getty Images

Turmoil may be the best word to describe the past two seasons for the Washington Mystics.

In 2007, the team endured an 0-8 start to the season, a coaching change (Richie Adubato out, Tree Rollins in), an in-season trade (Chasity Melvin out, Monique Currie in) and an injured All-Star (Alana Beard's shoulder) before making a spirited run for a playoff spot that came up just short on the final day of the season.

The offseason began with Rollins' title being upgraded from interim to full time head coach - a reward for the resurgance he led in the second half of the season. Beard had successful shoulder surgery and signed a long-term extension with the Mystics, as did veteran post Nakia Sanford. Just as things appeared to be headed in the right direction, All-Star forward DeLisha Milton-Jones requested a trade. The Mystics obliged the request and traded Milton-Jones to Los Angeles in exchange for six-time All-Star Taj McWilliams-Franklin and a 2009 first-round draft pick.

Although McWilliams-Franklin played and important role both on the court (13.3 PPG, 7.3 RPG) and as a veteran leader in the locker room, the team struggled to win games this season. On July 19, with the team 8-14, the Mystics made another coaching change (Rollins out, Jessie Kenlaw in). The team went 2-2 in Kenlaw's first week on the job and entered the Olympic break at 10-16, two games back of Indiana for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

The latest move came this week, when the Mystics traded McWilliams-Franklin to Detroit in exchange for rookie Tasha Humphrey and sophomore Eshaya (Shay) Murphy and a 2009 second-round draft pick.

WNBA.com's Brian Martin spoke with Beard and Currie shortly after the trade was announced on Tuesday to discuss the departure of McWilliams-Franklin, the new players coming to DC, the new coach they are playing for and how they are using the Olympic break to get ready for the final eight games of the season.

Q. What was your reaction to the news of the trade of Taj McWilliams-Franklin?

Beard: Of course it’s always a sad day, but as a player you have to understand that this is a business and things can change by the day. I’m very, very sad to see Taj go. She is, and was, the heart and soul of this team. You knew who and what you were getting day in and day out. It’s a sad day. On the other hand you have two very good young players coming in with Tasha Humphrey and Eshaya Murphy and hopefully they’ll step in and help us right away with their youth and talent.

Currie: Obviously I am very disappointed. I hate to see her go. She was a great leader on this team and she did a lot for this organization in the short time she was here. But you know we don’t make those decisions. Its always tough, but we’ve been facing adversity this entire season and we have to keep moving forward. She will, we have to, and we will.

Q. Alana, I know you and Taj were really the leaders of this team. How difficult has it been for you to lose your counterpart there?

Beard: It’s very hard. I thought that Taj and I complimented each other very well. I knew coming in that Taj would take a lot of pressure off of me as far as being that leader because Taj is the ultimate leader, vocally and she leads by example. I am the one that always leads by example and I would sit back and wait for Taj to do her thing, which worked out pretty well. Hopefully everyone else will start stepping up and holding themselves accountable and being a leader in their own little way.

Q. What are some of the things you can take away from time you had with Taj as a teammate?

Beard: Taj is the most efficient player that I’ve ever played with and probably the most efficient player in this league. If anything I learned that it’s not about out fast you can do things, or about how hard you go, it’s about how efficient you are. I’m sure you, as well as a lot of people, know Taj’s game and understand that she’s very effective. She takes her time, but she gets the job done.

Currie: Just from the person that she is – which was a bigger factor to me – her leadership qualities, and her dedication. She was always one of the hardest workers out there and for her to be the oldest player on the team by a lot of years and to see her working just as hard as us young players, it was something that was an inspiration and something that you aspire to be like.

Q. How much do you know about the new players - Tasha and Shay - coming in. What do you like about their games?

Beard: I know Humphrey very well simply because I recruited her going to Duke and we always kept in touch from there. She reminds me of Charles Barkley. She’s very athletic, she’s talented, she can go inside and out, she’s strong. So I’m really excited about getting her in and seeing what she can do. As far as Eshaya Murphy, I don’t know very much about her. I’ve seen glimpses of her and I haven’t probably seen everything that I could see from her.

Currie: I know Tasha is a really good player. She was a great player at Georgia. I remember we recruited her at Duke when I was in college and I know she’s been playing well as of late for Detroit, she was even starting for them. She’ll bring something different than what Taj brought, but it will be good whatever she has. I don’t know much about Murphy though.

Q. When this happens; when the organization trades a veteran and brings in a couple of young players, does it give the players a sense that this is a rebuilding situation? Is that kind of frustrating for the players on the roster?

Beard: That’s the only way you can take it, that it is that rebuilding year. But you also have to understand that as players we can only control the things that we can control and we have complete faith in the management that they are and have done the right thing in the decisions that they’ve made.

Currie: It’s a business and we know that and we know that anybody’s job is disposable at any given time. The bottom line is that this organization wants to win and we can see that they are willing do whatever it takes to make that happen. All we can do is go out that and do our best and secure yourself a spot by working hard and contributing.

Q. The team is still right in the middle of a playoff hunt, just two games back of Indiana? How important is it to use the break to get everyone on same page in order to make a playoff push?

Beard: Oh my God, I think we have used this break to get everyone on the same page and everyone is on the same page. I think Jessie Kenlaw has done and unbelievable job of getting everyone into a different mentality and that’s just giving effort and giving hard work every single time you step on the court. If this break has benefited any team, it’s benefited us the most.

Currie: This break was definitely beneficial to us particularly because we had a coaching change so Jessie and Crystal are able to put in their system and we can practice it and work on it before we have to start playing again. So it was perfect timing for us and it’s been going well. Jessie has really done a great job. We had her around all year so we know the kind of person she is, but we’re really getting to experience her as a head coach and she has a lot more say as to what’s going on.

Q. You mentioned interim coach Jessie Kenlaw. What is the biggest difference between her and Tree Rollins as a head coach?

Beard: She’s in your face. She’s demanding. She’s holding you accountable for everything that you do. You can’t get away with anything. And I think a team like this, who has been set in a certain mentality as far as being chilled and laid back, she’s keeping us on our toes. And I think that it’s all going to transfer to the court.

Currie: Jessie is just a lot more intense. She’s always in your face, always on you, always making sure you’re doing the right thing and I think that will translate into the game. A lot of coaches’ demeanor carries over to the floor and to have someone that is intense and so aggressive and uptempo, hopefully it will translate on the floor.

Q. Do you feel that this team needs that type of in-your-face coach?

Beard: Yeah, without a doubt. I think Jessie is the perfect fit for this team and I think Crystal Robinson compliments her really well.

Q. I saw her first game as head coach against Seattle when the team was all over the floor and the energy level was at a season high. Is that the type of attitude and the type of game that she will bring out of the team?

Currie: Definitely. That was really a show of how we will play for her. She likes to run; she wants us to run and get out and get easy baskets, get layups and be intense. She’s big on defense; we’ve only done defense this entire break. We haven’t done any single play on offense because we know that will come to us. She’s a big stickler with defense and she wants us to use our defense to create things on the other end.

Q. What do you think it’s going to take in order for the Mystics to catch and pass the Fever and grab that last playoff spot in the East?

Beard: Hard work and effort, that’s the only thing we can do, that’s the only thing we can ask for from each other. And if anything that’s the one thing that we’ve been doing since we’ve been back off of the break, and that’s working hard. I’m very proud and I appreciate everything that my teammates have done because they’ve come back in with a different mindset and that’s to give effort, energy and to work hard every single time down the court.

Currie: We have to win that’s the bottom line. We’re not focusing so much on the playoffs. It is a goal for us to get into the playoffs, but we’re taking it one game at a time starting with Chicago when we get back. We’re going to focus on that, but it just boils down to winning games.

Q. That being said, the Sept. 2 game against the Fever is a tie-breaker game that is sure to have playoff implications.

Currie: It will and it’s going to be a close run if we can get going. We need to try to control our destiny as much as possible. That’s going to be a huge game, but actually every game is huge game for us in these last eight games.