PHOENIX MERCURY Roster | 2008 Schedule Head coach: Corey Gaines is entering his first season as Mercury head coach. Purchase Mercury tickets now! Fan Voice: Talk about the Mercury! 2008 PROJECTED STARTERS: PG: Kelly Miller SG: Cappie Pondexter SF: Diana Taurasi PF: Le'coe Willingham C: Tangela Smith 2008 DRAFT RESULTS: Rd. 1: LaToya Pringle Rd. 2: Leilani Mitchell (from San Antonio, traded to New York) Rd. 3: Marscilla Packer

Taurasi

The Phoenix Mercury may have come out of the gate slowly in 2007, but they hit their stride in the second half of the season en route to capturing the WNBA Championship.

Phoenix held an 11-9 record at the All-Star break, but took off after the midseason hiatus to finish the season atop the Western Conference standings with a 23-11 record. The Mercury swept their first two postseason series against Seattle and San Antonio before meeting the Detroit Shock in the WNBA Finals. The teams put on a memorable championship series, with the Mercury prevailing in five games to become the first team to win the title on the road.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

Pondexter

The Mercury’s championship run was led by the All-Star trio of Diana Taurasi, Penny Taylor and Cappie Pondexter, who averaged 19.2, 17.8 and 17.2 points, respectively. Phoenix was an offensive juggernaut; averaging a league-high and WNBA record 89.0 points per game by using the fast-break offense taught by head coach Paul Westhead.

Phoenix’s big three were complimented by point guard Kelly Miller (9.4 points, 4.6 assists) and center Tangela Smith (12.6 points, 6.5 rebounds), who was acquired from Minnesota in a draft day trade for No. 1 pick Lindsey Harding. Coming off the bench, Kelly Mazzante was another threat on the perimeter shooting 34% from three point land. As a team Phoenix hit 283 threes in the regular season, the most of any team in the league.

The Phoenix offense reached new heights in the postseason, averaging 95.8 points and led by Finals MVP Pondexter, who led all playoff scorers with 23.9 points in the Mercury’s nine postseason games.

WHAT WENT WRONG

Taylor

The Mercury did not set the league ablaze from day one, as the team struggled with inconsistent play in the first two months of the season. At the All-Star break, Phoenix did not appear to be a championship contender with an 11-9 record. Some of their early season woes could be contributed to incorporating Smith into the lineup and finding the best offensive and defensive sets to compliment the new rotation.

While the 6-4 Smith was the perfect fit at the center position for the Mercury offense, having such a perimeter oriented team often left the Mercury susceptible to matchup problems on defense. They were able to mask some of their deficiencies by utilizing their rover zone defense, but the lack of a traditional center hurt them at times as they gave up a league-high 85.4 points per game. However, when you look at point differential, Phoenix was second in the league at +3.6 points.

LOOKING AHEAD

Gaines

Shortly after leading Phoenix to its first championship, Westhead left the Mercury to accept an assistant coaching position with the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics. With Westhead’s offensive style at the heart of Phoenix’s run to the title, it was not surprising that the organization selected assistant coach Corey Gaines, a Westhead disciple, to take over as the team’s head coach.

Phoenix re-signed free agents Taurasi, Smith and Mazzante to keep the roster intact for another championship run in 2008. The Mercury lost seldom-used reserve Jen Lacy in the Atlanta Dream expansion draft and brought in free agents Le’coe Willingham and Barb Farris to help solidify the bench.

The biggest blow to the Mercury’s hope for back-to-back titles came two weeks ago when Taylor announced that she would not join the Mercury until after the 2008 Summer Olympics due to her obligations to the Australian women’s national team. Taylor was a vital piece in the Mercury’s success in 2007 and replacing her production will be a difficult task.

Pringle

Knowing that losing Taylor was a possibility at draft time, the Mercury used its first-round pick to bring in LaToya Pringle from North Carolina. The 6-3 forward is versatile and athletic and should fit in nicely with Phoenix’s run-and-gun style after spending four years in a similar system at North Carolina.

However, Pringle has yet to practice with the team as she is still rehabbing from left knee surgery last month. She hopes to be able to practice in two weeks.

The Mercury will receive their 2007 championship rings on Saturday prior to their season opener against the Los Angeles Sparks. Phoenix faces two big challenges as they begin their attempt to defend their championship. But if Gaines can fill his mentor’s shoes and the team can replace the production of Taylor, the Mercury will once again be among the league’s elite teams.