Mercury Players and Staff React to Draft

Several Mercury players were on hand Saturday morning for the 2004 WNBA Draft Party at the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Phoenix. General Manager Seth Sulka pulled the strings on several deals after taking Connecticut star Diana Taurasi with the No. 1 pick, while co-owners Anne Mariucci and Kathy Munro enjoyed an enthusiastic and packed house. PhoenixMercury.com caught up with all of them to get their reactions to the draft, the crowd and the excitement that is building for the 2004 WNBA season.

MERCURY ALL-STAR FORWARD ADRIAN WILLIAMS:

(On Diana Taurasi)
I was watching her play this year. I wanted to make sure I watched her play. Besides her shot, which should get me open inside, she’s a great passer. It’s not about what I can do, it’s about what we can do as a team. I think she’ll benefit from me and I’ll benefit from her. When I watch her fire, her leadership, her energy, she’s going to bring all that to this team and that’s what we need. Also, we need someone who knows how to win. You can have a great team and not know how to win, and you won’t win. That’s the difference, knowing how to win. She’s brings all of that.

(On additional picks)
I really want to play power forward, but Kayte Christensen and I have been working with the same strength trainer. Mark West and Adam Goldberg have been working with us inside. I have so much confidence in Kayte. I don’t think anyone we draft can do what Kayte Christensen can do, and also Bobo (Slobodanka Tuvic). We’d love to have another post player to compliment what we already have, but the coaches have already told us that they have great confidence in us.

(On fan enthusiasm)
I can’t possibly describe the feeling. When I got here at 7 (a.m.), there were already people outside and then we have an overflow room. I never would have imagined having an overflow room. I heard about the days of Bridgette Pettis and Jen Gillom and Michelle Timms, where everywhere they went it was like this, but I’ve never seen it. It’s exciting. I can’t wait until the first game. If it’s like this on a Saturday morning at 7:00, I can’t wait for the fist game; it’s going to be awesome.

MERCURY FORWARD KAYTE CHRISTENSEN:

(On the fans)
I think that’s the most important thing to point out right now. We’ve known that with Diana coming, all that is very exciting and we’re all looking forward to it, but the support from our fans today is unbelievable. We’re at maximum capacity at the Hard Rock and to see them wanting to stay and stick around, and be herded over to the team shop. It’s awesome that they’re here. It’s a great way to start the season. It’s just foreshadowing what we might have at our games, so it’s so exciting.

(On Taurasi)
I think the most important thing to me that sticks out about her is that she’s obviously passionate about the game of basketball and I think that’s what so appealing about her to the fans. When she plays, there’s a fire in her that really draws people to her. That’s something that I’m looking forward to the most. Obviously, she’s a great passer and she’s a scorer. She’s a great team leader. She has tons of other great qualities, but my favorite thing about her is her passion.

(On team outlook)
I won’t know until training camp starts. Between now and training camp, there’s going to be a tone of trades happening. You don’t know who’s actually going to be here. We’re going to draft people for other people in the draft. It’s just chaos. So I don’t know what to expect until training camp comes and I can get a look at who’s here, and what we’ll ultimately end up with.

MERCURY GUARD EDNIESHA CURRY:

It’s been an awesome event. It geared me up for the season. I’m excited to start. It shows how energetic and excited the fans are here. They’re truly our sixth man. They’re here for us, they’re the extra energy we need. It’s just fun to be around them. It’s a good group of people and I just love hanging around the Mercury fans. It’s a great experience for any athlete that wants to be a part of the WNBA.

(On Taurasi)
I think it’s going to be great. You’ve got to love the opportunity to play with a versatile player and a player that comes in with an attitude as a winner. That helps when you have a young team because we’re still a very young team with a new coaching staff. I think it’s going to be great for us and I look forward to playing with her.

She would relieve a lot of pressure off a lot of people. She can do so many things for a team on and off the court. I look forward to playing with her.

MERCURY GENERAL MANAGER SETH SULKA:

(On similarities to first season in league)
It feels that way again. The incredible buzz we had those first couple of years with Cheryl Miller, Jennifer Gillom and Michelle Timms were a part of. It feels like that right now. The fans have come out in that type of support. Taurasi’s a special player and she’s going to have a special impact.

(On Taurasi’s impact)
She’s one of the rare players that has the charisma and the hype that is consistent with the play. A lot of times you don’t nessicarly get both. When you get both, you get the rare athlete. She will deliver on the floor, she will be our leader, she will be a star player and she has the charisma and a likeability that’s in line with that. It’s what you call the complete package because it’s both sides of the equation.

(On pressure on Taurasi)
I’m going to speak to someone that we know specifically here. Not Michael (Jordan) but Charles Barkley. We were all a part of it back in ’92-93 and I told them all the rock star that we just got, and it’s going to be that way all summer. I’m prepared because we went through it with Charles, but we’ll see how everyone else deals with it.

(On expectations)
We are not going to try to fall into the Detroit Shock worst-to-first trap. They had a lot of unique things going with them. But having said that, if we don’t turn our eight wins (of last season) into 16-17 wins and show marked improvement on the court, then it will be disappointing.

MERCURY CO-OWNER ANNE MARIUCCI:

(On the fan reception)
It’s been unbelievable. I’ve had a 25-year business career and done billion dollar deals and not had this amount of energy, excitement and fun. The opportunity to bring a player and a person of Diana Taurasi’s caliber, now I know how Cleveland felt like with LeBron James last year.

If I learned one thing in business, it’s to buy low and sell high. From a standpoint of buying low, this is the time to buy in. We knew we had some great opportunities. We honestly didn’t know it would Diana at that point in time, but as the season progressed we solidified around that choice and have no second thoughts about that at all. Now we’ve got to make it happen. We’ve got to make it happen in the stands – get a lot of fans out there, expand our fan base and build more corporate support.

(On fan expectations)
We are definitely going to be significantly improved. I don’t want to be making any crazy predictions of worst to first, but it’s really nice to know that there’s a precedent in our league for that with what Detroit did last year. I know that our players will play with tons of heart, tons of passion. Carrie Graf will get that out of players and we as owners will create a very fan friendly experience in the arena, show a lot of appreciation to our fans and I know that our players will be very accessible to our fans.

MERCURY CO-OWNER KATHY MUNRO:

(On emotions of the day)
It was the most exciting moment for us since we bought into the team. Just to see the fans excited about the Mercury again and to realize the impact that Diana can have on our team in terms of rallying the team. Whenever you can draft a franchise player, she has the leadership skills to make everyone around her better and that’s terrific in a player. The community will get excited about the Mercury again because Diana has those qualities and I think she’ll get the team excited about being accessible to the community, to our fan base.

(On Taurasi)
She brings a style of play that if you love good basketball you love to watch. So many of our fans that watched us originally, the play wasn’t as good as it is today. The play is so much better today, even without Diana. You add Diana to the mix and we can build this great team around her leadership skills that will be fun to watch.

(On the rest of the draft picks)
We got better today. Our expectations are realistic. We would love to win a championship and bring the championship to this community at some point. But you’ve got to walk before you run and we made a great first step today. We’ve got some great players. We’ll see how the chemistry goes in training camp and I think we’ll start winning more games than we did last year, and that’s how you start it. Hopefully, a couple of years from now we’re all going to be in here screaming again.

(On GM Seth Sulka)
I’m proud of Seth. He’s a great general manager and he’s done a fabulous job with the players and thinking the draft through, and what’s important for us to have. Jay Perry, who runs the business side, put on this event. She’s got a great team of people that are working really hard. That’s what getting excited for Ann and I, to provide an environment for the Mercury staff to be successful because they’re a great group of people.

(On the fans)
They’re telling me they’ve stuck with it through the lean years, that they’re very excited to have the first pick. They’re excited that there’s new ownership, new players, new coach and they just want to see the arena alive and bustling with excitement again. They were very appreciative of the opportunity to come here today and we’re going to take care of our fans.