Season In Review: San Antonio Stars
As a part of a WNBA.com offseason series, we’ll be taking a look at the seasons of all 12 teams in the league and touching on some of the top reasons to look forward to their 2016 WNBA campaigns.
The 2015 season was a difficult one for the San Antonio Stars in the first year without Becky Hammon. The Stars finished the season with an 8-26 record and the franchise landed in the WNBA Draft Lottery.
But despite what the win-loss columns may show, it wasn’t entirely bad for the Stars. Danielle Robinson proved she was still capable of leading head coach Dan Hughes’ offense. She finished third in the league in assists per game (5.0).
She was joined in the backcourt by second-year guard Kayla McBride, who led the team in scoring and earned her first WNBA All-Star nod along the way. McBride averaged 13.6 points per game and earned a reputation for being one of the best sharpshooters in the league.
McBride is a key building block for the Stars as they move forward, and her continued development in 2015 had to be encouraging for the organization.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4bIfQjr3dU
But she isn’t the only young building block in San Antonio. Dearica Hamby, who was taken sixth overall in the 2015 WNBA Draft, was one of the league’s better rookies in 2015. Hamby made an immediate impact on the Stars, due in large part to her ability to run the floor as well as crash the glass.
Plenty of the league’s best stars have taken a huge step in their second season in the league, and the Stars would benefit greatly from Hamby following that arc.
For as vital a role as the youthful McBride and Hamby played in San Antonio, seasoned veterans also helped lead the way. Jia Perkins was second on the team in scoring (13.3 PPG), followed by nine-year veteran Sophia Young-Malcolm (11.5 PPG).
No team rebounds and rebuilds without the help of veteran players leading the way in the locker room, so the Stars will assuredly lean on their vets as they look to take the next step in 2016.
Reasons To Look Forward To 2016
The misfortunes of 2015 gave way to the No. 2 pick in the 2016 WNBA Draft, and that has the potential to go a long way San Antonio’s quest to rebuild in post-Hammon. While they likely won’t win the Breanna Stewart sweepstakes, there’s plenty of looming talent to make the No. 2 pick appealing.
Dan Hughes is the winningest coach in the franchise’s history and a two-time WNBA Coach of the Year. With a young star in tow (McBride), a confident point guard (Robinson) and a lottery pick, there’s plenty of reason to be excited for what’s on the horizon.