Sweep Cements Shock as Dynasty
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Get Storm Headlines!The Detroit Shock was tired of parity being the theme of the 2008 WNBA season. With a three-game sweep of the San Antonio Silver Stars in the WNBA Finals completed yesterday, the Shock changed the league's buzzword to something very different: dynasty. The three-time defending Eastern Conference Champions earned their second WNBA title in the last three years and third in the last six, officially cementing a spot amongst the greatest sustained runs the league has ever seen.
The Finals themselves were a strange series. As Game 3 was winding down, ESPN2's duo of Terry Gannon and Doris Burke discussed how they never felt like San Antonio was going to win any of the games. I think that's a big strong; I certainly thought the Silver Stars had a pretty good shot tied on their home floor during the fourth quarter of Game 1. Still, even when San Antonio rallied, it seemed to be more about strong individual play than the Silver Stars operating at a high level as a team.
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Helen Darling, who hobbled her way through 53 total minutes over six playoff games after starting 14 games during the regular season, was a factor. That injury, coupled with Edwige Lawson-Wade's, was painful for a San Antonio team whose depth was an issue all season after Shanna Crossley was lost for the year with a torn ACL early in training camp.
After a terrible outing defensively in Game 1, the Silver Stars tightened things up considerably in Game 2 and held Detroit to a low shooting percentage in Game 3 only to be done in by offensive rebound after offensive rebound. Overall, it was the third straight round of poor defense by San Antonio. The Silver Stars had no answer for Finals MVP Katie Smith (21.7 ppg on 52.3 percent shooting and 8-of-14 from downtown) and fellow veteran Taj McWilliams-Franklin (15.3 ppg, 52.6 percent shooting).
Against lesser Western Conference foes, San Antonio had been able to overcome defensive lapses with the benefit of crisp offense. That was missing in this series. Detroit directed its defense toward shutting down Becky Hammon, who ended up shooting 30.3 percent from the field. Neither Ann Wauters nor Sophia Young was able to pick up the slack, while the Shock forced forward Erin Buescher to beat them from the perimeter. So valuable during the regular season, Buescher was unequal to the task, missing all eight of her three-point attempts and shooting 3-for-13 from the field before hitting a meaningless triple in the closing minutes of Game 3 that seemed almost like fate taunting her.
While the Silver Stars struggled throughout the postseason, make no mistake - Detroit won this series, and a lot of the credit has to go to Bill Laimbeer. Love him or hate him, there is no doubting the job Laimbeer does as a talent evaluator and shrewd wheeler and dealer. Tasha Humphrey was a great pickup late in the first round of this April's WNBA Draft, and in August Laimbeer parlayed her into veteran McWilliams-Franklin to fill the hole in the lineup created when Cheryl Ford was lost with a torn ACL. Laimbeer took a risk in dealing Humphrey, a promising prospect, but the move paid off handsomely in the postseason. This series would have been totally different with Humphrey instead of McWilliams-Franklin had the Shock even gotten this far.
The D-word was first tossed around when Detroit won the 2003 WNBA championship behind a group of five starters aged 28 or younger. It was pretty quickly forgotten the next two years when the Shock played .500 basketball or worse and was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs both years. Credit goes to Laimbeer and company - including a pair of strong assistants in Rick Mahorn and Cheryl Reeve, also Detroit's director of player personnel - for adjusting the plan on the fly, adding veteran Katie Smith at the 2005 trade deadline. Everything game together the following season for championship number two.
The last two years have continued to demonstrate Detroit's versatility. The Shock traded away a pair of veteran stars, first Ruth Riley and then Swin Cash, in an effort to rein in the payroll and add younger talent. Detroit might not have been in position to draft Humphrey if not for the former trade, while the latter returned the pick used to take rookie Alexis Hornbuckle, who played a key role all season long and into the Finals.
Laimbeer's most unheralded move might have been sending a second-round pick to Phoenix for Plenette Pierson, who has turned from a busted draft pick into the league's top reserve over the last several seasons. I would be remiss in not mentioning Pierson's gritty turn playing through a painful shoulder injury during the postseason. While she was unable to provide her usual production, Pierson still gave the team a lift, particularly during the Eastern Conference Finals.
The net effect of all the moves is that the Shock's dynasty has unique staying power. Ford, Nolan and Pierson are all still in their 20s and Detroit has moved to ultimately replace Smith with Hornbuckle as she matures. Quietly, Kara Braxton has developed into a reliable presence in the middle who came up with big plays throughout the Finals, and suddenly re-signing her this winter could be a bit of a challenge. Still, with veteran-salaried reserves like Elaine Powell and Sheri Sam somewhat expendable, the Shock should be able to make room. Laimbeer also managed to hold on to Detroit's first-round pick in the McWilliams-Franklin deal, giving the Shock the opportunity to add some perimeter depth. With McWilliams-Franklin signing a contract extension and Ford returning to the lineup (albeit after major knee surgeries in consecutive years), Detroit could potentially be even stronger next year.
The biggest question at this point might be Laimbeer himself. While it's tough to envision Laimbeer leaving for anything but an NBA opportunity that is not imminent, he is the Shock's most prominent free agent after seven years at the helm. There is one more accomplishment missing from the Shock's dynasty reputation and Laimbeer's resume, that being a repeat championship. Detroit was a shot away from winning back-to-back last year in Phoenix, which would have meant three straight titles. Rest assured the Shock will be one of the favorites again next year and beyond.
