Strengths and Weaknesses from Last Season

Becky Hammon, New York Liberty
Pro: "The strength of our team last year was that we had a lot of shooters on the floor. It was tough to guard because we had a lot of offensive weapons."
Con: "Our weakness was our rebounding and I think it comes down to not having that presence in the middle due to injuries and whatnot. We didn't have that person that could grab nine or ten boards for us. We really had to be a team-rebounding club because we didn't have that person who was just dominant on the inside."

Kara Lawson, Sacramento Monarchs
Pro: "Sometimes we are a pretty weird team. We are a pretty strong rebounding team, but we are much better with offensive rebounds than defensive rebounds. Coach Whis always tells us that we are first in the league in offensive rebounding but last in defensive rebounding. Who does that? It's just weird. At times we are pretty efficient. We have some players that are very efficient, Yolanda might be the most efficient player in the league with everything that she does. I think we have experience, players who have been through the grind, players who understand what being consistent is all about."
Con: "I don't think we're an incredibly physical team in terms of pounding people. We are slender up front. And outside shooting is definitely a weakness. We don't have a lot of that on our team. We didn't get a single three-pointer from our small forward position all year. You like to have inside-outside, and we are clearly outside dominant."

Lisa Leslie, Los Angeles Sparks
Pro: "Even though I did win the MVP award, it was much harder without having DeLisha Milton-Jones there. Especially in the playoffs. It will be nice to have a little bit more of a post presence in our rotation. That was definitely a strength of ours last season."
Cons: As far as weaknesses go, I think there are things that we can do as individuals to make ourselves stronger and I think we recognize what those things are internally."

Ruth Riley, Detroit Shock
Pros: "The experience we have in bringing our core group back. We are familiar with each other and have great chemistry. It's just a matter of getting out there and getting it done."
Cons: "The consistency wasn't there last season, and that is definitely something we need to change. We were a different team on any given night. You never knew what to expect when you watched the Detroit Shock. But the good news is that that is something we can control and something we can work on. I think everyone is refocused after a disappointing playoff exit last year. So we will be ready to go."

Nykesha Sales, Connecticut Sun
Pros: "I think our strength is that we play team basketball. We get up and down the floor as fast as we can. We sort of play pick-up before we run any plays and I think that is good for us because we play well off of each other. That way we don't get stuck into running certain plays and it is hard for other teams to scout us."
Cons: "Our weakness last year was that in some games, we were not all on the same page. We didn't have a lot of subs for inside. When some of our big players went out in the middle, it was hard for others to step up, whether it was rebounding or putting points on the board or even getting defensive stops. We have some really good post players, don't get me wrong, but they're not tall. They are my height or so, but you need someone to tower over everyone else."

Diana Taurasi, Phoenix Mercury
Pros and Cons: Our strength was our running game. We pushed tempo. At the same time, that was our weakness at the end of the year. We kind of choked because we were a young team that couldn't close out teams. In Seattle, we were up two at halftime and lost. In the Minnesota game, we were up 18 with like two minutes to go and we lost. When you look back on it after the season, we realize that if we took care of those games, we would have easily been in the playoffs. But as a young team, so hopefully we can learn from these experiences and not make the same mistakes next year and handle the situation differently.

Lindsay Whalen, Connecticut Sun
Cons: "Some of our weaknesses were that we got a little lax on defense at times. We ended up taking some bad shots down the floor and went through some spells where we didn't score. I think every team goes through that. We need to be more consistent this season. We were up-and-down, lost our first two games. We won like six in a row then lost five in a row."
Pros: "After the break we came back focused and made a run. After that, we re-gained our focus.'

Tammy Sutton-Brown, Charlotte Sting
Pros: "It is amazing to be able to play with the players that we have. Dawn Staley, a three-time Olympian, one of the best point guards, knows the game incredibly well. It's like having a coach on the court all the time. The veterans have great experience and ever since I came into the league, I've tried to learn from them."
Cons: "I think last season was a learning experience for all of us. This is my fourth season and we made the playoffs in my first three years. We just needed to have everyone together on the same page. In games, some players would be up while others were down. We just needed to be on the same page every night.
We realize that nothing will be handed to us. We had the number one Draft pick this year, brought in some new people and we have great leadership with our veterans. I think we'll be ok."

Tina Thompson, Houston Comets
Pros and Cons: "I think that our strength from last season was our athleticism. But that athleticism could have also been our weakness. We didn't approach the game fundamentally. We used our athleticism too much, and that caused turnovers and poor execution. We were a very young team and that immaturity showed. We had a lot of new faces and younger players who are trying to find their niche. Us missing Janeth Arcain last year had a big impact on our team. This year is definitely looking up because the younger players are more mature with another year under their belt and we will have some new additions. I'm looking forward to 2005."

Aiysha Smith, Washington Mystics
Pros and Cons: I believe we came together well. We had a few distractions, but it is was something that we all understood and we came together well as a team. We eventually made it to the playoffs and had a nice run at the end of the season. We were having fun off the court, which helped us to succeed on the court. For this season, we just have to do a lot of what we did well towards the end of last season. We just need to get it started earlier this year.

Shereka Wright, Phoenix Mercury
Pros: "A strength of ours was that we shot the ball very well compared to most teams and we defended them somewhat well as well. We need to continue to do both of those."
Cons: "Last season, we didn't finish a lot of our games. We got comfortable with leads. A good example was a game in Minnesota where we had a 20-point lead and really gave up. We will work on that."

Swin Cash, Detroit Shock
Pros and Cons: "Our strength was kind of our weakness as well from the standpoint that we had the experience of winning a championship. That had both benefits and it hurt us as well. I don't think we put as much effort in as we could have in our quest to repeat. I think we just thought we could come back and it would be easier. I'd say we were a bit over confident."