The Dallas Wings have made the postseason in their second year playing in Arlington. Ron Thulin has called their games for both of those seasons on Fox Sports Southwest and the play-by-play man is excited about the team’s prospects for the upcoming WNBA playoffs, and also the future.
In this video interview, Ron and I discussed the team’s youth, depth, and the possibility of acquiring Australian Olympian Liz Cambage.
The Wings will play the Washington Mystics in D.C. Wednesday, with television coverage by ESPN2. If they win that game, they’ll move on to play another single-elimination contest at either New York or Connecticut. Minnesota or Los Angeles await in a best-of-five series after that.
Rush Olson has spent two decades directing creative efforts for
sports teams and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns,
television programs, and related creative projects for sports entities
through Rush Olson Creative & Sports, Mint Farm Films, and FourNine
Productions.
If you mapped the traffic flow in North Arlington on your
phone Saturday night, you no doubt saw a steady stream of red. The
incoming vehicles weren’t all headed the same place, but almost all of
them had one thing on their minds: sports.
Arlington did something no other city in North Texas can do, and it
might be the first time it’s ever happened. It played host to three
professional sporting events at one time.
None of the teams in question are actually named “Arlington,” but
they all stage their home games there. Major League Baseball’s Texas
Rangers took on the Chicago White Sox at Globe Life Park in Arlington
while the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys played the Indianapolis Colts at AT&T
Stadium as the WNBA’s Dallas Wings hosted the Atlanta Dream at College
Park Center.
North
Texas hosts a plethora of professional teams. Our 13-county area is
home to more than 200 cities and towns. Frisco is the only other one of them
with three pro franchises (NBA G-League’s Texas Legends, Major League
Soccer’s FC Dallas, and the Texas League’s Frisco RoughRiders baseball
team). The northerners (relatively speaking) could conceivably host all
three in a day if the Legends made a playoff run deep enough to overlap
the start of the RoughRiders’ season, but they have yet to do so.
Based on official attendance numbers, 127,254 people watched live
sports in A-town Saturday. Many thousands more tuned in on their
preferred screens as all three games were televised. A lot of folks paid
attention to Arlington at some level.
Arlington’s civic leaders have bet big on sports. An evening like
Saturday magnifies the good (visitors patronizing local eateries and
opportunities for nearby residents to conveniently attend high-level
athletic contests) and the bad (brutal traffic congestion and locals
declining to brave it to patronize Lincoln Square retailers). The
economic impact studies produced to support such a project are
notoriously unreliable
and much of an individual’s assessment is subjective anyway. In my
case, I like sports, so I enjoyed getting to go to one of the games
while keeping up with the others’ progress online. Some people might
prefer their city host a trio of quilting bees or renaissance festivals.
As you’re determining what you think about Saturday’s big sports
night, does it matter that all three teams won? Sure, the Cowboys were
in preseason, but a win’s a win. And the Rangers and Wings really needed
their victories as they attempt to secure postseason spots. Does being
able to host three Ws in a night make Arlington a city of winners?
Should Arlingtonians talk trash to two-team Dallas or teamless Little
Elm?
This could happen again September 10 if the Wings make the playoffs
and the schedule falls right. That day the Cowboys and Rangers face the
Giants and Yankees, respectively, both outfits having been named for a
city that has hosted 3+ games in a day many times (although the Giants
now play in New Jersey). The Wings could even conceivably host the New
York Liberty if results and seedings so dictated. So if you think you’ll
be in the mood for some live sports that day, come to North Arlington
(I’d show up early, by the way). If you believe you’d like to browse
used books, cruise Collins Street in your hot rod, or stroll through Bob
Cluck Linear Park, maybe pick another day.
Rush Olson has spent two decades directing creative efforts for
sports teams and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns,
television programs, and related creative projects for sports entities
through Rush Olson Creative & Sports, Mint Farm Films, and FourNine
Productions.
I had a couple of things I wanted to talk to Theresa Plaisance of the Dallas Wings about in this video interview.
Firstly,
we needed to cover the team’s current four-game winning streak. It’s
evened their record at 8-8, putting them squarely into a crowded playoff
mix with a little more than half the season remaining. The fourth-year
frontcourt player scored in double figures in three of the four games,
and posted a career-high nine rebounds in Sunday’s win over Connecticut.
Plaisance has gotten more playing time as a result of an injury to
Courtney Paris and the Louisiana State product has taken advantage of
it.
Secondly, I wanted to follow up on a conversation she and I
had had after a recent game - a discussion, which interestingly enough,
involved WNBA President Lisa Borders and Wings Chief Marketing Officer
Nicole Smith. We talked about suntans or lack of same, and it turns out
that Plaisance’s mom had certain rules regarding her daughter’s
application of sunscreen. Since I was with the Wings outdoors during
Monday’s team visit to the Dallas Zoo, I thought it appropriate to ask
her to relay the story, and you’ll hear it in this video.
Side
note #1: The funniest remark of the zoo visit was offered by assistant
coach Bridget Pettis. As we approached the giraffe enclosure, she
proclaimed “We finally found someone who can guard Brittney Griner,”
referencing the imposing former Baylor post who puts up big numbers for
the Phoenix Mercury.
Side note #2: The WNBA team that plays in
Connecticut is named the "Sun." Plaisance recorded three blocked shots
against them on, appropriately enough, Sunday. So in a sense, Plaisance
blocked the sun twice in two days. And her mother’s a basketball coach,
so DoBee Plaisance can probably claim some of the credit for both victories.
Rush Olson has spent two decades directing creative efforts for
sports teams and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns,
television programs, and related creative projects for sports entities
through Rush Olson Creative & Sports and FourNine Productions.
The Dallas Wings’ Erin Phillips had a really interesting offseason. She
played professionally in another sport and had a couple of big
developments in her family. Meanwhile her team addressed some crucial
needs and has given fans and players reason for optimism heading into
the new season. In this video interview, she talks about all of it in
her awesome Australian accent (alliteration intentional).
Rush Olson has spent two decades directing creative efforts for
sports teams and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns,
television programs, and related creative projects for sports entities
through Rush Olson Creative & Sports and FourNine Productions.
Thursday at Arlington’s College Park Center, whomever had to blow
them all up had to have been out of breath. (or hopefully they used a
tank). The Dallas Wings held their 2017 WNBA Draft party, and in
addition to multiple balloon towers, they had a stage, a huge video
screen, big Wings logo gobos, and a stage populated with a podium and
comfy chairs. They brought in former WNBA players, plus members of their
current roster and assistant coaches to address crowd. Play-by-play
voice Ron Thulin emceed the affair.
In between Q&As and on-stage announcements, ESPN’s broadcast of
the draft played on the center screen as well as the ones affixed to the
arena’s scoreboard. Fans occupied seats on the floor and in the lower
bowl. Nachos were available for purchase at the concession stands. A
handful of media members turned out.
So the Wings went to a bit of trouble to create this draft night event. What did they get from it?
With the third, fourth, and tenth picks overall, they chose
three Southeastern Conference players. The Wings first picked Evelyn
Akhator from Kentucky. Allisha Gray and Kaela Davis, both of whom just
won an NCAA title in Dallas with South Carolina, went fourth and tenth,
respectively. They took Breanna Lewis from Kansas State in the second
round and finished their draft by selecting UConn’s Saniya Chong.
After watching the team last year, my impressions had been that they
needed more athletic post players and a pass-first point guard to
support Skylar Diggins. Akhator and Lewis addressed the former need and
Chong and mid-season acquisition Tiffani Bias may help with the latter.
The stats indicated they also needed defensive help and three-point
shooting, and Gray and Davis should be good at both of those. The Wings
will also bring in undrafted frontcourt players Kalani Purcell and Kelsey Lang for a training camp look.
After watching the team last year, my impressions had been that they
needed more athletic post players and a pass-first point guard to
support Skylar Diggins. Akhator and Lewis addressed the former need and
Chong and mid-season acquisition Tiffani Bias may help with the latter.
The stats indicated they also needed defensive help and three-point
shooting, and Gray and Davis should be good at both of those.
Perhaps the biggest addition that could push the Wings to the
playoffs is a robust Diggins. The former All-Star had an up-and-down
2016 season coming off a knee injury. Thulin pronounced her “100%
healthy,” which Diggins confirmed in her on-stage interview. She and
Bias spoke to Davis and Gray via computer hookup, with Diggins
encouraging applause from the crowd to help welcome her new teammates.
In
addition to augmenting their roster the Wings also hope they enhanced
their attendance for the upcoming season. Placards adorned lower bowl
seats available for season-long purchase and reps stood ready to sell
multi-game packages and individual game tickets. Teams always look for opportunities to engage fans in the off-season,
especially in prime ticket-selling situations. The draft fell at a good
time during the sales season, and having three first-round picks made
for a balloon-worthy setup. And while regulations mandated that the
helium-filled variety could only add to the atmosphere outside the
arena, the Wings hope their future in Tarrant County is indeed on the
rise – on-court and off.
Rush Olson has spent two decades directing creative efforts for
sports teams and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns,
television programs, and related creative projects for sports entities
through Rush Olson Creative & Sports and FourNine Productions.
Dallas Wings guard Erin Phillips left the team for a month earlier
this season for a trip to a popular vacation destination. Phillips
didn’t take a holiday and she didn’t spend her time sunning on the
beach. She went to Rio de Janeiro to play hoops for her native Australia
in the Olympic Games.
Sports should inspire kids, and they often look up to pro athletes.
Indeed, driving young people to participate in physical activity is
ostensibly one of the Games’ most important purposes. So for the
interview about her Olympic experience, I sought the input of one of
those aspiring athletes – someone who might draw inspiration from how
the 5’8” Phillips has succeeded in a sport where she often looks up at
taller players. My 9-year old niece Eva (who herself stands a bit over
four feet tall), came up with these interview questions (with a little
guidance on phrasing from Uncle Rush) and supplied them to me to ask
while she was in school.
Eva: Who inspired you to want to be an Olympic athlete? Erin: I wouldn’t say there was
any just one particular person. There are a couple of specific moments
in an Olympic event that I thought, “Wow that’s pretty special.” There
was one where Cathy Freeman won gold (Freeman won the 400-meter dash in
Sydney in 2000). Another strong athlete, Kieren Perkins, who won gold, I
think, was in the 1500 (Perkins won two golds and two silvers swimming
in three Olympics). Those I remember vividly just, well, how inspiring,
that must be really cool to win an Olympic gold medal.
Eva: Did you feel special pressure when playing because it was the Olympics? Erin: Yeah, there’s always an
extra element of pressure, but I wouldn’t say was anything off-putting.
It was more inspiring, I guess. I think it was more use in a positive
way than a nervous way, but I think getting butterflies before a game is
really good. It just obviously means that whatever you’re about to do is pretty important to you.
Eva: How was it different from any other basketball games? Erin: Just the world’s
watching you. That’s about it. It’s the pinnacle of the sport to be in
the Olympic Games and being an Olympic athlete, so, like I said, there’s
an extra element of just how important it is and just the amount of
attention that the Olympics gets itself. So, yeah, it’s definitely
different.
Eva: Which adjustments did you make to get better during the tournament? Erin: When you start off at
any tournament, really, you do some warm-up games pre-Olympics and you
really want to take that momentum and carry it through to the Olympics,
because you can’t just start okay first game, you haven’t played for a
while. So we’ve got to make sure that we’ve played, we’re in a rhythm.
And then every team that you play, that’s why, again, it’s unique, is
every team that you play is different. It’s a different country. It’s a
different style of basketball that you’re playing against, from Japan,
who is just unbelievably quick and fast, and then you have a team like
Turkey, who’s more half court. So you kind of just adjust and evolve
with every team that you play against. We make adjustments when we watch
film postgame and watch some things that we needed to be better the
next game and we will go on and generally practice and get ready for the
next.
Eva: Did your family stay with you the
whole way through (meaning, did any of them physically go with you, or
if not, how did they support you)? Erin: My family stayed at
home. We kind of found out pretty late that we were in the team. I
generally don’t like it when they come to foreign countries, because
it’s like I feel like I worry about them a little bit, so I wasn’t too
fussed. Of course, I’d love them to have been there, but at the same
time I felt like they were in a way, because they were at home every
game now watching live. I was getting phone calls and texts from them of
support and so they would take pictures and videos of my nieces and
nephews wishing me good luck writing cards and things like that. It was
cool.
Eva: Did you keep up with other sports, and if so, which ones? Erin: We tried to. We couldn’t
get out to many sports because of our crazy schedule, but I followed
the swimming pretty closely, the men’s basketball – obviously, we have a
close attachment with them. I liked the cycling, the soccer, well, the
football, as they call it. Anything that I could try to get to and watch
and support, I tried to do it and it was a good way of taking the focus
off your own kind of agenda.
Eva: What team activities did you do in Brazil other than just playing? Erin: Really nothing. It’s
really like you live in a bubble for basically two weeks and you’re just
completely focused on what you’re there for. I’d say the only thing
that we really did was Australia does a really good job of having an
outside entertaining area away from the village that families can meet
the athletes in a neutral spot, because, obviously, they’re not allowed
in the village. It was called The Edge,
so we got out to The Edge a couple of times and they had, like, a
virtual golfing range. They had table tennis. They had a barista coffee
machine, which was a very popular thing. So we got to spend a little bit
of time there, but really it was all business.
Eva: Did you try any new foods, and if so which ones? And if not, why not? Erin : Unfortunately, I’m
actually pretty close to being a vegan, so my diet is – it was extremely
difficult at times over there. I spent a lot of time eating plain rice
and a lot of vegetables and fruit, but actually the one thing I did try
was star fruit. It wasn’t really great, but I tried it because it’s
obviously native to Brazil. They have a good amount, so I was, like,
okay, I’ll give this a try and maybe I got the wrong one. So I’m not
going to say don’t eat star fruit, just don’t let me choose it for you.
For the record, Eva is generally on board with trying new foods and
might well be inclined to take bite of carambola, aka star fruit, if
presented the opportunity. The jovial Phillips told me she has seven
nieces and nephews of her own.
Phillips already owns a silver medal from 2008 in Beijing. Her team
fell just short of the medal round in 2016, losing to eventual runner-up
Serbia in the quarterfinals. She’ll play in the Wings’ final home game
of the season this Sunday afternoon at UTA’s College Park Center. Eva
will continue her after-school tennis program.
Rush Olson has spent two decades directing creative efforts
for sports teams and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns,
television programs, and related creative projects for sports entities
through Rush Olson Creative & Sports and FourNine Productions.
This post originally appeared on the Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau blog. To read on that site : https://www.fortworth.com/blog/post/north-texas-goes-for-gold/ Texas is larger, geographically speaking, than over 150 of the
countries participating in this summer’s Olympic Games. For that matter,
the population of North Central Texas, at 7 million-plus, exceeds that
of more than 100 Olympic nations. So, as you might expect, the region
has produced its share of Olympic athletes. We offer a representative
sampling, both current and historical, to give you some perspective on
what the area has contributed to the world’s premier multi-sport
athletic competition.
Natives
Starting life here isn’t a bad route to the Olympics. Here are a few competitors born in the metroplex. -Lanny Bassham
went to the University of Texas-Arlington and was born in Comanche,
Texas. He took a silver medal in shooting in the 1972 Munich Games and
won gold in Montreal in 1976. -Michael Carter of Dallas and SMU won silver in 1984 in the shot put and went on to a successful NFL career. -Michelle Carter
won four state shot put titles at Red Oak High School and is competing
in her second Games in Rio, She’s also the daughter of the other Carter
on our list. -Claire Donahue was born in Dallas and the butterfly swimmer earned gold for her role in the 4x100m medley relay in London in 2012. -Jackie Galloway
was born in Wylie and attends SMU. She has dual citizenship and was a
2012 alternate on Mexico’s taekwondo team. Galloway is competing for
Team USA in Brazil. -Ricky Grace was born in Dallas, but played basketball as a naturalized Australian in 2000. -His father Calvin played for the Cowboys when Grant Hillwas born in Dallas in 1972. Grant’s sport was basketball and he won gold in it with the USA in 1996. -Fort Worth North Side’s Darrow Hooper garnered a silver medal in shot put in the 1952 Helsinki Games. -Michael Johnson
runs a high-performance training center in McKinney. The Dallas-born
sprinter ran his way to four gold medals over three Olympics. -Madison Kocian of Dallas is a big Rangers fan and part of the powerhouse U.S. gymnastics team in Rio that took home the Gold medal. -Colleyville’s Stephen Lambdin is making his Olympic taekwondo debut at the 2016 Games. -There’s a Grand Prairie park named after Arlington native Jennifer McFalls, who won softball gold in 2000. -Area native Katie Meili went to Nolan High School in Fort Worth. She just won a swimming bronze in the 100-meter breaststroke in Rio. -Equestrian athleteClark Montgomeryhails from Mineral Wells and honored the area’s tradition of horsemanship as he competed in eventing in Brazil. -Courtney Okolo of Carrollton will sprint for Team USA in this year’s track and field competition.
-Sergio Reyes boxed his way from Fort Worth to the 1992 Games in Barcelona. -Louise Ritter from Red Oak and Texas Women's University competed in three Olympiads. The high jumper won a gold medal in 1988. -Fort Worth Paschal’s Jack Robinson won gold in the second-ever Olympic basketball tournament in 1948. -Pole vaulter Guinn Smith of McKinney took gold in the 1948 Games in London. -Stacy Sykora from Burleson H.S. played volleyball for the U.S. in three Olympic Games. -Chrishuna Williams will run the 800 meters in Rio. She was born in Dallas and attended DeSoto High. -Deron Williams played basketball at The Colony High School before winning gold in the sport with Team USA in Beijing in 2008. -Gymnast Rowland Wolfe was born in Dallas and went to Woodrow Wilson High School. He was a gold medalist in men’s tumbling in Los Angeles in 1932. -Lance Armstrong
of Plano brought home a bronze medal in the time trial in his third
Olympics in 2000, though he later returned it amid the doping issues
that derailed his cycling career.
Naturalized North Texans/Collegians
Plenty of folks have come to North Texas to train or attend school
(or both). The local universities tend to be well-represented, with TCU
and SMU having been especially prolific producers of Olympians.
-Tamika Catchings of Duncanville High will shoot for her fourth basketball gold in Rio. -Tervel Dlagnev
will compete in the Rio Olympics’ freestyle wrestling competition in
the 125kg weight class after having finished tied for fifth in 2012.
Born in Bulgaria, he attended Arlington High School and competes
internationally for Team USA. -U.S. Army veteran Vincent Hancock
lives in Fort Worth and won two
consecutive skeet shooting gold medals before failing to medal in Rio de
Janeiro. -Texas Wesleyan graduate Mark Hazinski competed for the United States in men’s table tennis doubles in 2004. -JerryHeidenreich was an SMU swimmer who won four medals, including two golds, in Munich in 1972. -Nastia Liukin
was born in Russia, but was competing out of Plano as she trained to
win a gold, three silvers, and a bronze for Team USA in 2008. -Steve Lundquist from SMU was 1984 double gold medalist in swimming for the United States. -Earle Meadows
was born in Mississippi, but he won the Fort Worth city pole vaulting
championship four years in a row after he relocated. He took gold in the
discipline in 1936 in Berlin. -Longtime Greenhill School swim coach Jim Montgomery won three golds and four medals overall in the pool in 1976 in Montreal. He currently runs the Jim Montgomery Swim School in Dallas. -Martina Moravcová from SMU earned two silver medals over five Olympics for Czechoslovakia and Slovakia. She still lives in Dallas. -Gymnast Carly Patterson graduated from Texas Women’s University and lives in Allen. She won gold in the individual all-around in 2004 in Athens. -Jasna Rather
is the Texas Wesleyan table tennis co-ed team coach. She’s competed in
four Olympics, two with Yugoslavia and two with Team USA. She won a
bronze in 1988 in doubles for Yugoslavia. -Doug Russell
was born in New York City, raised in Midland, and swam collegiately at
UTA. He won two gold medals swimming the butterfly stroke in 1968 in
Mexico City. -Sarah Scherer
attended Texas Christian University. She’s competing in air rifle for
Team USA in Rio after making her second straight Olympic team. -TCU’s Raymond Stewart
won a silver medal on Jamaica’s 4x100m relay team in 1984. He competed
in four Olympics, though he was later implicated in an HGH doping
scandal. -Multiple gold medal winner Dana Vollmer was born in New York, but raised in Granbury. The swimmer has already made it back to the medal stand in Brazil.
The Pros
A number of athletes have played for area pro teams and competed in the Olympics, too.
Dallas Cowboys
Yes, we know American football isn’t an Olympic sport. But some
Cowboys have represented their home nations in other sports. In addition
to these summertime athletes, former running back Herschel Walker competed in the bobsled during the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville.
Bob Hayesis
not only a Cowboys Ring of Honor member, he won two golds sprinting in
Tokyo in 1964. He remains the only athlete to have won a Super Bowl ring
and an Olympic gold medal. Lawrence Okoye is in camp trying to earn a Cowboys roster spot this year. In 2012, he made the Great Britain Olympic squad and finished 12th in the discus in London. Australian Colin Ridgeway punted briefly for the Cowboys in 1965 after having competed as a high jumper in the 1956 Melbourne Games.
Dallas Mavericks
The global ties of General Manager Donnie Nelson (a
former Olympic assistant coach for Lithuania and China) have ensured an
international roster in Dallas. Current or former Mavs have hooped for
the national teams of Australia, Brazil Canada, China, France, Germany,
Great Britan, Nigeria, Serbia & Montenegro, Spain, the USA, and
Yugoslavia. Stars like Dirk Nowitzki, Shawn Marion, Jason Kidd, Steve Nash, and Adrian Dantley made it. So did lesser-known (in this country, at least) names like Uwe Blab, Wang Zhizhi, João Vianna, Tom LaGarde, and Pops Mensah-Bonsu. Al-Farouq Ajiede Aminu (2012) and Josh Akognon (2016) were the Nigerian representatives. Off-season signees Harrison Barnes, Andrew Bogut, and Nicolas Brussino will play in Rio for Team USA, Australia, and Argentina, respectively, before joining the Mavericks for training camp.
Dallas Wings
Erin Phillips plays hoops for the Dallas Wings and is competing for her native Australia in Rio. Her teammates Odyssey Sims (Irving MacArthur) and Aerial Powers were on the select squad that played practice games against Team USA.
Texas Rangers
Baseball will return to the Olympics in 2020 in Tokyo and perhaps Yu Darvish will have a chance to make his second Games appearance at home for his native Japan. Former Ranger Koji Uehara also pitched for the Japanese team and three former Rangers (Rob Ducey, Aaron Myette, and Matt Stairs) have played for Team Canada. Rikkert Faneyte represented the Netherlands twice. Several prominent Rangers have performed for Team USA, including the likes of Will Clark, R.A. Dickey, Tom Goodwin, Rick Helling, Phil Nevin, and Bobby Witt.
Rush Olson has spent two decades directing creative efforts for
sports teams and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns,
television programs, and related creative projects for sports entities
through his company, Rush Olson Creative & Sports.
The WNBA’s Dallas Wings want you to know this is not your mother’s basketball game.
“My style of play is to get a lot of shots up and run,” said Wings head coach Fred Williams.
When I say “your mother’s basketball game,” I definitely mean your mother, not my mother. My mom once scored 57 points in a 1950s high school hoops game in Virginia. It was the old six-on-six
version of the sport, but we can still surmise she got a lot of shots
up and moved a good bit that day. So watching women’s hoopsters getting
up and down the floor will be nothing new to her, but if you (or your
mom) were expecting a plodding game from the area’s new women’s pro
team, the Wings expect to show you differently.
“We get a lot of stereotypes as women playing in the professional
ranks that our game is slower and less athletic,” said Wings forward
Plenette Pierson. “Just to have a fast-paced game really changes
things.”
Williams described his squad’s style of play as “up-tempo, fast
break, you’ll see us do a little run-and-jump defense, a lot of traps.”
As he began training camp with Sunday’s open practice at
UT-Arlington’s College Park Center, Williams mandated a number of
full-court drills as he started implementing his preferred approach.
“It’s an up and down style. We want to try to get to 90 possessions
each game,” guard Skylar Diggins said. “Coach Williams wants us up and
down the court and to push the tempo. We want to control the tempo on
both sides of the ball. That’s why you see us going up and down a lot in
the first practice, getting ready for that.”
Diggins will play her third season in Williams’ system in 2016,
having been part of the team when it was based in Tulsa. She missed much
of last year with a knee injury, including an opening-round playoff
loss. With the former All-Star back, Williams expects his core to be a
strong one.
“We’ve been one of the top-scoring teams in the league the last
couple of years with the same personnel,” he noted of a group that led
the Western Conference in points-per-game in 2015. He also expects some
off-season additions will improve his club’s ability to execute his
preferred style of play.
“We’ve added some speed with (1st-round pick Aerial) Powers in there
with us and I think with (2nd-round pick Ruth) Hamblin in there in the
middle, it’s going to open it up for our shooters from the outside.”
One of those shooters came to the team in March via a trade with the Los Angeles Sparks. “You’ve got to have a nice veteran player who has won championships
in this league that can step in in the perimeter area and knock down
some threes for you,” said Williams of new guard Erin Phillips. The Australian Olympian, who already had a house in McKinney, feels Williams’ preferred tempo will fit her game.
“I’m a shooter, so the faster the ball moves, the quicker it gets in
your hands and the quicker you can get a shot off as well. It gives you
more space to play,” she said. “It’s a really fun way to play as a
player.”
Williams hopes his players aren’t the only ones who find his favored pace enjoyable.
“I call it a fan-friendly atmosphere for the family. If (the players)
do that (play up-tempo) and play well, these fans will come out and
watch us,” the coach suggested.
If you do, you’ll see some fast-breaking ball. In truth, if you
thought modern women’s basketball was a slow game, you probably should
have realized long ago those stereotypes weren’t accurate. Some folks
have known since the 1950s.
You can see for yourself when the Dallas Wings open their regular season home schedule May 21.
Rush
Olson has spent two decades directing creative efforts for sports teams
and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns, television
programs, and related creative projects for sports entities through his
company, Rush Olson Creative & Sports.
