2014 LA Sparks Season Preview: The Quest for a Title
Last postseason ended in heartbreak, as Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner’s late turnaround jumper over Candace Parker sent the Sparks into an early offseason. In a decisive Game 3, they had lost by a single point on their home court, losing the chance for a Western Conference Finals rematch with the Minnesota Lynx.
It represented the second straight year, in which the Sparks finished 24-10 but failed to emerge from the West and make the WNBA Finals. In 2012, the Lynx similarly eliminated the Sparks by one point at Staples Center.
“To me as a coach,” said Sparks head coach Carol Ross, “I think heartbreakers are always the ones that stick with you the longest, and they have the greatest lessons to be learned.”
In sports, as tough as the defeat(s) may be, typically you have a chance for redemption, a chance to grow from your past failures. Well, the LA Sparks almost didn’t get that chance, at least in Los Angeles.
In December, Sparks owner Paula Madison notified the WNBA that her family could no longer afford to invest in the team. Thus, the WNBA took temporary control of the team. In the ensuing months, it became increasingly likely that the Los Angeles Sparks, one of four still-standing original WNBA franchises, would be bought by the Warriors’ ownership group and moved to the Bay Area.
In early February, however, an investment group led by Lakers legend Magic Johnson and Mark Walter swooped in and saved the day. The team would be remaining in the City of Angels, where it would have more opportunities to compete for titles.
“Magic buys the office lunch all the time,” said Sparks general manager Penny Toler, “and every time he’s getting ready to say his prayer, he’s always like, ‘Penny, the team gotta win, the team gotta win.’”
Parker had the opportunity to meet with Johnson in March when she returned from Russia and came away very impressed. “He just told me that he’s gonna be watching me,” recounted Parker. “And I told him, ‘Please, critique my game and help me in any way possible,’ because I want to be where he is. I want to win championships. With his help and this organization, I think we can do it.”
The reigning MVP, Candace Parker, finds herself in the prime of her career, yet still without a WNBA ring. In fact, not a single member of the Sparks has won a WNBA championship except for offseason acquisition Candice Wiggins, who tasted postseason glory in 2011 with the Lynx.
Wiggins, a San Diego native and childhood Sparks fan, is particularly known for her defensive tenacity and accurate 3-point stroke.
Nneka Ogwumike was thrilled when she heard that the team signed the fellow Stanford alumna. “Obviously, defensively, that’s someone that you don’t really want to match up with on the court,” said Ogwumike. “And offensively, she’s constantly moving. She’s energized at all times and one thing I love about her game is that she’s a competitor. She brings fire to every possession.”
Wiggins takes perverse pleasure in her reputation around the league. “For me, defense is everything, and I feel like I’m public enemy No. 1 in the WNBA because of that and I love it,” she said. “There’s nothing greater than when you can get under the other team’s skin, because your defense makes that much of an impact.”
That’s also the reason why the Sparks signed defensive-minded wing Armintie Herrington, whom Ross coached at the University of Florida and as an assistant with the Atlanta Dream.
“She’s very unselfish,” said Ross. “She will do anything to help a team win. She’s willing to sit. She’s willing to come off the bench. She’s willing to do the dirty work on defense. She’s willing to say things that need to be said that you might not want to hear. Those are critical.”
Herrington, a member of last year’s WNBA All-Defensive Team, said she was hoping to earn Defensive Player of the Year honors this season.
Initially, Ogwumike was caught off-guard by Herrington’s athleticism: “I told her first day of training camp. I was like, ‘I’ve never really been on a team where someone is as athletic as I am,’ because she’s fighting me for rebounds. She’s jumping over my head for rebounds and it’s funny, but she’s really great.”
Last season, the Sparks’ 96.5 defensive rating (96.5 points allowed per 100 possessions) ranked third in the league, but they are not satisfied. They want to be the best.
“The fact that you said ‘pretty good,’ I want it to be great,” said Alana Beard, who is widely regarded as the team’s best defender. “I think we have the potential to be a great defensive team with the additions that we’ve brought in with (Sandrine) Gruda and then Wiggins and obviously Armintie Herrington.”
Gary Kloppenburg, Tulsa Shock head coach for the previous two seasons, and Gail Goestenkors, the former head honcho at Duke and Texas, were similarly brought in to strengthen the team’s defense.
“Kloppenburg comes to us from a long history of defense,” said Ross. “He was born into a defensive family. His father was a great defensive guru in the NBA, so that’s his thing.”
“Klop, I swear I think this guy is thinking 24-7,” said Beard. “I can be in practice and I’ll look over on the sideline and he’s just like in his own little zone, thinking about a master plan.”
“And then with Gail Goestenkors, that was my coach at Duke. She’s a mastermind, herself.”
For Parker, improved defense will be one of the keys to capturing her first WNBA title. But as one would expect from a player of her caliber, she’s not quick to place the blame on her teammates.
“I think I have to hold myself responsible first,” admitted Parker. “I definitely think that’s an area of my game that I can improve. Every possession and not just when I want to, and I think that’s something that they’ve talked to me about.”
When discussing their quest for that elusive championship, it kept coming back to defense.
“Judging from training camp, all the hard work that our coaching staff has put in place, we’re looking like a championship-quality team right now as far as defense,” said Toler. “And we all know that offense sells tickets, defense wins championships.”
“I’m a GM in LA,” Toler continued. “Every GM would tell you, ‘If you ain’t in the Final, you ain’t done nothing.’ The only thing we hang here are banners, so every year you have to have a dog in the race.”
Toler is calling this season “our run to the White House.”
“On the verge of extinct, straight to the White House,” she proclaimed.
But the general manager’s supreme confidence aside, the Sparks will have to get it done in the postseason against the Western Conference elite, teams like the Lynx and Mercury.
Not only does Wiggins possess a championship ring, but also Herrington has been to the WNBA Finals three times with the Dream (2010, ’11 and ’13). These players know what it takes to play on the WNBA’s biggest stage, because they’ve been there.
“Winning a championship, it’s a long journey,” said Wiggins. “I think the biggest thing that everyone needs to do is have that hunger and drive to want to win, just keep that, because a lot of times throughout the season, there’s gonna be all kinds of adversity, but if we keep that hunger, if we’re staying passionate and determined, sometimes it’s just a matter of who wants it more. And I think that everybody wants something, but it’s who wants it the most.”
“I always say, ‘The hungry lion hunts best.’ So we gotta be a pack of lionesses, just wanting this championship more than anybody.”
According to Ross, “you’ve got to want it that badly that it is the ultimate goal. That is what you want to accomplish. And you do it every day. It’s not something we talk about and then we put it on the back shelf and then we start talking about it again when the regular season’s over. It’s got to be be a constant nagging in the belly.”
Last season, the Sparks played a fast brand of basketball, ranking third in pace. Starting point guard Lindsey Harding, however, wants to play even faster this year.
“We have to stay true to who we are, and we are a little smaller in some parts, but we’re very quick,” said Harding. “And when we lose sight of that, then we do become beatable. So teams like Phoenix that are maybe bigger and maybe stronger, we’re quicker so we need to stay with that and go and run. And that’s been the mentality from the start of training camp from the coaches. We’ve got to go fast.”
The Sparks’ versatility at wing enables them to initiate a break with many different players, according to Harding.
“My problem was is I would do it, but I need to do it more consistently and not just me, everyone else. I play point. Yes, I’m a point guard, but Kristi Toliver can handle the ball, Candice Wiggins can handle the ball, Alana Beard. So if they’re closer to the rebound, why do I have to go back and get it? Just speeds the game up a little bit quicker when all of us guards just get it and go.”
With the 2013 acquisition of Harding, Toliver played off the ball more last season, but she has played the point at times throughout her collegiate and pro career.
“People forget in college I was in a point guard,” said Toliver. “I am a point guard, so just because I was off the ball, as soon as I got the ball in my hands, it was like I’m a point guard. So I think people kind of get lost in that because I was off the ball a lot.”
A career 40.6 percent 3-point shooter, Toliver figures to be a major threat from beyond the arc yet again. While the team did lose 3-point sharpshooters Jenna O’ Hea and Marissa Coleman, statistically, at least, the addition of Candice Wiggins makes up for those departures. Over the last four seasons, more than 66 percent of Wiggins’ shot attempts have come from 3-point land, where she’s converted a stellar 39.1 percent.
This offseason, the team also added 6-foot-4 French import Sandrine Gruda, who hasn’t appeared in the WNBA since 2010, but has excelled overseas, playing alongside Parker with UMMC Ekaterinburg for the past five years.
“She’s one of my best friends,” said Parker or Gruda, “and I’m really excited that she’s coming to play with us. She’ll definitely help us in the post position, as well as just defensively, and she’s a really good offensive rebounder. And we have a good chemistry together.”
For all intents and purposes, Gruda replaces Ebony Hoffman, who departed after three seasons in Los Angeles. Gruda is a few inches taller and the better rebounder.
The addition of Gruda means the Sparks may have the most talented front line in the WNBA, if they didn’t already. To go along with reigning MVP Candace Parker and All-Star Nneka Ogwumike, Jantel Lavender is one of the best backup bigs in the league and comes into the season 16 pounds lighter. In Poland, Lavender’s squad captured a BKL title, as she averaged 16.8 points and 9.6 rebounds on 54.7 percent shooting. And Ogwumike, the 2012 No. 1 overall pick and Rookie of the Year, figures to continue to improve.
Ogwumike said that she worked on her outside shot a great deal over the offseason and that it has certainly improved. But coach Ross does not just expect to see improvement on the court for the 23-year-old forward.
“I also look at Nneka not just as what she can do physically and statistically, but she’s also evolving into a heck of a leader,” said Ross. “I think she always was that, but like any good rookie you kind of defer and you look around and you see what’s going on, but she has stepped up and into an area that I think is very natural for her.”
Ogwumike concurred, “I know I’m still only a third-year, still on my rookie contract, but I want people to be able to look at me as a leader and I want to lead by example.”
“We prepare every offseason to be better, to go farther, and our expectations have not changed from the day I walked in here,” said Carol Ross, “and that’s to win a championship. Only time will tell whether that work was in vain or whether it leads to what we hope is a great moment in Sparks history.”
Can the Sparks secure their first championship since 2002? The journey begins on the road Friday night against the Seattle Storm.
Originally published by Neon Tommy