Donna Orender has given several interviews in the past couple days, and she's given some hints about her views on some important policy issues.
1. Skipping college.
Minneapolis South High School point guard Tayler Hill has become a minor celebrity around here; she was just named best high school athlete in the Twin Cities even though she's only in eighth grade. Her father (doing his best Richard Williams impersonation) recently suggested in ESPN the Magazine, and then again in the PP, that Tayler might skip college and head straight to the W.
Of course, that's banned under the current CBA. Ray Richardson asked Orender yesterday if she'd consider changing the rules, and Orender responded with an emphatic "no."
Paul Hill says he may challenge the age limit in court when the time comes. Of course, by then, the NBA will have raised its age limit, and some high schoolers will have challenged it and lost already... so he likely won't have much of a case.
2. Euroball and the W preseason
One of the hot topics Donna says she's studying up on is how the W interacts with the Euroleagues. W coaches are growing increasingly frustrated about having to start their training camps without players.
(As Krista Latham reports, Chandi Jones is one of those. She might have picked the wrong year to show up late -- assuming Detroit keeps Thomas and Farris, it already has 11 players with about $620k of salary. That means Chandi has to beat out both Walker and Nikita Bell, who has impressed coach Laimbeer.)
When it comes time to negotiate the next CBA, it wouldn't be surprising if the W asked for an earlier required reporting date. If they did that in exchange for higher salaries, it would be a win-win.
3. Expansion
Donna really wants to add more franchises. She said she wants to add a new team every year or every other year, and she even suggested a goal of having 20 teams eventually.
"We have several groups around the country interested in teams," she said. "But we need our growth to be prudent."
4. Marketing
Signaling a subtle but potentially important shift in marketing strategy, Orender said that she isn't interested in marketing the W to the sort of male sports fans who simply refuse to give women's sports any credibility.
"The small sliver that doesn't want it?" she said. "Have a nice life."
That might mean a welcome end to the ad campaigns where our favorite basketball players are portrayed in the language of contemporary soft porn.
More debate on the issue here. As Jo says:
1. Skipping college.
Minneapolis South High School point guard Tayler Hill has become a minor celebrity around here; she was just named best high school athlete in the Twin Cities even though she's only in eighth grade. Her father (doing his best Richard Williams impersonation) recently suggested in ESPN the Magazine, and then again in the PP, that Tayler might skip college and head straight to the W.
Of course, that's banned under the current CBA. Ray Richardson asked Orender yesterday if she'd consider changing the rules, and Orender responded with an emphatic "no."
Paul Hill says he may challenge the age limit in court when the time comes. Of course, by then, the NBA will have raised its age limit, and some high schoolers will have challenged it and lost already... so he likely won't have much of a case.
2. Euroball and the W preseason
One of the hot topics Donna says she's studying up on is how the W interacts with the Euroleagues. W coaches are growing increasingly frustrated about having to start their training camps without players.
(As Krista Latham reports, Chandi Jones is one of those. She might have picked the wrong year to show up late -- assuming Detroit keeps Thomas and Farris, it already has 11 players with about $620k of salary. That means Chandi has to beat out both Walker and Nikita Bell, who has impressed coach Laimbeer.)
When it comes time to negotiate the next CBA, it wouldn't be surprising if the W asked for an earlier required reporting date. If they did that in exchange for higher salaries, it would be a win-win.
3. Expansion
Donna really wants to add more franchises. She said she wants to add a new team every year or every other year, and she even suggested a goal of having 20 teams eventually.
"We have several groups around the country interested in teams," she said. "But we need our growth to be prudent."
4. Marketing
Signaling a subtle but potentially important shift in marketing strategy, Orender said that she isn't interested in marketing the W to the sort of male sports fans who simply refuse to give women's sports any credibility.
"The small sliver that doesn't want it?" she said. "Have a nice life."
That might mean a welcome end to the ad campaigns where our favorite basketball players are portrayed in the language of contemporary soft porn.
More debate on the issue here. As Jo says:
The WNBA attendance dampening aspects of sloppily played, turnover prone, unevenly officiated basketball that stem from lack of team preparation [see issue 2 above] are more serious than the denouement of the league's 'no man left behind' act.
posted by Ted at 4:48 AM
