Basketball

Subterms

    More stories

    • 150 Shares169 Views

      in Basket

      W.N.B.A. Adds Charter Flights for the Finals. Here Is Why That Matters.

      by

      Teams usually fly on commercial airlines, but that will change for the W.N.B.A. finals. This could be good news for players’ health, finances and game.Delay after delay. Then, a cancellation. Germy bathrooms. Wrestling with yourself over paying $4 for a small bag of Skittles. Forgetting your headphones and wanting to cry. Now, the power plug at your seat is not working, and the people sitting next to you on the airplane won’t stop coughing. Do they have Covid?Anyone who flies often knows these pains, and W.N.B.A. players have to deal with all of this, too. W.N.B.A. players — they’re just like us, flying on commercial airlines. But why?The league, founded in 1996 and in its 26th season, said there was a simple reason players weren’t permitted to fly by charter plane: Unlike the N.B.A. — a multibillion-dollar operation entering its 77th season that flies its players by charter — the W.N.B.A. said there wasn’t enough money to pay for it. W.N.B.A. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has said it would cost more than $20 million to fly all of its 12 teams by charter instead of on commercial airlines for a full season.“We’re hoping in a few years, as we get more viewers to the game, we get more sponsors, we get better media deals, that that would be something we could afford,” Engelbert said in a recent interview. But she also said that she wouldn’t “jeopardize the financial health of the league” to fly players by charter.The W.N.B.A.’s finances are more precarious than those of other leagues, but it recently raised $75 million from investors such as Nike and Condoleezza Rice, the former secretary of state. Still, that’s a drop in the bucket compared with leagues like the N.H.L., which was projected to bring in $5 billion in revenue. N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver said his league had more than $10 billion in revenue for the 2021-22 season. The W.N.B.A. has declined to disclose its annual revenue.Before the W.N.B.A. All-Star Game on Sunday, Engelbert announced that the league would cover charter flights for teams during the finals. The league has occasionally covered charter travel for teams on tight schedules during the playoffs, but its collective-bargaining agreement with the players’ union prohibits teams from chartering flights themselves. The W.N.B.A. fined the Liberty $500,000 for secretly traveling to several games by charter last season.W.N.B.A. players have publicly alluded to how their travel affects their preparedness for game day. But what can frequent commercial travel do to the body?To better understand, it’s important to know how players travel while on W.N.B.A. business. The terms of the collective-bargaining agreement state that teams are allowed to book players in premium economy seating “or similar enhanced coach fare.” While a handful of U.S. airlines offer true premium economy seats, they’re primarily available on international flights and include perks like amenity kits that are not offered on domestic routes. On domestic routes, carriers including American Airlines and Delta Air Lines do offer seats with extra legroom.For a player headed to, or from, a game, Delta’s and American’s seats with extra legroom can be a golden ticket. These tickets often offer a more comfortable flying experience than economy: more legroom, a seat closer to the exit and complimentary drinks and snacks.For instance, American Airlines flies its Boeing 787-800 jet — a wide-body plane with more than 230 seats — between cities like Chicago and Los Angeles. American offers premium economy seats with pitch — the distance between a seat and the same point on the seat in front of it — of 38 inches and main-cabin extra seats with pitches between 35 and 36 inches. In comparison, main-cabin seats on the 787 have just 31 inches of pitch. On a United Airlines flight between, say, Newark and Seattle, a route that operates a Boeing 737-900 jet, an Economy Plus traveler can expect between three and four more inches of legroom than a regular economy traveler.Players can upgrade their seats on their own, but they’re on the hook for the difference in cost or airline miles. Los Angeles Sparks center Liz Cambage, who is 6-foot-9, slammed the league on Twitter for its upgrade policy in February, saying, “Yall think imma spend another season upgrading my seat on a flight to get to games out of my own pocket.”Seattle Storm guard Sue Bird autographed the shirt of a fan after the Storm arrived at a Seattle airport after winning the W.N.B.A. championship in September 2018.Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times, via Associated PressJetBlue and the so-called Big 3 airlines — American, United and Delta — offer business or first-class lie-flat seats on some transcontinental routes. Some, like American, offer lie-flat products — seats that recline into a full bed — on shorter routes, such as New York to Miami. And on American flights longer than 900 miles, premium passengers receive an in-flight meal.The W.N.B.A.’s travel policy raises questions about the players’ fitness for game days and the impact that travel can have on the body. But the cost for these premium products can be steep. Travelers without enough miles — or a complimentary upgrade — can expect to pay, in some cases, hundreds of dollars or thousands of miles for a seat upgrade.Such prices can be prohibitive for average W.N.B.A. players, whose minimum salaries start at around $60,000 for the 2022 season.“The union asked for certain things,” Engelbert said, “and the players asked for more pay. They didn’t ask for first-class or charter travel. They asked for more pay.”Earlier this year, Terri Jackson, the executive director of the players’ union, said the players had many goals going into contract negotiations and did not prioritize full-season charters, though they do hope to be able to travel that way eventually.“We didn’t go into negotiations to break the bank,” she said. “We care too much about this league. But we want to be supported.”Experts have also raised concerns about the impacts of commercial travel during the coronavirus pandemic.A federal judge in mid-April struck down the federal mandate requiring face masks on public transportation, including trains and airports. Now, it’s up to individual travelers to decide. Air travel has nearly reached prepandemic figures, with more than 2 million travelers passing through airport security checkpoints each day, according to government figures. More than 2.4 million passengers passed through security checkpoints on Sunday — one of the busiest days since the start of the pandemic.Some players, such as Seattle’s Breanna Stewart and Washington’s Natasha Cloud, have tweeted about the risks of flying commercial during the pandemic while trying not to catch the coronavirus, which would cause them to miss games.However, it’s important to note that any form of travel — commercial or private — can lead to a positive coronavirus test. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends that travelers wear a face mask on airplanes and in airports. And leagues that do fly their players by charter have not been spared from outbreaks. Virtually every major league has had players enter health and safety protocols. The N.H.L. had to pause its season in December amid an uptick in positive cases among players caused by the Omicron variant. The N.B.A. in December also postponed several games after an outbreak across the league.With any commercial travel, there’s the risk of flight delays, cancellations and being rerouted or having to move around in-flight. But an uptick in summer travel and ongoing staffing shortages have made air travel more frustrating as the W.N.B.A. pushes through its season.More than 6,200 flights were delayed within, into or out of the United States on Sunday, and more than 2,000 flights were canceled altogether, according to the website FlightAware.com, which tracks airline delays and cancellations. And unlike with charter jets, which frequently are nonstop, W.N.B.A. players may need to connect at other airports before reaching their final destination.In recent years, travel delays caused by layovers or flight cancellations have hampered the league. A 2018 game between the Las Vegas Aces and the Washington Mystics had to be forfeited after the Aces spent more than a day in transit delays to get to the game.That travel stress, said Dr. Ida Bergstrom, an internal medicine doctor at Farragut Medical and Travel Care, a travel health clinic in Washington, D.C., can be taxing on athletes expected to compete at high levels once they land.“If you’re traveling for 24 to 36 hours for business and flights get delayed, or you’re in the middle of nowhere, and you’re expected to perform not only mentally but physically — that’s really tough,” she said.And more travel is on the way: On Sunday, Engelbert said that the season would increase to 40 games next season from 36 this year. It’s part of an effort to generate more revenue for the league, which could help fund charters down the line. But in the meantime, the players will still be winding their way through airports, just like us.“You, physically, are not going to be able to perform as well if you don’t have an opportunity to rest and regroup,” Dr. Bergstrom said. More

    • 150 Shares119 Views

      in Basket

      Fans Love W.N.B.A. All-Stars, but Cast a Critical Eye on the League

      by

      Even as fans flocked to Chicago to celebrate their favorite players, they called for the W.N.B.A. to improve. The players did, too.CHICAGO — Benita Harrison-Diggs traveled from Virginia Beach to make a weekend out of the W.N.B.A. All-Star Game with friends. She remembered the excitement around the league’s “exceptional” inaugural season in 1997 and was hopeful that 2022 would match it.Harrison-Diggs, 63, was one of hundreds of fans outside Wintrust Arena eager to cheer on the best women’s basketball players in the country. “The atmosphere is electric,” she said, smiling.But as excited as Harrison-Diggs was to be in Chicago for All-Star weekend, she also felt let down.“I’m a little disappointed that these women, as hard as they play, don’t get the same recognition that the N.B.A. gets,” she said. “They don’t get the same exposure, the coverage and especially not the same money.”Harrison-Diggs came to the arena with friends for the W.N.B.A.’s skills competition and 3-point shooting contest, only to find that they were closed to the public and being held in a convention center next door. Instead, she and her friends were in a nearby courtyard watching the events much like people at home: on a TV screen. The competitions were scheduled to air on ESPN but were shifted to ESPNU at the last minute while ESPN showed the end of the men’s doubles tournament at Wimbledon. Many fans do not have access to the lesser-known ESPNU channel, and some complained on social media. ESPN later announced that it would rebroadcast the skills competition.“They wouldn’t have bumped the men,” Harrison-Diggs said.Chicago Sky guard Allie Quigley won the 3-point contest on Saturday.Nam Y. Huh/Associated PressLiberty guard Sabrina Ionescu won the skills competition.Stacy Revere/Getty ImagesThere is a swell of engagement and enthusiasm for the W.N.B.A. as it plays its 26th season, but the league’s ballooning fan base has come with a critical eye. Much of the league’s good will has been built around a core group of stars like Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Sylvia Fowles and Candace Parker. But as they begin to retire, the W.N.B.A. is transitioning into a new era of younger, social-media-savvy talent and a fan base demanding more of the league.“I would have liked to see this actually feel like they put some thought into it, some foresight, about what they actually want a weekend to look like,” said Anraya Palmer, who traveled from Atlanta for the All-Star Game.Palmer, who is Black, was 6 when the W.N.B.A. made its debut. She was instantly hooked. “It was the first time I saw women basketball players, especially women athletes, that looked like me: ‘Oh, I can actually grow up and do this,’” Palmer said.Palmer grew up to be a teacher, but she’s also an Atlanta Dream fan. She said the league had changed for the better in many ways, but All-Star weekend was a prime example of an area for improvement. “It kind of feels like some things were maybe thrown together last second,” she said. “But the die-hard fans are still going to come out and have a good time.”The W.N.B.A. said it did not have access to Wintrust Arena until Saturday night because it was being used by a cookware convention. The league hosted fan events and invitation-only concerts outdoors, but Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said security concerns because of mass shootings contributed to the league’s decision to close the concerts to the public. Spokesmen for the city and the Chicago Police Department declined to comment on the record.As the W.N.B.A.’s fan base has grown, so have its demands. Fans are pushing for easier access to games and more teams.Nam Y. Huh/Associated PressOn Sunday, 9,572 fans filed into Wintrust Arena, which seats about 10,400, for the All-Star Game. A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces and Fowles of Minnesota were the captains of Team Wilson, while Breanna Stewart and her Seattle teammate Bird led Team Stewart. Team Wilson defeated Team Stewart, 134-112.Brittney Griner, the seven-time All-Star center for the Phoenix Mercury, was named an honorary starter. She has been detained in Russia on drug charges since February. Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner, sat courtside. All 22 All-Stars wore jerseys with Griner’s name and No. 42 for the second half.Aaron Brown of Chicago, a longtime Fowles fan, said he wouldn’t have missed the All-Star Game “for the world.” Brown said most men think women’s basketball is “boring,” but for him, the women’s game is “more pure and more entertaining.”“The beauty of women’s basketball is the fundamentals — they play with I.Q. and skill level that even the men don’t,” he said. “You actually have to use not just your body but also your mind. Mostly men can get by off athleticism, but they don’t have the fundamentals.”His favorite player is Aces guard Kelsey Plum. She tied Maya Moore’s record for points in an All-Star Game with 30, and was named the most valuable player. Brown said Plum, like many other players, does not get the same kind of attention as the league’s bigger names.“They kind of only push the same five or six,” he said. “There are so many other good players who are here now and not going to leave in two years. They deserve to shine.”Patrick Schmidt of the Detroit area agreed, saying he’d like to see the league “showcasing more of their Black superstars in addition to the legends that they do.”Some fans also spoke about the disparity in pay between W.N.B.A. and N.B.A. players.In 2022, the salary cap for each W.N.B.A. team is about $1.4 million, and the maximum player salary is just under $230,000. In the N.B.A., the team salary cap will be more than $123 million for the 2022-23 season, and the top players make nearly $50 million per year.“It makes no sense that a star women’s basketball player makes less than a bench player in the N.B.A.,” Sterling Hightower, a fan from Chicago, said. “I’m a big N.B.A. fan. There are people in the N.B.A. I don’t even know who are making more than Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird.”Seattle Storm guard Sue Bird is the W.N.B.A.’s career leader in assists. She’s retiring at the end of the season.Stacy Revere/Getty ImagesLike Bird, Fowles is retiring at the end of the season. She is the league’s career leader in rebounds.Nam Y. Huh/Associated PressCynthia Smith, a Liberty season-ticket holder for 24 years, put it bluntly: “Out of sight is out of mind,” adding, “I don’t know if we’re going to get equity in pay, but we need equity in exposure.”Over the weekend, many players, like Mercury guard Skylar Diggins-Smith, echoed the fans’ sentiments: “Put us on TV more,” she said.Fans have long complained about how difficult it can be to view games, such as having to toggle through multiple platforms, like ESPN, Twitter, Facebook and a buggy W.N.B.A. app.“You tell me I’ve got to go through three apps, I’m not watching that. Let’s be honest here,” Wilson said. “I think that’s just key as to how the league can grow.”Plum agreed, saying she’d like to see the league make it easier to watch games. “We understand that the product is great, and when we get people to watch the game, they love it,” she said. “But the hardest part is getting people there.”Bird, who is retiring this year after 21 seasons in the league, said the key would be renegotiating television rights over the next couple of years.“That’s the moment,” Bird said. “That could really break things open and change the entire trajectory of our league.”Nneka Ogwumike, a forward for the Los Angeles Sparks and the president of the W.N.B.A. players’ union, said the league was “on the precipice of something that can really turn into something big.”Ogwumike said “the magic word is expansion.”Las Vegas Aces guard Kelsey Plum shooting against Seattle’s Breanna Stewart. Plum was named the most valuable player of the game after scoring 30 points, tying an All-Star record.Stacy Revere/Getty ImagesThere are 12 teams, with 12 roster spots each. Engelbert said the league was analyzing demographics, women’s basketball “fandom” and viewership data for 100 cities, and new teams could be on the horizon by 2025. She also said finding the right media package was her “top business priority” for this year.One of the greatest areas of growth for the league has been activism around social justice. The next wave of activism could be around abortion rights after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Stewart called the decision “disgusting” and “heartbreaking” and said she expected there to be discussions soon about how to handle events in states where abortion is banned.“As we are continuing to fight these social issues and injustices based on race, sex, sexual orientation, all of the things, the league needs to have our back in every way,” she said.Bird said the shift to addressing social and political issues marked a huge transformation among players.“I think back on my career, and I definitely was part of a shut-up-and-dribble generation where that’s what we did — we didn’t complain too much or talk about things too much, because we were scared to,” she said. “We have found our strength in our voice, and I’m just proud that I got to be a small part of it at the end of my career.” More

    • 125 Shares189 Views

      in Basket

      Glimpses of Brittney Griner Show a Complicated Path to Release

      by

      The W.N.B.A. star’s appearances this week during her trial on drug charges in Russia highlighted the unclear path to her release and heightened her supporters’ concerns for her safety.One hundred forty-one days.That is how long Brittney Griner has been behind bars in Russia. That is how long she has been stuck in the middle of a high-stakes staredown between the United States and Russia at exactly the wrong time, as President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia continues his horrendous invasion of Ukraine and echoes the return of the Cold War.One hundred forty-one days. That is how long Griner has been in limbo.What terrible uncertainty and fear she must feel, facing a decade in a Russian prison if she is convicted. Griner captured that emotion in her recent letter to President Biden. “I’m terrified I might be here forever,” she wrote. She added, “Please don’t forget about me.”The seven-time All-Star center for the W.N.B.A.’s Phoenix Mercury pleaded guilty on Thursday, admitting wrong doing. In so many words, Griner and her lawyer said her troubles began with a mistake: She was readying quickly for her flight to Russia in February and inadvertently packed the smoking cartridges with the small amounts of hashish oil — less than a single gram, according to prosecutors. She said she had no intention of breaking Russian law.Experts say a guilty verdict was a foregone conclusion in a Russian legal system entirely stacked against defendants. Griner may have chosen not to fight a battle she could not win, helping speed her case to a conclusion.We don’t know right now. The Mercury center’s teammates, supporters and wife, Cherelle Griner, have not been able to speak with her directly. With the war in Ukraine, all we in America have seen or heard from Griner has been from appearances at a Moscow-area courtroom that she has attended in handcuffs.Uncertainty and complication hover over this awful affair. Russian media outlets have claimed that talks of a possible prisoner exchange are already underway, though U.S. officials have not confirmed this. One floated swap would include Russian national Viktor Bout, who has been imprisoned in the United States since 2012 on a 25-year sentence for conspiring to sell weapons to people who said they planned to kill Americans. During his sentencing, prosecutors called Bout “among the world’s most successful and sophisticated arms traffickers.” He is known as the Merchant of Death.That lopsided prospective deal shows the difficulty of negotiating Griner’s release. Would it be a balanced exchange to swap a basketball star who carried hashish oil into Russia for a man found guilty of participating in an international plot against Americans?Paul Whelan, another American being held in Russia, has served two years of a 16-year sentence on espionage charges that he has denied. Is it fair to push for Griner’s release before Whelan’s? Should the United States negotiate for him to be included in a deal, even if doing so delays both their releases?Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine accused of spying and arrested in Russia, inside a defendants’ cage during a court hearing in Moscow in 2019.Kirill Kudryavtsev/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesComplicating matters further are issues of race, gender and sexuality.Griner is tattooed, dreadlocked, Black and three inches shy of seven feet tall. She does not conform to broadly accepted gender stereotypes. She is married to a woman and is an outspoken L.G.B.T.Q. activist. Putin has a well-documented disdain for L.G.B.T.Q. people, which only heightens her supporters’ fears for her well-being.Her appearance, sexuality and outspokenness mean that the contempt for Griner is just as thick in some quarters of the United States. That makes it fair to wonder if the outrage from American citizens would be louder and more pervasive if Griner were a male star athlete who fit neatly into a traditionally accepted role.“If it was LeBron, he’d be home, right?” said Vanessa Nygaard, Griner’s coach with the Mercury. “It’s a statement about the value of women. It’s a statement about the value of a Black person. It’s a statement about the value of a gay person.”Nygaard may be right. Male athletes are the beneficiaries of a sports ecosystem in which their leagues garner more TV time, their endorsements generate more money and their accomplishments are more loudly lauded. If this were James in custody — or Stephen Curry or Tom Brady — it stands to reason that their fame would push a more fervent mainstream call for release than has been the case for Griner.On the other hand, imagine what Russia would be asking in return for LeBron James: The ransom would probably far exceed a single arms dealer languishing in an American prison, especially given the tension between Biden and Putin.If this were James in custody, well, a whole lot more than a few hundred people would have shown up to rally for his release. On Wednesday, an estimated 300 people gathered at the Mercury’s arena, Phoenix’s Footprint Center, to show their support for Griner. The building seats 17,000.Supporters held up signs reading “Bring Brittney Home” during a rally to support Griner.Christian Petersen/Getty ImagesI visited the arena in April for a Mercury preseason game and was surprised by the muted acknowledgment of Griner in a city where she has given so much. Known as B.G., she helped lead the Mercury to a W.N.B.A. title in 2014 but is as admired there for helping the homeless and championing L.G.B.T.Q. rights. Local sports-radio announcers hardly mentioned her, instead going on and on about the Phoenix Suns’ competing in the N.B.A. playoffs.At the time, Griner’s Mercury teammates were following the lead of her advisers, who had decided to stay low-key and not raise a ruckus that might draw Putin’s ire. It was clear the players wanted to be more forthright. As they spoke of how much they loved their teammate and followed the advised path, the fierceness and pain in their eyes showed me that they wanted to say more.The approach flipped a few weeks later when the U.S. State Department declared that Griner had been “wrongfully detained.” The league and its players began to roar — the same as they often do on pressing social issues. Teams paid tribute to Griner by pasting her initials on home courts leaguewide. Over social media, in news conferences and interviews, players demanded that Biden and the White House do whatever was needed to bring her home.“Free B.G.,” said DeWanna Bonner, of the W.N.B.A.’s Connecticut Sun, speaking to the press. “We are B.G. We love B.G. Free her.”The N.B.A. joined the chorus. Players wore “We are B.G.” T-shirts to practices held during the N.B.A. finals. James, Curry and many other stars spoke out, demanding her release. Athletes from other sports joined in. After Griner’s guilty plea on Thursday, Megan Rapinoe, the outspoken star of the U.S. women’s soccer team, wore a white jacket with Griner’s initials stitched into her lapel as she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.What a roller coaster of strategy and emotion. Thursday’s hearing brought another searing twist, seeing Griner there in court, begging for mercy.“This situation with B.G., it’s hard for everybody on our team,” Nygaard said before Thursday night’s home game against the Liberty.The court hearing and admission of guilt. The images of Griner, hands bound, eyes wide, surrounded by Russian police.“When your friend is in danger,” Nygaard added, and that friend is saying “that they’re scared, those things are hard to get away from.”One hundred forty-one days, and counting.Brittney Griner is far from home, and we do not know when she will be set free. More

    • 138 Shares139 Views

      in Basket

      Looking for Aces Guard Jackie Young? She’s Probably in the Gym.

      by

      Young, set to start in her first W.N.B.A. All-Star Game, is known for her competitive drive. “She’s going to try to beat everyone,” one teammate said.Las Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young has met success at every level of basketball. She has a high school championship, an N.C.A.A. Division I title at Notre Dame, and last summer, she claimed Olympic gold in the first 3×3 competition. Now, as a first-time W.N.B.A. All-Star, Young, an Indiana native, has added another accolade en route to her ultimate goal.“Everyone wants a ring. I definitely want a ring,” Young said, adding, “We’ve been close each year.”Young is in her fourth W.N.B.A. season with Las Vegas and has made the playoffs each year, including a trip to the finals in 2020. The Aces selected her No. 1 overall in the 2019 draft.Young is one of the top defensive weapons on the Aces and is posting the best offensive numbers of her career, which helped her earn a place as a starter in her All-Star debut this weekend. The All-Star Game is Sunday in Chicago.When Young came to Las Vegas in 2019, it was her first major move away from Indiana. She was the middle child, and both her older brother, Terrence, and younger sister, Kiare, played basketball, too.Jackie attended Princeton Community High School where she tallied 3,268 career points for the girls’ basketball team, a record for the girls’ and boys’ teams. From Princeton, Young traveled about 300 miles northeast to play for Notre Dame.Young won an N.C.A.A. championship with the women’s basketball team at Notre Dame in 2018.Michael Caterina/South Bend Tribune, via Associated PressAs a sophomore, she dropped a game-high 32 points in the 2018 Final Four semifinal game against Connecticut. In the championship game against Mississippi State, Young hit the game-tying shot and came up with the steal that led to her teammate Arike Ogunbowale’s game-winning basket. Young played one more season with Notre Dame before entering the 2019 W.N.B.A. draft.“It was always a dream of mine to play in the W.N.B.A., and it came down to making a decision for my family. I knew I needed to help my family, and that’s what I’ve worked for my whole life,” Young said.She described her family as “close-knit” and said she had uncles and aunts around to help her mother, Linda Young. Her extended family shared housing sometimes to stay afloat financially. Jackie Young’s decision to leave Notre Dame meant less financial burden for her family.“​​My mom, a single mother, made a lot of sacrifices for me and my siblings,” Young said. “She definitely went without to make sure we have food on the table, clothes on our backs, and so I knew if I had the chance to leave early I was going to.”Young will make about $72,000 this season and more than $165,000 in each of the next two seasons until she is an unrestricted free agent in 2025, according to Her Hoop Stats.Her transition from college to the W.N.B.A. was swift.Notre Dame narrowly lost to Baylor by 1 point in the 2019 N.C.A.A. women’s basketball championship in Tampa, Fla. Three days later, Young was in New York City being announced as the first overall pick in the W.N.B.A. draft.Aces forward A’ja Wilson had a similar transition to the W.N.B.A. the year before, but with an added twist: The Aces transitioned, too, from being the San Antonio Stars. The franchise spent 15 seasons in Texas, then moved to Las Vegas as the Aces for Wilson’s first season.“When I got drafted, we were such a new franchise,” Wilson said. “I didn’t have a quote-unquote vet that kind of knew the ropes.”Wilson decided to embrace the chance to be a big sister to Young.“Jackie was kind of like our first rookie that we had,” she said. “We already were pretty much established, in a sense, so I wanted to make sure that I could be that vet that I didn’t have for her and answer all the questions that she needed, making sure that she was comfortable.”Young, right, finished her college career just three days before the Las Vegas Aces drafted her No. 1 overall in 2019.Julie Jacobson/Associated PressNow Young is a veteran, and she is held accountable when she’s asked to assert herself by other players or Aces Coach Becky Hammon.“I talked with Becky about this earlier in the season, just talking about my court awareness and seeing things before it happens,” Young said. She added: “I think that would help us along the way, too, me just being more vocal. I’m just working on that every day.”The work hasn’t gone unnoticed by Wilson, who won the league’s Most Valuable Player Award in 2020.“Jackie is someone where she understands her assignment, 100 percent. She is a pro at what she does and watching that growth, it’s been incredible, honestly, to watch,” Wilson told reporters recently. She added: “She’s locked in no matter what, and she makes sure that others around her are doing the same.”Another challenge for Young is to also know when to shut off her competitive edge.“She’s someone who’s in the gym all the time. I’ve got to kick her out,” Hammon told reporters before a recent win over the Minnesota Lynx.“I literally tell her to go home and take the ball and put it on the rack,” she added.Hammon, who retired as a guard for the San Antonio Stars, said she believed Young was en route to being considered for the M.V.P. Award this season. She trusts Young with defending the best perimeter shooters every night.“I really take pride in that,” Young said. “I know how to get stops, and I have a big assignment each night. So I think everyone knows that on this team.”Aces forward A’ja Wilson, right, described Young, left, as “locked in no matter what.” Aces guard Kelsey Plum, second from right, said Young “wants to win everything.”Ellen Schmidt/Associated PressThe next level of Young’s game, as Hammon sees it, is to be more demanding on offense. That goes hand in hand with her growing into a confident communicator on the court — a floor general.“I want her to be an animal. That’s what I want,” Hammon said, adding, “I want her to understand that she can impact a game like that and demand that kind of attention offensively.”Offensively, Young is posting career numbers in points and steals per game while continuing her reliable defense. She averages about 17 points per game, more than 10 points per game above her average in her rookie season. Her 46.9 percent accuracy from 3-point range is among the best in the league entering the All-Star break.On Sunday, Young will not only appear in her first W.N.B.A. All-Star Game, but she will also start opposite her Las Vegas Aces teammates Wilson and Kelsey Plum.Will the fun festivities in Chicago be a chance for the hard-working Young to shift into a lower gear? Not likely.“I don’t think there’s such thing as less competitive for Jackie,” Plum said. “I think she’s going to do what she does.”This will also be Plum’s first All-Star appearance, and she is ready to take on Young. They were both set to compete in the skills competition on Saturday.“I know she’s going to try to beat everyone including me, you know,” Plum said. “That’s just who she is. She wants to win everything. And if she doesn’t win, someone cheated.” More

    • 100 Shares179 Views

      in Basket

      Brittney Griner’s Supporters Hold Steady After Guilty Plea

      by

      Griner, the W.N.B.A. star, pleaded guilty to drug charges in Russia on Thursday. But her supporters are still determined to fight to bring her home.For the first time in a while, Terri Jackson, the executive director of the W.N.B.A. players’ union, felt hopeful about Brittney Griner.Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner, had spoken on the phone with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday morning. That evening, Jackson attended a rally to support Brittney Griner at the Footprint Center arena in Phoenix. It had been hosted by the Phoenix Mercury and Representative Greg Stanton, Democrat of Arizona, with hundreds of Griner’s supporters on hand.“It was emotional, it was a celebration, it was a renewed hope and renewed spirit,” Jackson said. “And yet, we are very mindful that we are not near the end.”If the American basketball star is convicted, she could face up to 10 years in a Russian penal colony.Alexander Zemlianichenko/Associated PressJackson spoke Thursday afternoon, hours after Brittney Griner pleaded guilty to drug charges in a court near Moscow. Griner, the star Mercury center, has been detained in Russia since Feb. 17, accused of having hashish oil in her luggage at a Russian airport. Her trial on the drug charges began on July 1. But despite her guilty plea on Thursday, the support she has received from her representatives, friends, family, teammates and others has not waned.“I think it made us more resolved to demonstrate our support for her and to recognize that Russia’s process is its own,” Jackson said. “It’s nothing like ours. And yet try to stay hopeful that there’s some forward progress to getting her home.”Griner’s agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, called Griner a “model of courage” in a statement on Twitter on Thursday.“BG’s service as an Olympian and global sport ambassador, caring for those most in need, has always distinguished her; but BG is also a human being whose family misses her,” Kagawa Colas said. “She deserves our compassion, understanding, love and support.”Representative Colin Allred, Democrat of Texas, who has been working to secure Griner’s release, urged caution in reacting to her guilty plea, calling her prosecution a “sham trial” on Twitter.“Remember that we should not draw any serious conclusions from this and that she was wrongfully detained in the first place,” Allred said.The rally for Brittney Griner on Wednesday. Many fans have been vocal in their support since Griner was detained in February.Christian Petersen/Getty ImagesW.N.B.A. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert released a statement Thursday afternoon.“Brittney Griner remains wrongfully detained in Russia, and nothing that happened today changes that 140 days later,” Engelbert said. She added: “She has the wholehearted and unconditional support of the entire W.N.B.A. and N.B.A. family, who eagerly await her safe return.”The U.S. State Department first announced that Griner had been classified as “wrongfully detained” in May and said it would look to negotiate her release regardless of the result of her trial.On Thursday, a Russian diplomat suggested to reporters in Moscow that the public clamor about Griner’s release — which he attributed to the Biden administration — was detrimental to getting a deal done.Griner’s supporters, though, have long believed that calling public attention to her situation was necessary to get the attention of the Biden administration. After the State Department classified Griner as wrongfully detained, her closest supporters began to feel comfortable drawing attention to her detention. Many fans have been vocal since February.Starting in early May, Kagawa Colas joined with Griner’s family, the W.N.B.A. and its players’ union and the Mercury to start an advocacy campaign with the hashtag #WeAreBG. Several W.N.B.A. and N.B.A. players began speaking out about Griner’s situation. The N.B.A.’s Boston Celtics wore T-shirts that said #WeAreBG during one N.B.A. finals practice.In June, Kagawa Colas coordinated with dozens of organizations that represent people of color, women and members of the L.G.B.T.Q. community to send a letter to Biden and Harris urging them to make a deal to bring Griner home.On Thursday, the W.N.B.A. players’ union released a statement that positioned the organization alongside those groups.“The administration needs to know that this powerful collective is behind them and supports whatever needs to be done to get B.G., Paul Whelan and other detained U.S. nationals home right away,” the statement read.Whelan is a former U.S. Marine who has been detained in Russia since 2018. He was convicted of espionage in a Russian court in 2020.A mural showing Brittney Griner (42) at the Footprint Center arena in Phoenix. W.N.B.A. teams have worn T-shirts with the No. 42 during the season to show their support.Christian Petersen/Getty ImagesThis weekend, the W.N.B.A. will host its All-Star Game and other competitions in Chicago. They are an annual celebration of the league’s best players, and Griner has been selected as an All-Star seven times. The league named her as an honorary starter for the All-Star Game on Sunday.“Sends a very, very strong message from the league recognizing that we are missing not just one of the game’s biggest, brightest stars but an individual who is just very important to us outside of this game,” Jackson said.Before the game, the Rev. Al Sharpton announced he would hold a news conference on Friday in Chicago with Cherelle Griner, Jackson and Los Angeles Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike, who is the president of the players’ union.“Brittney has admitted to making a mistake, and I hope the Russian authorities recognize that humbling act and respond with compassion,” Sharpton said in a statement. “She is in the fight of her life right now, which is why we’ll be in Chicago to show our support for Brittney and for the administration and their efforts to bring her home as soon as possible. We must all continue to pray she finds strength through this challenging time.”The W.N.B.A. players’ union sometimes calls its membership The 144 — a reference to the 12 players on each of the 12 teams in the league. Jackson noted that the All-Star Game would take place on the 143rd day of Griner’s detention.“It reminds us all — at least those of us who have engaged in this frustrating process of counting the days — it reminds us that we are not The 144 without Brittney Griner,” Jackson said. She added: “The symbolism of that is not lost on any one of us.” More

    • 113 Shares149 Views

      in Basket

      Biden Speaks to Brittney Griner’s Wife, Cherelle, About Russia

      by

      President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris told Cherelle Griner they would pursue “every avenue” to bring her wife, Brittney Griner, home from Russia.President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke on Wednesday with Cherelle Griner, the wife of the W.N.B.A. star Brittney Griner. Brittney Griner has been detained in Russia on drug charges since February, and her trial began Friday.During the call, Biden read a draft of a letter he planned to send to Brittney Griner.“The president offered his support to Cherelle and Brittney’s family, and he committed to ensuring they are provided with all possible assistance while his administration pursues every avenue to bring Brittney home,” according to a statement released by the White House.The U.S. State Department said in May that Brittney Griner had been “wrongfully detained.” It will work to secure her release regardless of the outcome of the trial.“I am grateful to the both of them for the time they spent with me and for the commitment they expressed to getting B.G. home,” Cherelle Griner said of Biden and Harris in a statement to The New York Times on Wednesday.Brittney Griner has been in custody in Russia since Feb. 17, accused by the Russian authorities of having a vape cartridge with hashish oil in her luggage at an airport near Moscow. On Monday, Brittney Griner sent a handwritten letter to Biden pleading for his help.“I’m terrified I might be here forever,” Griner said in an excerpt from the letter shared by her representatives. She continued: “I realize you are dealing with so much, but please don’t forget about me and the other American detainees. Please do all you can to bring us home.”Brittney Griner, left, with her wife, Cherelle Griner, in 2020. Brittney Griner has played for the Phoenix Mercury in the W.N.B.A. since 2013.Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty ImagesIn her statement, Cherelle Griner thanked her wife’s supporters.“While I will remain concerned and outspoken until she is back home, I am hopeful in knowing that the president read my wife’s letter and took the time to respond,” Cherelle Griner said. “I know B.G. will be able to find comfort in knowing she has not been forgotten.”Wednesday’s statement from the White House described Brittney Griner as “wrongfully detained in Russia under intolerable circumstances.”It also said that Biden had instructed his national security team to keep “regular contact” with Griner’s family and that Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, had spoken with Cherelle Griner recently.In the past several weeks, Cherelle Griner had publicly expressed frustration with Biden and his administration’s efforts to secure her wife’s release.On Tuesday, Cherelle Griner appeared on “CBS Mornings” and spoke about her disappointment that Brittney Griner’s family had not received a reply from the president to Brittney Griner’s letter.“I will not be quiet anymore,” Cherelle Griner said. “My wife is struggling, and we have to help her.”The women have been able to communicate with each other only through letters. In June, Cherelle Griner told The Associated Press that a scheduled call with Brittney Griner never got through to her because of a staffing issue at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. She said she had not spoken to her wife since the day she was detained.Experts said Brittney Griner’s trial was likely to end in a conviction. She faces up to 10 years in a penal colony if she is convicted.“There’s a bias mainly because the Russian judicial system says they really should not go to trial unless the defendant is going to be convicted,” said William Pomeranz, the acting director of the Kennan Institute and an expert on Russian law. “There’s no real idea or expectation that the defendant could be innocent. There’s no presumption of innocence, really.”One pathway to securing the release of an American detained abroad is a prisoner swap, which experts believe is the most likely scenario for Griner’s release.A Kremlin spokesman has denied that Brittney Griner’s imprisonment is politically motivated, but Russian media outlets have linked Griner’s case to that of Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer who is serving a 25-year federal-prison sentence.Trevor Reed, a former U.S. Marine who had been imprisoned in Russia on assault charges since August 2019, was released in a prisoner swap in April. Reed had been sentenced to nine years in prison in July 2020.In her statement Wednesday, Cherelle Griner asked for prayers for her family and the families of others wrongfully detained.“Our pain remains active until our loved ones are brought home,” she said. “Let’s continue to use our voices to speak the names of all the wrongfully detained Americans and support the administration as they do what it takes to bring them home today.”The U.S. State Department has warned Americans against traveling to Russia because of the war in Ukraine, the “potential for harassment against U.S. citizens by Russian government security officials” and “the singling out of U.S. citizens in Russia by Russian government security officials including for detention,” among other reasons.Griner was in Russia because she played for UMMC Yekaterinburg, a team known for being among the highest paying women’s basketball teams in the world. She makes more there than she does playing for the W.N.B.A.Griner has played for the W.N.B.A.’s Phoenix Mercury since the franchise drafted her first overall in 2013. She won a W.N.B.A. championship in 2014 and has won two gold medals with the U.S. women’s national basketball team.After Griner’s detention, those supporting her initially were advised not to draw too much attention to the situation in hopes that her detention would not be politicized. Russia has long had a frosty relationship with the United States, and it invaded Ukraine soon after Griner was detained.But when the U.S. State Department said in May that Griner had been wrongfully detained, that strategy changed. Cherelle Griner, W.N.B.A. officials and W.N.B.A. players have been speaking out. W.N.B.A. teams are honoring Griner this season with decals of her initials and jersey number, 42, on each of the league’s 12 courts.In June, while in Washington for a game, members of the Mercury met with State Department officials and members of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs. They also met with representatives Greg Stanton, Democrat of Arizona; Sheila Jackson Lee, Democrat of Texas; and Colin Allred, Democrat of Texas, who had introduced a resolution calling for Griner’s release. More

    • 125 Shares199 Views

      in Basket

      The Knicks Stumbled Last Season. Here’s How They Can Recover.

      by

      With free agency beginning, the Knicks have several options to build on what’s working and to move on from what is not.Good news for Knicks fans: The franchise has lured one of the best free agents, a rare occurrence for the team this century.The bad news: It’s a weak free-agent class, and this top free agent — the 25-year-old point guard Jalen Brunson — has never made an All-Star team. He has agreed to sign with the Knicks for $104 million over four seasons, his agents Aaron Mintz and Sam Rose told ESPN. Rose is the son of the team’s president, Leon Rose.That’s a hefty investment to make in a player who, in his best of four seasons with the Dallas Mavericks, averaged 16.3 points and 4.8 assists per game. He has been a full-time starter for just one season. But Brunson represents a significant upgrade at point guard, a position where the Knicks have long struggled to find playmakers. In the last two decades, Knicks starting point guards have included Chris Duhon, Toney Douglas, Trey Burke and Pablo Prigioni. Brunson has an excellent floater game in the paint, he’s a reliable shooter and he can break down a defense and put pressure at the rim.Brunson’s father, Rick, who briefly played for the team in the late-1990s, also is expected to be an assistant coach on the team next season. The Knicks have not announced his hiring, but in early June multiple reports said they were nearing a deal. The team did not respond to a request for comment.With the younger Brunson running the floor, the Knicks could be a dangerous playoff team, like they were in 2020-21, or one of the worst teams in the Eastern Conference, like they were last season. That’s how much variance there is with the roster as free agency signings begin Wednesday.Jalen Brunson started 61 games for the Dallas Mavericks last season, averaging 16.3 points per game for the season, the most in his career.Jed Jacobsohn/Associated PressThe conundrum facing the Knicks is that their rotation players are talented but flawed. Brunson, in essence, embodies this. He can score in bunches, but he isn’t a quality defender. He’s almost assuredly not good enough to be the best player on a contending team, and it’s not certain that his ceiling is much higher than what he showed last season.The 22-year-old RJ Barrett, who is entering his fourth season, has not shown enough consistency to be a cornerstone. He’s good at getting to the rim but not at finishing, and his jumper needs work. The other young hopes, including power forward Obi Toppin, 24, and point guard Immanuel Quickley, 23, have alternated between being solid contributors and being liabilities. Toppin cuts and runs the floor well, but he is a below-average shooter and struggles defensively. Quickley was better at running the offense during his second season in 2021-22, but he is an inefficient scorer and his size makes him an easy target on defense.Last season was — charitably — a step back for the Knicks. They seemed to be finally finding their way out of the darkness with their 2021 postseason run. They signed Julius Randle to a pricey contract extension and gave new deals to the veterans Derrick Rose, Alec Burks and Nerlens Noel. Then, they missed the playoffs last season, and the weight of those new deals felt heavier. Randle struggled last season, and the veterans didn’t play well enough to merit being part of the team long term.Mitchell Robinson, the 24-year-old center, is another good example of the team’s talented-but-flawed issue. He is an excellent rim protector and lob threat around the rim, but he has no offensive range to speak of and hasn’t improved much in four seasons. Still, the Knicks have agreed to bring him back on a four-year, $60 million deal, his agents Thad Foucher and Joe Smith told ESPN.The Knicks will need to make salary-cap space to sign Brunson, and that likely means moving on from some of the ill-fitting veterans. But beyond that, the Knicks need to add players who can help them rise out of mediocrity — the worst place to be in the N.B.A. They aren’t bad enough to receive high draft picks but aren’t not good enough to justify their biggest contracts.Quality veterans looking to chase a ring most likely would not take a pay cut to join them because the Knicks don’t have a roster that can realistically contend for a championship at the moment. If a star becomes available, say a Kevin Durant or a Kyrie Irving, the Knicks probably won’t have the best package to offer: not the best young prospects, not the highest draft picks, just a mishmash of middling pieces. It’s hard to see the ceiling for this team as anything higher than a low seed in the playoffs.But the N.B.A. is an increasingly fluid league, and there is a real reason to believe the Knicks can overcome their deficiencies and surpass expectations.The Knicks likely will start the season with Brunson, Randle and Barrett as the primary ballhandlers. Even with their weaknesses, that’s a better-than-average group of playmakers in today’s N.B.A. Brunson’s ability to penetrate will take pressure off Randle, who could use more time not being the primary attack point on the offense. Brunson’s shooting will create more space for him and Randle to operate around the basket. If Randle has some of that pressure relieved, he can put more energy toward his other strengths, such as rebounding and passing. Maybe the Knicks will get the All-Star version of Randle back.And Brunson’s arrival should also make life easier for Barrett. He had a bigger role in the offense after the All-Star break last season and averaged 24.5 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game. He shot only 40.1 percent from the field in those games — talented but flawed! — but he showed potential as the No. 1 option. If Barrett can bring a passable efficiency to the game, he becomes a borderline All-Star alongside Randle.To complement that core, the Knicks need consistent shooting around them. They already have someone who can help with that in Evan Fournier, who shot 38.9 percent from deep last year. Quickley didn’t shoot well last year, but in his rookie year, he also shot 38.9 percent from 3.Rose, who was injured for much of last season, also should be able to help. With the Knicks, Rose has been a surprisingly good shooter and another body to help break down defenses. At 33, and with a lengthy injury history, he likely can’t be the sixth man off the bench, but his return will be a welcome sight for the team. There is a world in which a closing lineup of Randle, Barrett, Brunson, Fournier and Rose is extremely difficult to defend.There is some light beyond this year — some being the operative word. The Knicks have a pile of first-round draft picks in coming years, including picks from Dallas, Washington and Detroit. Next year, the Knicks could have four first-round picks. Several of the picks have conditions, which lowers their value. And if the Knicks keep being OK but not great, their own draft picks most likely would fall in the mid-to-late first round, which also reduces their value.But having a stockpile of picks is better than having none, and the Knicks could use some of them in a trade instead of holding them to select intriguing prospects. The agreement to sign Brunson to a major deal suggests the Knicks are trying to win now. Leon Rose rarely speaks publicly, so the Knicks’ broader strategy is unclear.The Knicks were one of the worst teams in the league for years, but they still have the core pieces that helped them secure home-court advantage in the playoffs just two seasons ago. The Knicks are not a superteam, but in today’s N.B.A., that might be OK. More

    • 138 Shares119 Views

      in Basket

      Brittney Griner to Biden: ‘I’m Terrified I Might Be Here Forever.’

      by

      Brittney Griner, the W.N.B.A. star who has been detained in Russia on drug charges since February, sent a handwritten letter to President Biden on Monday asking him not to forget about her.“As I sit here in a Russian prison, alone with my thoughts and without the protection of my wife, family, friends, Olympic jersey or any accomplishments, I’m terrified I might be here forever,” Griner said in an excerpt from the letter shared by her representatives.She continued: “I realize you are dealing with so much, but please don’t forget about me and the other American detainees. Please do all you can to bring us home.”A White House spokeswoman would not say whether the president had received the letter, but she provided a statement from Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council.“President Biden has been clear about the need to see all U.S. nationals who are held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad released, including Brittney Griner. The U.S. government continues to work aggressively — using every available means — to bring her home,” Watson said.Better Understand the Russia-Ukraine WarHistory and Background: Here’s what to know about Russia and Ukraine’s relationship and the causes of the conflict.How the Battle Is Unfolding: Russian and Ukrainian forces are using a bevy of weapons as a deadly war of attrition grinds on in eastern Ukraine.Russia’s Brutal Strategy: An analysis of more than 1,000 photos found that Russia has used hundreds of weapons in Ukraine that are widely banned by international treaties.Outside Pressures: Governments, sports organizations and businesses are taking steps to punish Russia. Here are some of the sanctions adopted so far and a list of companies that have pulled out of the country.Stay Updated: To receive the latest updates on the war in your inbox, sign up here. The Times has also launched a Telegram channel to make its journalism more accessible around the world.She added that “the president’s team is in regular contact with Brittney’s family.”Griner, 31, was detained on Feb. 17 after she was accused of having hashish oil in her luggage at an airport near Moscow. She was in Russia to play with UMMC Yekaterinburg, a professional women’s basketball team that she had competed for during several W.N.B.A. off-seasons. She has played for the W.N.B.A.’s Phoenix Mercury since 2013, when the team drafted her with the No. 1 overall pick, and she has won two Olympic gold medals with the U.S. women’s national basketball team.Griner faces up to 10 years in a penal colony if she is convicted of the drug charges in Russia. Her trial began Friday, and legal experts said that she was likely to be found guilty. But not necessarily on the merits of the case.“There’s a bias mainly because the Russian judicial system says they really should not go to trial unless the defendant is going to be convicted,” William Pomeranz, the acting director of the Kennan Institute and an expert on Russian law, told The New York Times recently. “There’s no real idea or expectation that the defendant could be innocent. There’s no presumption of innocence, really.”Griner has not responded to the charges. The U.S. State Department determined in May that she had been “wrongfully detained,” though it has not said how or why it came to that conclusion. The determination meant that government officials who deal with hostages would work to free her. More than 40 Americans were said to be wrongfully detained around the world earlier this year.In her letter to Biden, Griner referred to the Fourth of July. “It hurts thinking about how I usually celebrate this day because freedom means something completely different to me this year,” she said, adding that she voted for the first time in the 2020 presidential election — and chose Biden.Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner, has publicly urged Biden to help free her wife. Last month, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, Griner’s agent, coordinated a letter to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris from dozens of women’s and civil rights organizations. The letter said that Griner was enduring “inhumane treatment.”“We now urge you to make a deal to get Brittney back home to America immediately and safely,” the letter said.In April, the United States and Russia held a prisoner swap that freed Trevor R. Reed, a former U.S. Marine who had been held on assault charges for more than two years. In exchange, the United States released Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2011 for trafficking cocaine.U.S. officials have not said whether they would consider a prisoner swap to free Griner.Longstanding tensions between the United States and Russia and the ongoing war in Ukraine have complicated Griner’s situation, but government officials have said that securing her release is a priority.Michael D. Shear More