Dallas Wings missed postseason, but happy with Metroplex support

In their first season in the Metroplex, the Dallas Wings didn’t reach expectations with a playoff appearance, but the franchise gained a new perspective on what it’s like to play in a top-tier city.

The Wings, who moved from Tulsa opened the season with a 90-79 road win against Indiana. Three games later, the Wings defeated San Antonio in the first game at UT Arlington’s College Park Center in front of a sellout crowd.

Coach Fred Williams and general manager Greg Bibb both talked about how impressed they were by the support at every home game.

However, the Wings finished 11-23 and 11th in the WNBA after struggled down the stretch.

After a 3-1 start, Dallas found itself 8-9 midway through the season and still in the thick of the playoff race, but the Wings lost six straight going into the Olympic break, then dropped their first five coming back.

“We aspired to do better and there’s no excuses on our end, but with certain reality, injuries can affect results, and we dealt with that a little more,” Bibb said. “I think we led the league with the number of different starting lineups. We didn’t have our full complement of players available as much as we liked.”

Williams, however, was happy with how the team played.

“As far as the team, you can’t predict injuries and that played a factor with the season and schedule we had,” Williams said. “A lot of games, we played hard and played well. We had a lot of close games that could go either way for us, and I think the players learned lot from each other.”

Aerial Powers made the All-Rookie team and Karima Christmas was in the running for Most Improved Player of the Year.

“Aerial and Karima played well for us. Aerial did a lot of great things for us, and I’m excited for her talents and future for our team and for this league,” Williams said.

“Karima also had a fantastic year. She increased her productivity and played multiple positions,” Bibb added. “She comes in and does what she has to do. She’s a great teammate and has evolved into a leader.

“We had high hopes for Aerial and she exceeded all of them in her rookie season. We’re excited for her future, I think she’ll have a good WNBA career. She’s a great kid and always open to learning.”

The Wings enter the off-season with 10 of 12 players under contract, and will have three picks in the top 11, including a top-four pick in next year’s WNBA draft. The top-four pick is a lottery pick and will be determined at the WNBA draft lottery on Sept. 28.

This story was originally published September 21, 2016 at 9:27 PM with the headline "Dallas Wings missed postseason, but happy with Metroplex support."