Dallas Wings veterans, rookies ready for WNBA unveiling
For the past six years, the Dallas Wings franchise was located in Tulsa. The Shock posted a won-loss record of 59-145, but finally made the playoffs in 2015 after an 18-16 season.
Off that postseason taste, the Wings begin their inaugural year, and the WNBA’s 20th season, at 5 p.m. Saturday on the road against the Indiana Fever.
Four other season openers are scheduled Saturday, including the Phoenix Mercury visiting the defending champion Minnesota Lynx at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN.
The Wings’ first home game is May 21 against the San Antonio Stars at College Park Center on the UT Arlington campus.
Having everybody back healthy this year, I’m excited and anxious.
Skylar Diggins
a two-time WNBA All-StarThe newest Metroplex franchise, led by coach Fred Williams, the backcourt duo of Skylar Diggins and Dallas-Fort Worth product Odyssey Sims, and a balance of veterans and rookies, is ready to give the fans a reason to fill the stands.
Diggins is especially ready to get on the court. The two-time WNBA All-Star played just nine games last season after suffering a season-ending ACL injury in late June.
“Having everybody back healthy this year, I’m excited and anxious. It’s a new market and first time putting this jersey on and running onto the court to this home crowd will be a night to remember,” Diggins said. “I’m ready to play basketball, all the rehab and all this stuff to get to this point, it’s time.”
Sims, from Irving MacArthur High School and Baylor, averaged 16 points per game last season. She played in 23 games with 19 starts.
“I’m going to have jitters, going to be nervous just from playing in front of my friends and family, Baylor as well and I’m definitely looking forward to it,” Sims said.
Two of Dallas’ WNBA draft picks have made the roster: guard Aerial Powers (Michigan State) and center Ruth Hamblin (Oregon State).
Powers averaged 18.9 points and 9.8 rebounds per game last season with the Spartans. She was the first three-time All-Big Ten first-team selection in Michigan State history.
“Some of the girls like Erin [Phillips] and [Plenette Pierson], they’ve won championships and have been here a long time, so I listen to them every time they speak because they have a lot of knowledge of the game,” Powers said.
“But then you have the younger girls that can run up and down the floor, so I think we have everything we need to be a championship team, we just have to do it and learn each other on the floor.”
Last season, Hamblin won her second straight Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year award while helping Oregon State to its first Final Four appearance.
“Those two players can really help us,” Williams said. “They still have a lot to learn. I think in the long run, you’re looking at two players who will be successful in this league.”
The veterans include WNBA champions Phillips, Pierson and Karima Christmas, and former Oklahoma All-American Courtney Paris. Two-time All-Star Glory Johnson also made the final roster.
“I think we have a lot of great pieces and a lot of the core group back. We added great pieces — and the rookies, Aerial and Ruth came in with the mentality to compete,” Diggins said. “We’re not going to know what we look like until we go out there, but we all bought in to coach Williams and the coaching staff.”
The franchise spent its first 12 seasons in the league in Detroit, making the postseason in 1999 and from 2003-2009, and winning WNBA championships in 2003, 2006 and 2008.
This story was originally published May 13, 2016 at 4:57 PM with the headline "Dallas Wings veterans, rookies ready for WNBA unveiling."