Nolan, Katie Smith Threatening to Bail Out of Tulsa

The Tulsa Shock had what just about any relocated franchise would love - a returning team that had contended for the Eastern Conference championship in the WNBA the year before. However, two important Tulsa players have stated - either to the press or through their agent - that they will not be coming to Tulsa.

The first player is point guard Katie Smith. She said on December 3rd that she didn't want to finish her career in Tulsa. There's nothing hostile or even strange about this - Smith was playing professional basketball before the WNBA started, as a member of the Columbus Quest of the old American Basketball League in the 1996-97 season. (The WNBA started in 1997; Smith didn't make the jump until the ABL folded).

Smith strugged a little bit last year and you have to wonder how many good years of basketball are left in her. She would turn 36 years old in the 2010 season. One can understand that Smith wants to be in a comfortable situation and doesn't want the pressure of starting all over in Tulsa. She's earned the right to go wherever she wants.

Deanna Nolan is a different story. Nolan is only thirty. The last time she missed more than one regular season game is 2003. After her rookie season in 2001, Nolan has started every game for the Shock. She's a four-time All-Star and one of those players that is capable of dropping 30 points on you every night. Trust me, you want Deanna Nolan playing for your team. Mike Cound, Tweety's agent, states that "[Nolan] is under no contractual obligation to compete for Tulsa or any other WNBA team at this time".

So why is Nolan threatening not to come and play for Tulsa? You can choose four reasons - pick whichever one satisfies you the most.

1) She's exhausted. The years of playing in Europe in winter and the United States in the summer have just worn her out. She needs a year of rest.

2) Nolan has a Russian passport. The Russians want to compete for the FIBA World Championships in 2010. Her home team, Ekaterinburg, is making it worth her while ($$) to hold out.

3) She doesn't want to play for Nolan Richardson. Not that Richardson isn't a nice man if you get to know him, but his system is called "Forty Minutes of Hell" for a good reason. Nolan doesn't want to wipe herself out during the WNBA season.

4) (Fill in the other reason).

E3/2009 - USA Women's National Team 78, Ekaterinburg 63

This picture made the USA Basketball front page.

Powered by a 23-0 run over the second and third quarters and a 20 point game from Angel McCoughtry, the USA Women's National Team swept the Ekaterinburg International Invitational with a 78-63 victory over their hosts, powerful Russian Superleague A team UMMC Ekaterinburg.

The box score is here. A write-up of the game will probably be forthcoming on the USA Basketball site.

The Four Factors of the game:

Field goal percentage: USA 47.7 percent, Ekaterinburg 30.0 percent. I'm surprise that the USA only won by 15 points.
Turnovers: Ekaterinburg 15, USA 16. Fairly even.
Offensive rebound percentage: Ekaterinburg 30.6 percent, USA 29.0 percent. Ekaterinburg had 15 offensive boards compared to the USA's nine.
Free throws: Ekaterinburg 15-for-23, USA 13-for-14.

And now, let's look at the performances from each team:

Ekaterinburg

Sandrine Gruda: 15 points and 4 rebounds from the Connecticut Sun forward of French nationality.
Celine Dumerc: 10 points, 6 rebounds.
Ann Wauters: 9 points, 5 rebounds from the Silver Stars player of Belgian nationality. 3-for-13 shooting.
Svetlana Abrosimova: This Connecticut graduate and eight-year WNBA veteran scored 6 points.
Asjha Jones: 6 points, 5 rebounds. Jones is a starter for the Connecticut Sun as well.

USA Women's National Team

Angel McCoughtry: 20 points, 6 rebounds on 9-for-15 shooting. Four turnovers.
Swin Cash: 13 points, 6 rebounds. 6-for-9 shooting.
Tina Charles: 10 points, 8 rebounds for the Connecticut senior.
Sylvia Fowles: 5 points, 12 rebounds.

McCoughtry Off To Russia for October Tournament

From USA Basketball via the Hartford Courant and John Altavilla:

"After training for six days in Washington, D.C., 2009-12 USA Basketball Women's National Team members and Olympic gold medalists Sue Bird (Seattle Storm), Sylvia Fowles (Chicago Sky) and Candace Parker (Los Angeles Sparks) will lead a USA squad in Russia in the four-team 2009 Ekaterinburg International Invitational. Also selected to play in the Oct. 9-11 tournament were USA National Team hopefuls Swin Cash (Seattle Storm), a 2004 Olympic gold medalist; Tina Charles (University of Connecticut / Jamaica, N.Y.); Shameka Christon (New York Liberty); Candice Dupree (Chicago Sky); Lindsey Harding (Washington Mystics); Asjha Jones (Connecticut Sun); Crystal Langhorne (Washington Mystics); Angel McCoughtry (Atlanta Dream); Renee Montgomery (Minnesota Lynx); and Candice Wiggins (Minnesota Lynx).

Other teams in the tournament will be MKB Euroleasing Sopron (Hungary), USK Praha (Czech Republic) and UMMC Ekaterinburg (Russia). We'll get a real look at how well this new team plays.

Quoteth Geno Auriemma:

"Now we're going to find out if we can take that, transfer it over to game situations and see if I can identify those players who know how to win."

Hint: I think McCoughtry can win.

E2/2009 - Ekaterinburg 68, Ros Casares 61

On the second "friendly" preseason match in a back-to-back weekend of games, Ros Casares fell once again to Ekaterinburg, this time 68-61.

A fairly good writeup of the game is here.

Spectatorship fell off, from about 2000 for the first game to maybe 300 for the second.

Erika de Souza scored 24 points for the Valencians. However, Agnieszka Bibrzycka, the "typographical terror" scored 25 points for the Russian visitors.

I don't even have a box score. I don't think that the league site has one or that the team's web site has one. Maybe it's just as well.

E1/2009 - Ekaterinburg 64, Ros Casares 57

Erika doin' work.

I suppose that Erika de Souza just isn't the kind of person who takes two weeks off. Surprisingly...she played in the pre-season game between Spanish club Ros Casares and Russian club Ekaterinburg, which took place yesterday only a week away from the end of the Atlanta Dream's season.

A writeup of the game is here. The game was in honor of the 10th anniversary of the foundation of Ros Casares. I believe both teams are going to play again today; I'll find out what I can.

Erika de Souza scored 21 points for Ros Casares. I don't think any other major WNBA player played. Anna Montañana wasn't there. None of Ekaterinburg's big guns like Ann Wauters were there. Finding a box score is...well, I can't find it. Then again, it's only an exhibition game.

At least, it should give Erika de Souza a good warm-up.