To add to the drama:
ATLANTA — The Atlanta Dream suspended WNBA scoring leader Angel McCoughtry indefinitely on Tuesday for violating team rules.
Dream spokeswoman Tonya Allene said that new coach and general manager Fred Williams told McCoughtry before a game against Tulsa that she was suspended.
It was unclear if McCoughtry’s feuding with former coach-GM Marynell Meadors, who was fired on Monday, played a role in Williams’ decision.
More on Liz Cambage's decision not to return to the Shock this season:
"I did not have any inkling that this would happen until this morning when I spoke to her agent," (team president Steve) Swetoha said by phone Tuesday afternoon. "She said, 'She's fatigued, and if you don't mind, she'd like to take the rest of the summer off.'"
If they don't mind? Heck, why would they mind? She's just the Shock's No. 2 draft pick from 2011 around whom they are hoping to build the franchise. Tulsa has been marketing her return for Thursday's home game against the Los Angeles Sparks ever since the London Games ended.
Well, so much for that promotion. But the thing is, Swetoha really didn't sound angry … more just tired, a little sad and frustrated. And yet, not to the extent of saying anything negative about Cambage, nor the Shock's prospects for the future.
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2 comments:
Cambage's decision brings laserlike clarity to the WNBA's primary problem: It is does not pay major league salaries and thus is not the priority for any of its players. The NBA, the English Premier League is soccer, Major League Baseball all lure the best players from wherever their sport is played and pay them salaries I still find hard to believe. The WNBA still has women making $35,000 and sees its top players living like Russian rock stars during the real basketball season and playing in the WNBA, if they are American, out of a sense of duty to helping their sport grow in their home country. Until the WNBA pays enough to be the players' "day job" the Cambages of the world will come and go as they please. It's kind of reminiscent of World Team Tennis.... most of the best players are out there, but it isn't their primary focus.
This is clearly a dead issue a dozen years after the fact, but this is why I was upset to see the ABL fail in the face of the the NBA's hobby league. No doubt, the ABL contributed to their own downfall, but at least they tried to put on a basketball league in basketball season with low-end "major league" salaries for their players.
In business, you get what you pay for and the WNBA's salary structure is not paying for Tulsa>Rest or even Seattle>Dynamo Moscow.
I am glad I waited until after last nights Tulsa game before again writing the WNBA for allowing teams to "tank" in order to get a better chance for the #1 draft pick.
Even though Cambage decided not to come back, the Shock played hard and are trying to win.
The WNBA is really going through some NBA issues and I hope they turn things around quick before they become the ABL.
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