The rumour mill - Opals coach and Sheryl Swoopes to be traded?

Thursday 27 January 2005

Ok so it's messageboard fare but perhaps with a bit more substance than most...

Jan Stirling to be appointed Opals coach till the 2006 Commonwealth Games

"What's the point?" comes to mind. If BA wants to reappoint Jan, why not for the full 4 years to Beijing? Unless they're worried about Carrie's WNBA commitments or they're waiting for Phil Brown. BA is just fucked.

Houston to trade Sheryl Swoopes?

If true, I'm not particularly surprised. Teams do jettison their star players occasionally in their twilight in an attempt to rebuild and reload. It's been seen in the Houston MNBA team - Hakeem Olajuwon anyone?

The problem is finding an ideal trading partner. Ideally, the team that acquires Sheryl will be close to contending but need that extra piece to get there. So that rules out the lottery teams and the middling playoff teams. Seattle could use a Swoopes-type but they don't have anything to give (LJ or Sue Bird - yeah right). Connecticut is in the same boat and I doubt the Comets would want what they have. New York needs a point guard and a banger - not another perimeter player. The Comets may want to trade to an East team to prevent Sheryl from burning them too much in conference matchups but no East team would really want to take her (or cannot provide something that the Comets want)

Sacramento could really use a Swoopes-type and they're getting old as well so they may give this serious consideration. The problem I see with Sacramento is that they don't have what Houston really needs (good guards). Sacramento have a bunch of good bit players but it's nothing that Houston would get too excited over.

Minnesota has some interesting young players Houston might be interested in. Maybe one of the young posts, Abrosimova, Lassiter, Kristi Harrower (I'm not suggesting the Lynx give up all four). Sheryl would add a veteran presence to a young lineup that really needs it. However, the young'uns could be considered iffy prospects and Van isn't exactly well known for developing players.

Funnily enough, I think L.A has the best trading potential. Milton is reportedly wanting to get out of L.A (though with MCoop gone, that may have changed) and there's also the possibility of Mabika (for salary and position matching) and Dixon whom L.A has been trying to flog for a while. While Dixon is overrated, she is better at guard than what the Comets currently have! No doubt L.A will feel their championship clock ticking with LL the wrong side of 30 and they may get over the edge with Sheryl's smarts and skills. So I can see L.A seriously considering this.