SUNDAY, AUGUST 1, 2010
KLMNO PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL Richardson’s rocky road
Former college coach takes over WNBA’s Shock and remakes it by purging players Mystics vs. Shock
by Katie Carrera Days after he traded away near-
ly every player with ties to the sto- ried Detroit franchise that relo- cated to Tulsa before the 2010 sea- son, Nolan Richardson reaffirmed his commitment to building a winning WNBA team out of an abysmal first year. Regardless of a 4-21 record and the steady stream of trades he’s engineered to search for “his players” since being named the Tulsa Shock’s general manager and coach, the outspoken Rich- ardson is more determined than ever to make the long-term result of his foray into women’s basket- ball a successful one. “This team has fired me up more than I ever thought it could,” said Richardson, now 68 and eight years removed from the University of Arkansas. “At the be- ginning, I hoped I could get in here, give them a program and step back in a year or two. Now, I’m more fired up than I’ve ever been in my coaching career. I see what I’m missing to win [in the WNBA] and that gives me more energy to win. There’s building to be done here and I want to put it together.”
Richardson’s coaching success is well documented, as is his fall from college basketball’s grace. He won 500 games and is the only coach to ever win an NCAA tour- nament (1994 with Arkansas), a National Invitational Tourna- ment and a junior college nation- al championship. But after he lashed out and alleged racism in a 2002 news conference, Richard- son was dismissed from his posi- tion after 17 years with the Razor- backs. That was the last time he coached in the United States until agreeing to lead the Shock this summer after the organization was sold and moved to Tulsa from Detroit, where the team won three championships and was among the WNBA’s perennial contenders. That Richardson never coached women or at the profes- sional level before, raised doubts
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“This team has fired me up more than I ever thought it could,” said Tulsa Shock Coach and General Manager Nolan Richardson, 68.
about how much the team could achieve. Several of Detroit’s most prominent players — Katie Smith, Cheryl Ford, Deanna Nolan and Taj McWilliams-Franklin — opted to not make the switch, leaving a shell of a team in Tulsa that many including Richardson called “less than an expansion team.” The Shock still retains the rights to Nolan, but she has chosen not to play this season. Smith, who was a free agent and will help the Mys- tics (14-10) host Tulsa on Sunday at Verizon Center, said she didn’t want to go through the transition with a coach completely unfamil- iar with the women’s game this late in her career. “At that point, I was just scrap-
ing, trying to get players into camp that might fit,” Richardson said. “There were some players that didn’t play a whole lot on someone else’s team and they get new life coming to something dif- ferent. I’ve just tried to find peo- ple that will fit into what I’m try- ing to do.”
Richardson has attempted to install his “40 minutes of hell” system that relies on players’ in-
GOLF ROUNDUP Tseng leads by four shots in Southport
Women’s British Open Associated Press
Yani Tseng shot her third
straight 4-under-par 68 on Satur- day, and will take a four-stroke lead into the final round of the Women’s British Open in South- port, England. The 21-year-old star from Tai- wan took advantage of the short, 472-yard, par-5 final hole by hit- ting an 8-iron to within 20 feet with her second shot. She rolled in the eagle putt to finish off her round, doubling her cushion over Australian Katherine Hull. “I played really well again,”
said Tseng, who is at 12 under and has just one bogey through 54 holes. “I really enjoyed the big crowd out there. They clap on ev- ery shot and I showed them my big smile all the way around.” Hull played a flawless third round, including five straight birdies to finish with a 66. The Australian made only one birdie on the way out, at the long sixth, when she hit a pitching wedge to within 3 feet. Four straight pars on the back nine fol- lowed, before a 5-iron to within six feet on the short 15th started her run of birdies.
She followed with a gap wedge to within 12 feet for birdie at No. 15, and a 5-iron to 20 feet the following hole. She got up and down out of a bunker at 17, then two-putted from the back of the green for another birdie on the short, par-5 finishing hole. “I really love links golf. I just wish we played more,” Hull said. “I played pretty well all day and got a hot putter at the end.” South Korean In-Kyung Kim moved into third place at 6 under with a 68. She picked up three birdies on the front side, dropped a shot at the 10th, got it back at the 16th. Her roller coaster round included another bogey at No. 17, but an eagle at 18 left her smiling. Birdies at the last two holes moved American Brittany Linci- come into fourth place at 5 under, and there were five players an- other stroke back.
Hull second entering final round of
stincts to create pressure defense and a furious pace. Tulsa went 3-3 to start the 2010 campaign before dropping 12 straight. The team continues to struggle with a style unlike anything the players have executed before. The Shock is second-best in the
league when it comes to forcing steals (10.12 per game) but it gives up more turnovers (18.68) than any other team and its opponents shoot at a league-high 46.4 per- cent overall and a scorching 40.5 percent from behind the three- point arc. “Most of us are used to so much
structure, with so many sets and reads that when you’re free to read off each other it’s an ad- justment,” Shock guard Shanna Crossley said. “This year has al- most been one of deprogramming each individual player and every- thing we’ve known. But if we can continue to get people to buy into this system,we can be dangerous. Just because it’s rough right now doesn’t mean it won’t work.” Heading into Sunday’s contest, the Shock has lost 18 of its last 19 and is close to the dubious honor
of the worst winning percentage ever — a mark set by the Mystics, who went 3-27 in 1998, their inau- gural season. Richardson has completed more transactions than any other WNBA team and the Shock has undergone a con- stant rotation of players through trades, injuries and even a stint where four were stricken with a staph infection. “We’re a team trying to create chemistry with each other and get a feel for each other, and when there were injuries or a trade and someone gets yanked from the family, it’s tough,” said Crossley, who is one of only five players re- maining on the roster from the season opener. “I don’t think that I’ve played with the same 10 other people on the floor for more than one week,” Crossley added. “With all the changes we’re dealing with, then we try to compete with teams that have been together for five or six years, it’s tough.” Eventually most of the remain- ing members of the Detroit squad —Shavonte Zellous (now with In- diana), Plenette Pierson (New York), Kara Braxton (Phoenix) and Alexis Hornbuckle (Minneso- ta) — were traded away. Rich- ardson says he believes the team he has now can compete. Players and league officials wondered if Richardson’s plan was to purge the team of Detroit ties all along. “When I came in I had no in- tention of doing any of this,” Rich- ardson said. “I knew there was work to do, but I made my Detroit people — Plenette and Hornbuck- le — captains. You don’t make people captains and plan on mov- ing them out. But you have to have a community and start a team that wants to be here. If they didn’t want to be here, I couldn’t keep them here, not if I wanted to build a team that would stick to- gether win, lose or draw.”
carrerak@washpost.com
S BASEBALL TRADE ROUNDUP
In final flurry, Yankees add Berkman, Wood
Cards get Westbrook, Dodgers acquire Lilly, Braves deal for Ankiel
by Ben Walker
Former all-stars Jake West- brook, Ted Lilly, Ryan Ludwick and Kerry Wood were traded Saturday as pennant contend- ers played a game of beat-the- clock. Lance Berkman went to the
World Series champion New York Yankees after rejecting the Chicago White Sox. Octavio Do- tel, Rick Ankiel, Kyle Farns- worth, Chad Qualls and Ryan Theriot also joined the playoff chase. The swaps came as clubs
scrambled before the 4 p.m. EDT deadline for making trades without waivers. It was a day full of deals between haves and have-nots — veterans for prospects, mostly. The NL Central-leading St.
Louis Cardinals were the prime players in a three-team trade, getting Westbrook from Cleve- land and sending Ludwick to NL Central-leading San Diego. “I’m excited to go to a club
that’s contending for a playoff spot and pitch in some mean- ingful ballgames,” Westbrook said. “That’s why you play the game, to get a chance to play in the playoffs and I look forward to doing that.” The Yankees plucked Wood from Cleveland, shortly after finishing off the deal to get Berkman from Houston. The Astros sent $4 million and Berkman, the Yankees’ new des- ignated hitter, for reliever Mark Melancon and minor league in- fielder Jimmy Paredes. The AL Central-leading White Sox had a deal in place for Berkman, General Manager Kenny Williams said. But be- cause Berkman is a 10-and-5 player — 10 years in the majors, the last five with the same team — the slugger could turn it
down. Instead, he chose the Yankees. In other deals:
NL East-leading Atlanta ac- quired outfielder Rick Ankiel, reliever Kyle Farnsworth and cash from Kansas City for pitch- ers Tim Collins and Jesse Cha- vez and outfielder Gregor Blanco. The Los Angeles Dodgers, seven games behind San Diego, got the left-handed Lilly, The- riot and about $2.5 million from the Chicago Cubs for in- fielder Blake DeWitt and minor league right-handers Kyle Smit and Brett Wallach. The Dodgers also boosted their bullpen by obtaining Dotel from Pitts- burgh. AL West-leading Texas trad- ed catcher Jarrod Saltalamac- chia to Boston for pitcher Ro- man Mendez, first baseman Chris McGuiness, a player to be named later and cash. Tampa Bay got Qualls from Arizona for a player to be named. The 31-year-old righty reliever was 1-4 with 12 saves and an 8.29 ERA. San Francisco sent pitcher Joe Martinez and outfielder John Bowker to Pittsburgh for left-handed reliever Javier Ló- pez. Florida got lefty reliever Will Ohman from Baltimore for mi- nor league righty Rick Vanden- Hurk.
Earlier this week, Houston
traded ace Roy Oswalt to Phila- delphia, Cleveland sent out- fielder Austin Kearns to the Yankees, Kansas City moved outfielder Scott Podsednik to the Dodgers and Minnesota got All-Star reliever Matt Capps from Washington. Teams still can make trades for the rest of the season, but it gets more tricky. Players must first pass through waivers, meaning any club can get an opportunity to claim them be- fore a deal is done. Deals must be completed before Aug. 31 for a player to be eligible for the postseason with his new team. — Associated Press
D3
DAVID CANNON/GETTY IMAGES
Yani Tseng of Taiwan tees off on the second hole during her third straight round of four-under 68 at the Women’s British Open.
Cristie Kerr’s even-par 72 put her alongside fellow American Christina Kim. Norway’s Suzann Pettersen, South Korea’s Hee-Ky- ung Seo and Japan’s Momoko Ue- da also are at 4 under. Earlier, American Morgan
Pressel equaled the course record with a 7-under 65 to move to 3 un- der for the tournament. U.S. SENIOR OPEN: Fred Cou- ples shot a 5-under 65 for a share of the lead in Sammamish, Wash., feeding off a raucous hometown crowd hoping the native son can win his first U.S. Golf Association championship. Couples matched Bernhard
Langer (68) at 5 under at tree- lined Sahalee Country Club, with Langer birdieing the final hole to pull even. They are the only play- ers under par after three rounds. Couples shot a 4-under 31 on the front nine, making birdies at Nos. 2, 5, 7 and 9 and holing a bunker shot on the sixth to save par. He added a birdie at the 16th to post the best round of the week. Langer had a streak of 20 holes without a bogey snapped at the 12th, but rebounded with the birdie at No. 18. PGA TOUR: Jeff Overton over- came a tough start to shoot 4- under 66 for a three-stroke lead entering the final round of the in- augural Greenbrier Classic in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. Overton made five birdies on
the back nine of the Old White course to move to 18 under. D.A. Points three-putted the par-5 17th for bogey, finished with a 61 and is alone in second at 15 under, and J.B. Holmes couldn’t convert a 10-footer for eagle at No. 17 and shot 60. Boo Weekley shot a 67 to reach 13 under, and Holmes is in a four- way tie for fourth with Jonathan Byrd (64), Brendon de Jonge (65) and Jimmy Walker (67) at 12 un- der for the tournament. Double heart transplant recipi- ent Erik Compton, seeking his first top-10 PGA Tour finish, is among three players at 11 under.
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