Vince Marotta's Posts

The 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women will be held next September and October in the Czech Republic, and the Phoenix Mercury are very well represented.

As of now, two players from the WNBA champion Mercury, Diana Taurasi and Cappie Pondexter, will be donning the red, white and blue for Team USA next fall.

FIBA has also conducted the draw for the tournament, and Team USA will participate in Group B, along with France, Greece and Senegal.

The rest of the squad is made up of the following WNBA players: Sue Bird (Seattle), Tamika Catchings (Indiana), Seimone Augustus (Minnesota), Sylvia Fowles (Chicago), Kara Lawson (Sacramento) and Candace Parker (Los Angeles).

UCONN head coach Geno Auriemma will guide the squad, and former Mercury great Jennifer Gillom will serve as one of his assistants. Gillom, who played with Phoenix from 1997 until 2002, is currently the head coach of the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx.

Tamika Catchings missed the first triple double in WNBA Finals history by just one rebound as the Indiana Fever held off the Phoenix Mercury 93-84 in game two of the best-of-five series at U.S. Airways Center.

Catchings, who wasn’t a big factor in game one before fouling out, stepped up her offensive game on Thursday, scoring 19 points while adding 11 assists, 9 rebounds and 2 steals in the win. Ebony Hoffman and rookie Briann January each scored 16 points for Indiana.

League MVP Diana Taurasi led Phoenix with 20 points, but she and her teammates struggled in the shooting department. The Mercury, the highest scoring team in the league, shot just 39% from the field and were held 13 points under their postseason scoring average. Taurasi and Cappie Pondexter combined to shoot just 12 for 38 from the field under constant defensive pressure by WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Catchings and the rest of her Indiana teammates.

With the series tied at 1-1, the festivities now shift to Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Game three is set for Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. Arizona time.

WNBA Finals Game 2 Postgame Audio

Mercury head coach Corey Gaines

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Mercury players Temeka Johnson and Diana Taurasi

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Phoenix Mercury head coach Corey Gaines summed it up best.

“If you didn’t like women’s basketball, I think you do now,” Gaines said after his Phoenix Mercury won game one of the WNBA Finals 120-116 in overtime over the Indiana Fever in what was the highest scoring game in league history.

Cappie Pondexter and Penny Taylor each had 23 points for the Mercury, and newly-crowned league MVP Diana Taurasi added 22 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists in the win.

Indiana All-Star Tamika Catchings, the league’s Defensive Player of the Year, fouled out with 2:42 remaining in the overtime, and Phoenix outscored the Fever 9-4 from that point to put the game away.

Katie Douglas led the Fever with 30 points. Former ASU guard Briann January had 11 points and 7 assists off the bench.

The best-of-five series continues Thursday night with game two at U.S. Airways Center.

Postgame Press Conferences

Mercury Head Coach Corey Gaines

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Mercury Players Cappie Pondexter and Penny Taylor

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Any car on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit.

The New York Red Bulls of the MLS.

The now defunct Miami Hooters of the Arena Football League.

Stephon Marbury’s head tattoo displaying the logo of his shoe company, Starbury.

Arenas, coliseums and stadiums with names like U.S. Cellular Field, American Airlines Arena and Lucas Oil Stadium.

With knowledge of the marriage between business and sports, should the news that the Phoenix Mercury will wear jerseys prominently displayint the logo of Valley-based identity protection company Lifelock shock anyone?

The answer is no.

The new partnership between the Mercury and Lifelock makes sense, especially for the WNBA franchise, which according to reports, hasn’t been profitable in some time. It’s an opportunity for the Mercury to pull in some much-needed revenue, and for Lifelock to continue their creative marketing efforts, which have included CEO Todd Davis brazenly announcing his social security number on television and radio airwaves to demonstrate his belief in his product.

The Mercury were not in the top 5 among WNBA teams in terms of merchandise sales, according to figures released last week. Why not make up for the lag in merchandise sales by having a local company plop down 7 figures to put their logo on a jersey?

I’m curious to see how many Mercury faithful will spend their hard-earned dollars on a Lifelock jersey. My guess is not many.

But I know what you’re thinking. Will we see this in the National Basketball Association, the National Football League, Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League? I would have loved to have heard NBA Commissioner David Stern’s response to that question at this morning’s press conference in New York. That is, if questions were even asked during the conference. Instead we got Bruce Beck’s WNBA preview, and the commissioner challenging Mercury guard Diana Taurasi to a ping pong game.

My answer to the above question is–I don’t think so.

In the four North American major league team sports, the team name, the logo, the colors and the jersey make up a brand all it’s own. Sports uniforms have become part of American fashion, even for those citizens who have never shot a three-pointer or fired a slap shot from the point. I don’t think any NHL, NBA, MLB or NFL franchise would risk cutting into their merchandise sales by slapping a logo of some corporation on their unis.

For example, wouldn’t the Suns replacing their logo on a jersey with, say a Greyhound Bus logo, weaken the Suns’ brand? The Suns have spent 41 years building their brand, and even without a championship to their credit, the brand is very strong, both locally and elsewhere. Plus, the Suns can attract multi-million dollar sponsors without having to offer up the real estate on Steve Nash’s chest. The Mercury and other teams from smaller, less-popular leagues don’t have that option. The Mercury took what they could get, and for that, they deserve some credit.

The major league sports uniform is still sacred territory as far as I’m concerned. I think you’d see some sort of fan mutiny if the Boston Red Sox took the field at Fenway with a giant Dunkin Donuts logo on their uniforms.

But then again, maybe I’m naive.

The Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA will be holding open tryouts for any player interesting in testing their skills to see if they can play at the top level of professional women’s basketball.

The tryouts will happen this Saturday, May 2nd, at 9:00 a.m. at U.S. Airways Center.

Two women will be chosen from the tryouts to participate in preseason workouts with the Mercury.

The opportunity to register costs $100, and interested parties should contact Leslie Factor at 602-514-8370.

For more information, visit the Mercury’s Official Website.

The WNBA Draft unfolded earlier today, and with the 5th overall pick, the Phoenix Mercury selected DeWanna Bonner, a 6-4 guard out of Auburn, who averaged 21 points, and 8.5 rebounds per game for a 30-4 Tigers team that won their first outright regular season SEC championship in 20 years. She was also named a First Team All-American by ESPN.com.

General Manager Ann Meyers Drysdale announced that Bonner was the top player on the Mercury’s draft board, and would have been their selection even if they had the first overall pick.

ASU guard Briann January was selected one spot after Bonner, at #6 overall, by the Indiana Fever.

Auburn guard DeWanna Bonner, a First Team All-American, was selected today by the Phoenix Mercury in the first round, fifth overall, of the WNBA Draft earlier today.

Head coach Corey Gaines was thrilled that Bonner, a player he’s been scouting for two years, was on the board. “She’s definitely going to change the way the WNBA is played because of the way she plays,” Gaines said.

The Mercury didn’t have a 2nd round pick, but did select Sha Brooks, a 5-7 guard out of Florida, who averaged 16.6 points and 4.7 assists per game as a senior last season.

Gaines also discussed the possibility of Lauren Jackson signing on to play with the Mercury this season. Jackson is a 2-time WNBA MVP who has played 8 seasons with the Seattle Storm. Jackson is an unrestricted free agent.

Phoenix Mercury center Tangela Smith will team up with former Suns swingman and current assistant coach Dan Majerle and current Suns guard Leandro Barbosa to form Team Phoenix during the Haier Shooting Stars competition at NBA All-Star Weekend at U.S. Airways Center in Phoenix.

Team San Antonio, comprised of Spurs All-Star Tim Duncan, San Antonio legend David Robinson and Silver Stars’ guard Becky Hammon will defend the title they won a year ago in New Orleans.

The teams must make 6 shots (in order): a 10-foot bank shot from the right-side angle by Player A, a 15-foot shot from the left-side angle by Player B, an NBA 3-point shot from the top of the arc by Player C, and 18-foot shot from the right baseline by Player A, an NBA 3-point shot from the left side-angle by Player B, and finally, a straight on half-court shot by Player C.

Also competing in the contest will be Team Detroit: Pistons’ guard Arron Afflalo, former Pistons’ big man and current head coach of the WNBA’s Detroit Shock Bill Laimbeer, and Shock forward Katie Smith, and Team Los Angeles, made up of Lakers’ guard Derek Fisher, former Laker Michael Cooper, and WNBA All-Star Lisa Leslie.

Team Phoenix comprised of Majerle, former Sun Shawn Marion and Mercury All-Star Diana Taurasi won the competition in 2005.

Haier Shooting Stars

The Phoenix Mercury will get the 5th overall selection in the 2009 WNBA Draft. The Mercury, as one of five non-playoff teams, had a 7.6% chance of landing the number one overall selection.

The Atlanta Dream, who have only one WNBA season under their belt, won the lottery, and will receive the first pick. Washington, Chicago and Minnesota will also pick before the Mercury.

Phoenix also selected guard/forward Sequoia Holmes in the Houston Comets’ dispersal draft. Holmes averaged just over 3 points and 2 rebounds in her rookie season with Houston last year.

Mercury to select fifth in 2009 WNBA Draft [Phoenix Mercury Official Website]
Mercury select Sequoia Holmes in Dispersal Draft [Phoenix Mercury Official Website]

Michele Timms, who played for the original Phoenix Mercury team in 1997 until 2001, is being inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame this weekend in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Timms averaged 7.5 points and 4.8 assists per game in 116 contests with the Mercury.

Full story here.

Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame

Timms’ number retired by Mercury.