The time is here. Becky Hammon will leave the San Antonio Silver Stars following Sunday’s game against the Detroit Shock to join Team Russia as they begin their quest for Olympic supremacy with its newest, most-visible citizen in the Stars’ point guard.
David King of the San Antonio Express-News takes a good, long, in-depth look at the diminuative point guard and her struggled to make a name for herself, including her struggles as she decided to join Team Russia for its’ playoff run. One of my favorite parts of the article doesn’t detail Becky’s stateside troubles, but those within her own …read more

(This is my headline from the column I’m talking about in this post… because that’s what they really wanted to write, it’s just too long).
I wanted to show off this column because it touches on a different aspect of the Becky Hammon-Olympics fiasco. Are people really seeing this Russia as the old-school Soviet Union? Is that what’s driving this controversy?
For me, the main question I thought had arisen was simply having Becky play for another country. Why wasn’t there this much of an uproar over minor league baseball players with some small sliver of ancestry playing in the last Olympics …read more

It’s been a week since Becky Hammon announced her intention to play for the Russian National Team in the 2008 Olympics, and there’s been a bit of reaction, which certainly can’t hurt the sport since it’s garnering larger mainstream media attention — but not much.

I came across this article from India about Geethu Anna Jose, a 6-foot-1 center who’s apparently getting interest from some of the WNBA teams, according to an article in the Hindustan Times. It’s an interesting read about a woman from a league that doesn’t get much play when you consider the leagues around the world.
A good performance in the Big V League would propel Geethu closer to fulfilling her dream of playing in the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBA), the most high profile women’s league in the world.
Geethu has already received feelers from WNBA scouts and her performance would strengthen …read more

Prior to signing her new contract, Phoenix Mercury star Diana Taurasi was making about $49,000 per season in the WNBA. But that middling sum is trumped by what she’s making in Europe — as are most WNBA players who play overseas — and that trend is led by Shabtai von Kalmanovic.
But rather than cherry-pick from a pretty great feature, I’ll simply show you to the Los Angeles Times’ Web site.

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(First off, this post needs a hat tip to the newly-found, long-running ChicagoSkyTalk.net)
San Antonio Silver Stars guard Becky Hammon recently gained Russian citizenship and is now able to play for the Russian National Team.
I’m kind of torn on this. To me, one of the things I would most like to accomplish would be to represent my country in something to which I’ve dedicated my life (Olympic journalism, anybody?), but Hammon spends so much time in Russia already, why should it be any different than somebody coming from another country and …read more

The women of Team USA return to the practice tour next week in Spain and head coach Anne Donovan is itching to get back to work, it would seem. From DetroitShock.com:
“I am very excited to resume our training,” said 2008 U.S. Olympic Team head coach Anne Donovan. “We have a chance to compete against the top two professional teams in Spain in March and then travel to Beijing in April and go against five Olympic teams in the test event. These will be the final two times our team will be able to train before the WNBA season begins. I’m …read more

Well, looks like the city of Seattle’s basketball outlook just keeps getting better and better.
The Daily Telegraph is reporting that Lauren Jackson will play in the WNBA this season, taking only a short break (five games, apparently) to prepare for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
It was suggested the Australian captain might sit out the WNBA season to devote herself to the Olympic campaign.
But Jackson’s agent Bruce Kaider said a deal had been struck that satisfied Jackson, Basketball Australia and Seattle. Jackson, who is currently playing in the lucrative Russian league for Spartak, will start the WNBA season for Seattle on …read more

Although most have been good ones, it’s nice to see some other ladies get their run.
Candice Wiggins, Stanford’s stellar shooting guard, had a great profile in the Los Angeles Times.
Ask about her most memorable moment from the Tennessee game and Wiggins doesn’t bring up the game-tying free throws she converted with 1:32 remaining in regulation, the 16-foot jumper she made on the next possession or the steal that led to two more foul shots and a four-point lead with 32 seconds left.
The moment that remains frozen in her mind is when she missed two free throws with 16.9 seconds remaining, …read more

With the end of the year drawing close, we take a brief look back at the Australians and how they performed this year.
Well, The Melbourne Age did, at least.
Of course, there’s All-World Lauren Jackson, but the rest of the Opals starred as well, especially Penny Taylor, who along with teammate Belinda Snell, were part of the WNBA champion Phoenix Mercury.
Opals Penny Taylor and Belinda Snell were members of the title-winning Mercury, who after disposing the Storm overcame Detroit 3-2 in a gruelling finals campaign.
Taylor was named both an All-Star and a member of the All-WNBA First Team, alongside Jackson.
It capped …read more