Nolan ain't rolling

I heard a rumor that former Strong high school coach Betty Burge was offered an opportunity to be on Nolan Richardson's staff at the WNBA's Tulsa Shock. Coach Burge, if you're reading this, if you have any sort of positive feelings for Coach Richardson at all, please help the man. He's been on the job for less than a year and is already the punch line to more jokes than Tiger Woods.
Richardson admitted he didn't know much about the league or women's basketball when he took the job. How silly of me to think he would hire someone who did know something about the league and women's basketball. Brother man ain't got a clue.
He just traded his best player Plenette Pierson to New York for Tiffany Jackson. I know. It means nothing to most people. In WNBA circles, this would be like the Lakers trading Kobe Bryant for, I don't know, ME.
It's the second idiotic move he's made since he arrived.
By the way, Marion Jones, arguably the worst player in the entire league, is still on his roster. Why would you keep a 34-year-old rookie on the end of your bench and cut a 22-year-old rookie (Amanda Thompson) who played at the University of Oklahoma. There goes that fan base.
Nolan inherited the old Detroit Shock, which was one of the best franchises in the history of the WNBA. When the Shock was moved to Tulsa, several star players, including Deanna Nolan, Katie Smith and Taj McWilliams-Franklin refused to report. Smith and McWilliams-Franklin signed with other teams and Deanna Nolan, still under contract with the Shock is sitting out the season.
None of that is Nolan Richardson's fault. What is his fault is a clear lack of knowledge of the league's players. He could've gotten two solid players for Pierson or a draft pick. He got neither. He could've gotten a lot more for Shavonte Zellous, another former Detroit guard who he gave away.
He insisted his brand of 40 minutes of Hell would work in the WNBA. Now, he says it won't work until he gets his kind of players to fit into his system. Unless those players include Corliss Williamson and Todd Day, I think he's in way over his head.

T-spoon delivers

I believe Teresa Weatherspoon goes into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame today. I guess this is a good time to name drop. I hugged T-spoon a couple weeks ago.
Hee! Hee!
Actually, I wasn't exactly the Lone Ranger. Pretty much everybody who was in attendance at the AmerCable/News-Times Scholar Athlete Awards Banquet got either a hug or an autograph from Weatherspoon, who is the coach at Louisiana Tech.
I was excited when she agreed to be our special guest speaker. I've heard her talk many times on television and she's always excited and upbeat, even animated. She's one of those people that not only grabs your attention, she chokes it until you can't breathe.
As a speaker, she was even better than I thought she'd be.
Her stories were personal and delivered messages that were right on point with the audience. Of all the thing she talked about, perhaps my favorite were the words "if" and "no" and how important they are in anyone's life.
If you work hard and if you do what you're supposed to do you can be anything you want.
Of course, the ability to say "no" is a skill often not learned until adulthood. That one little two-letter word can sometimes be the difference between life and death.
I was a big T-spoon fan when she was a player. She mentored my favorite player - Becky Hammon and still has the WNBA's signature shot - a three-quarter court game-winning heave at Houston in the finals.
As a coach, I must admit, I'm not the biggest Lady Techster fan. But, I'm a bigger fan now than I was before she came to El Dorado. Before she left, I told her, hopefully the next time I talk to her it'll be about one of our area girls signing with Louisiana Tech.
She said, "let's do that."
All I can say is, "we'll see T-spoon. In the meantime, keep delivering that positive message in the passionate way you brought it at our banquet and you won't have any trouble convincing young girls to come and play for you. Congratulations on the Hall of Fame."