A
WNBA team, part of the league's first
expansion in
1998. They are one of the worst teams in the WNBA, but their
dreadful on-court play has been eclipsed by
scandal.
Out of the frying pan and into the fire, as it were.
First, let's talk about basketball. The Shock
suck. Since a 17-13 finish in their first season, the Shock's record has worsened every year — 15-17 (
1999), 14-18 (
2000), 10-22 (
2001). They keep on losing their star players: Rebounder
Cindy Brown retired after injuries and
Jennifer Azzi was traded to the
Utah Starzz in the 2000
preseason.
Edwina Brown is probably the only "name" player left, and she
ain't much of a name. This team won't crack the playoffs for a while.
Now, onto the scandal: In September of 2001,
Sports Illustrated reported that Shock players were quite upset about a
romantic relationship between coach
Nancy Lieberman and point guard
Anna DeForge during the 2000 season.
Lieberman was dismissed as coach in the 2000-01 offseason, and it's quite likely that the rumored relationship caused that. According to
SI, other players on the team complained to Shock president
Tom Wilson that the relationship was unprofessional. Even worse was the fact that DeForge wasn't a very good
point guard yet continued to start. (Azzi, the player traded in the 2000 preseason,
was a tremendous point guard.)
I don't know if Lieberman and DeForge were actually dating, but in this situation, you're
guilty by suspicion. A
coach has to be above the
reproach of her players, or else there's
mutiny. Given that there have been
out-of-the-closet lesbians in professional basketball, it's not
appropriate for a coach to live with her point guard for a month, as Lieberman admitted to doing. (She also said that there was no
sex going on, which isn't entirely
believable.)
Anyway ... Lieberman's gone and DeForge is gone. But the Shock still stink.
6/19/2002 update: Lieberman's replacement,
Greg Williams, was fired after starting the 2002 season 0-10. The new coach is former
Detroit Piston NBA player
Bill Laimbeer.
Sources/related sites:
http://www.freep.com/index/shock.htm
http://www.geocities.com/colosseum/court/7612/
http://www.freep.com/sports/shock/rosey6_20010906.htm
http://detroit.about.com/library/weekly/aa051002a.htm
http://www.wnba.com
Editor's note: The Shock won the WNBA title in 2003, 2006 and 2008, then moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma and became the Tulsa Shock in 2009.