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By CUYLER MEADE
Cronkite News
PHOENIX – The Phoenix Mercury’s 2014 WNBA Championship seemed a distant memory as the 2015 season approached. Despite one of the most dominant single seasons by any team in WNBA history a year ago, questions surrounded the team as it began defense of its title.
The Mercury’s all-time great point guard, Diana Taurasi, had announced she would sit out the 2015 season at the request of her Russian Premier League team. In Taurasi the team lost a likely first-ballot Hall of Famer, the WNBA’s second all-time leading scorer, and the Mercury’s vocal leader and floor general, not to mention its leading scorer and distributor.
Compounding the loss of Taurasi would be the absence of 12-year veteran Penny Taylor, a starter every season she was healthy and a three-time All-Star. Taylor, who is sitting out the season for personal reasons, had been with the Mercury longer than any player but Taurasi, joining the team in the point guard’s rookie season of 2004. Her leadership would be missed as much as her court presence.
After Taurasi, the Mercury’s most important player in 2014 was Brittney Griner, the 6-foot-8-inch phenomenon in the center of the floor. The 2014 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, she led the Mercury in rebounds and blocks, finishing the season with more blocks than eight entire WNBA teams. But Griner’s offseason was turbulent, including an arrest following a physical altercation with her then-fiancée, now-ex-wife, Glory Johnson. The WNBA suspended Griner for the first seven games of the season in response to the incident, leaving the Mercury without their anchor on defense and arguably their best player after Taurasi for the first month of the season.
Now, with the All-Star break approaching following Tuesday night’s game against the Los Angeles Sparks, and the team in second place in the Western Conference, it appears the Mercury have found answers.
Replacing Taurasi
How do you replace a legend? The simple answer is that it can’t be done, and it’s true. Taking Taurasi off the Mercury isn’t that different than taking LeBron James off the Cavaliers. A team doesn’t simply replace a player like Taurasi.
But at 9-6 entering Tuesday’s game, the Mercury are not exactly reeling without their leader. They are firmly in competition for the top of the Western Conference, sitting three games behind the Minnesota Lynx. Though they’ve already lost more games this season than they did all of 2014, when they went 29-5, the Mercury are beating good teams and losing close games. They look like serious contenders.
Unsurprisingly, it takes more than one woman to try to step into Taurasi’s size-13s.
“Leilani (Mitchell)’s been playing well for us,” said forward DeWanna Bonner of the point guard who replaced Taurasi in the starting lineup. “We’ve got the Spanish guard Marta (Xargay) who’s been very impressive since she’s been here. It’s hard to fill those shoes so everybody’s just throwing in a piece of a puzzle.”
Bonner has been a huge piece of the puzzle as well, especially in replacing Taurasi’s scoring output. The seventh-year pro increased her points per game by nearly seven, from 10.4 in 2014 to 17.1 in 2015. She’s also picked up some of the slack on the boards, grabbing 6.3 per game compared to 4.1 last season.
“Everybody’s having to step up,” said Griner, who’s increased her output as well. “Everybody has to pull a little extra weight.”
Griner has somehow improved on her incredible 2014, blocking more shots (4.2 per game this season compared to 3.7 last year) and scoring more points (18.0, up from 15.6). But she is quick to point out a less-heralded group of contributors who have helped fill in the cracks left by Taurasi’s absence.
“I want to say big ups to our bench,” Griner said. “They come in and they give us really valuable minutes every night. They come in, they compete and it’s not like we put in the people off the bench and it’s like, ‘Ah hell we gotta pull them out’.”
The bench, which includes five new players, has backed up Griner’s impression with numbers. Contributing nearly 20 more minutes per game, the unit has scored almost four more points per game over 2014, an 18 percent increase.
Even with all the strides they’ve taken, replacing a player like Taurasi is a constant, evolving effort.
“It’s a work in progress,” said Sandy Brondello, Mercury head coach and vice president of player personnel. “We’re getting there. When you lose one of the smartest players who gets other players involved, I think it’s hurt Candice Dupree a little bit in the pick and rolls, but also (Griner). (Taurasi) is just so smart, and she reads things before they happen. But look, the other girls, they’re getting better, so we just need to make sure we stay together and stay the course, and good things will happen.”
Weathering Griner’s Absence
The Mercury went 3-4 to open the season without their star center, but they played better than their record might indicate. The Mercury cumulatively outscored their opponents over that seven-game stretch by one point.
They also tallied impressive wins over some of the WNBA’s top teams, including the West-leading Minnesota Lynx and the East-leading New York Liberty.
Perhaps more importantly, they’re 6-2 since Griner’s return. Despite getting off to a late start, Griner has been dominant.
Griner’s 4.3 blocks per game lead the WNBA by a wide margin. The next closest is New York’s Kiah Stokes, with just 2.6 blocks per game. Griner also leads the Mercury in points per game and rebounds per game. Her field goal percentage, which also leads the league, has increased for the third consecutive season, up to 59.3% after shooting an already impressive 57.8% last season, a number that would still lead the league if she were shooting that way right now.
In spite of playing without the all-time great point guard she played with in her first two seasons, Griner appears to have stepped up her game as she matures into one of the WNBA’s premier players.
The Leadership Vacuum
Without Taurasi or Taylor, the Mercury’s new veterans have risen to the top. Bonner and Dupree, in their seventh and tenth seasons, respectively, have filled the void left by the absent leaders.
“It’s a joint effort but for sure. (Bonner) and Candice have really stepped up,” Griner said. “They’ve really stepped up a lot as leadership and that vocalness that we don’t really have (without Taurasi) and Penny in here.”
Griner, still in just her third season as a pro, says she’s let the older players do most of the talking.
“I talk when I know for sure what I’m talking about,” Griner said. “This year I’ve stepped up and I’m speaking a little more, but not too much.”
Bonner includes 11-year veteran Monique Currie among those who she says have taken the reigns of the team in the locker room and on game days. Mistie Bass, in her ninth professional season, is also among the loudest voices at Mercury practices.
“Everybody kind of just pitches in and says what they need to say,” Bonner said. “It’s kind of working out so far so hopefully it continues to the second half.”
