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Jun 5, 2023
Diana Taurasi is an impassioned and
opinionated person, and when a person offering opinions also has the gravitas
of being on the short list of the greatest players in the history of her sport,
which is where Taurasi sits, there is a bit of an E.F.
Hutton impact: People listen.
Last Thursday, during a Phoenix
Mercury post-practice media availability, Taurasi offered her
thoughts on a variety of topics, including a really interesting answer about
broadcasters making comparisons when it comes to women’s college basketball
and WNBA players.
After watching a recording of Taurasi’s five-minute session, I transcribed the
media-centric part and sent out the following on Twitter:
The tweet as of this writing has 750,000 impressions and
produced a lot of thoughtful answers (a rare moment on Twitter these days). I
wanted to explore Taurasi’s thoughts further because I thought she made a
really astute observation and one worth thinking about. As someone who has
covered women’s basketball and is a huge consumer and admirer of the game, I am
positive in some past pieces I made a comparison of a women’s player to a men’s
player, and I definitely recall one story I wrote for Sports Illustrated where I quoted Maya Moore comparing Breanna Stewart to
Kevin Durant.
Both the WNBA and women’s college basketball are at places in
their evolution where comparisons of today’s players can certainly be made to
other players or players from the past. So over the weekend, I reached out to
Rebecca Lobo, the Hall of Famer who has called women’s basketball for ESPN
since 2004, and showed her Taurasi’s comments.
“I think Diana’s point is fair,” Lobo said. “There’s now 27
years of WNBA players to use as comparison for the current crop. This is
something I think about every year when preparing for the WNBA Draft. We always
want to find a player’s comp to someone who has had success already in the
league. I can usually come up with a former WNBA player or a mash-up of a few
players. That being said, there are players like Caitlin (Clark) who have
traits that might compare better to an NBA player.
This season, Ryan Ruocco and I talked a lot about Caitlin’s get-ahead passes
being the best since Sue Bird. Holly Rowe talked about Caitlin’s fire and
competitiveness resembling Diana’s. But her range? We haven’t seen anything
like that consistently in the women’s game. I’ve been in it (WNBA) since the
beginning, and what Caitlin is consistently doing in that regard has not been
done before. So I think Steph (Curry) is the fair comparison point on that.
“Who is the comparison for Alyssa Thomas?” Lobo continued. “The way she
rebounds and leads the break, LeBron (James) might be the best comp. Who is the
best for (Stewart)? It might be KD. Or is it Lauren Jackson? Maybe both should
be mentioned? But should broadcasters of the women’s game try to make
comparisons to other women? Yes. Just like current college players, when asked
who their favorite team or pro player is, should probably say a WNBA player or
W team. That will happen as the game continues to grow. There is a
responsibility on broadcasters to know the history of the game in order to make
those comparisons. And to know when there isn’t one.”
One person on Twitter to respond earliest to my post was a user
named Nick Davies based in the Portland area. He offered a thought that echoed many of
the good-faith comments. “I understand what she’s saying, but in order to grow
the audience, I think you need to make references a casual fan would
understand,” Davies wrote. “But maybe it’s about mentioning both. She rebounds
like (Dennis) Rodman and (Rebekkah) Brunson.”
There were readers who followed up on Davies’ comment and suggested the comparison to a popular NBA player might
prompt someone who doesn’t watch much WNBA or women’s college
basketball to look up the women’s player as a result of a men’s player being
mentioned. Monica McNutt is part of the post-Lobo generation of former women’s
basketball players who now seamlessly switch between calling WNBA and women’s
college basketball to the NBA. McNutt is a big part of ESPN’s women’s
basketball coverage as well as a studio analyst for the Knicks on
MSG Networks. She also covers the NBA Draft for ESPN.
“I think (Taurasi) is on to something, and it’s a challenge I’m
personally down to accept,” said McNutt, a captain at Georgetown who led
the Hoyas to a Sweet 16 appearance as a
senior in 2011. “The recent boom in women’s sports consumption makes her
comments timely. As little as three to five years ago, frankly, I don’t think
her comments track as well or create the same dialogue. Caitlin Clark being compared to Steph Curry is pretty self-explanatory,
as is Angel Reese rebounding like Dennis
Rodman. It’s an easy conversation starter that a casual fan would pick up. I
know during our women’s Final Four coverage, we also made comparisons of
aspects of Caitlin’s game to (Taurasi) and Sue Bird and Angel’s rebounding to
Sylvia Fowles or Teresa Weatherspoon with the attitude and flair.”
Cindy Brunson is the play-by-play voice of the Mercury with a
long and distinguished career calling women’s basketball for the Pac-12
Networks and FS1 among other entities. She was a studio host with ESPN for 13
years, with hundreds of hours as a SportsCenter anchor. She said the women’s
game has evolved enough to invite its own comparisons.
“The level of competition has increased to the point where the
women’s game can easily celebrate its own history,” Brunson said. “Let’s
embrace that. I’m so lucky. I sit alongside Hall of Famer Ann Meyers Drysdale,
a pioneer who is a walking encyclopedia when it comes to all of the greats in
women’s basketball. We’re intentional about tying the legacies of amazing
hoopers from previous generations to the incredible product in front of us
today. When we see Caitlin Clark, we compare her to Diana Taurasi. The swagger,
the lethal range from 3, and the court vision is vintage DT. Not to say we
ignore the NBA. We shouldn’t. Mercury players serve as broadcasters on Suns games
and as a result, find themselves wanting to bring elements of Devin Booker’s or Kevin Durant’s game into their own. They’re
fun to watch and our players are too —we talk about that connectivity on our
telecasts.”
Something I wonder about is whether the time will come in my
lifetime when NBA players are compared to women’s players during a men’s
college game or an NBA game when it comes to style of play, competitive drive
or something similar. That’s not something I can remember hearing on a men’s
basketball broadcast. McNutt, who crosses into each world, believes it will
happen in time.
“As recently as last year, when Jaden Ivey (whose mother, Niele Ivey,
coaches Notre Dame and was a great college point
guard) was drafted to the Pistons,
his very unique relationship with women’s basketball was part of the fabric of
his story,” McNutt said. “He’s said he emulated parts of his game after Arike Ogunbowale and Skylar
Diggins. Paolo Banchero, last year’s No. 1 pick has
talked about the influence of his mom as a hooper. Tyrese Haliburton has talked about
growing up loving women’s ball because his dad coached girls. This can happen
especially as more women’s hoopers are becoming cultural icons like this major
hits tour Angel Reese is on. So even folks that don’t work in both men’s and
women’s sports can’t miss it.
“I don’t think not comparing guys to women is a slight, though.
Historically, there’s 50 more years’ worth of NBA players to compare a guy to.
But it can be done and will, and I think this generation of hooper and hoop fan
is more into just ball no matter who’s playing than their predecessors. So
they’ll be even more receptive.”
Brunson pointed out something that’s really important on this
issue — representation. The NBA has seen an influx of play-by-play and game
analysts with deep ties to women’s basketball including Lisa Byington (Bucks),
Kayte Christensen (Kings), Sarah Kustok (Nets),
Rowe (Jazz),
Kate Scott (Sixers) and Katy Winge (Nuggets),
among others. Candace Parker and Chiney Ogwumike are current WNBA analysts
who have major NBA broadcasting gigs nationally.
“As for seeing a men’s player compared to a women’s player, it’s
coming,” Brunson said. “As new voices are invited to bigger platforms, it’s my
hope we’ll see those informed gender comps happen organically. If you’d asked
me 10 years ago if I thought a woman would be the TV voice for an NBA team, I
would’ve thought that was a pipe dream and now there are two in Kate Scott and
Lisa Byington. I’m a big believer that anything is possible and can’t wait to
see what the future holds.”
