An 'Unreal' Turnaround

A Contender Last Year, WNBA's Last-Place Mystics Are 2-13 and in Disbelief

Marianne Stanley, center, resigned as coach of the Mystics on Wednesday. Her departure means that every Washington pro sports team has changed coaches within the last seven months. (AP File Photo)

For the Washington Mystics, the fall has been swift and steep. Last season they advanced past the opening round of the WNBA playoffs for the first time in franchise history, reaching the Eastern Conference finals. This season, they have regressed so far as to recall the humiliating lore of their first season six years ago.

That team was 3-27 and endured an 11-game losing streak. The current Mystics are 2-13. And unless they beat the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Sparks (owners of a league-best 14-3 record) tonight at MCI Center, they will match that 11-game skid.

"I can't believe this either," said all-star forward Chamique Holdsclaw. "The turnaround definitely is unreal."

Whether still in shock or merely showing extreme patience in the face of the losing streak, team president Susan O'Malley said the Mystics are not going to make a rash move or trade with the 34-game season not yet at its halfway point.

"We're not panicking," O'Malley said.

So how did it come to this?

According to Coach Marianne Stanley, players and administrators, the reasons are as simple as a player failing to make a pass to an open teammate at the precise moment she could have made a layup, then taking a contested jump shot and missing it. Or allowing a Connecticut Sun player to take two dribbles and sink a three-foot bank shot for the winning basket in the final two seconds two weeks ago.

Or not be skilled or aggressive enough to even get to the free throw line once for an entire game, as happened during the 62-56 loss to the Charlotte Sting on Monday night at MCI, a WNBA record.

But there are larger issues. Why are the Mystics essentially a collection of players seemingly most comfortable at just two positions, small and power forward? As the losses have mounted so has the notion actually shouted by a fan not 10 feet from where the players were walking off the court Monday night: "Get a point guard and get a center!"

Stanley and management have sensed that need for quite some time and have considered trades.

"Quality, experienced point guards and quality, experienced low block players are few," Stanley said, "and the price for them [via a trade] is dear. . . . I don't see any need to get into trading for a center, inexperienced or otherwise, at this stage."

The trading deadline is July 18.

The criticism of veteran point guard Annie Burgess is specific. She is smart, a leader and a clever passer.

She has a serviceable two assists for every turnover, and that would be quite a lot higher if the Mystics did not have the lowest shooting percentage in the league. Burgess also has one more rebound than small forward Stacey Dales-Schuman.