Saturday, May 26, 2007

Last December, Monique Currie bought a house not far from the neighborhood she called home as a child. "Every time I've come here until now, it felt like I was visiting," said Currie, whose offseason overseas playing duties kept her from spending more than a few weeks home at a time.

But the joy of coming home -- and the chance to stay for a while -- swept over Currie yesterday as she started the short drive to Verizon Center from her home near the intersection of Georgia and Florida avenues NW.

"I still can't believe it, that I'm driving to Verizon Center for practice," said Currie, who practiced with her Washington Mystics teammates for the first time. "It's like a dream come true."

Currie, a Washington native, made her homecoming official, joining the team a day after she was traded from the Chicago Sky to the Mystics for veteran center Chasity Melvin. Washington is the third WNBA franchise for former Duke star Currie since she was selected in the first round of the 2006 draft. But Washington is the first franchise that Currie has played for that has been regarded as a team capable of reaching the playoffs.

The transition was particularly difficult for Currie, who, along with Mystics guard Alana Beard, helped build Duke into a perennial national championship contender.

The Charlotte Sting, which had been coming off a six-win season, selected Currie with the third overall pick in the draft. After an 11-23 season, the Sting folded and held a dispersal draft. Chicago, by virtue of having the worst record in the league [5-29] selected Currie first.

"It's nice to be on a team that can actually contend for the playoffs, to win championships," Currie said. "It feels good. Not to knock other teams, because it's a work in progress, but I'm glad to be here with players who can take it to that next level. It's a good change. It's hard losing as a player. It's nice to win sometimes."

Currie now must begin the daunting task of learning Coach Richie Adubato's complex playbook.

"I got the playbook today and it's thicker than some of my textbooks from college," Currie said. "But I hear it's not as difficult as it looks."

-- Marc Carig