The most expensive decision in women’s basketball history?

NEWCASTLE (Paul Nilsen’s Women’s Basketball Worldwide) - It was undoubtedly one of the toughest choices for a coach in women’s basketball history, but was the recent decision by UMMC Ekaterinburg to leave Sue Bird out of EuroLeague Women Final Eight in favour of Candace Parker, the most expensive ever taken?

UMMC haven’t won the EuroLeague Women title for a decade and in recent years in particular, are reported to have spent tens of millions of dollars in pursuit of the top prize in women’s club basketball alongside the WNBA Championship.

With so much mind-blowing sums having already been blown without recent success, they will never have a better chance to finally deliver than this year. They have only lost once all season, they will host the event and are as star-laden a team as you could ever wish to find.

Only they are actually too dripping with ‘foreign’ talent and that threw up a tantalising and delicate scenario we always knew was going to happen as far back as last summer.

With Diana Taurasi an absolute no-brainer to play at the Final Eight because of both her talent and uncanny knack of winning the competition, eligibility rules meant a straight choice for Ekat between Parker and Bird.

With both being superstars of the women’s game and incredible players in their own right, the general feeling was that the late mid-season arrival of Bird meant she was in the box-seat and already pencilled in for the showpiece event.

This was confirmed when Parker was de-registered as expected and we were given the ‘dream backcourt’ of Bird and Taurasi for the latter part of the regular season - one which has of course, already proven to be the perfect recipe for a top of the podium finish.

As Bird tried to hit the ground running, Parker was sat with her feet up, still participating in the Russian League, but relegated to mere spectator in EuroLeague Women, having posted her best campaign in Europe with a near season double-double of 16.6 points and 9.4 rebounds per game.

Perhaps this planted the initial seed of doubt into the mind of head coach Olaf Lange, and you couldn’t blame him or Ekat General Manager Maxim Rybakov if this was indeed the case.

Bird arrived and typically showed her class by finding her team-mates in a big way, dishing up 6.7 assists per game. Only she didn’t quite find the rhythm shooting-wise, managing only 25% from the field over the course of three games. Consequently you got the feeling that the scales were tipping in favour of a re-think.

Only I don’t think it actually was the respective contributions of either Bird or Parker which caused the perceived change of heart and subsequent decision to choose the latter for Final Eight.

I fully believe that it was the impact of Spanish national team playmaker Silvia Dominguez which led to Parker being given the nod. For she was simply terrific for the first four months of the season, when in theory, she was merely keeping the point guard spot warm for Bird - she even admitted this openly to me during a recent interview.

Having won successive EuroLeague Women titles with Perfumerias Avenida and then Ros Casares, I am guessing she proved to Lange and Rybakov that beyond any doubt, she was the real deal after producing 4.8 assists per game, and there was no need to sacrifice Parker.

Equally, perhaps the limited impact of the Ekat frontcourt options outside of Parker also weighed heavy on the team's minds. This year, the competition seems to be dominated by players under the basket and without Parker, it’s fair to say that Ekat have lacked punch in the paint.

For the record, I do love Bird, there are few fans of women’s basketball who don’t. But, you can see why on balance, it’s probably the right decision based on the balance of the team and the form of Parker.

History will judge whether this proves to be the right call and whether UMMC wins the title or not. I think either way, it's already the most expensive decision ever taken in the women’s game because of the finances involved and what is at stake.

The truth is that Parker now has a lot of weight to bear on her shoulders. Ekat have put considerable faith in her by leaving out a class act like Bird and therefore Parker needs to deliver the goods when it truly matters in the big games next month.

The other 14 teams seeking to land one of the seven coveted spots available for Final Eight begin their three game play-off series today.

It’s going to be as fascinating and as dramatic as ever.

Paul Nilsen

FIBA

FIBA’s columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

FIBA takes no responsibility and gives no guarantees, warranties or representations, implied or otherwise, for the content or accuracy of the content and opinion expressed in the above article.