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Where EAST meets the Northwest
SKY’S THE LIMIT. The Chicago Sky’s Chen Nan, right, blocks out the Indiana Fever’s Tamika Catchings during a preseason Women’s National Basketball Association game in Indianapolis. Chen, the center and captain of the Chinese National team, is known for her versatility as well as her height. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
From The Asian Reporter, V19, #26 (July 7, 2009), page 1 & 9.
WNBA’s Chicago Sky ready to rise with Chen
By Mike Street
Special to The Asian Reporter
The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) started its 2009 season in June with a Chinese player who has the potential to be its best Asian player ever. Unlike its male counterpart, the WNBA has not only had Asian players since its inception, but it’s also had more of them from a wider array of countries. But the WNBA has never had an Asian star at the level of the NBA’s Yao Ming or Yi Jianlian.
The WNBA’s Chicago Sky hopes to change that with the signing of Chen Nan. The center and captain of the Chinese National team, Chen was also named the MVP of the Women’s Chinese Basketball Association (WCBA) this past season. Known for her versatility as well as her height, Chen is following in a tradition of Asian players that goes back to 1997, the WNBA’s inaugural season.
That year, two of the league’s eight teams had Asian players, both from different nations. Japan’s Mikiko Hagiwara, a guard for the Sacramento Monarchs, was part of the WNBA’s first trade, but her career was otherwise unremarkable. She played in 26 games, starting just seven, during her two-year career, averaging 2.9 points, 0.8 assists, and 0.9 rebounds per game.
The Los Angeles Sparks, however, had China’s Haixia Zheng. At 6’8" and 256 pounds, she was one of the biggest players in the league and a formidable inside presence at both ends of the floor. Her .618 shooting percentage was the best in the WNBA, while her 0.71 blocks per game ranked ninth. She appeared in all 28 Los Angeles games, starting 21 of them.
The Sparks would later become a WNBA force, winning the Western Conference five straight seasons and the championship twice in a row, but they weren’t contenders with Zheng. They finished second in the west in 1997, one game shy of the playoffs. In 1998, when Zheng’s role diminished sharply, they finished third, missing the playoffs again. Zheng started in just two of her six games that year and retired from the league at the end of the season.
Since then, Asian WNBA players have been notable more for their diversity than their impact. Seattle Storm center Sun-Min Jung, the first South Korean WNBA player, played in only the 2003 season, averaging 6.9 minutes and 1.8 points. The 2005 Sacramento Monarchs’ bench had two Chinese guards, but neither Miao Lijie nor Sui Feifei returned in 2006. Miao played 135 minutes in 18 games, averaging 1.7 points and 0.7 assists, while Sui appeared in just five games for all of 24 minutes, scoring seven total points.
The Phoenix Mercury signed center Kwe-ryong Kim in 2007 and guard Yuko Oga in 2008. Kim would have been the second South Korean WNBA player, but she never appeared in a game. Oga, the first Japanese WNBA player, came off the bench in 23 of the team’s 34 games, averaging 2.4 points in 7.8 minutes per game, shooting a subpar 35 percent (including 0-10 on three pointers), and turning over the ball 22 times against just 14 assists.
Enter Chen Nan, who signed to a two-year contract with the Chicago Sky, a team that has slowly climbed the Eastern Conference ladder since coming to the league in 2006. They were 5-29 in that first season, the worst team in the WNBA — typical for an expansion squad. In 2007, they improved to 14-20, still last place in the east, but a better record than both Minnesota and once-mighty Los Angeles. Last season, the Sky slipped to 12-22 but rose to fifth in the east, just five games from a playoff berth.
Chen has an excellent chance to make her mark and bring the Sky along with her. The Chicago frontcourt already includes second overall pick and 2008 All-Rookie center 6’6" Sylvia Fowles and 6’2" power forward Candice Dupree, an All-Star in each of her first two seasons. Both ranked in the top 10 in blocks per game last season, while Dupree was fourth in rebounds per game. But the Sky were second to last in points scored and ninth in total rebounds, so these two need some help.
And help is what Chen is all about. At 6’6", she isn’t merely a shot-blocker and rebounder; she can shoot from the outside or drive to the basket — a versatility that’s rare among big players. Chen also brings the team focus that earned her the MVP distinction last season, and why she’s been on four WCBA championship teams.
The Sky really noticed her at the Olympics, where she led the Chinese women’s team to fourth place, its best finish ever. Chen noticed her future teammate Fowles, too. "I learned she is an extremely aggressive and dominant player in the paint," she said. "I am a lucky dog playing aside her."
Her new coach, Stephen Key, said of Chen, "She’s a player that hasn’t reached her full potential yet. I think that the best of her basketball is yet to come, and I’m glad that she will be doing that with the Chicago Sky." A chance to see her make that improvement is certainly a reason to tune into Chicago games and root for the WNBA’s potential first Asian star.