Dishin & Swishin 6/04/15 Podcast: The roundtable looks at the 2015 WNBA season

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Finally, the WNBA regular season has arrived! It begins Friday with a slate of five games so sign up for WNBA Live Access (still one of the best deals out there) to watch the games streamed live and enjoy.

The Dishin & Swishin podcast is proud to convene its WNBA preview roundtable this week, covering all the things you want to know (and some you may not) on and off the court. Well, almost all, but more on that in a bit.

The roundtable, monitored by host David Siegel, features:

• LaChina Robinson, ESPN and Atlanta Dream analyst
• Debbie Antonelli, ESPN and Indiana Fever analyst
• Mechelle Voepel, ESPN and ESPN women’s basketball coverage

Who will improve, who will fall back? What will be the impact of absent Diana Taurasi, Sylvia Fowles, and those playing in Eurobasket? Will rookies like Jewell Loyd, Amanda Zahui B. and Dearica Hamby impact their team’s fortunes? Who are the playoff contenders and the pretenders, aka those in the Breanna Stewart sweepstakes.

I would like to tell you every team is covered in the podcast, but here is where that “almost all” comes into play. Sorry, Los Angeles Sparks fans, but in hindsight, your team was not covered in the discussion. An oversight that is unfortunate, so to help alleviate any hurt feelings, first remember Brian Agler was our guest last week. Second, here are a few thoughts on the team from our panelists combined:

The Sparks is a team that is very interesting. The absence of Candace Parker should allow for Jantel Lavender and Nneka Ogwumike to get more opportunities to shine. Ogwumike, in particular, is poised for a monster season. Missing Kristi Toliver for part of the season could affect chemistry, but picking up Erin Phillips and Temeka Johnson to play in the backcourt will help eliminate that. Agler needs to get the team to believe in defense, ever a Sparks strong suit, but they could easily be right behind Minnesota and even challenge in the West.

Good luck to everyone as the season begins, it is the one time that everyone is on equal footing, and if I can borrow a baseball quote, “hope springs eternal.” Enjoy the podcast, and enjoy the season!

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