The race is on, not that it ever ends for Cappie Pondexter, Diana Taurasi and the team that needs both if it hopes to make any kind of a run at all.

Taurasi and Pondexter are scheduled to arrive in Phoenix today on the eve of the Mercury's season opener Saturday against Los Angeles at US Airways Center.

The Mercury have been waiting for their Big Two for weeks, plotting their schedules - Taurasi in a Russian league and Pondexter in Turkey - like horse players at the Preakness.

Without one or the other, the handicap is huge. Without both, forget it.

Together, however, there is a chance that the Mercury can stay in the race and hope that All-Star forward Penny Taylor, an Australian Olympian, will return to Phoenix after the Beijing Games for a late run and a championship encore.

In some ways, not much has changed. Over the past couple of years, the Mercury have been nothing if not a closer. Last year, their late push led them to the 2007 WNBA title.

Two years ago, the Mercury narrowly missed the playoffs, but they might have been the best team in the WNBA when the season ended.

Suffice to say, Mercury General Manager Ann Meyers Drysdale and first-year coach Corey Gaines will be relieved just to finally see Pondexter and Taurasi.

Their arrival provides a real starting point. The Mercury might stumble out the gate.

Here's just one reason why: According to Gaines, the Los Angeles roster, including rookie Candace Parker and Most Valuable Player contender Lisa Leslie, has been virtually intact for the preseason, while the Mercury have been waiting for their stars. First-round draft pick LaToya Pringle, counted on to help inside, also missed the preseason while recovering from knee surgery.

"There's really nothing you can do about that," said Gaines, who is in his first season as the successor to longtime mentor and friend Paul Westhead, now a Seattle SuperSonics assistant. "That's just the way it is."

Still, Taurasi and Pondexter are two reasons to think the Mercury will be in the hunt later on amid possibilities that could lure Taylor back for a shot at another championship ring.

The guess is that Taurasi and Pondexter - both good bets for spots on the U.S. women's Olympic team - will speak to Taylor during the Beijing Games, perhaps after an American-Aussie showdown for the gold medal.

But they will need something to convince Taylor to rejoin the Mercury for seven regular-season games and the playoffs in a WNBA season that will resume a after a monthlong break for the Olympics.

That means the Mercury will have to be in the playoff mix, perhaps stalking the leaders, when the WNBA breaks for the Olympics on July 28.

Plenty of challenges are already part and parcel of staying in the race. Gaines is expected to rely on more players than Westhead did. A deeper rotation is one way to address the absence of Taylor, who decided to train with the Aussie Olympic team.

"There's no one player or three players who can replace Penny," Gaines said. "We'll try by committee.

"In that way, I'll be different than coach (Westhead). But without Penny, he would have been a little different, too."

Meyers Drysdale, who will be in Beijing as color analyst for women's basketball, also is looking at the roster and preparing to make moves that will allow the Mercury to bring back Taylor if possible.

The Mercury had 13 players on their roster Thursday. They could make additional moves related to salary and personnel numbers in order to keep a roster spot and salary slot open.

But two moves have been announced. Taurasi is expected to be at practice today. It will be her first and only Mercury practice before Saturday's opener. Pondexter probably won't get a chance to practice at all. Yet, both will start Saturday, Gaines said.

"Cappie will run off the plane," Gaines said.

Nobody would recognize her or the Mercury if she didn't.


Author: Norm Frauenheim
Source: The Arizona Republic