Former Oregon guard Brandi Davis started as one of 23 players vying for a spot on the Los Angeles Sparks. Fast forward six weeks and the Los Angeles native is officially part of the team’s 13-player roster.
What began as an opportunity blossomed into a full-time gig for Davis, who went undrafted in the three-round WNBA Draft in April. She is instead a “diamond in the rough,” as Sparks coach Joe Bryant described her.
“I was absolutely thrilled,” Davis said of learning she made the team. “I went home that night, talked to my family and had a nice little cry.”
Davis donned a Sparks jersey for her first game against Seattle on May 21 with her fiancée and younger brother in attendance. She proceeded to score four points in 11 minutes, making one of five shots.
“I was nervous, but once I got in and got a feel for the game, I was OK,” Davis said by telephone from Los Angeles last weekend.
The Sparks are five games into a six-game road trip visiting Seattle, Charlotte, San Antonio, Chicago and Minnesota. Los Angeles goes to New York Saturday to play the Liberty and former teammate Cathrine Kraayeveld on ABC.
“To see two Ducks playing against each other on national TV: I don’t know too many programs, particularly even in the Pac-10, that can offer that,” Oregon coach Bev Smith said.
Prior to going through the experience, Davis talked to Liberty forward Kraayeveld about agents and what to expect. Davis described to the Emerald a league with no weak players and a quick pace.
She said playing with teammate Lisa Leslie, a perennial All-Star, was intimidating at first, but that she is a player who gives “others hell.”
Bryant hasn’t hesitated to use the Los Angeles native, sometimes over first-round pick Lisa Willis, a UCLA alum.
She scored seven points on 3-for-11 shooting in 19 minutes against Charlotte and followed that with two three pointers in six minutes in an 80-71 win at San Antonio. Davis went scoreless in two minutes Tuesday in the Sparks’ 64-55 win against the Chicago Sky. Wednesday night, Davis played 22 minutes in a 114-71 loss to the Minnesota Lynx, scoring six points on 2-for-11 shooting and only one of seven from three-point range.
Through four games, Davis is averaging 4.6 points on .250 shooting from the field.
“I heard a lot about her,” Bryant said. “I understand at Oregon she really didn’t get a chance to play as much as she should have. She’s a talent … she really has an upside if she continues to work hard.”
During the WNBA offseason, Bryant spent time in Japan, coached the Tokyo Apache men’s team and communicated with general manager Penny Toler by e-mail and telephone.
The pair shared ideas and opinions on players such as Davis, whom Bryant said they both liked. Davis beat out Los Angeles’s second-round pick (Willnett Crockett) and third-round pick (Tiffany Porter-Talbert) in training camp to make the team.
It’s easy to draft a Seimone Augustus of LSU or Monique Currie of Duke, but another thing to find quality players who didn’t realize their potential in college, Bryant said.
“The last year or two we haven’t had anyone that can be a threat from the outside,” he said. “We saw she had that ability.”
Davis made 41 three-pointers last season – second only to Chelsea Wagner, who had 57.
One of the knocks on Davis last year was her defense. It’s an area Bryant said he plans to work on with her.
“She is able to guard people because she has some quickness about her,” he said. “I think you have to teach people how to play defense and take angles away.”
With Davis contributing, the Sparks have started 3-2 with two blowout losses to Seattle and Minnesota.
“It’s not over yet,” said Bryant, who is the father of Lakers guard Kobe Bryant. “You come in to be comfortable and happy that you made the team or you can say, ‘Hey, I want to be someone special in this league,’ and that’s where it comes in – that work ethic and that heart and desire.”
Teammates back in Eugene have followed Davis on television, taking pride in her success and making fun of her short shorts.
“It’s really sad,” Oaks said. “‘B’ wears her shorts like four sizes too big. (With the Sparks) they are above the knee and a little bit tight and her jersey can’t tuck in so it’s really funny.”
Teammate Wagner said in an e-mail, “I am so excited for her,” Wagner said. “She deserves it all.”
Her fiancee Josh Evans works and lives in Portland. He plans to fly in for several games, Davis said.
Out of action
Former Oregon post player Andrea Bills, bothered by an undisclosed injury, mutually agreed to end her stay with the Sparks and was released on May 3. Bills had been on the Sparks’ training camp roster.
“I had a bit of an injury, so I was unable to really participate in practice,” Bills said in an e-mail. “It was just best for me and the team at the time to move on.”
Another former Oregon player, Edniesha Curry, was unable to stay with the team after suffering what Bills termed an anterior cruciate ligament tear over the winter and wasn’t able to participate in training camp. Curry averaged 1.8 points and 0.9 assists in 8.7 minutes per game last season for the Sparks. She played in 13 games.
“I’m a big fan of Edniesha,” Bryant said. “She played well for us last year also.”
Wagner heads East
Wagner is moving June 18 to Cortland, New York, to join USA Team Handball. She has signed with sports agent Peter Scott of Hungary. She plans to play basketball overseas in down time from handball.
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