Training Rookie Camp

A BasketCases shout out to Jon Siegel of the Washington Times for two big articles about the Mystics in a span of merely three days! Though the Times is normally not one of our favorite newspapers, its Sports Section actually manages to provide some good coverage of local women's basketball, albeit on a somewhat haphazard and unpredictable schedule. In any event, we're happy to see Jon paying attention and keeping us up-to-date on Mystics news.

On Friday, as you may recall, Jon broke open the news about the DeLisha Milton-Jones situation, and today he provides readers with a preview of the Mystics' training camp.

This season's camp is heavy on young players, many of them first-time campers (including WNBA Rookie Orientation "MVP" Krystal Vaughn). As has already been reported, Siegel notes that "the Washington Mystics will open training camp today without any roster players from last season." However, he provides a helpful timetable of when those roster players are expected to trickle in to camp (or not, in the case of DMJ). Alana Beard is due back midweek. (With all her trash-talking about this Thursday's "game" against the EITM radio crew, let's hope she makes it back in time to back up all that talk with a little action!)

Siegel also notes that if DeLisha is, as anticipated, a no-show, then rookie Crystal Langhorne is expected to be a starter when the season begins. That's enormous pressure to put on any rookie, even one as talented as Lang. Fortunately for Crystal, all her Maryland fans, who by now should also be Mystics season-ticketholders (if you aren't one yet, click here), will, no doubt, support her through this challenging period of her new pro career.