Brittney Griner ready to change women's sports
theGRIO REPORT - Brittney Griner dominated women's college basketball for four years for the Baylor Lady Bears. The Phoenix Mercury made her the WNBA's top draft pick Monday night, officially kicking off what many expect to be a storied career...
Brittney Griner dominated women’s college basketball for four years for the Baylor Lady Bears.
The Phoenix Mercury made her the WNBA’s top draft pick Monday night, officially kicking off what many expect to be a storied career.
Griner, 22, is just taking it all in.
“I’m a professional athlete now,” Griner told theGrio. “I laid on the bed [Monday] and crashed and went to sleep with everything on and woke up with shoes [on] and everything like I was a little kid still.”
That ‘little kid,’ all 6’8 of her, was offered a NBA tryout from Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Sheryl Swoopes told USA TODAY Sports Griner can bring something that has “never been done in women’s sports.”
“I look at it as good pressure,” Griner said of the praise from one of basketball’s all-time greats. Â “It’s high expectations but it’s definitely something I think I can live up to.”
Great expectations
Griner enthusiastically welcomes the opportunity to tryout for the NBA, which is rarefied air. (Ann Meyers Drysdale remains the only woman to sign with an NBA team, which she did in 1979)
The WNBA’s president Laurel Ritchie told the New York Times Griner and other members of the 2013 draft class (notably Skylar Diggins and Elena Della Donne) represent a much-needed boost the league needs to survive.
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So how will Griner change the game?
“On the court, I’ve been called a ‘beast and ‘hard’ and ‘intense’ and that ‘I play like the boys,” Griner said. “If that’s what it [takes] to change the game, that’s definitely how I am and that’s definitely what I’m going to do.”
Griner’s illustrious college career included a national championship, an undefeated season, a NCAA blocks record and more than 3,200 points. Now it’s time to play against competition she’s used to looking up to, not dominating.
New, tougher competition
“I’ve always looked up to Sylvia [Fowles],” Griner said of the two-time WNBA All-Star and one-time Defensive Player of the Year. Â “She’s tall and long and [has] long arms. I think that’d be a good matchup for me. I really don’t see that a lot.”
Griner insists her excitement over a potential NBA tryout has nothing to do with a desire to “prove herself” against guys. Instead, it’s more of her potentially taking advantage of an opportunity she never thought was possible.
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“Sometimes you got to shut up the critics,” Griner said. “Sometimes you just got to go out on a limb and take a challenge […] This is [to show girls] to never back down from a challenge. Never back down from something that might be hard.”
When asked what her ideal first season would look like, Griner rattles off several accomplishments for the Mercury you would expect from a top rookie prospect: Wins, playoffs, solid individual stats.
But then there’s something else she puts out there that sets her apart as a once in a lifetime player in the women’s game.
“A couple alley-oops,” Griner laughs.
She’s laughing now, but the world will be watching.
Follow theGrio’s Todd Johnson on Twitter @rantoddj
