Monday, May 8, 2017

J-Speaks: 2015 WNBA MVP Returns Close to Home


It is very rare in any sport that the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of their league for that season rarely change addresses. Over the past year, three former pro basketball MVPs have done so in 2011 NBA MVP Derrick Rose who was traded to the New York Knicks this past summer and 2014 MVP Kevin Durant left the Oklahoma City Thunder to sign with the defending Western Conference Champion Golden State Warriors. The third was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2013 WNBA draft by the Chicago Sky, who went from being the Rookie of the Year that season to the leading scorer and league MVP two years ago, and in February was traded to the Washington Mystics, where made her new team an instant contender and had a chance to do something that many pro athletes get to do. Play the game that they love just in their back yard.
In just four seasons of playing in the WNBA, the 27-year-old Wilmington, DE native and graduate of the University of Delaware Elena Delle Donne went from being a high draft pick into a bonified superstar and an Olympic Gold Medalist, as she helped the United States Women’s National team capture Gold in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
On Sunday, the three-time WNBA All-Star will begin a new chapter in her WNBA journey as a member of the Washington Mystics, who acquired her back in February in exchange for Stefanie Dolson, Kahleah Copper and the No. 2 overall pick in the draft that took place back in April.
The journey to being one of the shining faces of women’s basketball was unlike any other for Delle Donne.
After gaining national recognition at the high school level as she led Ursuline Academy to three consecutive Delaware State titles and being ranked as the No. 1 overall high school recruit, according to Scout.com, as well as a McDonald’s All-American, Delle Donne received a basketball scholarship to attend the women’s basketball powerhouse of the University of Connecticut.
In the early part of 2008 though, the 2007 Women’s Basketball Coaches Association All-American dropped out of UConn’s summer school program after just 48 hours in Storrs, CT. Delle Donne said that she was not ready to be separated from her family, that she has said on many occasions that she is very close to, especially her older sister Lizzie, who has cerebral palsy, and is blind and deaf.
Delle Donne’s older brother, Gene would say in a 2012 story by ESPN on his younger sister, “Her relationship with Lizzie is huge. It’s so close. It’s a big reason why she is such a homebody who came from UConn, because she craves to be around Lizzie and to experience Lizzie grabbing her and sniffing her and just spend quality time with her.”
In moments like this when she feels overwhelmed, Delle Donne has said she would take a break from basketball to get things back in order, which she did prior to her team’s 2007-08 campaign.
On August 16, 2008, Delle Donne announced that she would not accept UConn’s scholarship due to burnout and instead enrolled at the University of Delaware, joining the Blue Hens’ Volleyball team as a walk-on.
In her one season, playing middle hitter for the UD, the Blue Hens went 19-16, going 9-5 in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) conference. They won the conference tournament and earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament, but lost to the Oregon Ducks in the opening round.
Delle Donne came back to her first love basketball as she joined the Blue Hens basketball team as a redshirt freshmen in the 2009-10 season. That season she averaged 26.7 points per contest, the third highest of all Division I women’s basketball players. She had a 54-point performance in a defeat to James Madison on Feb. 18, 2010, which was the highest single-game point total by a Division I woman basketball player that campaign. That helped her earn the CAA Rookie of the Week honors six times that season.
While the team had a solid start the next season, Delle Donne was not herself on the court unlike her first season and she began to develop flu-like symptoms. In a game against the Penn State Lady Nittany Lions, she asked to be taken out of the game, which was a first for her. After many tests by doctors, Delle Donne was diagnosed with Lyme disease, an incurable chronic infection disease caused by bacteria of the Borrelia type.
Delle Donne struggled the rest of that season, but helped her team reach the finals of the CAA tournament and they garnered an invitation to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (NIT).
She had a similar flare-up forced her to return to the U.S. and not play ball in China this winter.
“It’s pretty scary, but for me I can tell there’s certain days where I can really push myself and then there’s other days where I really need to tone it back and maybe go get a massaged, or maybe just take off that day, or take a long nap.” Delle Donne said to NBATV about how she deals with Lyme diseases. “There’s a lot that goes into it, but I feel like I gotten a grasp on it.”
She showed that in her junior season, leading the nation in scoring with an average of 28.1 and Delle Donne’s excellence drew many fans to Blue Hens games, with an attendance rise of 250 percent from the prior season.
Delle Donne eclipsed the 2,000-point mark for her collegiate career with a 42-point performance in a win over Hofstra University on Feb. 16, 2012.
The Blue Hens were CAA champions that season and qualified for the 2012 NCAA Women’s Tournament. Delle Donne had 39 of her team’s first 56 points in their opening round victory over the University of Arkansas-Little Rock. She had 34 points against the Kansas Lady Jayhawks, but they lost.
While she again fought against Lyme disease again in her senior season, missing four games, Delle Donne led the Blue Hens in scoring 22 times during the 2012-13 regular season, and in rebounding 12 times, while scoring over 30 points five times.
In her return to the court on Dec. 12, 2012 against Maryland, Delle Donne led the way with 19 points and six boards in the 69-53 loss. The contest at Bob Carpenter Center, the home of the Blue Hens had an attendance of 5,089 people, the largest crowd to ever see a women’s basketball game in that arena.
After a 27-3 regular season, Delle Donne, and the No. 6 Seeded Blue Hens in the 2013 NCAA Tournament garnered victories over No. 11 West Virginia and No. 3 North Carolina, before falling to No. 2 University of Kentucky, despite 33 points from their star.
After a stellar collegiate career, Delle Donne was selected No. 2 overall by the previously mentioned Chicago Sky in 2013.
In their first seven seasons of existence, the Sky never made the WNBA playoffs. Delle Donne led them to their first appearance as they went 24-10 that season and lost to future Hall of Famer Tamika Catchings and the Indiana Fever.
While they had a less than stellar regular season the next year going 15-19, the Sky made it all the way to the WNBA Finals, but they were swept by Diana Taurasi and the Phoenix Mercury 3-0.
In Delle Donne’s MVP season two years ago, the Sky went 21-13, garnering their second most wins in franchise history, but lost to the Fever again in the Conference Semifinals 2-1.
They reached the playoff again for the fourth consecutive season a year ago, but lost again in the Semifinals to All-Star Candace Parker and the eventual WNBA champion Los Angeles Sparks 3-1.
While she was yet to lead her team to a title, Delle Donne earned her first Gold medal helping the previously mentioned Women’s National team capture Gold for the sixth consecutive time as they defeated Spain 101-72 on Aug. 20, 2016.
Whether it is on or off the hardwood, the journey of Delle Donne has had a lot of ups, a couple of downs, and some unplanned pivots. Another one of those pivots consist of her wood work design business “Delle Donne Designs,” with her now fiancée Amanda Clifton.
The start of this venture by Delle Donne and her fiancée came from the need for a simple coffee table. Delle Donne said that a friend of hers had been making a lot of wall art and that caught her eye and she thought those designs would make a nice coffee table.
A night of work resulted in a coffee table that Della Donne put on her Instagram page “de11edonne” that said, “Another #DIY project in the books! #coffeetable go ahead and put your orders in with@mgainey89 this is our best one yet @mandaclif @thewrigleydelledonne.” That post received 4,702 likes.
Clifton said they were selling so much stuff that they were unable to keep up with the demand because the business just consisted of the two of them and one other person.
“It was a learning process for us. We are by no means professional wood workers,” Clifton said.
Delle Donne concurred with that by saying that she is there for, “comic relief and to hold things tightly.”
The business venture of Delle Donne and Clifton was as spontaneous as them announcing to the world that they are a couple, which developed after Delle Donne agreed to do a photospread for “Vogue” magazine titled “Meet the Basketball Star Who’s Poised to Take the Olympic Games by Storm,” by Daphne Beal, that came out on Aug. 4, 2016.
“My family. My friends. They have known for years, but it was time to just let the fans in on it and just be open about it, and it’s been so much better ever since.” Delle Donne said. “I hope at some point in time it doesn’t have to happen for people who are gay. Just like people who are straight.”
Perhaps the best word to describe Delle Donne is courageous. For a long time, telling the world that you are different, especially when you are in the public eye like Delle Donne can be risky, but for her, it is who she is and it is how she lives.
So, it is no surprise that she is the Ambassador for The Special Olympics and she know first-hand the importance of seeing the special qualities that one who does not have the ability to do things that we all take for granted, like walking on your own power; being able to feed yourself; talking with your friends or exercising.
Delle Donne said that Lizzie has taught her that you do not always have to speak to someone to get an understanding of that person. That seeing someone’s body language, being able to read off that and seeing that person may not have it on that day or that getting after them a little bit will bring the best of that person.
“Just kind of being able to watch Lizzie, and figure her out, I’m able to do that with other people,” Delle Donne said.
One thing that a lot of the greats in pro sports have over some of their average counterparts is the ability to have a feel of what to do at certain times in the day or in their life at that moment. Delle Donne is the best example of that. Whether it was leaving powerhouse UConn for Delaware; to turn over the plans for her and Amanda’s wedding this November to an online planner called “The Knot” or choosing her current professional trainer of three years Dina.
The decision to choose Dina to keep per in tip-top shape came on a day when Delle Donne was bored, she went and watched an exercise class that her mother was doing where Dina was coaching the class. Delle Donne said that Dina taught the class with such an intensity, and that everyone in the class was following her lead that she had to be a part of that. The two meet and Delle Donne asked if Dina had ever trained a professional athlete? Dina said no, but said let’s do this thing together and the two have been training ever since.
There are very few athletes that get the opportunity to return home that made them who they are. Elena Delle Donne is the latest with that opportunity. That journey to greatness has been done in a way that has been inspiring, motivating, exciting and wonderful. That journey has also consisted of her having to overcome the hurdle of Lyme disease and has included an unbreakable closeness to her Wilmington, DE community, her father, mother, older brother and sister, who has especially shown her that courage comes in all shapes and sizes.
That courage, strength and motivation will hopefully bring her the one accolade that is missing from her resume, a WNBA title. That journey begins on Sunday afternoon when she and the Washington Mystics host the San Antonio Stars this Sunday afternoon.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)