An
original Women's National Basketball Association team. In the five-year history of the WNBA, the Rockers have had regular-season success, finishing with the best
record in the Eastern Conference in
1998 and
2001. In the
playoffs, however, the Rockers have won just one out of four series, and that kind of record won't win you any
championships.
The team's best players are Merlakia Jones and Eva Nemcova, both of whom are swingman-type forwards/guards who've been on the team since its inception in 1997. Unfortunately, the Rockers' post play hasn't been as consistent. Janice Braxton was a good power forward, but when she joined the league in 1997 she was already 35 years old and had only one top class season. Braxton retired after the 1998 season but then came back in 1999 when the Rockers were playing terribly.
After the 1999 debacle — the Rockers were just 7-25 — the team fired coach Linda Hill-MacDonald and replaced her with Dan Hughes. Dan's first move was to pick 6-foot-4 Belgian center Ann Wauters with their first pick. Although a raw player (even today), Wauters solved the frontcourt problem, and the Rockers made the playoffs in 2000 and 2001.
But they didn't win any championships either time. Guess you can't have it all.
The Rockers play at the Gund Arena in Cleveland, sharing the facility with their NBA sibling team, the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Source: wnba.com