Busy Ogwumike can't wait for return engagement with Sun
Mohegan — Chiney Ogwumike’s accountant must have wigged out when she handed in all her W2s from her (many) off-season jobs.
“NBA TV, Pac 12 Network, ESPN, ESPNW ... I mean can’t even list (them all),” Ogwumike said. “I’m a ‘yes” woman. I love to work. Once I graduated Stanford, I felt like I wasn’t doing any homework. This sort of gave me my homework back, but it’s been fun.
“I think this is going to lead to more fun things coming up, but shoot, this is where my attention is right now.”
Ogwumike racked up 250,000 frequent flier miles having spent her weekends bouncing across the country for her many gigs, yet she was diligent about working on her primary job — a franchise player for the Connecticut Sun.
The 2014 WNBA Rookie of the Year was a spectator last season following microfracture surgery on her right knee in January 2015, so everyone was delighted Ogwumike was an active participant on the first day of training camp Monday.
“Basketball is my passion,” Ogwumike said. “Just because I do other things, this is my number one priority. Everywhere I went, I was training.”
"Everywhere" included Portola Valley, Calif. (her home near Stanford), Houston (where she grew up) and Russia (where older sister Nneka played this offseason).
“I really worked on my shot,” Ogwumike said. “When I was in Houston, I have a friend that has a basketball training company, Lawrence Paye. … When I was in Stanford, I trained with all the Stanford people, specifically Tiffany Brown. It was just fluid.
“It was a lot of shooting off the dribble and, honestly, I’m the type of person that can take whatever (instruction) I can get. What makes Steph Curry great? He trains with like 15 trainers.”
Ogwumike’s right knee feels fine, but the Sun will be cautious. First-year coach Curt Miller said they’ll be conservative at practice with her and rookies Rachel Banham and Morgan Tuck, who’ve also had knee surgeries.
Miller is already familiar with the Ogwumike DNA having coached the eldest, Nneka, as an assistant with the Los Angeles Sparks last season.
“She looks great,” Miller said of Chiney. “One of the things that I think is really exciting is that she’s a better perimeter scorer than I thought. We’re going to keep challenging her to make good decisions on the perimeter as a passer, as a facilitator.”
A WNBA team can have a maximum of 15 of players in camp, and Connecticut has almost its entire team present — veterans Kelsey Bone, Kelly Faris, Shekinna Stricklen, Alyssa Thomas, Jasmine Thomas, and Ogwumike; draftees Aliyyah Handford, Jonquel Jones, Morgan Tuck, Jamie Weisner and Banham; and free agent signees Heather Butler, Victoria Macaulay and Jennifer O’Neill.
Alex Bentley, Aneika Henry and Camille Little will arrive later. Bentley just finished her season in Turkey and will be the first to arrive after first going home to Indiana for some rest.
Henry’s team (Mersin) is in the Turkish League semifinals. Little's team, Ragusa of the Italian League, begins semifinal play on Saturday.
“We might get Camille after (the) Rio (Olympics),” Miller joked, adding the Sun are “aggressively” talking to a 15th player currently playing in Brazil to invite to camp.
n.griffen@theday.com
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