Cleveland Rockers

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Cleveland Rockers
Cleveland Rockers logo
founding 1997
resolution 2003
history Rockers Cleveland
1997 - 2003
Stadion Gund arena
Location Cleveland , Ohio
Club colors white, blue, black
league WNBA
Conference Eastern Conference
Championships 0
Conference title 0

The Cleveland Rockers were a team in the North American women's basketball professional league WNBA . The team played its home games at Gund Arena in Cleveland , Ohio .

The Rockers, which were founded in 1997, were the sister team of the NBA club Cleveland Cavaliers . The team owner was Gordon Gund, who also owned the Cavaliers. In September 2003, Gund announced that his company wanted to withdraw from the WNBA business. Since no new owner could be found for the team, the Cleveland Rockers had to stop their game operations.

The Rockers received their team name in honor of Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame .

Achievements and honors

Sporting successes

The franchise was able to reach the playoffs four times in the 7 seasons of existence. In 1997 and 2001 the Rockers were even able to achieve the best record in the Eastern Conference, but failed each in the first playoff round. Otherwise, the playoff record was not good, the team never reached the WNBA finals and could only win one playoff series.

Individual awards

The association was significantly more successful in the individual awards and received five awards. In addition to three players who received four awards, the Coach of the Year award also went to Cleveland once.

season category Player
1998 Sportsmanship Award Suzie McConnell-Serio
1998 Peak Performer: Throwing rate from the field Isabelle Fijalkowski
1999 Peak Performer: Free Throw Rate Eva Němcová
2000 Sportsmanship Award Suzie McConnell-Serio
2001 Coach of the Year Award Dan Hughes

Season after season

Abbreviations: Sp. = Games, S = victories, N = defeats

season Sp. S. N Wins in% space Playoffs
1997 28 15th 13 53.6 4th, Eastern Conference not qualified
1998 30th 20th 10 66.7 1st, Eastern Conference WNBA semi-final defeat, 2-1 ( Phoenix Mercury )
1999 32 7th 25th 21.9 7th, Eastern Conference not qualified
2000 32 17th 15th 53.1 2nd, Eastern Conference Victory in the Conference Semifinal, 2: 1 ( Orlando Miracle ),
Loss in the Conference Final, 1: 2 ( New York Liberty )
2001 32 22nd 10 68.8 1st, Eastern Conference Conference semifinal defeat, 1: 2 ( Charlotte Sting )
2002 32 10 22nd 31.3 7th, Eastern Conference not qualified
2003 34 17th 17th 50.0 4th, Eastern Conference Conference semifinal defeat, 2-1 ( Detroit Shock )
total 220 108 112 49.1 4 playoff appearances in 7 seasons
5 series: 1 win, 4 losses
16 games: 6 wins, 9 losses (37.5%)

Head coach

From 1997 to 1999 the Rockers were trained by Linda Hill-McDonald . Then (until the team dissolution in 2003) Dan Hughes took over this position.

Players

First-round voting rights in the WNBA Draft

Surname year Draft position
Eva Nemcova 1997 4th
Cindy Blodgett 1998 6th
Chasity Melvin 1999 11.
Ann Wauters 2000 1.
Surname year Draft position
Penny Taylor 2001 11.
Deanna Jackson 2002 8th.
LaToya Thomas 2003 1.

In the seven years of existence, the club had seven draft rights in the first round of the WNBA draft . The franchise always had a first-round draft pick before each season.

With Ann Wauters and LaToya Thomas , the franchise was able to select a player in the first position twice. Thomas failed to live up to expectations and only had a short WNBA career. Ann Wauters was an important part of the team until the breakup of the Rockers and was later able to win a WNBA championship with the Los Angeles Sparks team. Despite the two number 1 picks, none of the Rockers' players received the award for best newcomer of the year .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ All-Time WNBA Draft Picks. WNBA, accessed November 30, 2016 .