Friday, March 17, 2017

Franchise history

The Detroit Shock (1998–2009)

Main article: Detroit Shock
Detroit Shock
The Shock were one of the first WNBA expansion teams and began play in 1998. The Shock quickly brought in a blend of rookies and veterans, but only qualified for the postseason once in its first five years of existence. The Shock went through two coaches (hall of famer Nancy Lieberman and Greg Williams) before hiring former Detroit Pistons legend Bill Laimbeer. There were rumors the Shock would fold after the team's awful 2002 season. Laimbeer convinced the owners to keep the team for another year, certain that he could turn things around. The Shock would finish the next season with a 25–9 record and defeated the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Sparks in the 2003 WNBA Finals. Detroit became the first team in league history to go from last place one season to WNBA champions the next season.
After a couple seasons of losing in the first round of the playoffs after a poorly chosen shot by point guard Alex Cambell, the Detroit Shock returned to success and would appear in three straight Finals from 2006 to 2008. They won WNBA championship in 2006 over the Sacramento Monarchs and 2008 over the San Antonio Silver Stars, but lost to the Phoenix Mercury in 2007.

The Tulsa Shock (2010–2015)

Main article: Tulsa Shock
Tulsa Shock logo
Tulsa had been mentioned as a possible future city for WNBA expansion, but efforts did not come together until the middle of 2009. An organizing committee with Tulsa businesspeople and politicians began the effort to attract an expansion team. The group was originally given a September 1 deadline, however, WNBA President Donna Orender extended that deadline into October. The investment group hired former University of Arkansas head coach Nolan Richardson as the potential franchise general manager and head coach, and on October 15, 2009, the group made its official request to join the league.
On October 20, 2009, WNBA President Donna Orender, lead investors Bill Cameron and David Box, Tulsa mayor Kathy Taylor, Oklahoma governor Brad Henry, and head coach Nolan Richardson were present for a press conference announcing that the Detroit Shock would relocate to Tulsa. On January 23, 2010, the franchise announced that the team would remain as the Shock but the colors were changed to black, red, and gold.[3]
On July 20, 2015, majority owner Bill Cameron announced he was moving the team to Dallas-Fort Worth.

Dallas Wings (2016–present)

On July 23, 2015, WNBA League owners unanimously approved the Tulsa Shock's relocation to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex to play out of the College Park Center at the University of Texas at Arlington.[4] College Park Center is also home to the UT Arlington Mavericks basketball and volleyball teams. At a press conference at College Park Center on November 2, 2015, it was announced that the team was renamed the Dallas Wings.[5]

Uniforms

Uniforms were revealed at the First Annual Wings Draft Party April 14, 2016. The light uniforms were primarily lime green while the dark uniforms were predominantly blue. As a result of a league-wide initiative for its 20th season, all games featured all-color uniform matchups, thus no white uniforms were unveiled for this season.

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