THIS IVORY IS NOT "COASTING"!!!

The L.A.Sparks, without Candace Parker- injured wrist, got tripped up in Tulsa Friday night at the start of their five game road trip. Now it is on to Washington, D.C. for a Sunday meeting with the fast-improving Mystics. Ivory Latta is Washington's floor leader. She was the point guard and the puzzle part that Head Coach, Mike Thibault, was looking for during the off-season. Latta told me that she was excited to make the move from Tulsa to the nation's capitol.

LATTA: "It was more of a career move and me being happy more than anything else. Coming back to the east coast is nice too, being closer to home and my mom and dad. I wanted them to see me play as many games in the WNBA as possible while they are still here.

It was a great move-playing for a coach like Coach Thibaut. He just motivates me. The great thing about him is that I know that he believes in me. That gives me the utmost confidence to go out there and  give it all I got  and lay my body out there on the line for my team." 

Thibault thinks Latta has a great upside. He likes her play and feels that, eventually, his point guard can average 15 points and 6 assists per game. She has already paid dividends for the Mystics and earned herself an All Star bid. 

LATTA: "It is a good fit because I am able to play my game now. Coach T told me, “ I’m not going to change anything about your game. I’m going to improve your game and help you become a better point guard.” I thought that was so cool,  You’re the first coach who ever told me that.” Other coaches have tried to change me into something that I knew I couldn’t be and I knew it wouldn’t make me a successful point guard in the WNBA. So, it is a great thing that I have a coach like him now."
 
The Mystics won only five games all of last season, so Latta is excited about the progress that the Mystics have made already this season.
 
LATTA: "It is pretty amazing. We still have a lot of work to do. We’re not going to get complacent with where we are at right now. We can always get better. Like Coach says, he "doesn’t want us to be a good team. He wants us to become a great team.
We’ve improved a lot as far as extra leadership in the locker room. Our rookies! Hey! You can’t count them out. Man! We’ve got 3-4 good rookies who are playing really well right now. The bench is doing good. It is like everybody complements each other really well. 

The second half, we’re gonna have to clean up a lot of little things, focus more on details and I think everything is going to be cool."

  Latta often acts like a coach on the floor and next fall she will be acting like a coach on the bench when she becomes an assistant to Sylvia Hatchell at Latta's alma mater, the University of North Carolina. 

LATTA: "It was all about a great opportunity. Me and coach Hatchell Had been talking and the opportunity presented itself and I wasn’t going to turn it down. I feel like it is another step in my career and in my life that I want to take. I’m excited about getting back up there and starting to work with the girls and get into them  calling me 'Coach Latta'.  That is going to be very weird!"

Ivory Latta scored 15 points and knocked down 4 of 7- 3pa for the East in the WNBA All-Star Game. Her skills will be on display on Sunday at 1PM (pt) when I call the Sparks v Mystics game on Time Warner Cable Sports Net. I hope you will tune in.

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  In future blogs, I'll be chatting with Tamika Catchings, Cappie Pondexter and Sylvia Fowles. 

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