A few minutes with Sun GM Chris Sienko

Not to harp on the passed WNBA trade deadline – which, for all intents and purposes, was just another day considering no deals were made – but here is a transcript of a quick interview with Sun general manger Chris Sienko regarding possible moves the team might have made that didn’t make it into Friday’s stories (game story, sidebar):

Norwich Bulletin: Considering the confidence you had a few weeks that this team could turn around its season around, these are pretty much results you expected.

Chris Sienko: It’s exactly what I expected. You have a senior group – there are some rookies who are sprinkled in there – but you have people who know the system and you have to expect things are going to turnaround.

NB: The trade deadline passed on Tuesday (July 24) and obviously no moves were made around the league. But did you and the Sun have any discussions with anyone (about a deal)?

Sienko: We talk to a lot of different teams, but again, what people are offering and what you’re offering and what people want in return are very different. And then you have teams who think they’re going to make, teams they don’t think they’re going to make it so the disparity is great.

And there are very few that are out of the playoffs already. So there is very limited chance to do stuff. It’s not (surprising) to not have any trades.

NB: Anything in particular you discussed?

Sienko: We talked to some teams about stuff that we wanted to do but we had no takers.

NB: It’s hard (to trade) anyway now, with the salary caps the way they are around the league.

Sienko: But that’s not really that big of an issue. You can either cut a player or you can trade a couple for a certain amount of players. You can give two $30,000 players for a $60,000 player so there are always ways to make it work.

NB: Even though you didn’t make any trades, the play of Evina (Maltsi) lately, considering she was as an in-season signing, must seem like a trade in itself.

Sienko: She’s fantastic. People aren’t expecting her ability but we know what it is. But to have a 28-year-old rookie is always a big plus because she has played so well overseas. So to come here and she started to get into the program, it’s going to take time for things to gel.