We are over halfway through the week and can see the glorious fall weekend on the horizon. To help you get through the remaining days, I have sunk back into the rabbit hole of reference pages to bring you more trivia. And since the WNBA Playoffs start tomorrow, that is where our journey takes us this week. Enjoy.
Olympia Scott was a 10-year veteran of the WNBA who played for 6 different teams in her career. She was drafted in 1998 by the Utah Starzz with the 1st pick of the 2nd round (11th overall). She was a very good pick for that draft as one of 6 players that played for at least 10 years in the WNBA. She was never quite a star. Olympia played most of her career as a backup center. Even the team that originally drafted her saw her as a reserve player at the time of the draft. Utah also had the #1 overall pick in the 1998 draft and used it to select Margo Dydek, a 7’2” center out of Poland. Dydek was Utah’s lockdown center for years, leading the league in blocks in her first 6 seasons in the league. Needless to say, Scott was rarely afforded much playing time as a center that was a full foot shorter.
This backup role caused Scott to bounce around the league a lot during her career, a true Ryan Fitzpatrick. Olympia played for 6 different franchises and was traded 4 times. She couldn’t seem to find a foothold anywhere, never playing for the same team longer than 2 years. She was traded twice in her first 3 years in the league, eventually ending up on the Indiana Fever where she would have the best years of her career.
Olympia played for the Fever in 2001 and 2002. They were the only two seasons she would be a starter and she thrived in the role. The increase in minutes led to career highs in counting stats like points, rebounds, and assists as well as rate stats like shooting percentage, free throw percentage, and Player Efficiency Rating. She was named team captain to help lead this young franchise. This was her prime and she started to look like she really belonged as a starter.
In 2002, she would form a fantastic duo with rookie All-Star Tamika Catchings. Olympia would rank in the top 10 of field goal percentage and offensive rebounds to create and sustain offense all over the court (she would also lead the league in fouls). She would also score a career high 31 points this season during a revenge game against the team that drafted her, the Starzz. She had a big night on an efficient 11 for 17 shooting to accompany nine rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots in 39 minutes. It was by far the best game of her career (Catchings herself added 15 points). Unfortunately, her big individual night was ruined by a defense that allowed every Utah starter to score 15+ points as the Fever got boat raced to a 82-69 loss.
Overall though, this was a good pairing for Indiana. With these two young foundational pieces and veteran Nikki McCray, the Fever would enter the postseason for the first time in franchise history in 2002 (losing in 3 games to the conference champions the New York Liberty). It looked like this could be the core going forward. But Olympia decided to part ways after the season and signed a contract with the Charlotte Sting. It was the first time in her career she was able to choose her team.
She would never regain the starting role she had in Indy, and would spend the last 5 years of her career as a rotational player. She might have enjoyed that role though as it led to some career achievements. After a year in Charlotte, the front office traded Olympia to the Sacramento Monarchs in 2005, where she would win a championship. Then she signed back with the Indiana Fever, and following the 2006 season, the Fever traded her to the Phoenix Mercury where she would win a 2nd championship. Scott became the first player in WNBA history to win 2 titles with 2 different teams.
Olympia played her last WNBA season in 2008, though she would only appear in 6 games. After that, she would compete in a few European leagues before officially retiring from playing in 2011.
I tried for hours to find highlights of Olympia. I really wanted to see some of her play from 2002. Somehow, the internet has failed me. The best I can do is this grainy “UFO-sighting” type of highlight video from a random game against the Orlando Miracle. She is definitely playing and it has a banger soundtrack, so I guess it’s not all bad.
And that’s the story of Olympia Scott’s WNBA career.
Keep Sports Fun.
Colin
Twitter - @ColinRingwood12