Amos Morale of the Times-Picayune catches up with Big Syl as she enters another WNBA season:
Syliva Fowles is downright giddy about this upcoming WNBA season.
Fowles, the Chicago Sky's 6-foot-6 center and a former LSU All-American, finally feels healthy.
"Knock on wood, I hope to stay this way the whole season, " Fowles said.
After a knee injury ended her rookie season and an ankle injury derailed her second year, Fowles said she's pain-free and ready for the WNBA season, which begins today.
Despite her playfulness off the court, Fowles said this season she wants to be more of a force on offense. She has averaged 10.9 points and 7.7 rebounds with Chicago.
"I've always been known to be effective on defense but not necessarily as much on offense, " Fowles said. "So (I'm) just trying to be aggressive more around the rim and get more touches."
Like most WNBA players, Fowles spend her offseason playing overseas, for Spartak Moscow in Russia. She's had an opportunity to hone her game there and has had no complaints about spending half the year in a foreign country -- except one: "The winters there (stink). Being from Florida, it was kind of hard, but other than that, it was pretty good."
Fowles said the style of play in Russia allows for more aggressiveness, which she has to adjust to back in America. The lane also is wider in the Russian league, and three-second violations are rarer.
Fowles said the biggest adjustment is getting back into the routine of the WNBA. She had more leisure time overseas, but her off-court obligations in the States rarely allow for such freedom.
"Being here, you never know what you might have to do, " Fowles said. "You might have a community service, or an appearance, to sit down and watch film, meetings and thing like that."
She said she was looking forward to building chemistry with the Sky. "Once they get me going, everything else is going to flow like butter, I guess, " Fowles said. "I don't really have any preparations. I just go out there and play to the best of my abilities and win."
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