Sims looks to help Wings make late-season surge

Dallas Wings veteran Odyssey Sims dribbles on offense against Seattle Storm veteran Skylar Diggins-Smith in a WNBA game on July 1, 2024.

PHOTO: Getty Images via Dallas Wings

NOTE: This story was published before the Dallas Wings released Odyssey Sims, who had previously signed hardship contracts. Sims is now an unrestricted free agent and is free to sign with any WNBA team other than the Wings immediately. Per league rules, Dallas is subject to a minimum 10-day wait prior to attempting to re-sign a player released from a hardship contract.

By W.G. RAMIREZ

LAS VEGAS -- WNBA veteran Odyssey Sims may not have started the season with the Dallas Wings, but she's certainly made her mark since rejoining the team and is ready to finish the campaign strong.

The 11-year vet is as dangerous as any other guard in the league.

Her teammates know it, her opponents know it, and every coach in the league knows it.

"I love our conversations during games," Dallas coach Latricia Trammell said when the Wings visited the Aces last month. "Odyssey has been that missing piece that we needed. Just that energy and that passion, being able to push the pace. It was a smooth transition because she was part of the team last season. She knows the system offensively and defensively. That's a player that I love to coach."

In the nine games since her return to the team on June 27, Sims is averaging 17.2 points per game and has bolstered the roster with not just efficiency at both ends of the court, but a leadership quality the Wings were yearning for during tough stretches.

Her scoring average ranks 16th in the WNBA since her return, while she ranks seventh in the league with 5.6 assists per game in the same stretch.

"She's a good somebody to watch as far as how she carries herself as a pro, how she carries herself as a vet, what she expects from us as her teammates," Wings center Kalani Brown said. "She's not afraid to get on our ass, and nine times out of 10 I don't have nothing to say back because I'm probably not doing it."

But it's not just her veteran teammates, like Brown, Arike Ogunbowale, Natasha Howard or Monique Billings who are feeling an impact with Sims' presence.

Rookie Jacy Sheldon, drafted in the first round out of Ohio State, began drawing just as much attention from defenders as other rookies like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese after spending time in the starting lineup, so having Sims beside her on the floor or during timeouts has helped widen her view to ongoing things she may not recognize.

"Just those little vet things, like fighting over screens, giving tips about what (opposing players) are going to do, if you start like this, if you force them (one) way," Sheldon said. "It's just stuff like that, little things that rookies don't realize but haven't heard. ... It's really helpful."

Knowing she and Howard are the elder spokeswomen on the team, Sims' leadership was needed on the third-youngest team in the WNBA, with the Wings' average age 26.25 years old, per homeschoolhoop.com.

"And it's not always that we got to talk a lot, just like in certain moments when a team goes on a run and the first thing you do because it's a habit, you hang your head or you shrug your shoulders, your body language changes," said Sims, who turned 32 on July 13. "So just being able to talk to my team throughout the game and just be like, 'Hey, we're good. We're okay.' Just to get everybody's mind on what's going on.

"We get caught up in the moment of what just happened instead of 'Alright, next play. Okay, next possession.' Because we can't go back and change it. So that's been my biggest thing. Anything I can do to help and help this team out, I'm here for it."

Sims said she was happy to rejoin a roster she was familiar with, and though it's fairly young, she's embracing the chance to mentor younger players and welcomed the opportunity of stepping in on a hardship contract with what was a top-four team in 2023.

Though the Wings will open the latter portion of the schedule in last place when they host the Connecticut Sun, they're only 4.5 games back of the eighth and final playoff spot.

Dallas Wings veteran guard Odyssey Sims (r.) scored a season-high 25 points against the Las Vegas Aces on July 7, 2024.

PHOTO: Courtesy Dallas Wings

As they began getting healthy, they found their offensive groove, improving from 79.4 points per game in their first 15 games, to an 85.7 ppg. clip over their final 10 before the Olympic break.

And Sims has been a big part of that.

"Odyssey is someone that averaged 30 in college, was an absolute beast for being a rookie - I think she averaged like 18 or 20 a game, then an All-Star in Minnesota - I'm an Odyssey fan," Aces guard and two-time Gold medal Olympian Kelsey Plum said. "Obviously the 'lefties' club gotta stay together, you know? Speaks a lot to her resilience to be able to come in when they need her and absolutely deliver.

"I mean, she's been flawless. She's been a monster. I mean, someone that plays both ends of the court, extremely competitive. I really enjoy talking to Odyssey when I get to see her. I'm just happy for her."

Sims said having been a part of Athletes Unlimited in all three years of the league's existence helped her fall in love with basketball again because it enabled her to play in a league where she could "just play free." The idea of being a part of a player-controlled league, where there are different captains every week didn't hurt.

Being a captain in all three seasons at Athletes Unlimited helped her hone her leadership skills because it allowed her to get her strategies down and learn how to talk to people within her team.

Heading into Friday’s home game against Connecticut, with the Wings having time to heal and refocus for the final 15 games - 10 of which are in Dallas - Sims is ready to put her entire package into home stretch for a franchise she's always believed in.

"We went to the semifinals last year and you look this year and it's like, 'what's going on with Dallas?'" Sims said. "I feel like what we're focused on right now is just going out and playing hard every game. Everybody's just trying to stick together. Like we know it's gonna come because we have so many changes going on with the team, we're just trying to stick with it. And it's hard, like I said, based off last year, but we can't really blame injuries the whole season. Like yes, that plays a part. But the ones that are out there, (those) on the roster. We still got to play basketball. We just gonna play hard for them and try to get some wins.

"We're not worried about our record. We know at some point we can turn it around. We're just trying to find, not the solution, but just where we all just click. Where we just string more than just one win in a row, where we got three or four and now it's like, 'Okay, now where we see we're moving up, now we have a potential chance to make playoffs right now.'"