ESPN WNBA

Updated: June 8, 2006, 2:20 PM ET

Dales is back -- and so is the smile

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By Nancy Lieberman
Special to ESPN.com
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It started as an innocent walk past a playground.

But Stacey Dales didn't make it past the park.

AP Photo/Charles Rex ArbogastAfter a summer away from the WNBA, Stacey Dales is all smiles in Chicago.

The basketball court -- and all its familiar sounds -- called to her. The ball bounced off the pavement. Shoes shuffled across asphalt. The twine of the net rippled.

And before she knew it, Dales had some kid's ball in her hands and was taking aim at the hoop. Dales officially had walked away from the game months earlier, and her shot that day last year might have been a little rusty. But something was familiar.

"I felt that tingle, I felt my spirit for the game awakening," Dales recalls. "I was drawn to the hoop. It brought me back to the days when I was a kid and would just shoot in my driveway."

The emotion was a welcome feeling for Dales. In 2002, she was an All-American at Oklahoma and led the Sooners to their first NCAA championship game appearance before being drafted third overall and landing in that summer's WNBA All-Star game. From 2002-04, Dales averaged 9.3 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists with the Mystics.

But despite enjoying playing for coach Michael Adams, Dales' passion waned somewhere along the line. And on Feb. 2, 2005, she left the game.

"Over the past couple of seasons my passion and spirit for playing basketball has slowly diminished," Dales said at the time. "Leaving the game is not an easy decision to make, but one that I am fully comfortable with for both myself and my family."

Though Dales -- who joined ESPN in 2002 as a studio analyst for women's college basketball coverage and subsequently had football and men's basketball added to her duties -- dove into her budding broadcast career, she found she missed playing the game and hanging out with her teammates. Walking past that elementary school playground last year in Florida, Dales realized she was ready to return.

"I left because I was unhappy and it wasn't fun," she said. "But I missed it."

Months later, after being selected in the Chicago Sky's expansion draft in November, Dales is back on the court, starting four of this season's six games. The Sky are off to a 1-5 start, and Dales is averaging just 14.7 minutes and 4.3 points. But the game has brought good times once again.

"For me to come back, it had to be fun, and it has been," Dales said. "Chicago is a great place, the owners and coaches have been amazing and I love my teammates."

Dales' return -- "I don't view it as a comeback," she said, "I view it as I took a year off" -- hasn't been easy. She shot 40 percent from the floor in her first three WNBA seasons, but is hitting 30.8 percent of her shots so far this summer. After struggling with some hamstring strains in training camp, Dales doesn't quite have her legs underneath her yet. Her rhythm, timing and explosiveness aren't yet as sharp as they once were.

In essence, she's starting from scratch, especially with a "new" name (she separated from her husband and has dropped "-Schuman" from her once-hyphenated last name) and a new number, 12, on the back of her jersey. (Dales wore 21 in college and in Washington, but deferred to teammate Brooke Wyckoff, who also has worn the number, because she felt Wyckoff deserved it since "she played in the league last year" and is a five-year veteran.)

But for someone as driven as Dales -- there's no middle ground for her and her passion; it's either all or nothing -- her best days are ahead of her if the 26-year-old wants it. She is back before the prime of her career, which she hopes will include a spot on the 2008 Canadian Olympic team and perhaps a trip overseas to play in the offseason.

Still, Dales knows she has a ways to go. For starters, she loves having the ball in her hands and being the decision-maker, but the very athletic Sky and coach Dave Cowens need her more as a 2 or 3 right now. Dales must start knocking down her shots when she gets the chance. And though her minutes might be limited, Dales must play with a high level of energy and aggression when she gets on the court.

Those two things seem to be no problem for Dales, whose reputation as a very hard worker -- as a player and as an analyst -- is well-deserved. Her exposure on ESPN also makes her perhaps the most well known player on Chicago's roster. But Dales just wants to blend in.

"I do not want to have a big deal made over me, I just want to help my team," she said.

"I grew up playing this game. It's a part of me. I started playing organized basketball when I was 9, and I still love it."