Starzz' 7-2 pick learned early she `can't live without basketball'

When Malgorzata Dydek was a 12-year-old in Warsaw, Poland, her older sister was beginning to play high-level basketball and arranged for Malgorzata to tag along to practice. "I started to play, too," says Dydek, now a 7-foot-2 24-year-old who was the first pick of Wednesday's WNBA draft, chosen by the Utah Starzz.

"In the beginning," says Dydek in a telephone interview from draft headquarters in New Jersey, "I don't like nothing in the basketball. It was difficult to get me to practice because I don't like basketball, I don't want to play," she says in English that is much better than she gives herself credit for being able to speak.Her sister drew up a play for her for the next practice.

"After this, I know a little bit about basketball, and I love it.

"Now, I can't live without basketball," she says.

Although older sister Katarzyna played in Colorado with the rival American Basketball League last year, it is "Mega" or "Margo" who hopes to give Poland basketball fever. She is fairly well-known at home after six years of pro ball in Poland, France and Spain, but the WNBA brings a TV audience.

"I don't know about here, but most people in Poland will see WNBA," she says. "Sometimes when you know somebody from the team or you just like one person, you see the games on TV, so now in Poland when there is one Polish girl playing in the WNBA, I think more people, they will watch TV, watch the game," she says.

Dydek saw the Starzz on TV in '97 and knows about Utah. She played in Europe against Utah center Elena Baranova of Russia. "I was more interested in this team because I know her," Dydek says. "I play always against her; now, I'm happy to play with her."

Scott Layden, Utah's VP of basketball operations, says Baranova called the Starzz some time ago and told them to consider Dydek. "We had a lot of video on her, but where she caught everyone's eye was in Chicago," Layden says of the WNBA's mid-April scouting combine.

The WNBA had listed her height at 6-6, but Starzz coach Denise Taylor recalls her first look at Dydek standing next to 6-8 former NBA player Orlando Woolridge and making him look little.

Her height startled everyone, but Layden and Taylor had the first pick in the draft and were ready for some luck after a 7-21 record in 1997. "We feel good about being the No. 1 pick," said Layden, "but we don't feel good about earning it."

They watched her play. She can shoot from medium range or outside, rebound, block shots, catch well, play defense, run and is very impressive as a passer, Taylor says.