After a Long Journey, Greco Finds a Home

Nothing shakes an athlete quite like hearing “you’re not good enough” to make the team. It is a message that can crush the spirit or awaken a new determination.

Until last year, Michelle Greco, 23, had never been told “you’re not good enough” as a basketball player.

Certainly not at La Crescenta Crescenta Valley High, where she was a four-time Pacific League most valuable player, a two-time high school All-American and the state Division I player of the year. Or at UCLA, where she was a two-time Pacific 10 Conference scoring champion and two-time all-conference selection.

At 5 feet 9, Greco in college was considered a prototype shooting guard who broke down defenses with either her signature hippity-hop dribble, or by firing away from well behind the three-point arc. And she was clutch, making memorable last-second baskets to win plenty of games -- at UCLA, and before that at Crescenta Valley.

But professional scouts had their doubts about how her game would translate to the WNBA. Her quickness was considered questionable, as was her durability. She went undrafted by the WNBA. The now-defunct Cleveland Rockers did offer a free-agent tryout but cut her early in training camp.

Greco couldn’t believe how far she’d fallen, but she refused to stay down. She kept working on her game and believing that she could make it in the WNBA.

And she did, with the Seattle Storm.

“I did lose a little faith, especially when I didn’t get drafted,” Greco said. “But after I got cut from Cleveland it lighted a fire in me.”

She would have to prove herself overseas, which she started doing in December. Leaving Southern California for an extended period for the first time was a life-altering experience. She had to be responsible for herself instead of having others do things for her.

“I grew up in L.A., went to UCLA -- I’d never had to experience anything out of my comfort zone or deal with not having family or my close friends no more than 20 minutes away,” Greco said. “So it was good for me.”

She had hoped to go to Italy -- “I’m of Italian heritage even though my last name is from Greece” -- but her agent, Gilberto Garcia, steered her to Israel.

It was a good move. Playing for Maccabi Raanana, a first-division club, Greco scored 31 points in her first game and averaged 25 points for the month she was there. But when she came home for a Christmas visit, she chose not to go back.

In January, Garcia arranged for Greco to play for first-division Greek team Apollon Ptolemaidas as a midseason replacement. Greco continued to thrive, averaging 18 points and making the all-star team.

Meantime, Garcia was burning up the phone lines to get Greco a 2004 WNBA camp invitation. He found a willing listener in Seattle Coach Anne Donovan.

“I’d watched Greco in college quite a bit,” Donovan said. “I’d always liked her athleticism and the fact she’s an over- achiever. She’s a tough kid that has great offensive abilities. I thought she had enough quickness and athleticism to defend in the league. But I hadn’t seen her since UCLA.”

When Greco arrived in Los Angeles on April 26, following a 10-hour flight from Greece, she expected to catch up with family and friends, and catch her breath. But when she turned on her cellphone for the first time in four months there were several messages from Garcia saying she had a scheduled flight to Seattle.

In three hours.

“I went from ‘I’m so happy to be home with plans’ to knowing I had to get on another plane and head to Seattle,” Greco said. “I didn’t even unpack.”

During her first few days of Storm training camp, Greco fought jet lag and the urge to put up shots the minute she entered the gym. “Early on I was just trying to get into the swing of things and not shoot myself out of camp. I didn’t want to come in and just be a gunner,” she said.

But she also didn’t look like the player Donovan remembered.

As the Storm prepared to scrimmage against the Chinese national team, Donovan spoke to Greco in blunt terms.

“I called her over and said, ‘I know you’re a scorer, I know you’re here to prove that. But you haven’t shown anything, and the clock is ticking,’ ” Donovan said.

The scrimmage lasted nearly six quarters and the stats were kept haphazardly. Greco’s line wasn’t eye-opening; she was scoreless and had one assist. But she went all-out. She drove to the basket, was aggressive on defense, displayed a high energy level.

“Once she clicked and people got confident in her,” Donovan said, “she never went back.”

Greco is a backup behind starting guards Sue Bird and Betty Lennox. She made her WNBA regular-season debut Saturday against the Sparks and scored six points in 10 minutes.

“I know I have to continue to prove myself in the games,” she said. “It’s one thing to make the team; it’s another to show everybody that I do belong. Just sitting on the bench and being content to make the team isn’t good enough.”