From Stever and the Times-Picayune.

"And as the talent pool gets bigger and broader, the game gets better," [said Orender] And with the game being better, there's more fans coming to it. The guys are not saying, 'Oh, it's girls basketball.' It's basketball that happens to be played by women."

It's a chain reaction that has the WNBA thinking more about thriving these days instead of simply surviving. The league is healthier than ever before, with a recently negotiated collective bargaining agreement that runs through 2013 and a TV deal with ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 that runs through 2016.