The last piece of the puzzle (unless you include the wait for second-year forward Amber Holt to recover from the hand injury she suffered in the preseason) for the Connecticut Sun has arrived.

Sandrine Gruda, a gifted 6-foot-4 forward, joined the Sun on its midwest road trip and will play in Sunday's game at Detroit. Connecticut waived rookie forward/center Lauren Ervin to stay at the WNBA maximum 11-player limit.

Gruda averaged 6.2 points, 3.5 rebounds and tied for the team lead with 26 blocks in 31 games last season. Her arrival was delayed as she led France to the Eurobasket championship and was given permission to take some time to visit her family before joining the Sun.

Gruda had an outstanding performance at the Eurobasket championship and was one of the leading candidates for the tournament's MVP honor which went to former Connecticut Sun guard Evanthia Maltsi. She joins a Connecticut team which ranks last in field-goal percentage, 11th in scoring offense and 10th in rebounding margin.

Not only is Gruda further along as a player than she was a year ago but watching an interview (in English) of Gruda after the Eurobasket semifinals, I barely recognized Gruda's confident, easy-going persona. It was a stark contrast to the shy, reserved way she carried herself around the media with the Sun.

I spoke recently to Asjha Jones, a teammate of Gruda's on the UMMC Ekaterinburg (Russia) squad and Connecticut coach Mike Thibault about how much she has matured in the last year.

"There is a lot of growth," Jones said. "Last year was her first year in America and she is a young player, she didn't go to college and didn't have that experience that we all had. I thiink she tries to treat it as a learning experience and grow every year."

Jones credits the work of Los Angeles Sparks assistant coach Marianne Stanley, who was an assistant for UMMC Ekaterinburg, for helping Gruda grow as a player on the court to the point where she is considered to be one of Europe's top players.

"She came here (last season) as kind of the young kid on the team and for the (French) team she has become a leader and expected to be a leader. I think it will change her demeanor towards how she plays in the league."