Record: 9-15
Playoff Position: 8th seed (tied with Washington for final Playoffs spot)
Games Remaining: 10

PRECAPS: San Antonio Stars | Connecticut Sun | Dallas Wings | Washington Mystics | Seattle Storm | Phoenix Mercury | Chicago Sky | Indiana Fever | Atlanta Dream | New York Liberty | Minnesota Lynx

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Pre-Break Recap

Storm head coach Jenny Boucek isn’t shy about using the term “rebuilding.” Seattle is no stranger to raising a Rookie of The Year-caliber talent, following Jewell Loyd’s 2015 season. The differences this time around are expectation, and so far, result. At 9-15 and currently sharing the 8th and final playoff spot, the Storm are one win from matching their season total from 2015. But that could be what you’d expect, following their drafting of the sport’s newest Olympic-level talent, Breanna Stewart.

“When you get a player like Breanna Stewart, everyone’s expectations naturally shoot through the roof,” said Boucek. “And some of that is unrealistic. As great a player as she is, we’re very much in process.”

That process started with an eye-opener for Stewart, who suffered her first loss since her junior year at UConn on Seattle’s opening night in Los Angeles. Candace Parker welcomed Stewart with a 34-point surge. Seattle bounced back and forth in the win-loss columns after that, with two separate three-game skids in the season’s first two months.

“It’s not easy to keep a hungry, unified, hopeful attitude when you’re not winning as many games as you’re used to,” said Boucek. “To have the elite competitors that we have on our team that have the intelligence, character and humility to just stay the course and trust the process and show that kind of resilience, that’s something that is a really special thing about this team and is going to set us up for success in the near future.”

A measure of success could realistically arrive at the close of this season, with the Storm in position for their first playoff birth since 2013, and first under Boucek.

“I think we’re ahead of schedule,” said Boucek. “We’re competing and in position [to win] every night and we’re really looking forward to taking that next step. So I’m encouraged with where our team is.”

Pre-Break Highlight
June 3rd: Jewell Loyd and Breanna Stewart take to the sky for a play we’ve never seen before

We could just call this the Jewell Loyd Picking On Phoenix Section when you take into account her game-winner and career-high capper over the Mercury May 21st. But her alley-oop connection with this year’s No. 1 pick created a signature play for the Storm’s young duet (enhanced by the fact that they pulled it off again against the Mystics). Behold the ROY Double-Oop:

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3 Standouts

Breanna Stewart

An undefeated three-time Rookie of the Month. Top five in the league in scoring at 19.2 points per game. Leading her team in seven statistical categories. It seems Stewart’s game has fit right in to the WNBA.

“We’ve had a couple [players] that have translated pretty early — I don’t know that anyone’s translated better than Breanna, though,” said Boucek.

“Stewie’s stepped into a situation where all eyes are on her because we are in a legitimate rebuild. So she’s having to handle a heavy, heavy, heavy load for a rookie. I think that says a lot about not just her talent but the “It” factor that she has. She is comfortable with pressure, with responsibility. One of the things that I really, really respect about her is that she is extremely hungry to be coached. The really great players have that quality, they want feedback.”

Boucek shared a telling story of Stewart’s fearlessness, requesting in the huddle to cover reigning league MVP Elena Delle Donne in a tie game with seconds left on July 17. EDD got the win, but Stewart got the lesson.

“Real elite players, they’re unafraid of failure. They embrace – and in fact invite – ‘the bigger the challenge the better,'” added Boucek.

Next we’ll see what the expectant Rookie of the Year has learned from the challenge of her first Olympic games, and how she’ll apply it to the playoff push.

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Sue Bird

In her 14th season (the league itself is celebrating its 20th) Bird is still right at her career averages in scoring and minutes played, and has league-leading assist numbers that haven’t been seen since her first two seasons. During the break, she’s pursuing Olympic gold for the fourth time, which would place her in elite company. And yet individual accolades and statistics don’t begin to tell the story of Bird’s contributions to this 2016 Storm team. Her impact is much grander than that, according to Boucek.

“It’s immeasurable. Her feedback is super valuable because there’s no smarter player — she’s smarter than any coach in our league. So I’d be stupid not to be getting as much feedback from her as possible about how she thinks we can be successful. She’s got a big hand print on what we’re doing.”

That responsibility of guidance might take away from some players’ personal games, but Boucek thinks it enhances Bird’s.

“She’s always been a very giving player, but she’s giving more than ever of herself and I think that’s re-energized her. Our young players, anything she gives them they just soak it up.”

And as reliant as this team is on those young players, they’ll need Bird’s experience more than ever as they close in on the postseason.

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Jewell Loyd

Even with energy and attention shifting to incorporating Stewart, Jewell Loyd has still found space to grow her game. She’s patented the fastbreak oop, and her dagger to sink the Mercury and set a new career high of 30 provided an early highlight.

Her numbers this season compared to her award-winning effort last year are up across the board, only falling in free-throw percentage (more reps), turnover rate (comes with more time on-ball) and rebounds (less of those to go around with Stewie nearby).

Loyd’s already started more games than she did all of last season, she trails only Stewart in team scoring with 16.5 points a game, and ranks top-three in both assists and rebounds. And with Stewart claiming all the Rookie of the Month awards thus far, the young duo could combine to make Seattle the first team in WNBA history with back-to-back Rookies of The Year.

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Pre-Break Photo Gallery

Click here for the best images from the Storm’s pre-break schedule

Post-Break Preview

Seattle hits the ground running after the Olympic break with arguably the most important 10-game stretch in the WNBA. Currently they find themselves locked with Washington for the 8th and final postseason seed under the new playoff format. Sure, the underrated Mystics returning to the playoffs would be big news, but the league’s top pick reaching the postseason ahead of schedule would be one of the achievements of the season.

The Storm and Mystics have split their head-to-head matchups this season, which sets up an all-important showdown September 9th in D.C. That is, if these two teams stay in lockstep, which is not something Boucek and the Storm concern themselves with.

“Our goal is to get better every day and to control the controllables,” said Boucek. “Learning how to finish games together, it takes time, it takes having continuity with a core group of players and a coaching staff. That’s going to be a continual goal for us going forward.”

While learning to close out wins game by game, Seattle might just learn a big lesson in closing out the season, with the playoffs in reach. And you can expect their biggest, newest weapon to have a few new winning ideas coming back from a month spent with the game’s greatest players.