Donovan Leads First Post-Olympic Practice

With the Olympics over, it was business as usual for the Seattle Storm at Monday's practice.

An "exhausted" Bird sat out today's practice. Jeff Reinking/NBAE/Getty

Okay, not quite. Coach Anne Donovan ducked out halfway through practice to fulfill her obligation to participate in the WNBA's post-break coaches conference calls. Guard Sue Bird sat on the sidelines in a white t-shirt and sweatpants, resting after a long night of travel. And MVP forward Lauren Jackson was still absent, her flight back from Greece not due into Sea-Tac Airport for another four hours. Still, after a week and a half of practices that didn't quite feel right, Monday felt like the official beginning of the second portion of the Storm's season.

"As soon as I put on this green shirt this morning, it was back to Storm business," said Donovan. "Lauren and Sue will be with us tomorrow from practice, and we'll hit the ground running, I'm sure."

That Donovan would even be there at all seemed relatively unlikely Sunday evening. She, Bird and Sheri Sam, returning from Athens, missed their connecting flight from Denver to Seattle. Without any other flights to Seattle scheduled, the group was forced to re-route to Portland and make the drive up I-5, not returning to Seattle until after 2 a.m. Ten hours later, Donovan was on the court at The Furtado Center, leading practice. She liked with what she saw.

"I was really pleased with practice today," said Donovan. "(Assistant coaches) Jessie (Kenlaw) and Jenny (Boucek) have done a great job. The girls, they're prepared. They're really looking good."

Bird, meanwhile, just looked tired. "I'm exhausted," she said.

"I'm tired at the moment," echoed Jackson after flying from London to Seattle. "I feel good, but I need a couple of days' sleep, I think, after the Olympics. To get on a flight and come back here … I feel funny."

Still, all three Olympians could agree that the fatigue was more than offset by the experience of winning medals and taking in the Olympics.

"It was awesome," Donovan summarized. "I think every Olympics, people say they get tired of that or it was better as a player. I think every time you go, it's special. Being a coach and part of the coaching staff, to win that gold medal is really special, something I'll hang on to forever."

"I got to see beach volleyball win their gold medal, the women," said Bird, who cited watching other sports as the best part of her Games besides winning gold. "I got to see women's soccer - I got to see the last game Mia Hamm (one of Bird's favorite athletes) will ever play, along with Julie Foudy and all those guys. I tried to take in as much as I could."

"It was great," Jackson said. "I had a great time. All my closest friends are on the national team, so it was great having fun with them back there and playing for Australia again felt really good - the Aussie spirit, being back with the Australians in the village. It was great."

Bringing home a gold medal, as Bird did (coaches do not get medals in Olympics basketball, so U.S. Head Coach Van Chancellor said he was going to go to Wal-Mart and make one of his own; Donovan, with two from her playing days, said she'd pass), remains an incomparable experience.

"We got dropped off here at 2:30 in the morning," recalled Donovan, "and our driver says, 'Before I go, Sue, can I see your medal?' It's a special, special time, and it's great for Sue and Lauren to really hang on to that."

Starting tomorrow, however, Bird and Jackson will have to get back to work, with the Storm's first post-break game against the Sacramento Monarchs at KeyArena looming Wednesday evening. With just a game and a half separating the Storm and the first-place Los Angeles Sparks (on the schedule Friday), the Storm is looking to maintain its momentum from the end of July, when the team went into the break with seven wins in its last eight games. In addition to the supporting cast stepping up to support Bird and Jackson, that means getting them back to All-WNBA form as quickly as possible.

"I'm worried about the adjustment to the ball more than anything," Donovan noted. "When Lauren got to the Olympics, she was struggling from the three-point line. I think it was a combination of the new system, back with the Australian national team, and the bigger ball, it took a while."

"It's going to take me a little while," said Jackson, who typically goes through this transition twice a year when going back and forth between the U.S. and Australia. "It took me a long time to get used to the big one again. But I'm used to changing."

The delay in the Storm's American Olympians' flight meant that the welcoming festivities for them at the airport were canceled, but the Storm did turn out in style this afternoon for Jackson, ferrying her back to The Furtado Center in a limo with champagne to celebrate her performance in Athens. A small group of intrepid Storm fans joined team employees holding a banner signed by Storm teammates, employees and fans to greet Jackson when she emerged from customs. Meanwhile, teammates Sam and Tully Bevilaqua waited to surprise Jackson in the limo.

Donovan re-confirmed that it she is not expecting Jackson's Australian teammate Suzy Batkovic, who the Storm drafted in the second round of the 2003 Draft, to join the Storm following the Olympics, despite them chatting in Athens.

"It was my first chance really meeting her face-to-face and talking with her, I met her parents, so I politicked as much as I could," Donovan said, "but the bottom line is she signed a contract to play in Valencia (Spain) September 1, so I don't see it happening."

Center Janell Burse, still working her way back from hip bursitis, participated during the full-court scrimmage that concluded practice.