Storm Opens Training Camp
Confident, Competitive
 Bird's goal? Replace former UConn teammate Swin Cash on the league's championship team. Allen Einstein/WNBAE/Getty |
Storm Coach Anne Donovan was unwilling to go quite as far.
"I'm not going to get quoted as saying anything like that, as much I'd like to, I'm not going to," Donovan said about the Storm being a championship contender.
"If we can stay injury-free, which is such a key in this sports business, good things are in store for us."
There was also a certain feeling in the camp - "uncertainty in the air", Donovan called it - motivated by the fact that this will again be an extremely competitive training camp. The Storm will have more players with WNBA experience than it has roster spots, as well as talented rookies like second-round pick Trina Frierson pushing to make the squad. Looming over everything is the specter of the WNBA's hard salary cap, which could make for some difficult decisions in the weeks to come and a difficult camp.
"It will be competitive," Donovan said. "If that means brutal, then yes. I think it's great. We've gotten a little bit deeper. We've got some great free agents that committed to coming in and it's going to be a battle."
After adding several free agents to the roster, the Storm currently has 13 players in camp, with Donovan saying that two more - Roosevelt High grad Lindsey Wilson, a point guard who was drafted in the third round of the 2003 Draft out of Iowa State and practiced with the Storm throughout last season after being cut by the Connecticut Sun; and high-scoring former UCLA guard Michelle Greco - are expected to arrive tonight and undergo physicals tomorrow morning in the hope that they'll join the team for practice.
The usual complement of players, particularly posts - forward Lauren Jackson and center Simone Edwards and Kamila Vodichkova - was absent because of commitments overseas, but the Storm did get some good news in that department when the Russian team that Jackson joined for its championship series, UMMC-Ekaterinburg, was swept, ending Jackson's commitment.
"Lauren will be here very soon," Donovan said. "She's done with her commitments in Russia, she's on her way."
"In the next 48 hours, if not tomorrow," Donovan later added about Jackson's return to Seattle.
 Jackson will return to Seattle sooner than expected. Catherine Steenkeste/WNBAE/Getty |
Point guard and forward look to be the three positions that will be hotly contested during training camp, with the Storm signing multiple free agents at those spots.
"Point guard, we've definitely got some issues there that we're still trying to work out," Donovan said. "I don't really have a grasp on that. Post players, with Lauren coming in late, Kamila coming in late, Simone coming in late, it's hard to really get a handle on that yet. So these players, it's a good opportunity for them to really get some good looks, particularly in the post. And point guard, that's just got to play itself out. I wish I had a better handle on that at this point. I'm one that, even though we have got 13 players practicing tonight, I'd like to have a better idea than I do right now. So from a player's perspective, this is ideal. They can write themselves on the team or off the team. From my perspective, I'd like to have things a little bit further down the road."
Things are also different this season with Donovan and the rest of her coaching staff entrenched, instead of trying to install a new system and get to know new players during a training camp shortened by last year's labor issues.
"This year is entirely different because I know this personnel inside and out," Donovan said. "There's a few players I don't know inside and out, but just one or two. I'm looking forward to this process. It's a little bit easier than it was last year."
"There's definitely a different feeling having the same coach than coming into a new one," said Bird. "Like I know what to expect the first day of practice, where last year I didn't."
Lastly, the Olympics, and the break the WNBA will take in August for them, make this a unique campaign, particularly for the Storm.
"I think we, more than any other team in the league, are going to be affected by that break," Donovan said. "The CBA has mandated a 10-day period respite for the players to go off, and then we can come back and practice for two weeks.
"If you look at Seattle's practice, without the head coach, without Sue, without Lauren, potentially without Kamila, those two weeks, how much are we going to accomplish?"
That, along with potential fatigue issues for Jackson, who will play heavy minutes for the Opals and a compact September schedule - nine games in 18 days - make it important for the Storm to go into the Olympic break strong.
"We can fight for our lives at that point, but I'm hoping we put ourselves in a position where we don't have to do that," said Donovan.
"You can't really see anybody. I don't even know where I am. It goes really fast. I can tell you the shoot was a lot of fun, there were a lot of players there. We got to pick out these cool outfits. … It's flashy and I think it catches your attention, so I think it does its job in that respect. And it was a lot of fun to shoot."
