Again, minor injuries and illnesses were bothersome for the Storm, despite guards Sue Bird and Michelle Greco returning to the practice court. MVP Lauren Jackson continues to be sidelined by a pulled groin, while both guard Tully Bevilaqua and center Janell Burse (who has been ill) leaving practice prior to the scrimmage portion because of light-headedness and nausea. Greco, meanwhile, played with a protective mask after her nose was fractured during Monday's practice.

The good news for the Storm on the injury front was that forward Trina Frierson, the team's only selection in last month's WNBA Draft, was able to participate in a limited fashion in the team's shooting drills.

Besides those brief shooting drills, the focus was on defense, as it has been since the Storm returned home from Saturday's preseason loss to the Phoenix Mercury. In a three-on-three halfcourt drill that emphasized defense, the Storm responded by forcing a number of turnovers with aggressive play.

The Storm's Shaq

Guard Shaquala Williams, who goes by "Shaq", was signed to a contract Tuesday afternoon and made her Storm debut in the practice. On the same night basketball's other Shaq, Shaquille O'Neal of the Los Angeles Lakers, was going for nearly 30 points against the San Antonio Spurs, Williams was impressing onlookers at The Furtado Center with her speed and scoring ability.

Williams led all scorers during the Storm's scrimmages and helped the gray team - composed mostly of second-team players - tie the black squad during the last scrimmage.

"Good first day for sure," said Coach Anne Donovan afterwards.

Donovan is looking at Williams as a combo guard capable of playing both backcourt positions - much like veteran Rita Williams, who was released on Monday. With Bevilaqua out, however, Williams primarily saw time at the point.

"We had 10 players tonight," Donovan explained. "We talked about her playing the one and the two, but (with) Tully not being out there, there's no head-to-head comparison today. I think she can play both, but her comfort level playing the two guard is what we really had to gauge."

Walseth Impresses

Donovan on post Maren Walseth, the wild card in the battle to make the team amongst reserve posts who might not have been expected to survive this long in camp:

"For me, this was a learning experience, getting to know her strengths. She's a physical post player that is extremely smart. Her value is that she'll help execute plays. She may not be a leading scorer or rebounder on a stat sheet, but she's going to make your plays run more smoothly.

"Right now, we have to make sure she can help us on the boards. In her position, whoever makes our roster at that position has to help us on the boards."

Selling the Storm

The Storm front office also used the media reception as an opportunity to unveil more of its 2004 marketing campaign. The team showed off an ad which continues the theme of "They're baaack," featuring Bird and Jackson. For the first time, the Storm will be purchasing advertising time, running the commercial on Mariners broadcasts.

The Storm's marketing this season will also focus on this summer's Olympic Games, as well as the Storm's fifth year of existence. The team will take advantage of the month-long Olympic break by getting its players out in the community, and is planning to pay for the maximum allowable number of players to stay in town throughout the break.

Storm COO Karen Bryant revealed that the Storm has topped the 2,000 mark in terms of season tickets for the first time since the inaugural season, while also setting a new record for season-ticket sales in dollar terms.