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Lauren Jackson spoke to the local media about her new deal by phone from Australia. Here is a transcript of what Jackson had to say.
Why did you sign a multi-year contract after previously sticking to one-year deals? Was it connected to 
Anne Donovan signing a long-term deal after last season?
Yeah. She signed a long-term deal and hopefully 
Sue (Bird) will too, just so we've got that stability. The Seattle Storm's got so much potential to be great and I want to give something back to Seattle, as I've gotten over the last few years. This is going to be my sixth year now, so I want to be a part of it and make sure I've got security now and hopefully a few more championships.
What makes Anne so special as a coach?
I just think that she's a great teacher. She can teach the game really well. Especially her first year she came, I felt like my game improved in leaps and bounds. I've had recurring injuries since then, so I haven't been able to work on my game much during the season. Hopefully in the next three years as well, I'll be able to learn more from her and have more individual sessions and try and get better. As a teacher, I think she's great. As a coach, I think she's awesome. I've spent a lot of time with her. I think her and Tom Maher are the two best coaches I've had in my whole career. It's not something that I take lightly as a player and an athlete. I just want to be under her guidance again.
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Did you give any thought to exploring other options as a restricted free agent?
For me, at this stage of my career, I've been in Seattle for so long. Like I said, there's the whole loyalty thing. I've got no desire to play anywhere else in America. I've made a home there. If it so should happen that I do get traded or anything like that would happen, I'd have to decide whether to come back. Seattle is where I started my career in America and I want to finish it.
Was it because of focusing on your other commitments that you took so long to re-sign?
I was sort of focused on a lot of other things at the time. We had the WNBL Finals. We had the Commonwealth Games. We had the Opals Tournament. There was just a lot going on.
The last two years, one ends in euphoria and the other ends short. What did you learn from those experiences that you take into the 2006 season?
Probably that it's a game and that anything can be happen. It's one thing to be prepared and everything else, but when it's important, everyone has to bring out all aces or you can lose it just like that. Fortunately, it is a game and there is another season. You learn throughout the course of things like last year, but, like I said, it's only a game and as much as I love it and I want to be the best and my drive and my desire to win with this team is huge, some things are uncontrollable. It makes you hungrier. It does make you want to go out and win and prove it again. But I think for the Storm right now, we've just got to get everything together, get the team together and get firing.
Was it more difficult to play as the champions than you thought it would be?
I don't know. I don't think so. Like I said, it's a game. Of course, the competition is really, really good over there. To be the best, you've got to beat the best. All the pieces are there now to focus on winning. Last year was sort of a rebuilding (year); we lost a lot of our players and we knew it was going to be tough. Now, with 
Wendy Palmer and a couple of the other additions, I'm sure things are going to go much better for us.
How much have injuries held you back in your career?
They're always there and I'm always something something. Fortunately, they haven't kept me out of the WNBA. Now I've got to start taking much better care of my body, and that's something I've focused on over the last six months of Australia. There's no point in my even talking about it, because it's been a part of my career and I've had to deal with it my way and do what I think is best for myself. I don't think it's prevented me from doing anything. I think I can get better if I had more time to work on things. I sort of play in the WNBA and then stop for six months to get better from all the injuries I get over there. It's been a little bit of a rough patch, but hopefully this year will break that.
Have you been focusing on anything particular in your game that will be new this year?
There have been a few things I've been working on. I don't think so. I think this next month is going to be really telling in what I can do. I don't know. You'll have to say. You tell me.
What's your timeframe for arriving in Seattle? Will you be on time for camp?
Yeah, I'm getting in right before. I get in Sunday afternoon.
Can you tell us anything about the deal you signed to play in Korea?
Yeah, I signed a three-year deal with a Korean team. It's all very exciting, actually; I'm looking forward to it. It's a two and a half month season starting from December. It's going to be fun. I'm looking forward to the non-English-speaking barrier so I can just go out and shoot the ball.
How are your shins feeling after a couple months off and returning to playing?
I guess they're okay. I've still got the problem in the front of my leg, but it's only a pain thing at the moment. It's not career-ending; it's not time off or anything like that. I think the one thing that the Storm and myself have spoken about is the fact that I need to be managed. That's going to have to happen and actually fully happen this year. We can't just talk about it. There's no more compromises for me. Like everybody knows, it's been very well documented that my legs take a beating over there. It's just time now to be smart and really focus on training and training smartly, whether that's in the pool or doing things that are non-running around all the time, on the bike.
At the ripe old age of 24, are you realizing that the body doesn't bounce back quite like it did when you were 18?
Yeah, that's pretty funny, but yeah. I think when I got X-rays for my leg last year when it all happened, it sort of scared me back into a few things. A lot's changed since then for me and my priorities have changed. Like I said, yeah, I'm just at the moment focusing on what my body needs and what I can do and making sure that the people around me and the people who are impacting on my career and my body as much know what I need to.
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Do you realize every Storm fan in the world just jumped up and down when they heard that?
I'm shooting well at the moment, so that's a good thing, I guess.
When you re-connect with Sue, does it take a while to get that chemistry back, or does that click in pretty quickly?
Sue and I have played together now for four years and she's one of my best mates, so we talk a lot, even when she's in Russia. I think because of our friendship and our loyalty to each other that it's going to be easy for us to fall back into our old selves again. I just can't wait to see her. I know that it always takes time. It takes time to build chemistry in the WNBA in America because it's people from all different nations and backgrounds and there's a whole lot of things, but I think for me and her it's going to be easy. She's about the only person I can say that about in the whole world. It's pretty cool that I have that relationship with her.
Which leg did you have the stress fractures in?
On my left leg. The front of my left leg had shin fractures in it. I didn't know until I went and had X-rays.
Are you going to have to preserve yourself for the World Championship? Will you be sitting out practices or even games?
No, I don't think so. Like I said, it's just the effect of managing them. Conditioning sessions, instead of running up and down a basketball court, I need to be in a pool or on a bike. Just smart things.
Is there still pressure on players to stay in Australia for the Opals?
I don't know. I think there's been pressure put on some of the younger girls. They obviously want to keep some players in Australia so they can work on their game with the national coach, doing the national team thing. It is a difficult choice for some of the young girls to make. The WNBA, obviously, is something that everybody wishes to play in and wants to peak at. Especially over in Australia. Everyone's got so much ambition over here and Basketball Australia's sort of lamenting that a little bit. At the end of the day, these guys have got to go out and start their careers somewhere, and if they can't do that this year or next year, they're better off going and getting a 9-to-5 job.
