Jackson Makes Long-Term Commitment to Storm
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The Seattle Storm took a critical step towards being ready for the start of training camp, now just a week away, when All-Star forward
Lauren Jackson re-signed with the team Monday.
That Jackson, a restricted free agent to whom the Storm could match any offer, would return was something of a formality. The length of the contract was anything but. Jackson has in the past operated on year-to-year contracts with the Storm, but is now committed to a three-year deal that will keep her in Seattle through 2008.
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Stability is hard to come by in the WNBA, but with Jackson, 
Betty Lennox and Coach 
Anne Donovan all signing multi-year deals since last August, the Storm has a great deal of stability amongst its core group. The lone exception is All-Star guard 
Sue Bird, who is entering the final year of a three-year deal she signed two off-seasons ago and will be able to sign a new contract next off-season.
"(Anne) signed a long-term deal and hopefully Sue will too, just so we've got that stability," said Jackson. "The Seattle Storm's got so much potential to be great. I just want to be part of something over the next three years that I think could potentially be pretty special."
Jackson's signing was held up for some time as she was busy overseas with her WNBL and Australian Opals National Team commitments.
"I was sort of focused on a lot of other things at the time," Jackson said. "We had the WNBL Finals. We had the Commonwealth Games. We had the Opals Tournament. There was just a lot going on."
And then there was the injury. Jackson missed three months after suffering a stress fracture in her left shin in October. Jackson's shins have long been a source of trouble for her, in part because of the stress of playing nearly year-round between the WNBA, the WNBL and the Opals.
"I guess they're okay," said Jackson about her shins. "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."
When Jackson learned she would have to sit out due to the stress fracture, reports from Australia indicated she was giving her future some serious thought. While she ultimately decided that future would include the WNBA, Jackson feels the need to take better care of herself.
"The one thing that the Storm and myself have spoken about is the fact that I need to be managed," Jackson explained. "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."
Aside from a bout with the flu during the Opals World Challenge two weeks ago, Jackson has been able to play regular minutes for the national team, including 28 minutes against the U.S. Women's Senior National Team in the Opals 76-65 win last Wednesday. Jackson scored 23 points on 8-for-14 shooting in that game, including four 3-pointers.
"I think I got all my points from the 3-point line," Jackson said. "Yeah, the 3-point shot's back anyway, if that's any consolation. I just shot from the 3-point line and they all went in, so that was kind of nice."
After arriving on time for the start of training camp for the first time in her WNBA career a year ago, Jackson will do so again this season. She's scheduled to arrive in Seattle on Sunday ready to go and excited about the team.
"All the pieces are there now to focus on winning," Jackson said. "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."
Like many of her teammates, Jackson has last year's early playoff exit to serve as motivation in 2006 and beyond.
"It makes you hungrier," she said. "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."
With Jackson in the fold long-term, that task became much easier Monday.
