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Notebook: More Players on the Way

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Kevin Pelton, storm.wnba.com | May 4, 2006
Sue Bird is back in the Seattle Storm's training camp, and more teammates are on their way. Forward Iziane Castro Marques, having resolved her visa situation, is due into Seattle tomorrow. She will likely practice for the first time on Saturday, though Donovan is not expecting Castro Marques to play in Sunday's exhibition against New York at KeyArena (6:00 p.m., KJR 950 AM, ).

When Castro Marques arrives, it will leave only training-camp invitee Tiffani Johnson absent from camp. Johnson too is on her way after her Wisla Can-pak Krakow team defeated Lotos Gdynia 4-3 in the Polish League Finals yesterday.


"The report I have is she's 195, which is remarkable. If she's 195, that tells you she's serious about her game."
Barry Gossage/NBAE/Getty
"Tiffani is leaving Poland Thursday or Friday," said Storm Coach Anne Donovan. "Then to Charlotte and then here. She'll be here over the weekend at some point, not sure when. She won't play on Sunday."

Donovan is excited to get a look at Johnson, a veteran of six WNBA seasons, the last five with the Houston Comets. Physical conditioning was always a question mark with Johnson, and all reports are that she has re-dedicated herself after being waived by the Comets last spring.

"The report I have is she's 195, which is remarkable," said Donovan. "She was, I think, 240 at one point her last season in Houston. If she's 195, that tells you she's serious about her game."

After waiving guard Toccara Williams and forward Dalila Eshe after Thursday's practice, the Storm is down to just 12 players on the roster, all of whom have a very real shot of making the team. This might not be the final group, however, as Donovan continues to scour the waiver wire as teams around the league continue their cuts.

The evaluation process is ongoing with the players in camp, including center Lindsay Taylor. Taylor, along with Johnson and Shaunzinski Gortman one of just three invitees remaining on the roster, got plenty of reps during the portion of Thursday's practice open to the media with Lauren Jackson sitting out the practice and Janell Burse eventually joining her after going hard earlier in the controlled scrimmages. The practice time is important for Taylor.

"This is the first day we've been able to see her out there," said Donovan. "She's been limited to half-court drill work [by Achilles tendinitis]. This is the first day she could really get her up and down, so we're not there in the evaluation yet. We've determined that we want to keep her around so we can evaluate her."

Preseason Tips Off Sunday

After practicing tomorrow - with Bird and Jackson together on the court for the first time - and Saturday, the Storm will take on the Liberty on Sunday, an opportunity to get a look at a different opponent after days of work against the team's mostly-male practice squad. Still focused on the next two days of practice, Donovan hasn't given much thought to what she hopes to see on Sunday.

"I haven't really gotten there in my mind because we still have so many pieces coming in before then," she said. "Certainly, what I'm hoping for in a very general sense is to see that our defense has improved, to see that our new style has somewhat settled in and then just to see how we respond with time and score and fans."

Despite having several players arrive late to camp, the Storm should be a more cohesive unit than the Liberty, which lost four starters over the off-season and has one of the league's youngest rosters.

"I would expect that we would look better, with Sue having a couple of days of experience under her belt," Donovan said. "But this is exhibition; we're not looking for a win at all costs. We are looking to play and play well."

Jackson is expected to play against the Liberty.

Turner Continues to Impress

Storm rookie Barbara Turner, the talk of training camp thus far, dropped off a little bit during the first two practices this week. It was evident that Turner was a bit fatigued, having gone with little rest from her season at UConn to two-a-day practices during camp. The day off did wonders for Turner, who was outstanding during the scrimmage. Turner was so good that Donovan was compelled to ask reporters, "How about Barbara Turner today?" before commencing with her usual question and answer period.

"She came in today talking about how good she feels," Donovan said. "It's young legs that need less recovery time than most. I think she's excited, like everybody else was, to play with Sue. She couldn't wait to get on the team with black."

While Donovan speculated that Turner might have wanted to show off to Bird how well she has been playing, the performance comes to no surprise to Turner's fellow UConn product. While Bird and Turner never played together in college, they did compete in pickup games when Bird was back on campus during past off-seasons.

"It's great to see her showing people some things that they may not have known," said Bird. "A lot of people are like, 'Oh, I didn't know she shot 3s.' She just didn't shoot 3s. It's not that she couldn't or didn't want to, it's just not what she did. It's not what her team needed in college. It's great to see her expanding her game and showing that off."


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