Storm Q&A: Shelley Patterson
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Shelley Patterson is just starting her first season as an assistant coach for the Seattle Storm, but she is no stranger to the WNBA or Storm Head Coach Anne Donovan. Patterson worked with Donovan in the ABL in Philadelphia and again with Indiana during Donovan's first year in the WNBA. Patterson has also been an assistant in Phoenix, Los Angeles and most recently Charlotte before the Sting folded.
That gave Patterson an opportunity to reconnect with the Storm's head coach. Donovan is really excited to be working with Patterson once again. "She's been great," Donovan said recently. "It's great having a new body in here, a new mind, with a lot of experience around the league. She's got a lot of different drills and philosophies that every day in that office we're sharing."
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Patterson: It's funny, because I was almost done with coaching period. I left college and I said I was going to be done with coaching. Anne called in '98. I don't know how our paths actually crossed, but she said something about having a position with the Philadelphia Rage. I went out to interview in Philadelphia. To make a long story short, we ended up working together there in the ABL. That was our first go at a pro team. It was just us two - we didn't have any assistants. We had a couple of unpaid managers, but it was really cool, a very good experience. I'm glad we got the opportunity to do it.
Obviously the ABL folded. I had a small stint, got my foot back in the door with the Comets. Then in 2000, Anne was the interim head coach for the Fever. Same thing, same phone call. I came to Indiana and that's pretty much how we got connected with the WNBA. She got the head coaching job in Charlotte; I stayed in Indy, primarily because of the differentiation in pay. Charlotte wasn't really doing a lot. Indiana was really a good program, a good situation, so I stayed. So she goes off and wins an Eastern Conference Championship and then I'm stuck in Indiana without her. And then I ended up going to Charlotte. It folded and the opportunity came again.
We have a very good working relationship, a very good working relationship. She knows what she's doing. We know each other. I know her style. Obviously, throughout the years, she's changed a little bit. I've probably changed some, so hopefully I can bring something different. Sometimes when you work with a group of people for so long, you stay with the same ideas and sometimes somebody else comes in. Even though I've known Anne, I haven't worked with her in a while, so hopefully I can bring something new to the table, something different - think outside the box.
Patterson brings to Seattle the experience of working against the Storm with several teams, including Western Conference rivals in Phoenix and L.A. That gives her a unique perspective as she now joins the Storm.
What was your perception of the Storm as a franchise while working for other teams?
Obviously, just from the outside looking in, it's a strong organization. It's very fan-oriented, meaning that I could go anywhere in Seattle when we were visiting as an opposing team and people were excited about it. I do remember a time being in a restaurant pregame, I was here with another team, and some young guys, probably in their 20s, were very excited. They were going back and forth, 'Are you going to the Storm game?' 'Yeah, we're going to the Storm game. Right, man.' I was thinking to myself how proud I was - not only the fact that the Storm had a great fanbase, but the fact that the WNBA had that and these young guys - guys - were excited about coming to the game. I thought that was so neat.
That's always been my perception of the Storm. They've always been a team that has drawn a lot of fans, at least when I come here. Throughout the years, they've gotten so much better, obviously, with winning the championship. I just always looked at them as such a competitive team team-wise. I always thought they were closely related. Their team and players seemed to get along. That was from the outside looking in. Now I'm on the inside, so we'll find out. I think Seattle is a great place, especially for a team like this in the summertime. Drawing enough fans, enough people, enough families, a very diverse crowd, I would say. That's one of the things I like about Seattle and the Storm.
What did you learn from coaching against the Storm?
One thing about the Storm and coaching against the Storm and scouting against the Storm, obviously you've go the one-two punch of 
Sue Bird and 
Lauren Jackson. You have to always be concerned with defending the pick-and-roll, the two-man game with those two. We tried all kinds of things - jamming Lauren, switching, whatever we could do to defend that. You always had the other shooters on the opposite side - 
Betty Lennox, 
Izi (Castro Marques) came around; she's actually been a nice surprise for this team. There's always something to contend with. You always have to worry about 
Janell Burse offensive rebounds, because once people go to double Lauren, there's going to be a guard, obviously, boxing out JB, and she's gotten so much better through the years. I actually think she should have gotten Most Improved Player the year she was up for that. As an opposing coach, scouting the Storm, you always knew that, especially when you played here, there was going to be great fans, they were going to get excited. If they were up, they were definteily up. But also, on the flipside, if this team is down, and it has its down periods, sometimes they have a tendency to go up-and-down in their play.
What do you bring to the Storm's coaching staff?
That's a good question. I'm probably somebody who, because I've been around the league on both sides - spent time on the East Coast, spent time on the West Coast - I probably know every team backwards and forwards. For the last two years, I was the only person on the staff in L.A. and Charlotte who had experience in the league, so I did every single scout. Don't ask me how I got it all done. That allowed me to get very familiar with the teams, so I know I can bring that to the table.
I'm probably somebody who's a little different - look at my hair. Like Anne said - what did she say when I interviewed? - I'm different than she and Heidi (VanDerveer). I don't know if she wants to use the phrase 'bringing a little flavor,' but I do have a little bit of something different to offer. I think a little bit outside the box. I come up with some crazy schemes. Whether they want to listen to that or not may be something different.
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How would you describe your coaching philosophy?
I'm the type of person that I want you to give me 100% on the court. I don't really care what you do outside of that. Just when we're on the court, practice or play 100%. As far as basketball, I'm big into rebounding. I want rebounding first. I want to be the best rebounding team in the league, the best free-throw shooting team in the league and I want to be able to be tops in assists. A lot of times, if you look back on championships, championships are won on the boards, free throws and who makes that extra pass - sharing and having some kind of team chemistry.
If you watched the NCAA Tournament, you could see that happen. Some teams won it on the free-throw lost, some teams lost it on the free-throw line. Some teams missed a box out, got an offensive rebound. Thos teams are heart areas - having a lot of heart to get to the boards, that's basically what rebounding is. Look at a player like Tamika Catchings, who I've coached. It's nothing you can teach. It's just something that you have to want to do.
I want to run. You've got to rebound to run. I want to push the ball, push the tempo. I don't want the players to be afraid to be mistakes or to be afraid to take a shot or to be afraid to miss a shot. I want them to be comfortable on the floor and be able to play together as a team. Team chemistry, rebounding, being a great free-throw shooting team, assists - that's some of the things I would preach if I was coaching a team.
Who has influenced that philosophy?
I've had some good players, I've had some hungry players. I can't really say there was one in particular. If I look at Tamika Catchings, she's one of the hardest-working players that I've ever worked with. But I can also say the same thing with Sheryl Swoopes. I can also say the same thing with Cynthia Cooper. I can also say the same thing with Lisa Leslie when I coached out there, Diana Taurasi. One thing they all have in common is, despite their being the best player on their team, they still find a way work their butts off. It amazes me that the 12th man on the bench doesn't work as hard as the number one or two man. Even when I go look back at coaching in L.A., Kobe Bryant - we'd practice at 9; he'd already have his workout in and done. He's the best man on the team. Does he have to do that? No. But to me, to be able to point out to different players that you've got players like Catchings and Leslie and (Chamique) Holdsclaw and Swoopes, they come in and work their butts off in practice, to me that makes a great impact for what I can teach the other players - the sixth, the seventh, the eighth and ninth man down the row. That's where they need to be. From my understanding, Lauren's a hard worker. I haven't worked with her yet. She's the number one player on her team and she still works harder than anyone.
Coming to Seattle also marks something of a homecoming for Patterson, who was a standout point guard at Washington State from 1981-83.
What's it like getting back to the state of Washington?
It's funny, because as many times as we've come here to play, from my days at Washington State until now, I never had a chance to experience Seattle. You come to the hotel, you come to the gym, you go back and that's the end of your day. You don't see the beauty of this state. This state is huge, for one. Seattle is big. I think it's going to be great to be back. I haven't had an opportunity to travel around, but just the little bit that I've seen, I think I'm going to enjoy it. I don't know if I have any old friends or old college players out there, but a lot of people I know live in Seattle, but it will be interesting to get hooked back up with those people again.
