Tag Archives: Seattle Storm

WNBA Today, 06/07/2012: Here lies the Seattle Storm (a.k.a. Requiem for a Team)

In Affectionate Remembrance

of

THE SEATTLE STORM

which died at the Target Center

on

6th June 2012,

Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing

friends and acquaintances

R.I.P.

N.B. – The body will be cremated and the

ashes taken to Minnesota.

Okay, so I’m being a touch overdramatic. Also, there’s about three people who’ll read this and actually understand that reference (check here if you’re interested). Nonetheless, there was one WNBA game last night, and unless you happen to be a Minnesota Lynx fan, it was depressing. If you’re a devoted Seattle Storm fan, it must’ve felt a hell of a lot worse than that. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 06/04/2012: So many games, so little time

There aren’t any six-game days on the WNBA schedule this year, which at least goes some small way towards keeping me sane. Yesterday, however, was one of several occasions where we get the next-best thing – one day, five games. That’s a lot of basketball, and a lot of writing. So we’re going game-by-game, chronological order, Bullet Point Breakdown-style, and hoping you all find something mildly entertaining in there somewhere.

 

Washington Mystics 86 @ Connecticut Sun 94

  • The teams came out in the ‘wrong’ uniforms (Connecticut road, Washington home), in a desperate attempt to sell a few road jerseys to the Sun fans.
  • Same starting fives as prior games for these teams, Matee Ajavon and Renee Montgomery still being used by their respective teams as bench energy despite typically playing starter minutes.
  • It wasn’t exactly gripping stuff in the first half. The Sun have more confidence than the Mystics these days, especially on their own floor, and it showed at times. But the only player they had who could offer any scoring punch at all was Tina Charles. The lack of offensive support she received meant the half drifted along with the Sun up 5 or 6 points most of the way.
  • Charles really was outstanding though, showcasing all the different ways she can score. Jump hooks, offensive boards for putbacks, running the floor for layups, mid-range jump shots – she’s got it all. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 06/02/2012: Four times the fun

The WNBA really isn’t being considerate of people like me when they put four or five games on the same night (or on the very occasional insane evening, six). Don’t they realise just how much watching, note-taking and writing that results in? Anyway, four games last night, and as always WNBAlien has coverage of all of them for you. As you might expect, we’re going Bullet Point Breakdown style, and trying to keep it moderately succinct.

 

Minnesota Lynx 85 @ Connecticut Sun 72

  • The slate opened with the big matchup of two undefeated teams. Minnesota started their standard five, with Taj McWilliams-Franklin having shaken off the back pain suffered in their last game. Connecticut promoted Kalana Greene back into their starting lineup to replace Allison Hightower, and had Tan White now fit enough to contribute off the bench.
  • Messy first quarter, too much sloppy play from the Lynx, too many bricks from the Sun. Monica Wright, off the Minnesota bench, was the only bright spot.
  • By halftime it was still tight, with Minnesota up 38-36. Massive discrepancies in key statistical categories were all balancing each other out. Connecticut were shooting only 31% to Minnesota’s 49%, thanks to far too many perimeter jumpers that wouldn’t fall. Minnesota were trailing 13-6 on the offensive glass, giving the Sun far too many second chances. And the Lynx had 12 turnovers to Connecticut’s 4. Minnesota have been disappointingly careless with the ball in a few games so far, but been good enough to play through it.
  • Maya Moore was having a wildly ineffective, desperately quiet game, just as she did last year in her only return to the state where she starred in college. Good thing Wright had stepped up to fill in. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 05/28/2012: Early pacesetters continue dominance

Two games this Sunday in the WNBA, and oddly enough the one with the more lopsided final score was far more competitive. Sometimes you really do need to watch these things (or read WNBAlien) to get a good idea of how they went.

First up was Indiana’s trip to Atlanta. The two teams had already met this season, with the Fever easing to a fairly comfortable win on their home floor last weekend. However, Atlanta had looked far better in their second game, ripping New York to shreds, and now had center Yelena Leuchanka fit to play. Plus there was the addition of the home crowd behind them this time.

Both teams opened with the same lineups that had begun their previous games, Leuchanka now starting at center for the Dream and Tamika Catchings still the power forward for the Fever. The opening quarter went very nicely for Atlanta. Angel McCoughtry came out strong, attacking the Fever defense and providing early scoring, while the Leuchanka/Sancho Lyttle pairing in the post looked like offering much stronger resistance than Atlanta had managed in their last encounter with Indiana.

The key noticeable change-up in the Dream’s approach was at the defensive end, where they were dropping back into a 2-3 matchup zone when made buckets gave them time to set it up. With Leuchanka the beef in the middle, McCoughtry and Armintie Price on the sides, and point guard Lindsey Harding joined by the length and agility of Lyttle out top, it clearly gave Indiana some early problems. It was compounded by the way Atlanta were playing the zone on one possession, then man-to-man on the next, leaving the Fever confused about what they should do and how they should try to score. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 05/24/2012: Are You Worried Yet?

I hate overreacting to early season results. Plenty of teams start off slowly and gain steam, and in a competition where a ridiculous two-thirds of the league makes the playoffs, finishing well in September can mean a lot more than starting hot in May. But barely a week into the WNBA regular season, some fans in Seattle and New York are showing signs of panic. And if you’ve watched their performances so far, frankly it’s not hard to understand why.

The Liberty faced Minnesota on Tuesday night, in their second ‘home opener’ (their first home game was shifted back to Madison Square Garden due to scheduling conflicts, so this was the first 2012 game in Jersey at the Prudential Center). For the few fans that showed up – and we’re talking a Mystics-sized crowd – it wasn’t pretty. Last year’s champs toyed with them for a while, batting them around like a kitten trying to decide what to do with a tasty little morsel it’d found in the garden, before pouncing to finish them off. The 80-62 final scoreline didn’t accurately represent how close the score had been through much of the game, but it was a fair reflection of the gap between the performances.

Now I was the one cautioning New York fans against panicking following their 0-2 start in back-to-back openers against Connecticut. And I hold to my basic view from the weekend – there’s talent on this roster, and I think they’ll win some games. But my definition of ‘some’ is starting to trend downwards. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 05/20/2012: First Impressions

Welcome to the first WNBA Today of the 2012 season. We’re going to be trying to keep the game recaps a little more brief this year, hopefully to the benefit of both author and audience. The idea is that there should be more analysis and impressions, without quite so much basic recapping of play after play and possession after possession. At least that’s the target. There might be a few kinks to work out.

We’re also going to try something new for the opening edition, which we’re calling WNBAlien Bullet Point Breakdowns. The content in BPBs will be pretty similar, but it separates it all out into nice easy chunks, and saves having to mould it all into a coherent article. This won’t be how every WNBA Today is presented all season, but especially on days with lots of games it may well make a regular return. Feel free to leave a note on whether you think it works. In fact, feel free to comment below about anything related to the articles or the WNBA, or drop a line to richardcohen123@yahoo.co.uk . You can also follow me on Twitter at @RichardCohen1, where you’ll find all kinds of pithy comments. Mostly about basketball.

On with the games, starting with Friday night’s opener in Seattle, and right through all seven of the weekend’s contests.

 

Los Angeles Sparks 72 @ Seattle Storm 66

  • A couple of surprises in the Sparks starting lineup, but they were less shocking when news emerged that Sharnee Zoll and Nicky Anosike were both suffering from knee injuries. The lack of real point guard options on the Sparks roster immediately came under the microscope, with Alana Beard and Marissa Coleman starting in the backcourt. Seattle were as expected, with Camille Little and Tina Thompson sharing the forward spots.
  • Seattle got out to a smoking hot start, because they were pushing the ball and looking for early offense within their sets. LA came out with a pretty dodgy looking 2-3 zone defense on several possessions and Ann Wauters murdered Candace Parker right in the middle of it. Continue reading →

2012 In-Depth WNBA Season Preview: Seattle Storm

PG: Sue Bird

SG: Tanisha Wright/Katie Smith

SF: Camille Little/Shekinna Stricklen/Alysha Clark

PF: Tina Thompson/Victoria Dunlap

C: Ann Wauters/Ewelina Kobryn/(Lauren Jackson)

Significant additions: Wauters (free agency after being out of the league through choice), Thompson (free agency from Los Angeles), Stricklen (college draft), Dunlap (trade with Washington), Clark (free agency after being out of the league)

Significant losses: Lauren Jackson (missing first half of season to train with Australian National Team), Swin Cash and Le’coe Willingham (trade with Chicago), Ashley Robinson (trade with Washington)

—–

Being consistently good can be a problem in US sports leagues. The lack of high draft picks that results means that teams can get old before your eyes, without the young talent being added to replace them. Storm head coach/general manager Brian Agler decided that he needed to do something about that this offseason and made a big move, giving up important veterans Swin Cash and Le’coe Willingham to acquire the second overall pick in the draft. The trade was partly made in the hope that one of the highly-touted college juniors (Brittney Griner, Elena Delle Donne, Skylar Diggins) would declare for the draft, which ultimately never occurred, leaving it looking a far more risky move. Still, the move also created the cap room for him to re-stock with other veterans, and even without star post Lauren Jackson for the first half of the season the Storm should be very competitive once again. Continue reading →

WNBA Offseason Overview/Preseason Preview: Seattle Storm

Current roster certainties or virtual certainties:

PG: Sue Bird

SG: Tanisha Wright/Shekinna Stricklen

SF: Katie Smith

PF: Camille Little/Tina Thompson

C: (Lauren Jackson)/Ann Wauters

Fighting for the remaining three roster spots: Silvia Dominguez, Victoria Dunlap, Ewelina Kobryn, Alysha Clark, Allie Quigley, Lindsay Taylor

———-

Storm head coach and general manager Brian Agler pulled off an unusual feat this offseason – he traded away two established veterans for the #2 pick in the draft, and yet still managed to make this roster even older than last year. Sending Swin Cash and Le’coe Willingham to Chicago for the #2 made some sense – Seattle’s roster needed freshening up, needed some youth to build with for the future, and the cap space created allowed other moves to be made. But after everything played out, you can’t help feeling that Agler made the trade expecting at least one of the highly regarded college juniors – Brittney Griner, Elena Delle Donne or Skylar Diggins – to declare for the draft. If any of them had, Seattle would’ve got either that player or Nneka Ogwumike from the trade, rather than the decidedly raw Shekinna Stricklen from the University of Tennessee. Stricklen has physical gifts that obviously appealed to Agler, but watching some of her college games reminded me of Amber Harris – great size and mobility for her position, but you wonder if her head will ever catch up to her body.

The Storm also made another move that created yet more cap space, sending defensive center Ashley Robinson to Washington for forward Victoria Dunlap. All this extra cash allowed Agler to take care of his own house – re-signing Sue Bird, Tanisha Wright and Katie Smith – and then go shopping. Continue reading →

WNBA Free Agency List & Analysis: Seattle Storm

Unrestricted Free Agents: Sue Bird, Katie Smith, Belinda Snell, Tanisha Wright

Restricted Free Agents: Allie Quigley

Reserved: Ewelina Kobryn

It’s a good thing that Storm fans have grown to trust head coach/GM Brian Agler, or that would be a pretty damn scary list. With Lauren Jackson missing for the first half of the 2012 season training with Australia for the Olympics, and having traded away both Swin Cash and Le’coe Willingham at the start of this month, now every guard worth anything from last year’s roster is an unrestricted free agent. In fact, Seattle’s current opening day lineup is TBA/TBA/TBA/Little/Robinson. However, the fact that Agler chose not to use his core designation on anyone has to be a sign of confidence. If there was less than a 100% chance in his mind that Sue Bird was going to stick around, he’d have used it on her. And once he was sure about Bird, he could easily have used it on Tanisha Wright instead – but didn’t. That almost certainly means that both will return, and it’s largely a matter of when, not if, they’ll sign. Wright should get a decent little raise as well.

With Cash gone, the Storm will probably also hope to retain Katie Smith’s services. She took a significant pay cut to join Agler – her former ABL coach – in Seattle, so they may have to make it up to her with a bit more cash this year, but she’ll probably stick around. Continue reading →

WNBAlien Special – Grading the Trade: Storm Blows it Up

The Seattle Storm got 2012 off to a surprising start in the WNBA on Monday, sending Swin Cash, Le’coe Willingham and a late-second round pick in the 2012 draft (#23 overall) to Chicago for the #2 overall pick in that same upcoming draft. It’s been pretty apparent for a while that Seattle needed to freshen up their roster and get younger, but this was still a somewhat shocking way to open up the offseason transactions. Two key parts of your rotation for a pick in what’s generally seen as a weak draft class – for a coach/GM who’s shown no interest in using any young, inexperienced players in recent years – is a bold step. Time will tell whether it’s one step back to eventually move two forwards, or just a hop in the wrong direction.

Cash didn’t have a great season in 2011. She went through long stretches where she wouldn’t have hit water shooting off the side of a boat, and the 41% three-point shooting she discovered in the Storm’s 2011 championship season disappeared entirely. But she was still a strong defender, a physical presence who could defend the perimeter and fight down low on switches, and occasionally her scoring touch returned, leaving her overall 2011 numbers at nearly 40% from the floor and right around her career average of 13 points per game. At 32 years old, and with a chequered injury history, she’s probably starting the downslope of her career trajectory, but there’s a good few years left on those legs. Big, true small forwards aren’t easy to find in this league – just look how long Chicago have needed one, for example – and the Storm could have serious problems replacing her. Continue reading →