It was great to be back at Key Arena for a Storm game, even a pre season contest against the Los Angeles Sparks. Despite their flat play the Storm were ahead going into the forth quarter, then their scoring went to shit and they handed the game to LA. It made sense coach Brian Agler wanting see how certain newbies handled themselves, so I'm not gonna get stuck on the fact they only scored seven points in the final ten minutes.
The following day the Storm waived rookie guard Jasmine Lister out of Vanderbuilt who played less than five minutes on Sunday, grabbed a defensive rebound and is now gone, leaving eleven players on the roster. Will Agler add one more new face before Friday when the Storm face the LA Sparks in their season opener at the Key?
I bet he does. But who? Will he go with youth and short-term gains or invest in experience for this season? A whole lot of talent got waived today across the league. Rookies like Meghan Simmons and Cassie Harberts, second year players Kalana Greene and Avery Warley, Third year guard Samantha Prahalis and even veteran Nicole Powell. Any of these fine players could take the court in a Storm uniform before the week is out.
May 15. The Day Before Home Opener.
Coach Agler did what I predicted, though not exactly. He did bring on a seasoned veteran, Nicole Powell who had been waived by Tulsa Shock a few days earlier. He also waived forward Michele Plouffe, the second round pick this year out of Utah, leaving the Storm with a roster of 11 players with a little more than 24 hours to go before the LA Sparks return to the Key for the Storm season opener.
Ten season veteran out of Stanford Nicole Powell joins a team once again stacked with veteran players. Only one of the seven rookies who checked in to training camp has made the roster. Angel Robinson out of Georgia who honed her skills playing overseas for two seasons will provide the team with much needed depth to their post play. I am excited to see how Agler and the coaching staff work these new forwards into the rotation.
This time last year we had no Bird, no Jackson, no Katie Smith. We did have Tina Thompson. Noelle Quinn, Temeka Johnson and Nakia Sanford had just joined the team as did rookie Tianna Hawkins, the Storm's first round draft pick out of Maryland.
This year the one rookie, Angel Robinson has overseas professional experience, Noelle and Temeka are back as well as Bird, Shekinna Stricklen and Alysha Clarke have more experience and Crystal Langhorne and Nicolle Powell will round out the squad and can hopefully accumulate scoring to make up for Thompson's retirement from playing professional hoops.
As well as the Storm did last year, finishing at .500 and making the playoffs after having been predicted to flounder, I think this version of the Seattle Storm is capable of going even further.
And that is Stormy Speculation.
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