Nice summary, Jeff. Of course my favorite off-season move was the Storm signing Skylar Diggins-Smith to a 2-year deal which likely gets them out of the lottery and then signing Nneka Ogwumike which was an even bigger surprise to me. That definitely will keep the Seattle Storm out of the lottery. I hated to see the Storm give up their number 4 pick in the draft also but it was necessary to get not one but two All-Star players. We should have a very exciting season in 2024. I'm looking forward to it. I wonder if the Storm can make any more moves or not? I'm sure that they can't sign EDD but they will need to sign at least two or three more players or up to five more for training camp. Let us know if you have any insight on who else the Storm might bring in.
I believe I wrote some suggestions in a previous article. A lot of teams have already been filling out their training camp contracts and for whatever reason the Storm haven't been adding many training camp contracts. They could always add players that were on the team or in camp last year including Arella Guirantes, Jasmine Walker, or Kaila Charles. I thought about players like Diamond DeShields or Kiki Herbert Harrigan, but they recently signed with Chicago Sky and the Phoenix Mercury. Chicago also added Chennedy Carter who is very talented but has had problems everywhere she's gone.
The team will have two draft picks (2nd and 3d round) where both of those players likely will come to camp unless they do a draft and stash with a foreign player. That would put the roster at 12. But they usually have at least 14 if not 15 or 16 in camp before whittling down to 11 or 12 (this year it'll be 11).
The way the roster is shaping up, the team definitely needs another Small Forward or a player that can play the 2-3. The only guards on the bench are Sami Whitcomb and Jade Melbourne.
Since they only have 4 guards and 6 frontcourt players currently on the roster, it seems that their biggest need is for another guard, preferably one who could play the 1 or the 2, but, if Jade is coming back, she should be improved playing the point and Sami can handle the point when needed as she showed last season. So maybe a tall 2 guard who could play 2-3 would be ideal giving them another wing player satisfying the need for another small forward at the same time. I don't believe that they Storm have ever started a season with fewer than 5 guards on their roster. Few, if any, WNBA teams do.
I remember that you had made those suggestions for players that they could add from some of last year's invitees. I was really wondering if you had heard anything new about other players that they could invite to camp this year. I suppose they could invite a foreign player again like they did with Ivana Dojkic last year, who, by the way, already signed with another team. Was it the NY Liberty? I forget now.
I had one question on your article regarding the Minnesota Lynx. You liked their addition of Courtney Williams. You said that she was one of the best rebounding guards in the W. Then you said that on 2023 she averaged 6.3 apg, which I believe, but I thought that you were making the point about how good she was at rebounding by telling us how many rpg she averaged, so I was a little confused. If you meant rpg then that would be truly phenomenal for a guard to average 6.3 rebounds per game, but I doubt that was the case. It would have been nice of you had listed both her rebounds (rpg) and her assists (apg).
I see how that transition was not as smooth as I intended it to be. Courtney Williams did set a career-high 6.3 APG last season with Chicago. She also is one of the best rebounding guards in the WNBA with a career average of 5.4 RPG. Last season she averaged 6.0 RPG. Her career-high was 7.2 RPG in 2020 with the Atlanta Dream!
Nice summary, Jeff. Of course my favorite off-season move was the Storm signing Skylar Diggins-Smith to a 2-year deal which likely gets them out of the lottery and then signing Nneka Ogwumike which was an even bigger surprise to me. That definitely will keep the Seattle Storm out of the lottery. I hated to see the Storm give up their number 4 pick in the draft also but it was necessary to get not one but two All-Star players. We should have a very exciting season in 2024. I'm looking forward to it. I wonder if the Storm can make any more moves or not? I'm sure that they can't sign EDD but they will need to sign at least two or three more players or up to five more for training camp. Let us know if you have any insight on who else the Storm might bring in.
I believe I wrote some suggestions in a previous article. A lot of teams have already been filling out their training camp contracts and for whatever reason the Storm haven't been adding many training camp contracts. They could always add players that were on the team or in camp last year including Arella Guirantes, Jasmine Walker, or Kaila Charles. I thought about players like Diamond DeShields or Kiki Herbert Harrigan, but they recently signed with Chicago Sky and the Phoenix Mercury. Chicago also added Chennedy Carter who is very talented but has had problems everywhere she's gone.
The team will have two draft picks (2nd and 3d round) where both of those players likely will come to camp unless they do a draft and stash with a foreign player. That would put the roster at 12. But they usually have at least 14 if not 15 or 16 in camp before whittling down to 11 or 12 (this year it'll be 11).
The way the roster is shaping up, the team definitely needs another Small Forward or a player that can play the 2-3. The only guards on the bench are Sami Whitcomb and Jade Melbourne.
Since they only have 4 guards and 6 frontcourt players currently on the roster, it seems that their biggest need is for another guard, preferably one who could play the 1 or the 2, but, if Jade is coming back, she should be improved playing the point and Sami can handle the point when needed as she showed last season. So maybe a tall 2 guard who could play 2-3 would be ideal giving them another wing player satisfying the need for another small forward at the same time. I don't believe that they Storm have ever started a season with fewer than 5 guards on their roster. Few, if any, WNBA teams do.
I remember that you had made those suggestions for players that they could add from some of last year's invitees. I was really wondering if you had heard anything new about other players that they could invite to camp this year. I suppose they could invite a foreign player again like they did with Ivana Dojkic last year, who, by the way, already signed with another team. Was it the NY Liberty? I forget now.
Jeff... I really like the approach you took with this column. Nice synopsis!
I had one question on your article regarding the Minnesota Lynx. You liked their addition of Courtney Williams. You said that she was one of the best rebounding guards in the W. Then you said that on 2023 she averaged 6.3 apg, which I believe, but I thought that you were making the point about how good she was at rebounding by telling us how many rpg she averaged, so I was a little confused. If you meant rpg then that would be truly phenomenal for a guard to average 6.3 rebounds per game, but I doubt that was the case. It would have been nice of you had listed both her rebounds (rpg) and her assists (apg).
I see how that transition was not as smooth as I intended it to be. Courtney Williams did set a career-high 6.3 APG last season with Chicago. She also is one of the best rebounding guards in the WNBA with a career average of 5.4 RPG. Last season she averaged 6.0 RPG. Her career-high was 7.2 RPG in 2020 with the Atlanta Dream!