Coach Hughes prepares for the Olympics and upcoming WNBA season

On Monday, the media got to speak with Seattle's head coach.

Seattle media was granted access to speak with Seattle Storm head coach Dan Hughes as he prepares for a Team USA training camp where he works as an assistant coach under Coach Dawn Staley.

Coach Hughes was in good spirits and excited to talk to the media. I don’t believe we’ve had a chance to speak with Dan since early in the 2020 WNBA season.

He provided us with a ton of interesting nuggets of information about how the Storm’s offseason played out and possibly some hints at what we can expect from the upcoming 2021 season.

I’ve transcribed below some of the highlights from the Q&A session.

Media: “How do you feel about the new additions you’ve made in the offseason and the team you’ll take forward to try and win a championship with (in 2021)?”

Coach Hughes: “It’s different. I would have loved to continue to coach the team we’ve had evolving over the last 3 years. But I know success often accompanies change. It’s not unusual in professional sports that change is part of the future. Every year is kind of unique.

But I’m curious to find out a lot of things. Candice Dupree is the one thing that is pretty constant. I’ve always appreciated competing against her. I was glad she wanted to be a part of our team. I think she’ll be a wonderful blend for some of our young post players.

Katie Lou is a player that I’ve always had high regard for. I’ve been involved with her a little bit with USA basketball. I’m anxious to see her within our culture.

And Kiki last year was very intriguing to me. She was very high on our draft board. I find her very athletic in certain ways. I find her shooting the three like we like to. But I really need more time on the court with those two to see how things work out.

Training camp is very important to this group because we have to figure out who we really are. We’ve got some constants, we return some great players. But the chemistry of putting this team together will be unique. It reminds me a lot of 2018, I think we will have to get better throughout the course of the season. There will be challenges defensively as we lost some really key players.

Media: “Looking at your current lineup, who starts at the 3 (Small Forward) and who guards the opposing team’s best wing player?”

Coach Hughes: “You look at Katie Lou and you look at Kiki. I don’t think I know quite enough yet to say in every situation this is what we do. What I do know is that Jewell Loyd continues to get better and better and I think at times we’re going to lean on her a little harder in matching up in some of those situations. I’ve seen improvement in Jewell in every year. Depending on the size and the player, that’s something we’ll have to study a bit. I would hope Kiki and Katie Lou will match up with perimeter players that have some size. I think we have some great length, our size and wingspan. We may have to look at our schemes and play a little differently than we did with AC or Natasha. That’s why training camp is going to be really important for us to understand those things.”

Media: “Is Kitija Laksa expected to join the team this season?”

Coach Hughes: “Yes! I’m excited to have her in camp. I think she will have a good opportunity in camp to really step forward with some of the changes our team has undergone. She’s going to bring some three-point shooting and a veteran presence, even though she’s a rookie to this team.”

Media: “Without tipping your hand, looking ahead to the WNBA Draft, do you feel there is a specific need for this team to fill?”

Coach Hughes: “I think there’s a couple of ways we can go. I think there’s enough flexibility if one of the players we like is a guard or a post that we can take them. When you pick 11th, you really hope there’s someone that you feel really strong about that you’re able to select. 11th, ya know that’s down the road a bit. Coming off the discussions we’ve had, I think it’s possible that the player selected will have a good opportunity to make the team. When you’re picking at that level, that’s what you want. It’s not a deep or one of the best drafts that we’ve ever seen. But what there is, is a lot of equity. We could get a player at 11 that might be thought of at six for example.”

Media: “With the Olympics coming up do you know if Ezi Magbegor is expected to miss any of the upcoming WNBA season?”

Coach Hughes: “I don’t think so. The last conversation I had was that she’s going to arrive in Seattle early. I had a nice conversation with her after she finished her season (in Australia). She’s very excited to get back. I’m very excited to watch her growth. We’ve talked about things we’re expecting her to grow her game. We’re expecting her to arrive early.”

Media: “With Stewie entering year 5, what do you want to see from her?”

Coach Hughes: “She’s exactly like every great player I’ve coached. She constantly wants to get better and she had a pretty good plan in mind. The thing with Stewie I think is evolving even further as a basketball player, as a face up player, having all the guard skills and post skills. Her playing as a creative player advancing the ball off the rebounds and getting into fast breaks. Now we want her to take that even further. That she has the ability to push into a half court offense. And defensively, she’s always been an incredible rim protector, but to continue to grow that. Because we lost a great rim protector in Natasha.

This is a blessing. I don’t take it for granted that Stewie might be the best player on the planet. I’m biased, but coaching her is something I don’t take for granted. We don’t model her after anybody, just the best version of her.”

Media: “In perhaps the first time in the 25 year league, you’re having players that are experiencing true contract years where players on the last year of their rookie year can make a huge jump in their salary, how important is that for players like Jordin Canada?”

Coach Hughes: “Well as coach, I love that! I study the NBA a lot and when you see those players in those situations. You kinda know that you’re going to get the best version that we can of those players going into that year. But I’m not the GM, so I don’t have to necessarily think in terms of the dollar and cents of those things. But I like that players have that internal motivation.

There’s a lot of data with this new CBA that there’s obviously a lot more money to be gained in a lot of ways. You can see an example of that here in Seattle where teams are coming out and wanting to have our players that are in those situations (paying them more money). I think the players are aware of it and they’re motivated to capitalize on those situations. I will make use of that as a coach as much as I can.”

Media: “You talked about Ezi a bit earlier. Is the expectation that she’ll be competing with Mercedes Russell for the starting Center spot?”

Coach Hughes: “Oh I don’t know about that. I think Candice Dupree is a very big influence. I think Ezi’s minutes will grow regardless of whether she starts or not. Sometimes I look at her and think she could be the 6th player of the year. I just know she’s going to play more. We talked about her game involving. I think she can have a big influence. How do we use that influence, whether that’s off the bench or starting. Only time will tell. But it wouldn’t surprise me if we bring her off the bench and she’s really impactful in her 2nd year.”

Media: “Have you spoken much to Sue Bird this offseason and what’s the general expectation for her going into this season?”

Coach Hughes: “We’ve talked. Not a lot about her. But we’ve talked about the team. We’re always working to stay ahead of the league in certain ways. Noelle Quinn, Sue, and I have talked, Sue is such a rare commodity with her experience and her knowledge. I just wanted to make sure we didn’t stand still. We wanted some change as we go from year to year, how can we get better? That’s what I want my latter years of coaching to represent. How can we get better? How can we communicate better? Sue is such a wonderful resource to have.

I’ve had several conversations with her but not a lot about Sue. She’s the best player I’ve been around where she knows what she needs to do to be ready to play. That’s not one of my big concerns. She’s really incredible in understanding how to prepare herself.”

Media: “What’s the value of being a part of USA Basketball and establishing more personal relationships with these players?”

Coach Hughes: “I think it’s been really impactful. I’ve borrowed from this culture. I’ve been coaching with Coach Staley for 4-5 years now. The selfless culture we’ve tried to model that in Seattle with what we’re doing. I try to learn from every experience I’ve been in and I’ve learned a lot from working with Team USA. Getting to see Jordin and Stewie when they were younger. Sue works so well with any team setting she’s in. And Jewell just keeps getting better.

Getting to know players from other teams. Learning about them. The day I truly retire is the day I feel like I’m not getting something from these types of experiences. I want to be better and these experiences have helped me better in knowledge, to understand the league, and the players in different experiences they’re involved with.”

The 2021 WNBA season is quickly approaching! The WNBA Draft takes place in a couple of weeks and training camps will get started pretty quickly after that. I’ll have at least one draft article coming out prior to draft night so keep an eye out for that.