It’s such a shame to waste Sue’s last year and potentially Stewie’s last year. It seems to me, the team, aside from the big three, is poorly constructed. Not enough size and/or athleticism to compete with the top teams. And, Ezi seems to be under used offensively. Could they run more plays for her? With the terrible bench offense and Gabby’s weak offense, do we need more from Ezi? What do you see as the main problems this year in terms of a new GM and the roster and a new coach? Would love to get your take on that. Seattle was outsized and out coached by Connecticut. I agree with you that they are not championship material this year.
It was an extremely busy weekend for me but I wanted to come back to this and answer some of the questions. I think a ton of the Storm's problems this year are related to Mercedes Russell's injury and not being her normal self. Not having Mercedes hurts them a ton against teams like Connecticut and Las Vegas who are the top two teams in the WNBA. Not only that but if Russell had been fully healthy then she's probably starting and Ezi would be able to give the team a huge boost off the bench. With that said, I do think Ezi wouldn't have developed as much and wouldn't be playing as large of a role as she is capable of if she was still coming off the bench and Cedes was getting starter's minutes.
But not having Russell has caused other problems. Like the fact that the team decided to cut Kennedy Burke in favor of signing Reshanda Gray because they needed another post player with Russell out. Burke played extremely well overseas this past season and has played pretty well for the Washington Mystics this year. Not All-Star are even quality starter impact, but she's averaging over 6 PPG which would make her the Storm's leading scorer off the bench if she was still with the team.
Nothing against Reshanda Gray, but I think the team would have been a fair amount better off if they just kept Kennedy Burke instead of cutting her. I believe that was a pretty large mistake.
I also felt like they should have restructured Epiphanny Prince's contract prior to this season starting to allow them to keep a 12th player this season. Had they done that, they could have kept Kennedy Burke AND added Reshanda Gray. Or they could have kept Evina Westbrook on the roster.
I have mixed feelings on the Jantel Lavender signing. When attending a couple of practices during training camp it was pretty clear Lavender was much better than both rookie draft pick Elissa Cunane and Kiki Herbert Harrigan. Because of that, I don't blame them for keeping her over them. Lavender has started the season off pretty strong. I think she had a couple games where she was scoring 6-10 PPG off the bench. But it seems like she's fallen off a cliff since then. Another thing that stands out to me, Jantel isn't super fast or athletic. He play style is more methodical, more half court offense, etc. But that doesn't match what the Storm do best which is play at a high pace. Because of that she hasn't been a great fit overall and seems similar to what we saw last year with Candice Dupree.
COVID has also messed things up with roughly half the roster catching it this season. It's hard to say how much that has affected some players. Stephanie Talbot and Epiphanny Prince have both struggled since coming back from COVID.
The one thing I'm uncertain of is the fact that they went heavy on defensive acquisitions this offseason with swapping Katie Lou Samuelson for Gabby Williams and Jordin Canada for Briann January. The team's defense is better this season than last but their offense is also a lot worse. But both Gabby and January have had some really strong moments this season. If Gabby can get closer to scoring 10 PPG instead of 5 PPG then that can change a lot of things for the Storm.
Thank you so much for taking the time to send such a thorough and thoughtful response. It helped me a lot to understand the roster construction both pros and cons. I am very grateful for you coverage of the Storm. Thank you!!
It’s such a shame to waste Sue’s last year and potentially Stewie’s last year. It seems to me, the team, aside from the big three, is poorly constructed. Not enough size and/or athleticism to compete with the top teams. And, Ezi seems to be under used offensively. Could they run more plays for her? With the terrible bench offense and Gabby’s weak offense, do we need more from Ezi? What do you see as the main problems this year in terms of a new GM and the roster and a new coach? Would love to get your take on that. Seattle was outsized and out coached by Connecticut. I agree with you that they are not championship material this year.
I have to head out to coach my own youth basketball team right now. But I'll try to respond with more later on.
It was an extremely busy weekend for me but I wanted to come back to this and answer some of the questions. I think a ton of the Storm's problems this year are related to Mercedes Russell's injury and not being her normal self. Not having Mercedes hurts them a ton against teams like Connecticut and Las Vegas who are the top two teams in the WNBA. Not only that but if Russell had been fully healthy then she's probably starting and Ezi would be able to give the team a huge boost off the bench. With that said, I do think Ezi wouldn't have developed as much and wouldn't be playing as large of a role as she is capable of if she was still coming off the bench and Cedes was getting starter's minutes.
But not having Russell has caused other problems. Like the fact that the team decided to cut Kennedy Burke in favor of signing Reshanda Gray because they needed another post player with Russell out. Burke played extremely well overseas this past season and has played pretty well for the Washington Mystics this year. Not All-Star are even quality starter impact, but she's averaging over 6 PPG which would make her the Storm's leading scorer off the bench if she was still with the team.
Nothing against Reshanda Gray, but I think the team would have been a fair amount better off if they just kept Kennedy Burke instead of cutting her. I believe that was a pretty large mistake.
I also felt like they should have restructured Epiphanny Prince's contract prior to this season starting to allow them to keep a 12th player this season. Had they done that, they could have kept Kennedy Burke AND added Reshanda Gray. Or they could have kept Evina Westbrook on the roster.
I have mixed feelings on the Jantel Lavender signing. When attending a couple of practices during training camp it was pretty clear Lavender was much better than both rookie draft pick Elissa Cunane and Kiki Herbert Harrigan. Because of that, I don't blame them for keeping her over them. Lavender has started the season off pretty strong. I think she had a couple games where she was scoring 6-10 PPG off the bench. But it seems like she's fallen off a cliff since then. Another thing that stands out to me, Jantel isn't super fast or athletic. He play style is more methodical, more half court offense, etc. But that doesn't match what the Storm do best which is play at a high pace. Because of that she hasn't been a great fit overall and seems similar to what we saw last year with Candice Dupree.
COVID has also messed things up with roughly half the roster catching it this season. It's hard to say how much that has affected some players. Stephanie Talbot and Epiphanny Prince have both struggled since coming back from COVID.
The one thing I'm uncertain of is the fact that they went heavy on defensive acquisitions this offseason with swapping Katie Lou Samuelson for Gabby Williams and Jordin Canada for Briann January. The team's defense is better this season than last but their offense is also a lot worse. But both Gabby and January have had some really strong moments this season. If Gabby can get closer to scoring 10 PPG instead of 5 PPG then that can change a lot of things for the Storm.
Thank you so much for taking the time to send such a thorough and thoughtful response. It helped me a lot to understand the roster construction both pros and cons. I am very grateful for you coverage of the Storm. Thank you!!