Notes from Day 1 of Seattle Storm Training Camp

The next chapter of Storm Basketball begins now.

Sunday, April 30th, was the first day of Training Camp for all the teams across the WNBA. In Seattle, they will look to usher in a new era of Storm Basketball. Many of the familiar faces are gone. Only three players return from last season’s roster - Jewell Loyd, Ezi Magbegor, and Mercedes Russell. Four, if you include Sami Whitcomb who played with the Storm between 2017-2020 and returned to the team after two seasons with the New York Liberty.

The other 11 players are brand new to Seattle including five rookies. A sixth rookie, Ivana Dojkic, is not yet with the team still playing overseas but is expected to join the roster in training camp at some point. The five rookies that practiced today include first-round draft pick, Jordan Horston (Tennessee). She was joined by Madi Williams (Oklahoma), Dulcy Fankam Medjiadeu (South Florida), and Jade Loville (Arizona).

I also got my first look at rookie Jade Melbourne, who was drafted in the third round of the 2022 draft but stayed overseas in Australia to continue working on her game. Melbourne is the youngest player on the roster at just 20 years old.

The players were separated into two rosters.

Team Black (Veterans):
Jewell Loyd, Sami Whitcomb, Yvonne Turner, Ezi Magbegor, Mercedes Russell, Kia Nurse, Kaila Charles, Theresa Plaisance.

Team Yellow (Rookies and younger players):
Jade Melbourne, Jade Loville, Jordan Horston, Madi Williams, Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu, Arella Guirantes, and Jasmine Walker.

Before the Black and Yellow teams scrimmaged each other they did shorter scrimmages (3-5 minutes) against the Male practice players.

The First lineup was Yvonne Turner, Jewell Loyd, Sami Whitcomb, Ezi Magbegor, and Mercedes Russell. The main thing that stood out during this run was that Turner was responsible for being the primary ballhandler. This wasn’t a major surprise to me as she has that experience but I was curious to see if I’d see more of Sami or Jewell running the point.

The second group consisted of all rookies. Jade Melbourne, Jade Loville, Jordan Horston, Madi Williams, and Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu. Melbourne ran the point in this group and flashed at times with a couple of impressive plays.

The third group against the men was Sami, Kia Nurse, Kaila Charles, Ezi, and Theresa Plaisance. I believe it was in this group (or Group A) where Ezi got a big block on one of the male practice players and she received a high-five from a fired-up Whitcomb.

After the shorter scrimmages against the men, they finished the practice with a longer scrimmage between the Black and Yellow teams. They started the game with the score tied 84-84 and essentially played a 4th quarter. The goal was to get to 101 points. It was a pretty competitive game overall. The Black Team (Starters and Veterans) ultimately won 102-98 outscoring Yellow Team 18-14.

Here are some general notes I wrote down for things that stood out to me. I should point out that the team’s practices can be 3-4 hours long and media is only allowed to watch the final 30 minutes roughly.

Melbourne had some good moves into the lane and a nice pass to a cutting Guirantes that resulted in an assist. Arella made a couple of nice baskets. Jasmine Walker had one really nice mid-range jumper where I believe she put a juke move on her defender to get open.

Coach Quinn did have to stop the scrimmage to talk with Walker and a couple of other younger players as they didn’t have their defenses set up correctly. This shouldn’t be surprising. With 11 brand-new players, they are literally just learning their offensive and defensive schemes for the first time.

Mercedes knocked down a three-pointer which was a surprise to see. She took a couple more but just made the one. It’ll be really interesting to see if that’s something we see in the regular season. That hasn’t been part of her game up to this point but we did see Ezi expand her range last season so it’s possible Russell could try to do the same.

Jewell Loyd is an elite player and athlete. She didn’t necessarily dominate but there were moments where she’s able to dribble past and juke her defenders with ease. It didn’t always result in points for her team but Jewell’s ability is definitely at a level higher than most players.

Madi Williams scored a couple of times in the paint. She had good physical finishes at the rim through contact. Dulcy was very active on the boards. She was by far her team’s best rebounder. She did struggle some offensively when being defended by Ezi but was able to score a couple of times as well. Magbegor was also able to steal a couple of passes, one from the rookie Horston.

After practice I was able to interview all five rookies. I wanted to do something fun so I hit them with around a dozen rapid fire questions so that Storm fans could get to know the new players a little better. Most of the questions were silly or fun, but inquired about some of their hobbies, favorite foods, and a little about their on the court skills.

When talking with the players I asked them what they felt they were best at and what they took the most pride in on the basketball court.

Jade Melbourne told me, “My ability to create shots for myself and others. I can get downhill. I’m a really good passer and a good finisher as well. Just the ability to attack, draw players, and try to get my teammates involved.”

To hear all the rookies’ answers I’ll be sending out a 20-25 minute podcast to paid subscribers.

In that podcast, I’ll also be including my interview with Coach Noelle Quinn. I got to speak with her for about eight minutes on the first day of training camp.

“I thought today was good for Day 1. A lot of new faces and new positions. But enough veteran voices to (keep things in check). I thought the energy was very high and everyone was attentive. Our rookies have this maturity that’s really exciting. A work ethic about them that can elevate us as well. Veterans like Kia and TP were on point and really focused. And with Jewell, Ezi, Cedes, Sami - I thought it was a good day. A lot of teaching in the beginning but it was very competitive in the end.” Quinn told me after practice had concluded.

From the looks of things, it should be a very competitive training camp. They have 16 players on the roster for camp and will likely keep 12 this year. Five players have guaranteed contracts which includes Jewell, Ezi, Mercedes, Kia, and Sami. Outside of those five, the majority of the seven other roster spots will be up for grabs. With six of the 16 players being rookies, I think it’s safe to expect at least two or three rookies should make the final roster.

Notes: A huge thanks to all my paid subscribers. If you love Storm basketball, make sure to subscribe as the season begins very soon! I’ll have more articles and audio interviews and of course full detailed game recaps once the games begin. If you’re already a subscriber, let other Storm fans know about my coverage.