I love Gabbys style of play and will be gutted if she doesn’t play this year in the W, and I don’t expect her to unfortunately.
The signing of Sami was definitely needed to raise the spirits after a miserable week. Very happy to see her back but slightly concerned about what it means for Jewell with all these SG signings. Can see us having a pretty bad season (compared to what we’ve come to expect) without her. But maybe this isn’t the worst year for that to happen when you look at next years draft prospects. Not that I want us to tank but that would be the small silver lining!
I like the idea of the Storm signing some young, hungry players that haven't had a good shot in the league so far, and like what they've done so far...given what they have to work with. A team of young, exciting players built around Ezi is a good way to keep me interested in what will certainly be some down years.
I couldn't agree more about Jewell. I love Jewell, but we cannot afford to just let her walk in free agency next year. If she wants to move on, I'd love to see a trade to Indiana for that #1 Aliyah Boston pick this year. And if they didn't want to do that, Jewell for Nalyssa Smith and Queen Egbo could be a good deal. 🤷🏻♀️
I don’t understand the embrace of the super teams. I don’t see how the WNBA will benefit in the long run. NFL is a machine and embraces parity.
The activity for the Storm in 2021 was a total disaster. Nothing for Clark and the draft picks and trades for Howard and Sami didn’t work out.
Hopefully we can rebuild but hard to believe Jewell will stay. Get something for her. Having a hard time believing this management team can hit home runs going forward.
I appreciate this run down. It's exactly what I wanted to know after this week. I assume they didn't core Stewie because they truly believed her talk of Seattle as home? Costly mistake. The problem I now see with Loyd is that she might only want to sign long term with the Sky. Chicago may prefer to keep the assets it would take to acquire Loyd now, and sign her as a free agent next year.
It definitely does seem to be a costly mistake. But in some ways they were stuck between a rock and a hard place. I currently wonder why they didn't sign Jewell to just a one-year deal which would have allowed them to core Stewie this off-season. However, then Jewell would have been a free agent and may have left without any compensation and it's possible Stewie would have forced her way out as well. It does seem like maybe they trusted Stewie too much when she called this place "home".
It's also possible that maybe even Stewie was intending to re-sign here in Seattle but once the Liberty acquired Jonquel Jones she felt more confident in winning a title in New York.
It’s hard not to think that the inexperience of Talia and Noelle has been exposed during this year’s free agency. I understand the choice of coring Jewell instead of Stewie last year, but I never thought it was the right choice. If you have a player considered the best in the world you core her. Even if Jewell had left, how different would our team look today with Stewie and not Jewell. (I wonder if Jewel stays to play with Stewie). Also remember when we had this situation with LJ and Bird? Phoenix was pulling out all of the stops to get her to the Mercury. The Storm (likely KB who is doing a bang up job for LA) organized a letter writing and publicity campaign to convince Lauren to stay. LJ specifically cited this as a factor in her decision to resign with the Storm. Suffice it to say I’m not confident that this management group is going to pull this or future seasons out of the ashes.
Thanks for a great analysis and article. I am confused about the trade deadline in the WNBA. I saw on WNBA.com that is is in August. Does that mean that a player can be traded between now and August?
The trade deadline is always sometime during the middle of the season. Players can be traded up to that point. After that, the trades have to wait until the next off-season.
I’m curious, do you see the possibility of a late signing of Gabby Williams? Meaning, post euro season I think May/June? I understand she’d miss camp and a few games, but she already has chemistry with Kia from their UCONN days.. Or is there a no no clause in the CBA for this type of signing?
I'm not 100% positive because you can sign players midway through the season. But I know in 2024, if you don't report to camp in time you aren't eligible at all to play in the WNBA. This season, you are supposed to get fined a significant amount if you arrive late after training camp. If Gabby Makes $150K but the WNBA wants to fine her $50-100K for missing time and arriving late, it likely becomes not worth it for her to come over and play in the WNBA.
Also! Another young player who had a short spell with the Storm a couple of years ago and is playing well in Europe (for my local team, London Lions) is Kiki Herbert-Harrigan. I expect some WNBA teams to be looking at her for this season.
I had thought about adding Kiki Herbert-Harrigan to the list but I had already written so much I had to wrap it up. I'm really sad it didn't work out in Seattle because I was excited about her when the trade was made. It looks like she was signed to the Connecticut Sun today, so I'm happy she'll get another shot.
I love Gabbys style of play and will be gutted if she doesn’t play this year in the W, and I don’t expect her to unfortunately.
The signing of Sami was definitely needed to raise the spirits after a miserable week. Very happy to see her back but slightly concerned about what it means for Jewell with all these SG signings. Can see us having a pretty bad season (compared to what we’ve come to expect) without her. But maybe this isn’t the worst year for that to happen when you look at next years draft prospects. Not that I want us to tank but that would be the small silver lining!
I like the idea of the Storm signing some young, hungry players that haven't had a good shot in the league so far, and like what they've done so far...given what they have to work with. A team of young, exciting players built around Ezi is a good way to keep me interested in what will certainly be some down years.
I couldn't agree more about Jewell. I love Jewell, but we cannot afford to just let her walk in free agency next year. If she wants to move on, I'd love to see a trade to Indiana for that #1 Aliyah Boston pick this year. And if they didn't want to do that, Jewell for Nalyssa Smith and Queen Egbo could be a good deal. 🤷🏻♀️
Good review of potential opportunities.
I don’t understand the embrace of the super teams. I don’t see how the WNBA will benefit in the long run. NFL is a machine and embraces parity.
The activity for the Storm in 2021 was a total disaster. Nothing for Clark and the draft picks and trades for Howard and Sami didn’t work out.
Hopefully we can rebuild but hard to believe Jewell will stay. Get something for her. Having a hard time believing this management team can hit home runs going forward.
Great rundown of a very chaotic and depressing week. Thanks so much.
Excellent read btw
I appreciate this run down. It's exactly what I wanted to know after this week. I assume they didn't core Stewie because they truly believed her talk of Seattle as home? Costly mistake. The problem I now see with Loyd is that she might only want to sign long term with the Sky. Chicago may prefer to keep the assets it would take to acquire Loyd now, and sign her as a free agent next year.
It definitely does seem to be a costly mistake. But in some ways they were stuck between a rock and a hard place. I currently wonder why they didn't sign Jewell to just a one-year deal which would have allowed them to core Stewie this off-season. However, then Jewell would have been a free agent and may have left without any compensation and it's possible Stewie would have forced her way out as well. It does seem like maybe they trusted Stewie too much when she called this place "home".
It's also possible that maybe even Stewie was intending to re-sign here in Seattle but once the Liberty acquired Jonquel Jones she felt more confident in winning a title in New York.
It’s hard not to think that the inexperience of Talia and Noelle has been exposed during this year’s free agency. I understand the choice of coring Jewell instead of Stewie last year, but I never thought it was the right choice. If you have a player considered the best in the world you core her. Even if Jewell had left, how different would our team look today with Stewie and not Jewell. (I wonder if Jewel stays to play with Stewie). Also remember when we had this situation with LJ and Bird? Phoenix was pulling out all of the stops to get her to the Mercury. The Storm (likely KB who is doing a bang up job for LA) organized a letter writing and publicity campaign to convince Lauren to stay. LJ specifically cited this as a factor in her decision to resign with the Storm. Suffice it to say I’m not confident that this management group is going to pull this or future seasons out of the ashes.
Concur. Jewell is a top player but Stewie is the best player in the league.
Thanks for a great analysis and article. I am confused about the trade deadline in the WNBA. I saw on WNBA.com that is is in August. Does that mean that a player can be traded between now and August?
The trade deadline is always sometime during the middle of the season. Players can be traded up to that point. After that, the trades have to wait until the next off-season.
I’m curious, do you see the possibility of a late signing of Gabby Williams? Meaning, post euro season I think May/June? I understand she’d miss camp and a few games, but she already has chemistry with Kia from their UCONN days.. Or is there a no no clause in the CBA for this type of signing?
I'm not 100% positive because you can sign players midway through the season. But I know in 2024, if you don't report to camp in time you aren't eligible at all to play in the WNBA. This season, you are supposed to get fined a significant amount if you arrive late after training camp. If Gabby Makes $150K but the WNBA wants to fine her $50-100K for missing time and arriving late, it likely becomes not worth it for her to come over and play in the WNBA.
Draft Dorka Juhasz out of UCONN!
Also! Another young player who had a short spell with the Storm a couple of years ago and is playing well in Europe (for my local team, London Lions) is Kiki Herbert-Harrigan. I expect some WNBA teams to be looking at her for this season.
I had thought about adding Kiki Herbert-Harrigan to the list but I had already written so much I had to wrap it up. I'm really sad it didn't work out in Seattle because I was excited about her when the trade was made. It looks like she was signed to the Connecticut Sun today, so I'm happy she'll get another shot.