Q&A Mailbag (June) Answers Part 1

Your questions answered below!

Thanks to everyone who submitted their questions as part of my Seattle Storm and WNBA Q&A Mailbag for the month of June. I got a lot of great questions! There were even more than I expected so I’m splitting the answers into two articles so I can get some of the answers out to you now.

Please note, I started working on this a couple of days ago and it’s been a busy 24 hours for the Storm. A lot has happened which might make some of these answers slightly less relevant than they were 24-48 hours ago. With that said, I did try to go back and update some of my answers to reflect the recent changes.

Question: What do you think the most likely scenario is regarding Jewell Loyd and the Storm after this year?

Answer: When the Storm front office had the decision to place the Core tag on Breanna Stewart or Jewell Loyd, they opted to tag Loyd. That told me they were more concerned with Jewell leaving during Free Agency in 2022 than they were with Stewie. Loyd then signed a two-year deal which meant Seattle was unable to core Stewart in 2023. It also means they won’t be able to be core Loyd again for 2024. Jewell will be an Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA) and allowed to sign with anyone. I think the most likely scenario is Loyd leaves in Free Agency to sign with Chicago, New York, or possibly Los Angeles. It might be a cop-out, but I also wouldn’t completely rule out a return to Seattle.

Question: Will Coach Quinn continue as the Storm's coach?

Answer: I think Coach Quinn is often unfairly criticized. She had two seasons to win a championship with a competitive team and while it’s true she wasn’t able to get it done. I don’t really put the blame on her. Breanna Stewart tore her other Achilles’ heel at the end of the 2021 season which completely derailed the team’s chances to repeat as champions. Then they reached the WNBA Semi-Finals last season but ran into an absolute buzzsaw that was the Las Vegas Aces. And to be frank, if Chelsea Gray doesn’t play completely out of her mind in the playoffs I’m not convinced the Aces get past Seattle. If the Storm would have beat Las Vegas in the playoffs last year, I believe they would have been favored to win the Championship over Connecticut.

Now looking at this season. Most national media experts expected the Storm to be one of the worst teams this season. They are currently the second-worst team in the league. While it’s been a tough season, I don’t think many are shocked at the results we’ve seen so far. The Storm lost Breanna Stewart, Sue Bird, Tina Charles, Gabby Williams, and Stephanie Talbot. That is an absurd amount of talent that didn’t return in 2023.

Q: Is Coach Quinn on the hot seat?

A: I really don’t believe so as detailed in the question above. I believe Noelle Quinn was viewed as a rising star in the coaching world prior to her becoming the head coach of the Storm in 2021. If you recall, Coach Dan Hughes was the head coach for the first handful of games that season, and all of a sudden Coach Quinn was promoted abruptly. I strongly believe this was because the organization was concerned she might be poached by another WNBA team if they waited another year or two. If I recall correctly, Los Angeles (Quinn’s hometown) was looking for a new head coach at that time. Atlanta was also in need of a new coach as well. The Storm promoted her quickly to keep her here in Seattle. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to then turn around and fire her after just a couple of seasons.

Noelle is still very young and continuing to learn and grow. As long as the players are playing hard for her and aren’t tuning her out, I believe the organization will continue to support her and give her time.

Q: With our foreign players, how do you think the Olympics will impact the roster next year?

A: This one is really difficult to say for certain at this time. We know Ezi Magbegor will play for the Opals. Sami Whitcomb and Jade Melbourne may also make that team. It’ll probably be similar to what happened in 2021 where Magbegor and Stephanie Talbot had to leave a little early and missed an extra game or two. The entire WNBA does take a break for the Olympics so I don’t believe it’s a scenario where Seattle would have to completely revamp their roster.

Regarding other players, Kia Nurse will play for Canada. Gabby Williams will play for France. Arella Guirantes played for Puerto Rico during the FIBA World Cup in 2022. As of right now, only France (host city) and the USA have qualified for the 2024 Olympics. We don’t know which other countries will qualify (12 total).

For the most part, it should be similar to 2021 where maybe 2-3 of our players have to miss a few games. But they can always sign hardship contracts to cover those gaps.

Q: Can you clear up what is happening with Gabby?

A: Gabby Williams did end her contract with her French team. For a brief moment, it looked like she might be joining the Storm shortly after this season began. However, that didn’t happen. Williams also suffered a concussion during the playoffs with her French team. Sadly, she also suffered a concussion during the 2022 WNBA playoffs with Seattle. That means she’s had two concussions in less than a year which is definitely concerning and dangerous. Because of that, it sounded like Williams wanted to rest and take care of her health.

When the Storm released Kaila Charles, I thought maybe they were bringing Gabby back. But then that roster move ended up being Joyner Holmes.

Due to prioritization rules, I believe Gabby would be fined a lot of money if she does sign with the Storm later this season. It could get to the point where financially it doesn’t make sense for Williams to re-sign with the Storm this season.

Seattle will retain her rights moving into the next WNBA season in 2024 if she doesn’t play in the WNBA this year. She will still be a Restricted Free Agent.

UPDATE: Em Adler and The Next are reporting that Gabby Williams is expected to sign with Seattle within the next few days. The team hasn’t made the official announcement yet as of this writing. But the news is coming from credible reporters with multiple sources. We will likely receive the official announcement soon.

Q: Do you think the Storm will land on a more consistent starting lineup soon?

A: I think with so many new faces on the team they’re really trying to figure out what works best and which players work best with others. Seattle lost three starters from last season or four if you include Tina Charles. It takes time to figure out the correct lineup with all of these new players.

Ivana Dojkić has replaced Yvonne Turner as the team’s starting point guard and you can’t argue with those results. Dojkić has scored in double figures in 5 out of the 8 games she’s started. In a recent game, she had 14 points and 9 assists. The only other inconsistency we’ve seen is Jordan Horston started 3 games replacing Mercedes Russell but then Russell returned to the starting lineup.

I believe Dojkić will remain in the starting lineup for the rest of the season. I think Jordan could work her way back into the starting lineup eventually after she gets healthy. In Thursday’s game, Mercedes was once again replaced in the starting lineup, this time by Joyner Holmes. And now with reports that Gabby Williams potentially returning, that will likely only change things further.

I’m really curious to see Russell’s minutes over the next few games. She went from starting on Tuesday to not playing at all on Thursday. I don’t think Gabby would start immediately but I wouldn’t be surprised if she eventually replaced Kia Nurse in the starting lineup (if her signing is made official).

Q: How do you see Noelle balancing minutes for rookies like Jade and Dulcy who haven’t seen much action lately?

A: It’s rare for a WNBA team to have four rookies on their roster in one single season. It would be even less likely that all four would play a ton of minutes in their rookie seasons. In 2018, rookie Jordan Canada played legit minutes as the team’s backup point guard. But rookie Mercedes Russell rarely played at all that same season. It’s also very common for coaches to use an 8 or 9-player rotation. As Coach Quinn recently stated, “Not all players get to play”. With that in mind, even if you don’t see them in WNBA action doesn’t mean they aren’t working and getting lots of development during practices and scrimmages.

Coach Quinn is still trying to win games so if the game is close and competitive, she’s likely not going to play the players at the bottom of the depth chart. If the game becomes a blowout one way or the other, then Jade and Dulcy will see more playing time in those situations.

Strong performances in practices or when they are given playing time will certainly lead to more playing time as the season progresses.

Q: It was indicated in a comment that the Storm were completely caught off guard by Breanna’s departure to the Liberty. Is that true?

A: From everything I’ve heard and been told, the team was very hopeful that Stewie would return. But I wouldn’t say they were taken completely off guard by Stewart’s decision. It sounds like going into Free Agency they felt it was around a 50/50 chance that she would return versus leaving for New York. Obviously, they were extremely disappointed once the news became official that she was headed to the Liberty.

To Be Continued…

I’ll be working on the remaining questions soon and send Part 2 out as soon as I can. Thanks again for all your support and please tell as many Storm fans as you can about my Substack and my coverage. Share it with your friends and family!