What Adding Tina Charles Means for the Storm

Will Charles help the Storm win their 5th WNBA Championship?

The signing of Tina Charles to the Seattle Storm is official. The team announced on Tuesday that Charles has signed a rest-of-the-season contract to play for the Storm.

Charles brings a laundry list of accomplishments to Seattle including the 2012 MVP, an 8-time WNBA All-Star, 5-time All-WNBA First Team, two-time WNBA leading scorer, Top 5 in scoring in league history, 3-time Olympic Gold Medalist, and more!

On Saturday (6/25), the Phoenix Mercury announced that they had come to an agreement with Tina Charles to end her contract with the team allowing her to go on waivers and ultimately sign with the Storm. The Mercury have had a tumultuous season with Brittney Griner wrongfully detained in Russia and a brand new head coach trying to figure out what works best for her team. Phoenix has had a disappointing season (Record 6-12) up to the point of her release. This move shocked the WNBA landscape this past weekend.

Charles practiced with the Storm for the first time on Tuesday (6/28) and will be available to play with the team against the Las Vegas Aces on Wednesday evening. This will be an excellent test for the new-look Storm as the Aces enter Wednesday night’s contest with the best record in the WNBA (14-4). Las Vegas easily defeated the Storm in the 2nd game of the 2022 season by a final score of 85-74. Despite the fact that she’ll be unfamiliar with most of Seattle’s offensive and defensive schemes, we will immediately get to see the type of impact Charles may have with Seattle.

Back in January, I wrote about who the Storm could/should pursue during the Free Agency period of the offseason. One of the top candidates on my list was Tina Charles. Adding her made a lot of sense because of the things she brings to the table and the fact that Coach Quinn had specifically talked about looking to add another big that can stretch the floor.

Now that her signing has come true, I wanted to write some thoughts on the Pros and (possible) Cons of adding Tina Charles to the roster.

Pros:

From a talent perspective, the Storm are considerably better on paper with Tina Charles than not having her on the roster. She provides a ton of offensive scoring and rebounding that should help the team tremendously.

Seattle has struggled surprisingly on offense this season. A lot of the offseason moves resulted in better defense at the expense of a lack of skilled offensive players. Tina Charles, if nothing else, is an incredibly talented offensive player who can put points up every single game.

Charles's scoring ability will make up for games when Jewell Loyd struggles. Or when everyone on the team, besides Stewie and Jewell, is struggling. In their last game, a loss to the Los Angeles Sparks, Loyd scored just three points total. Seattle didn’t get enough scoring help and it cost them the game. Adding Charles will hopefully help Seattle avoid those situations moving forward.

One of Seattle’s greatest weaknesses this season has been their inability to rebound the basketball compared to their opponents. Some of this is attributed to how the team plays out on the perimeter shooting a lot of threes. But they are also hurt by not having 6’6” Center Mercedes Russell down low to help limit opposing teams from gathering offensive rebounds. Charles has also always been a strong rebounder, she is currently #2 All-Time in WNBA history for total rebounds. She should be able to help a lot in that regard.

We still don’t know whether Tina will start or come off the bench. If she does come off the bench she’ll be an anchor for Seattle’s reserve unit. No longer will the bench constantly give up 10-point leads in a matter of 2-3 minutes while the starters are resting. She should be able to help keep the offensive production going when Stewie and Jewell aren’t on the floor.

And if Charles starts, that’ll likely move Ezi to the bench which will only strengthen that unit as I still expect Magbegor to get well over 20 minutes per game.

During her introductory press conference, Charles was asked what her expectations were for her role on this team.

“To be myself. With whatever opportunities and minutes are presented my way. To be able to impact this team, help this team, vocally, physically; be out there as a presence. I’ll be able to be who I am within the minutes or span of when I’m out there. Whichever unit I’m out there with. I’m just thankful for the opportunity.” Charles told the media.

More importantly, adding her gives Coach Quinn several more options to keep top talent on the court at all times. Quinn can now use several different lineups throughout the games. Have times where Jewell and Tina Charles are playing with Briann January, Stephanie Talbot, and Ezi Magbegor. Or having Sue Bird, Gabby Williams, and Tina Charles play with Epiphanny Prince and Jantel Lavender. This is probably what I’m most excited about. There’s really no reason why Seattle shouldn’t have Stewart, Charles, or Magbegor on the court at all times.

If both Stewart and Charles are on the floor at the same time, it’ll make it difficult for defenses to double-team either player because then they’re either leaving one of those two open or they’re leaving Sue Bird or Jewell Loyd open for three. No longer will teams be able to consistently double-team Seattle’s best players.

Stewart and Charles are both bigs that can stretch the floor. So if Tina wants to work in the low post, Stewie can be out on the perimeter drawing her defender out with her or vice versa.

Making this move now gives Coach Quinn and the Storm players 18 full games to adjust to their new player. The entire 2020 Bubble season was just 22 games before the playoffs. 18 games are definitely enough time to figure out what works and what doesn’t with rotations, how Charles can help and how Storm players can help her. If the team is going to have legit success this should be enough time to make it work.

I got to speak to Tina about how her experience with the USA Olympic Team where she played alongside Sue Bird, Breanna Stewart, and Jewell Loyd, and how that can help her adjust to playing with the team faster than it would otherwise.

“This organization has always been a standup organization. Anytime I was an opponent on the opposite end, scouting Seattle it’s a lot. It’s a lot individually just with the talent they have and it’s a lot with their sets. How they run their sets and how disciplined they are. If it’s one action, there’s another action that’s going to come. For me, being with those guys, I know they’re going to help me along the way for me to be successful. To help this team be successful. At the end of the day, I’m looking forward to being here, and anyways I can help.” Charles told me.

Another important storyline for this addition - will this be a one-time opportunity or could Charles be around for more than the 2022 season? If things work out and Seattle wins the Championship (or comes close), Charles could be inclined to re-sign with Seattle. This would give the Storm some insurance in case Breanna Stewart decided to only play overseas in 2023 due to the prioritization ruling of the CBA. Or worse yet, she signs with another WNBA team. Even if Stewart returns, if Charles is willing to stick around - despite losing Sue Bird and Briann January to retirement, Seattle could return in 2023 with a great core of Breanna Stewart, Jewell Loyd, Tina Charles, Ezi Magbegor, and Mercedes Russell. And then build the rest of the team around them. That’s obviously front-court-loaded but you would basically have your entire PF/C positions set and would just have to work on adding PG and wings (SG/SF).

Hopefully, Charles will be a natural fit in Seattle and this signing will benefit all parties involved.

Cons:

Charles has started all 373 games of her career. While it’s possible she’ll be willing to come off the bench. It wouldn’t be a shock if her addition moved Ezi Magbegor to the bench. This could also decrease the Storm’s defensive strengths as Magbegor is a better defender than Charles at this point. It’d also be unfortunate for Ezi who could lose her starting role due to no fault of her own.

Adding Charles may limit the development of the bright young star - Magbegor. One major positive to come out of Mercedes Russell’s non-basketball injury this season is the fact that Ezi has really blossomed into one of the team’s best players. She’s averaging nearly 13 PPG, 6 RPG, and 3 BPG (all career-highs). Her playing time is up significantly averaging roughly double the number of minutes from last season, 30 MPG up from 15 MPG last year. Tina isn’t signing with Seattle to play 10-15 MPG. She averaged over 33 MPG with Phoenix this season (more than what Stewie or Ezi average this year). I fully expect Charles to play at least 25 MPG whether she’s starting or not. That will almost certainly eat up some of Ezi’s minutes. Will Ezi’s production take a major dip with Charles joining the team? Hopefully not, but it is possible.

The reports state that Charles narrowed her choices down to Seattle and Phoenix during this past offseason and chose the Mercury because the Storm were more upfront that she would not be the #1 option on a team that featured Breanna Stewart and Jewell Loyd. Now they say the reasoning on why she wanted out of Phoenix is because she felt she wasn’t being used enough despite the fact that she’s averaging over 33 MPG and nearly 15 FGA per game. She is also Top 10 (9th overall) in PPG at 17.3 per contest. It’s not likely that Charles will play an even larger role on the Storm where she’ll have to share the ball and field goal attempts with Breanna Stewart and Jewell Loyd. If her role is reduced even more in Seattle, will Charles become a malcontent?

Another thing to consider is, how will team chemistry be affected? The core players on the Storm have won championships before and have specific chemistry playing together. Adding a superstar like Charles could end up creating more problems than expected if the chemistry/fit doesn’t work out. Maybe Charles takes field goal attempts away from Jewell and Stewie which leads to frustration with those players. It’s essentially a guarantee that Charles will take all of Jantel Lavender’s minutes which I’m sure she’s not thrilled about.

For those that are ready to crown the Seattle Storm as the 2022 Champions now that Tina Charles has been added to the roster, you might want to slow your roll. Superteams don’t often win the championship despite those lofty goals. There have been several times in the NBA where players have tried to form superteams only for them to come up short. In 2004, Gary Payton and Karl Malone joined the LA Lakers late in their careers to try and win a championship but they ended up losing to the Detroit Pistons in the NBA Finals in just five games.

More recently, we’ve seen Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden team up for the Brooklyn Nets only for them to completely implode and have Harden get traded away. We even saw it in Miami with LeBron, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh. Even though they did win two titles together, their first year together they lost to Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals back in 2011. It’s really hard to say what will happen in Seattle. It’s why they play the game.

Final Thoughts

I have been writing for a good portion of this season that Seattle needed to make a move. While they’ll always have a chance to win a title when you have Breanna Stewart, Jewell Loyd, and Sue Bird on your roster; overall, the team didn’t look like a title contender to me this season. Their struggles against Las Vegas and Connecticut stand out the most. It was hard to imagine them beating either of those two teams in a playoff series. And despite the fact that Seattle is currently 1-0 against both the Chicago Sky and the Washington Mystics, I’m not confident they would beat either of those teams in a playoff series either. That’s not to say they haven’t been a good team. They’ve been hovering around the Top 5 of the WNBA standings for most of the season. But for Sue Bird’s final season, you’d love to see them make another run at the title.

The acquisition of Tina Charles, if it works, does just that. She puts them into that top tier with the likes of Las Vegas and Connecticut. Charles is one of the most talented players in the WNBA, especially as a scorer. Seattle’s offense has been lackluster for most of this season. In most games, they’re barely getting any points from anyone not named Breanna Stewart, Jewell Loyd, or Ezi Magbegor. If one of those three struggles to score in a game, it’s been hard for the Storm to walk away with a victory on that given night. Charles can be a huge piece to this team. Is she the missing piece for Seattle’s 5th WNBA Championship? It’s going to be extremely fun to watch the rest of the season to find out!

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