The Seattle Storm went into the WNBA draft yesterday with the No. 12 pick, a good number for them historically since they picked Tanisha Wright there in 2005. She has been a strong contributor for the team and was recently resigned.
The biggest question for the Storm was where the team would look for help from the draft since so much depended on whether All-World player Lauren Jackson was coming back or not. Jackson is not currently under contract with the Storm but has said that her choices are to come back to Seattle or go to Phoenix.
Seattle head coach Brian Alger claimed that he was not worried and considered Lauren Jackson a member of the Storm unless she tells him otherwise. Complicating the situation is the fact that Jackson has told the team she won’t make a decision until talking it over with her family at the conclusion of the season in the Russian league.
Losing your all-time best player and high scorer, not to mention League and Finals MVP in 2004, would be a major blow to any team. The combination of Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson are comparable to Magic and Kareem or Montana and Rice. There is no way the Storm hoped to find a player in the draft at the No. 12 spot to fill Jackson’s shoes.
I don’t think they planned to replace either — at least not with one player. Before the draft started, the team already had Camille Little coming back. Little, a 6'2" forward, started 13 games in place of Jackson last season and averaged 12.2 points and 5.6 rebounds in helping the Storm to an 8-5 finish.
Then the Storm convinced centers Janell Burse, a backup on the 2004 championship team, and Australian Suzy Batkovic to come back to Seattle while re-signing center Ashley Robinson. For even more depth, the Storm finished off stockpiling the middle with Kasha Terry as a training camp invitee.
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