2017 WNBA Preview: The Seattle Storm have their core, now what?
The Seattle Storm are done rebuilding. After securing elite talents in Jewell Loyd and Breanna Stewart to join forces with legendary point guard Sue Bird, the franchise traded their sixth and 18th overall pick in this year’s draft for the 15th pick and Carolyn Swords. A team that’s still pining for young building blocks doesn’t swap a solid pick for a veteran center to fill its biggest on-court need, and head coach Jenny Boucek confirmed as much to The Summitt.
“No doubt,” Boucek said when asked if this is the core she plans on competing with. “We’ve gone through our rebuild, and now we’re growing those pieces. The majority of our learning curve is going to be our players getting better.”
The question remains: how much improvement are those players going to need, and are the surrounding pieces good enough? These answers will become more clear by September, but the team’s ability to win games now shouldn’t be in doubt. The main reason is, of course, Stewart.
“I think she’s one of the top players in the league,” Boucek said. “I think she can become the best player in the world.”
She’s not wrong. As a rookie last season, Stewart was a top ten player in the league. She averaged 18.3 points, 9.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.9 blocks per game, shooting 45.7% overall and 33.8% from three. Those numbers are insane for a first year player, and should scare the living daylights out of the league.
When Stewart fully harnesses her skillset, which at 6’4” includes ball-handling, shooting, passing and defending, watch out. The Storm won’t necessarily run their offense through her, though. Bird and Loyd are the next two best players on the roster, and like Stewart are dangerous with and without the ball. Last year’s offense didn’t rely on throwing it into a star and letting them work, but getting opportunities out of the system.
“You don’t want to bog down, you don’t want to dribble too much, we don’t want the ball sticking on one side,” a source familiar with the Storm’s thinking told The Summitt. “The most difficult thing to guard I think in the pro level is when people are on the move, the ball is swung, the defense is in rotation or they’re closing out and now you’re making a play. That’s what I really like about the Storm early-O flow system. There’s some unpredictability. It’s not a set, it’s a lot of reads.”
Those reads allow players like Loyd to thrive. She might be the best shooting guard in the W when she’s on, and last year said she’s only just begun actually working on her game from a technical standpoint. She’s already turning the corner on picks and bursting into the lane with the strength to attack defenders head-on.
If Stewart’s setting the screen, it’s pick your poison territory so long as the role players are hitting shots. Loyd’s deep ball and overall consistency will be a big thing to watch in 2017. Bird is still a magician at point guard, leading the league in assists last year, and despite having undergoing a knee scope is expected to be good to go come the season.
The big addition was Swords, who adds an interior defensive presence Seattle sorely lacked in 2016. Crystal Langhorne was the former starting center, but was covered for defensively by Stewart a lot. Swords was the lynchpin of a New York Liberty defense that has stifled the league for two years running, giving Stewart more of a free safety role. Swords clocks in at 6’6” and is steadily improving her finishing and passing game. The high-low actions between her and Stewart could mirror what she had going with Tina Charles.
“We’ve been targeting [Swords] for years now,” Boucek said. “[Stewart’s] best when she can roam around and use her instincts and her length and her quickness and anticipation.”
The Storm’s key role players are still around. Langhorne will perform better in a bench role. Alysha Clark brings a fun repertoire from the small forward spot, posting up smaller wings or switches and shooting well from three. Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Ramu Tokashiki are going to get buckets.
As Boucek said, this team will grow as its stars do. For now, it’s hard to see them missing the playoffs. The Storm made it last season with a below-average defense and super young stars. The defense should be much improved with Swords and those stars are now slightly less young.
A conservative take puts them among the five best teams in the league. Single-elimination playoff games make them an entirely real threat to make the semifinals. And it wouldn’t surprise many to see them as the third-best team this year behind the goliath Lynx and Sparks. We’ll know for sure come September, but until then, it’ll certainly be a fun ride for Storm fans.