Friday, June 1, 2007

LJ Gets Another Look at the Three

A significant portion of the part of practice the media watched this morning featured, again, Lauren Jackson playing small forward in a big Storm lineup. Clearly, Anne Donovan is interested in putting this lineup on the floor at some point. She didn't know when that opportunity might come.

Jackson at small forward obviously creates mismatches in the post, and it was interesting to see Donovan emphasize the importance of hard cuts and good picks away from the ball when Jackson screens for another post player, which would force a different mismatch.

After four practices in five days, the Storm is ready to get back on the court against an opponent. This mini-training camp allowed Donovan to work on many different things.

"We'll actually find out how much we got accomplished," she saisd, "when we take the floor."

Plenty of news around the WNBA today. In Washington, Richie Audbato has resigned with the Mystics off to an 0-4 start. Kudos to Alan Horton for noticing this makes Donovan (123) the active career WNBA wins leader. She's just 11 wins back of Audabto (134) for the second-most wins in WNBA history, though Michael Cooper (121) is close in the rear-view mirror.

"Tree" Rollins, in his second season on Aduabto's staff, will take over on an interim basis. Earlier this week, forward Crystal Robinson retired to join the coaching staff.

In Houston, Sheryl Swoopes will miss the next 2-4 weeks with a bulging disc in her lower back. There was plenty of talk that Swoopes was hurting, but it's a bit of a surprise that Swoopes will be out for an extended period. This should mean plenty of action for newly-signed Barbara Turner. For the Comets, however, it's not a great way to work out of an 0-3 start in the competitive West.

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