Notebook: Swoopes Back on the Court

When she went down to the ground with an injury early in Friday's Storm exhibition at Sacramento, Sheryl Swoopes probably could not have imagined that she would be back out on the practice court three days later. However, Monday marked her return to the court after being limited to conditioning work during Sunday's Storm practice. Swoopes went through all the team's drills during the portion of the practice open to the media and showed no sign of being limited.

"I think our main focus was not to try to push it and do too much," Swoopes said after practice. "The good thing is it's not my shoulder, so I felt much better about that. I have a little pain in my neck, but my focus right now is to come out and do as much as I can possibly do because I don't want to lose what I've gained the past three weeks. As practice went on, I started feeling much better. Overall, I would say I probably feel about 85 percent right now."

When Swoopes first was injured, doctors feared a possible dislocated shoulder.

"Initially when it happened I had a really bad pain in my shoulder," said Swoopes. "They initially had said that it was my shoulder and thought that it was my shoulder. Obviously, I was concerned with that.

"I was probably more frustrated than anything, because I felt like I was just getting to a point where I was close to 100 percent and I was comfortable and I was confident and my body was feeling good - didn't have any aches and pains - and then that happened."

Further examination revealed no damage to Swoopes' shoulder, and she woke up Saturday morning feeling much better. Ultimately, Swoopes was diagnosed with a strained neck, allowing her to accelerate her return to the court.

"I think as the day went on she loosened up, got moving up and down the floor," added Storm Head Coach Brian Agler. "She was looking real good Friday before she was injured, so I'm hoping we can get back to that point some time this week, which I think we will."

- Agler said the Storm is expecting guard Tanisha Wright to arrive in camp on Thursday. Wright wrapped up postseason play in Israel last week, but her team delayed her final payment.

Agler Audio After Practice