Storm Lose to Liberty 84-76 Part 2

Additional thoughts, discussion, and interviews from Seattle's loss to New York

The Seattle Storm (22-21) weren’t able to finish the job in the second half. They led by eight points at the midway point and were playing some good basketball against the defending champions, the New York Liberty. Seattle was aggressive in getting to the rim. And their defense was mostly effective through the game’s first 20 minutes. But as we’ve seen time and time again this season, it’s not how you start, but how you finish. And the Storm fell apart in the 2nd half (again). Something I’ve written far too many times this season. They were outscored 45-29 over the final two quarters and lost 84-76 to the New York Liberty. If you missed it, you can read the full game recap at the link below.

In Part 2, I wrote about how the Storm are lost. That there are too many cooks on the court. And how the owners should look to invest even more into the franchise. Plus, I’ve included the post-game press conference in video and audio formats.

Lost

It’s not just the fact that the Storm lost to the New York Liberty, that they lost to the Los Angeles Sparks, or that they’ve lost 12 times at home this season. The team itself is lost.

Whether we’re asking Coach Quinn the questions or the star veteran players, Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins, nobody seems to have any answers. No one can explain why the team is performing the way they do. They want to win. They’re trying to win. But they aren’t winning. And they have way too much talent on their roster not to be winning. How many other WNBA teams have four All-Stars on the roster this season? The answer would be zero.

On paper, the Storm have a Top 5 roster. Yet they will enter their final game of the regular season without clinching a playoff spot. If we’re not sugar-coating things, it’s been a disastrous season. The franchise didn’t bring Nneka and Skylar in to hover around .500 and barely make or miss the playoffs.

2024 was a disappointment because of the inner turmoil and because they didn’t win a single playoff game. That marred an otherwise strong season where the team went 25-15. In 2025, things managed to be significantly worse. They will finish at best two games over .500.

If we want to blame the head coach and her coaching staff for the lackluster performance this season, we can. But I don’t know if I can say this is all on the coaching staff. Quinn hasn’t been able to fix the problems that continue to plague the team throughout the year. As you’ll hear in the post-game press conference below, Quinn talked about the team missing Jordan Horston, Katie Lou Samuelson, and Nika Mühl this year. I believe Horston and Samuelson combined might have been able to help the Storm turn around 2-3 games, but I don’t think they’d be a Top 4 team or a legit title contender.

Nneka and Skylar were asked similar questions about why the team hasn’t performed up to expectations and why they’ve struggled to close out games this season. Neither of them had an answer. And when the Head Coach doesn’t know how to fix the problem, and two veteran leads don’t know how to fix the problem, I think it’s fair to say that the team is lost.

Changes need to be made. It feels like it’s time to move the franchise in a different direction.

Too Many Cooks

This is actually a topic I’d like to really explore more when I have the time. When it’s not midnight, and when I haven’t been nursing a headache/migraine all day long. But the gist is that the Storm’s roster might be too talented. That’s odd to say, right? But hear me out.

If you look at a team like the Minnesota Lynx, they have a clear #1 option in Napheesa Collier. And then they have a couple of other really strong support players in Kayla McBride and Courtney Williams. McBride averages 14.9 PPG, and Williams averages 13.9 PPG. If you want, you can call them 2A and 2B or the 2nd and 3rd options. Then they have a bunch of role players. Alanna Smith, Bridget Carleton, Natisha Hiedeman, DiJonai Carrington, and Jessica Shepard. None of those players are going to try and take over a game, but if any of them get hot, they can hurt an opponent. Often, several of those players will step up and have a strong performance, but it’s always within the flow of the offense and system.

Looking back at the Storm’s 2018 and 2020 Championship teams. Breanna Stewart was the clear #1. In 2018, I’d say Jewell Loyd was the clear #2, but we could also say Loyd was 2A and Natasha Howard was 2B. Sue Bird got everyone involved, but could still be a good 3rd or 4th option. Then they had solid role players in Alysha Clark, Jordin Canada, Sami Whitcomb, and Crystal Langhorn.

In 2020, Stewie was the clear #1. Jewell was the clear #2. Then AC, Tash, and Bird could all pick up the slack to be that number three option. Seattle then got strong bench contributions from Sami, Jordin, and Ezi.

The 2025 Storm have less defined roles. Nneka Ogwumike is probably their #1, but sometimes it’s Skylar. And oftentimes, other players are taking big shots instead of Ogwumike. Gabby Williams is the team’s 3rd option, right? Or is it supposed to be Erica Wheeler? After the trade, is it Brittney Sykes? The team doesn’t know. The players don’t know. And that’s why so often this season, the Storm look disjointed. It’s why they fall apart in clutch situations in games. Nobody really knows what to do, and often players try to play hero ball. It leads to too much isolation and bad basketball.

As the Liberty took over the game on Friday night, it was Stewie, Stewie, Stewie. When the Sparks took control against the Storm, it was Dearica Hamby, Hamby, Hamby. And if it wasn’t Hamby, it was Rickea Jackson.

Seattle has four All-Stars on their team, but there is only one rock to go around. Unfortunately, most of the time, the Storm don’t know what to do when it matters the most.

Needs more Investment

The Seattle Storm owners have generally done a great job with the franchise. I will forever be grateful to Force 10 Hoops for stepping up in 2008, when Clay Bennett stole the Sonics and wanted to relocate them to Oklahoma City, but he didn’t give a shit about women’s basketball. He sold the Storm back to the Seattle ownership group, and they kept professional basketball alive in Seattle. And since that fateful year, they’ve invested in women’s basketball and helped guide the franchise to its 2nd, 3rd, and 4th WNBA Championships. Plus, a Commissioner’s Cup Championship crown as well.

Over the past few years, they invested nearly $65 million to build the Seattle Storm’s brand-new Practice and Performance Center, which opened in 2024. It is a state-of-the-art facility and is a huge upgrade from their previous practice court, where they had to rent out the gym at Seattle Pacific University.

More and more WNBA teams are opening their own large private practice facilities. While the Storm should still have a leg up on a lot of the other teams around the league, that competitive advantage will dissipate over time.

The next step that I think the Storm’s ownership group should take is to invest more in a scouting department. Not long ago, in the WNBA, the head coach was also the General Manager. Brian Agler filled both roles from 2008-2014 with the Storm. James Wade did the same with the Chicago Sky from 2018-2023. But as the WNBA expands to grander heights, that can no longer be the norm. Even currently, Pokey Chatman is both the primary Assistant Coach and the Assistant General Manager.

The New York Liberty have been praised for their scouting department and especially their ability to scout overseas. The Phoenix Mercury did an incredible job putting their roster together this season, with a lot of unknowns that all fit well in a system together. There was a recent article about how the Mercury talked about trying to emulate what the Liberty have been able to do in that regard.

We can also take a look at the Golden State Valkyries. I think a lot of their success comes from their Head Coach, Natalie Nakase, but their GM did a great job of selecting players that would fit well together.

If we look at the Seahawks, they have their General Manager, John Schneider. But Schneider has lots of different scouts that help him get prepared for the NFL Draft every year and free agency. They have specific scouts that track the SEC or the Big 10 Conference, etc. Obviously, Paul Allen and now Jody Allen are two of the wealthiest people on the planet. The Storm’s ownership group may not be able to replicate everything the Seahawks do, but that doesn’t mean they can’t invest more into a larger scouting department.

The Storm currently have two first-round picks and an early second-round pick. The more scouting and studying they can hire people to do will help the franchise in 2026 and beyond.

And this isn’t to say Seattle has done a poor job drafting. Far from it, actually. They took Ezi Magbegor 12th overall in 2019. In a redraft, Magbegor might go 3rd overall behind Napheesa Collier and Jackie Young. You can make the argument that Arike Ogunbowale goes ahead of Ezi, but I don’t see how Magbegor wouldn’t make the Top 5.

In 2023, the Storm drafted Jordan Horston 9th overall. In a redraft of the 2023 WNBA Draft, I think Jordan Horston goes 2nd only behind Aliyah Boston. Despite missing her entire 3rd season with a torn ACL, Horston has shown enough to put her above Diamond Miller, Haley Jones, Maddy Siegrist, Grace Berger, Laeticia Amihere, etc.

The key to prolonged success for the franchise is further investment. They’ve done a great job investing in the team, in the community, and in a beautiful new practice facility. I think the next important step is to invest even more into scouting so that they can continue to build strong teams through the draft and free agency every year.

Post-Game Press Conference

For some reason, Substack kept hitting errors as I tried to upload the press conference video directly, but you should be able to watch it from the Storm’s own YouTube channel linked above.

If you prefer the audio versions, you can listen to them below.

Player Interviews

Coach’s Quotes

Notes:
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Photo Credits: Seattle Storm/WNBA Photography

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