personally, i applaud brian and karen for making the very tough decision to pull the trigger. we had to do something to get younger. other teams want quality in return. no one was going to trade us a quality player for our bench players. its a business. you've got to put butts in the seats and one and done isn't going to do it; especially in a year when lj is gone for a half season.. the other half of the younger equation is we need to get bigger. we are dwarfed by the likes of minny, who is going to be in the driver's seat for years to come, imo. so if we want to get and stay competitive we need youth and size.

and why are some people throwing out the need to get ann wauters? we don't want to hitch our wagon to foreign players (except for lj, of course). they stay home or also need to train for their national teams. plus, she hasn't played in the w since 09.

My first reaction to this was anger.  Then the objective side of me kicked in and realized while painful, it was also necessary. 

Age, very tight salary cap, no first round draft pick (until this) coupled with historically low first round picks for the last few years...the writing was on the wall that if the Storm expected to do something to offset Lauren's loss most of this season, getting older, and no salary cap to make deals they had to do something major to shake up the status quo.

The bright spot in this is that we only have to face Swin and 'Coe twice a season instead of 4 times. 

Now if only LA passes on Nneka and Minny gets rid of some of their good bench players, we could be back in it quickly.

Holy cow. I go to the movies, and come out to find we've traded Swin and Coco! 

I'm truly sorry to see them go, but from the standpoint of the business of basketball, this makes absolute sense to me. And I also like the Sky, so I'm aware that this really fills a gap at the 3 that they've had for years, and gives them a post who wants to post and can take some of the banging off Fowles.

It will be interesting to see where we go with this. I doubt we hold onto the pick, but you never know. Not until free agent signing opens, anyway.

I'm not a fan of picking up Wauters, but I'll leave that to Brian. I'd prefer a player who will stick around and grow the team, versus a shaky playing prospect (I'm not talking about talent). It might be a reasonable stop gap move, though, if she was willing, I guess.

If you are flaming the front office, I'd apologize to them sooner rather than later. This is the sad side of pro sports, but at the end of the day fans are more content with players they like and wins versus players they really like and first round exits. 

I'd argue Katie Smith provides more intangibles than KG.

I was dissapointed at first with the trade, but having thought about the roster and who we could give up, I think this was the only move. Camille has had breakout seasons last two years, she just needs consistency and she is young. No way you can move Sue or LJ, Can't see much interest for Arob, or T Wright for that matter. Our bench players wouldn't have much currency as they are essentially untried in the league as they don't get many minutes.

Swin struggled big time last year, and even if she regains form, she has had a lot of injuries and she was speaking about retiring in the next couple of years (wants to make the olympics then reassess her future)- then we would lose her for nothing. Le'Coe wasn't the player she was in 2010, and just look at the number of injuries she got in games (albeit minor ones) that forced her to the bench, plus we were undersized when she came in.

I think this was a good move, yes the draft is weak, but if we can get a few unrestricted FA on to the team I think we will all be happy, maybe not this season, but is having a bad year this year with the bumper draft of 2013 so bad?

I wasn't a fan of the Smith trade and I think we paid way way too much for her. If she doesn't play this year I think it will go down as worst trade in history. If she overcomes her ankle injuries maybe she will be better, and can help guide whoever we draft/sign, and then retires before 2013 season.

Now here's hoping Agler can land someone like Wiggins and a decent post player!

scowl wrote on Jan 2^nd, 2012 at 5:29pm:


Are you serious right now or do you not know anything about basketball besides scoring? Katie Gearlds couldnt guard players like Taurasi, McCoughtry even if they would be blindfolded. If you didnt see what else Katie Smith brought when she was on the court then you are not really worth this discussion..

I dont really get why Katie Smith is being brought up. We need 2 new big scorers to fill in for LJ 17-19pts  a game and Swin's 13-14 pts a game! A starting smallforward and a starting PF/center. Young vets who bring a fresh spark to this franchise only problem is that good SF's and Centers dont grow on threes.

I would love to see Agler go after Langhorne and Currie but the Mystics will not let them go easily even if they would demand a trade and they will match any offer anyway because they have a lot of capspace!

Wiggins is a UFA that everyone is after only problem is that Minny will probably match every offer anyway and she is a combo guard(would be good as backup to Sue) but we need a starting SF and i dont mean Tamera Young/Kraayeveld material
Shameka Christon and Alana Beard are gambles because of their health! Ajavon is an UFA but Mystics will probably match what ever others will offer and she is a chucker(and a SG)! And Nicky Anosike played terrible last season so not really an option either!

Any other free agents or that can put up big numbers and have length other then Ann Wauters??