Fan: I saw that you waived Stacey Lovelace. Was that to allow more room for the newer players to come in to the camp?

CD: Yes. In the last 24 hours, we had some roster changes as well as adding a coach. Katy Steding and Michelle Marciniak… [MM makes a shocked face, crowd laughs] Katy Steding and Michelle Edwards have retired. I think you knew Katy had retired. Michelle had off season foot surgery and we’ve been and then had tried to see if she thought she could come back. She called me a couple of days ago and said, “Coach, I’ve tried, it’s just time for me to hang it up.” And then we decided after evaluating our situation and some of the free agents that were available that we would waive Stacey Lovelace and that would create another option to bring in a free agent. Those, so far, are all of the transactions.

Fan: …why I really believe that Michelle and Sonya can handle the point. And Charmain [Charmin mouths back Charmain and makes a face] and Jamie can handle the off guard. And Semeka can do also be filling in as the small forward. That’s why I believe that we need to down to post and get some size and height. Now how do you plan on using Lauren, Simone and Stacey as the front court… as far as feeling the power forward and give you some minutes at the center spot where we need a big body down low. That’s the draft for me.

CD: Good comment. We absolutely know that we need some more help in the post. We’ve got some finesse posts. You know, posts, quick, Simone. I would call Lauren a finesse post because she’s evil, we know that now. She’s not what youÕd call a real wide body, but she plays like she it. She doesn’t take anything off of anybody, just ask Jennie Mowe [the crowd really laughs at that one]. She’ll tell you. But we need some wider bodies that can bang in there and hopefully Kamila’s going to come back. She’s had knee surgery in the off season. She’s going to come back because she has that potential. But I can assure that with our other two picks in the second round, that’s going to be an emphasis. Wide body, wide body, banger, that type of thing. We are looking for a small forward and a wide body. We hear you. Rebound, screen, kill somebody.

Fan: What’s with that slip of the tongue? You’re keeping Michelle now?

CD: Absolutely.

Fan: I have a…

CD: [to MM] I apologize. That’s not funny. Nobody wants to hear, “Well, we just waived…”

Fan: I have a comment actually. My comment is to you as well as your players, which I can feel, and going to the playoffs, and I’ll be there all the way with you guys, I want to also, as a fan, support you during the game to really kind of stop and that support that I can feel that you have for each other. To stop and feel that during the game, especially when things aren’t going well. And I was watching last year, that was one of the things that I really felt. I just wanted to reach out sometimes to you and say “Wait a minute. Just stop and take a breath and start over.”

CD: So are you sending us hugs from the sidelines? Well, I want to tell you guys and you know this you’re die hard fans. You know the West is tough. There have only ever been two World Champions and they are in the West and they are Houston and LA and they are good. And then there’s Sacramento and then there’s Utah and then there’s Phoenix and Minnesota. The West is tough and for a expansion team that’s growing and that wants to get in the playoffs, we are battling the big girls. But so what, let’s bring ’em on.

Fan: Right. The main thing I’m saying is regardless of whether you go to the playoffs or not I don’t really care. I’m with you. I hope it happens, but I think you guys are awesome.

CD: Well, thank you. I appreciate you saying that.

Fan; I just want to say enjoy the game. Let’s just enjoy the play.

CD: Have fun. Have fun, kick butt. Have fun.

Fan: My question isn’t for you. It’s for all the people out here. Where were you on open gym night last month?

Other fans: Working [and other muttered comments].

Fan: There were ten of us including staff.

CD: And with an open gym.

Other Fan: We had to pay for our season tickets. We were at work.

CD: She says she working on paying for her season tickets.

Fan: Who would you like to see still around in the second round? For our picks.

CD: Who would I like to see still around in the second round? We are looking at some post players from Alabama. We are looking at some post players from Rutgers. Some post players from Howard. We are looking at some forward from Florida International, DePaul, Stanford. I know whatever I say here is going to be on the internet [she gives Angie a pointed look because of the recorder] before I can even get in there to my computer.

Fan: What are some of the viable WNBA trade possibles? If you can’t say which players, who are the teams that you are talking to?

CD: I will just say this. That teams in the East in particular would love to have the first pick. You can understand why New York would want the first pick. Sue Bird is from New York. So there is a tremendous amount of interest from them. There’s also great interest in the first pick from teams that need a point guard. I mean absolutely desperately need a point guard and when you think about that well, gosh, they need one, they need one, and those are the teams that are being very, very aggressive. Point guards don’t come along very often. They really don’t and so that’s why a lot of teams that need point guards are being very aggressive about the trade. More so probably than I think other teams.

Fan: Do you want to play against her?

CD: Do I want to play against her? Not really, no. I don’t want to play against Stacey Dales and Swin Cash. I think that Stacey Dales and Sue both with both have impacts in the league. Much like last year Jackie Stiles, Lauren Jackson, Marie Ferdinand, Svetlana Abrosimova. To me those were the four that had the biggest impact. Guess where they are? In the West. It’s time for some of this talent to go East. [crowd laughs] Well, Detroit has the second pick so, and Washington has the third and fourth picks so is going to go with that was unless they trade it.

Fan: How important do you think it is to bring a player that people can recognize like Sue Bird to Seattle?

CD: Where is our marketing director? Our sponsorship people? I think, I think it’s important. But I don’t think it’s the number one prerequisite for making that selection. I think that’s the icing on the cake. I think the cake is the player, the talent. The ability to take this team to next level. One of our goals this year is going to be 5, 5 and 5. Score 5 more points, get 5 more rebounds, win 5 more games. Now, is 10, 10 and 10 meaning 10 more points, 10 more rebounds, 10 more wins? I like that too. But the bottom line, this player has got to help us win basketball games. This person’s got to make everybody else out on the floor better. And I think that’s number one and then if she happens to be marketable…

CD: This is your second question.

Fan: I know. Were you pleased with the schedule when it came out with the home games heavy at the front?

CD: Karen? Were we pleased with the schedule?

KB: I would say, from our perspective, that we see it both as a challenge and as an opportunity. I think we have 5 of the first 6 games at home. It’s really important that the work that we are doing now for the next 5 weeks leading up to that opening home stand and all the groundwork is laid. And then the challenging thing about the WNBA from a marketing and a sales perspective is that our season is so quick that once that season starts our ability to impact single game attendance once we have started our season is really diminished. So when I talk about all the work in the offseason, we started planning for those 16 home games back in October. And rest assured that it will show this year. Our sales and attendance will be up significantly due to a lot of the efforts of the staff I previously introduced to you and the four people sitting up front. I mean Lin and these three players have worked tirelessly particularly since January to get the word out and lay the groundwork for what we know is going to be a very exciting season. For those of you who have been with us going into your third year, you have experienced something very special that many people in this community, many sports fans have not yet experienced. But they are about to because that word is out there in a way that it has not been before and I am pleased to say that our first preseason game at Key Arena on May 19th we already have over 7,000 tickets sold.

CD: Is that Utah? No, that’s against…

KB: That’s against Utah.

CD: And that’s Natalie Williams and Kate Starbird.

KB: So yeah, we’re viewing those first 5 or 6 games as an opportunity to start the season with a tremendous amount of momentum. So by June 11th we are a fourth of the way through our season. Take your vacations in July.

CD: From a coaching perspective, I think the thing that’s really challenging for us as a team is that we have 7 back to backs and that’s where it’s going to be really important that our players are extremely professional, they gets lots of rest and we have as much depth as possible because that it tough. That’s a real challenge.

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