The Seattle Storm are a professional basketball team based in Seattle, Washington, playing in the Western Conferencein the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). The group was established by Ginger Ackerley and her husband Barry ahead of the 2000 season. The group is as of now possessed by Force 10 Hoops LLC, which is made out of three Seattle specialists: Dawn Trudeau, Lisa Brummel, and Ginny Gilder.
The Storm has fit the bill for the WNBA Playoffs in twelve of its seventeen years in Seattle. The establishment has been home to some fantastic players, for example, former UConn stars Sue Bird, Swin Cash, and Breanna Stewart; 2004 Finals MVP Betty Lennox; and Australian power forward Lauren Jackson, a three-time alliance MVP. In 2004, 2010, and 2018, the Storm went to the WNBA Finals; they’ve won inevitably, beating the Sun in 2004, the Dream in 2010, and the Mystics in 2018. Of the groups that have been to the Finals, they are one of two who have never lost a Finals arrangement; the dead Houston Comets are the other.
The group develops a fan-accommodating, family condition at home diversions by having an all-kid move squad, which drives youthful fans in a conga line on the court amid time-outs, to the music of “C’mon N’ Ride It (The Train)” by the Quad City DJ’s. Named for the rainy weather of Seattle, the group utilizes many climate related symbols: the group mascot is Doppler, a maroon-furred animal with a cup anemometer on its head; the signature tune for Storm home recreations is AC/DC’s “Flabbergasted”; and its bulletin is called Stormwatch.
The Storm was the sister group of the Seattle SuperSonics of the NBA prior to February 28, 2008, when the group was sold to Force 10 Hoops LLC.
Establishment history
A desolate begin (2000– 2001)
The Storm’s ancestor was the Seattle Reign, a sanction individual from the American Basketball League (ABL), working from 1996 through December 1998, when the association collapsed. More fortunate than most regions that had an ABL group, Seattle was immediately granted a WNBA franchise and started play under two years after the fact.
The Seattle Storm would tip off their first season (the 2000 WNBA season) in run of the mill extension mold. Instructed by Lin Dunn and driven by guard Edna Campbell and Czech center Kamila Vodichkova, the group completed with a 6– 26 record. The low record, be that as it may, enabled the Storm to draft 19-year-old Australian standout Lauren Jackson. In spite of the fact that Seattle did not make the playoffs in the 2001 season, Jackson’s great newbie execution gave a strong establishment to the establishment to expand on.
Sue Bird’s entry and the street to the WNBA Finals (2002– 2004)
In the 2002 draft, the Storm drafted UConn star Sue Bird, filling the Storm’s hole at the point guard position. With Bird’s playmaking capacity and Jackson’s scoring and bouncing back, the group made the playoffs without precedent for 2002, yet were cleared by the Los Angeles Sparks.
Coach Anne Donovan was employed for the 2003 crusade. In Donovan’s first year, Jackson would win the WNBA Most Valuable Player Award, however the group had a baffling season (with Bird harmed for a great part of the year), and the Storm missed the playoffs.
The 2004 Storm posted a then establishment best 20– 14 record. In the playoffs, the Storm made snappy work of the Minnesota Lynx, clearing them in the first round. The Storm at that point squared off against an up-and-coming Sacramento Monarchs team in the West Finals. The Storm would develop triumphant, winning the arrangement 2– 1. In the WNBA Finals, the Storm would complete off the season as champions, crushing the Connecticut Sun 2 diversions to 1. Betty Lennox was named MVP of the Finals. The win made Anne Donovan the principal female head mentor in WNBA history to win the WNBA Championship.
A reliable postseason contender (2005– 2009)
Key players from the Storm’s title season were not on the group in 2005. Vodichkova, Tully Bevilaqua, and Sheri Sam moved on to different groups. What’s more, the pre-season damage of Australian star and new acquisition Jessica Bibby hampered the group’s 2005 season. While they coordinated their 2004 record and made the playoffs, the Storm’s title resistance was halted in the first round by the Houston Comets, 2 diversions to 1.
In 2006, the Storm would complete 18– 16, adequate to make the playoffs. The Storm set up a decent battle in the first round against the Sparks, yet would miss the mark 2– 1. In 2007, the Storm would complete .500 (17– 17), adequate to make the playoffs in a feeble Western Conference. The Storm would be rapidly cleared out of the playoffs by the Phoenix Mercury.
On November 30, 2007, Anne Donovan surrendered as head mentor, and was supplanted by Brian Agler on January 9, 2008.
Albeit the majority of Seattle’s real games groups persevered through poor seasons amid 2008, the Storm would be the main champion group in Seattle that year, posting an establishment best 22– 12 record and completing with a 16– 1 record at home, additionally an establishment best. Be that as it may, the No. 2 seeded Storm lost to the #3 Los Angeles Sparks in the first round of the playoffs in three diversions, and finished Seattle’s season at 23– 14 generally speaking.
In 2009, the Storm were 20– 14 and completed second in the Western Conference for the second in a row year. In the playoffs, the Storm again lost to the #3 Los Angeles Sparks in 3 diversions, which finished their season in the first round for the fifth continuous season.
A second title (2010)
In the 2010 season, the Storm were relatively relentless with a record-tying 28 wins and 6 misfortunes in the customary season, including an ideal 17– 0 at KeyArena. This was the most home wins ever of WNBA.
Along the way, Lauren Jackson was named WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week five times, and Western Conference Player of the Month three times, on her approach to being named WNBA MVP for the third time. Agler was likewise named Coach of the Year.
In the playoffs, the Storm significantly switched their fortunes from the past five seasons. They began with a compass of the Sparks, the group that already thumped them out of the playoffs each time they met. At that point they swept Diana Taurasi and the Phoenix Mercury in the gathering finals, and the Atlanta Dream in the WNBA Finals. With two group titles, the Storm turned into Seattle’s best elite athletics group by that measure.
Postseason torments (2011– 2014)
With indistinguishable lineup from the earlier year, the Storm had much desire for the 2011 WNBA season. In any case, right in the second cycle a two-year home invulnerability was broken by the Minnesota Lynx, who even left the Storm scoreless for the initial seven minutes. Injuries hit various players, particularly Lauren Jackson, who needed to experience hip medical procedure and missed the vast majority of the season. The general beginning five continued play just in the last five recreations, yet Sue Bird and Swin Cash kept the Storm aggressive, completing second in the WNBA with 21 wins and 13 misfortunes. On the playoffs, a Mercury buzzer beater at the KeyArena killed the Storm in cycle 1.
In 2012, with Jackson missing for the early season preparing with the Australia national group and wounds to a large portion of the group, including Bird, only Camille Little and Katie Smith played on every one of the diversions of the customary season. Upon her arrival, Jackson missed a few recreations because of hamstring damage, however achieved 6,000 focuses on her WNBA vocation playing against the San Antonio Silver Stars.
The 16-18 record put the Storm fourth in the West, confronting the Lynx, who posted the group’s best record amid the general season, in the playoffs. While the Storm figured out how to drive an amusement 3 by winning in the KeyArena at twofold additional time, a very late endeavor by Jackson went off the edge and the Lynx took the arrangement winning by only one point, 73-72.
In the wake of losing in the first round of the 2013 playoffs to the Lynx following a .500 general season, the Storm missed the playoffs in 2014. This was the first run through the Storm missed the playoffs since 2003.