O'Neil Waived

She was always a longshot, but the Storm waved Kristin O'Neil this morning. My uninformed guess is that the new post player arrival locked Coach Agler into one of two directions to decide in practice today and tomorrow morning.

Scenario One
I think Coach Agler knows that Kimberly Beck has the potential to be a multi-year backup for Sue Bird at the point guard position on a 4 year rookie scale contract. The Storm have not had a legitimate backup point guard since Tully Bevilaqua left the team in 2005 to start for Indiana. This is someone he wants to groom. With no other point guards on the roster, however he has to determine if Tanisha Wright can be enough insurance in the event of an injury to Sue Bird. If not, then he needs to keep Lewis and pick either Santos or Pascalau as the fourth/fifth (if you count Ely) post in the rotation. I don't see him keeping Lewis OVER Beck, but it is a slim possibility.

Scenario Two
With Janell Burse out for the season Coach Agler knows that he is pretty thin in the post. Yolanda Griffith is at the end of her career, and while she stills plays at a high level, she is subject to the injuries that plague post players. She plays all out in the paint, and people get hurt down there, particularly those who don't shy away from contact. That puts a lot of wear and tear on young players like Jackson and Burse, it is magnified with long time veterans. To top things off, he knows that Jackson is taking five games off a key part of the season to prepare for the Olympics. That leaves Agler with the offensively challenged (due mostly to lack of confidence, IMHO) Ashley Robinson, the undersized Shyra Ely and either a player who hasn't played in the league for two seasons in Kellie Santos or a WNBA rookie in Florina Pascalau. Santos seems comfortable in the paint, and Pascalau is a midrange shooter for the pick and pop offering Agler more options to use based on matchups when he is short his all star starters.

The answers will all be made clear in 24 hours or less.