With eight games remaining the Storm have already matched their 2007 win total. They need only to win four of the remaining games to set a new season win total record (20-14 in 2004 and 2005). Six of the remaining games are against teams that are either below .500 (two against Atlanta), or are teams they have already defeated handily (Minnesota twice, Chicago twice, Houston twice, Sacramento three times). The other two are against Connecticut (the only team to beat Seattle in Key Arena this season) and Los Angeles (split season 1-1 home and away). Unfortunately only three of these games (Houston, Atlanta, LA) are at home in Key Arena where the Storm have only lost one game this season. The Storm hold the best home record in the WNBA so far this season. If they follow their current percentages, ignoring the quality of the teams, they should go 3-0 at home and 2-3 on the road. Based on the teams they are facing they could close the season going 6-2. Personally, the two games I think they need to win are those I have projected as losses, the road games vs. Connecticut and LA in order to record wins against every playoff team, and show they can win on the road.
Player | True Shooting Percentage | Effective FG% | Floor Percentage | Points/Game |
| Camille Little | 58.38% | 57.03% | 48.50% | 7.7 |
| Kelly Santos | 56.65% | 47.37% | 54.56% | 2.1 |
| Lauren Jackson | 56.42% | 49.39% | 50.73% | 20.2 |
| Sue Bird | 52.01% | 47.72% | 45.87% | 13.5 |
| Tanisha Wright | 51.56% | 47.17% | 45.55% | 7.0 |
| Katie Gearlds | 48.76% | 48.56% | 38.14% | 4.0 |
| Yolanda Griffith | 48.56% | 41.90% | 49.82% | 6.2 |
| Sheryl Swoopes | 47.74% | 43.18% | 48.00% | 7.7 |
| Swin Cash | 47.00% | 37.50% | 46.57% | 11.3 |
| Shyra Ely | 43.28% | 39.24% | 41.13% | 2.9 |
| Ashley Robinson | 23.52% | 24.00% | 29.36% | 0.5 |
| Kristin O'Neil | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0.0 |
What amazes me is that the entire main rotation is shooting better than 40%. Camille Little has shot to the top of the accuracy charts despite being forced into more minutes and a starting position by the five game absence of Lauren Jackson. I love that the top five spots contain three bench players.
Top Ratings
| Player | Offensive Rating | Individual Rating |
| Lauren Jackson | 112.63 | 97.17 |
| Kelly Santos | 108.78 | 93.86 |
| Sue Bird | 102.81 | 93.00 |
| Sheryl Swoopes | 101.64 | 85.89 |
| Camille Little | 99.26 | 87.01 |
| Katie Gearlds | 97.47 | 84.22 |
| Yolanda Griffith | 97.42 | 77.81 |
| Swin Cash | 95.21 | 78.67 |
| Tanisha Wright | 94.54 | 83.08 |
| Shyra Ely | 84.64 | 67.13 |
| Ashley Robinson | 59.65 | 35.74 |
| Kristin O'Neil | 20.18 | 15.38 |
At the start of the season it was said that Agler's offensive system was an equal opportunity approach where any player could score at any time. The Storm have not had this balanced an offensive team since the 2004 and 2005 seasons. Last season the Storm had one player with an offensive rating over 100 and sixover 90. In 2004 they had three over 100 and nine over 90.
Plus/Minus
Player | On | Off | Roland Rating | Minutes Played |
| Lauren Jackson | +125 | -60 | +15.09 | 696 |
| Sue Bird | +117 | -60 | +9.68 | 887 |
+85 -28 +8.24 495 | ||||
| Katie Gearlds | +54 | +3 | +7.29 | 290 |
| Swin Cash | +74 | -17 | +6.51 | 797 |
| Sheryl Swoopes | +58 | -1 | +3.74 | 638 |
| Tanisha Wright | -19 | +26 | -7.60 | 551 |
| Kelly Santos | -13 | +70 | -10.74 | 70 |
| Camille Little | -14 | +80 | +23.42 | 224 |
| Shyra Ely | -66 | +123 | -14.67 | 275 |
| Ashley Robinson | -85 | +142 | -24.95 | 194 |
| Kristin O'Neil | -16 | +67 | -28.24 | 25 |
I am only using Little's numbers in a Storm uniform, ignoring her data while in Atlanta. The Roland Rating is computed by subtracting the Net40 off from the Net40 on.
Most Effective Lineups
Bird-Swoopes-Cash-Jackson-Griffith: +25
Bird-Swoopes-Gearlds-Cash-Jackson: +23
Bird-Wright-Cash-Jackson-Griffith: +17
Bird-Wright-Swoopes-Jackson-Griffith: +13
Bird-Swoopes-Gearlds-Jackson-Griffith: +11
Bird-Wright-Swoopes-Jackson-Griffith: +9
Bird-Wright-Gearlds-Cash-Little: +9
Bird-Wright-Swoopes-Jackson-Robinson: +9
Bird-Wright-Swoopes-Little-Jackson: +6
Bird-Swoopes-Gearlds-Cash-Griffith: +6
Beck-Gearlds-Ely-Santos-Robinson: +5
Wright-Gearlds-Cash-Ely-Little: +5
Bird-Wright-Gearlds-Jackson-Griffith: +5
Bird-Swoopes-Cash-Robinson-Griffith: +5
Wright-Swoopes-Gearlds-Cash-Griffith: +5
Bird-Swoopes-Cash-Ely-Robinson: +5
Bird-Wright-Swoopes-Gearlds-Cash: +5
Least Effective Lineups
Bird-Swoopes-Cash-Ely-Jackson: -15
Bird-Wright-Swoopes-Ely-Robinson: -14
Wright-Swoopes-Gearlds-Cash-Jackson:-10
Bird-Wright-Cash-Little-Robinson: -9
Bird-Wright-Gearlds-Cash-Ely: -9
Bird-Wright-Swoopes-Little-Griffith: -7
O'Neil-Gearlds-Ely-Santos-Robinson: -7
Wright-Gearlds-Ely-Little-Griffith: -7
Bird-Wright-Cash-Little-Santos: -6
Wright-Swoopes-Cash-Jackson-Griffith: -6
Bird-Swoopes-Cash-Jackson-Robinson: -6
Bird-Gearlds-Cash-Ely-Griffith: -5
Bird-Wright-Gearlds-Cash-Griffith: -5
Top Player Pairs
Bird-Jackson: +142
Jackson-Griffith: +106
Bird-Griffith: +95
Bird-Cash: +95
Bird-Swoopes: +91
Bird-Gearlds: +85
Cash-Jackson: +82
Cash-Griffith: +69
Gearlds-Jackson: +68
Swoopes-Griffith: +65
Swoopes-Cash: +65
Swoopes-Jackson: +65
Gearlds-Cash: +62
Wright-Jackson: +62
Most Effective Swing Player Positions
Bird: Point Guard +117
Jackson: Power Forward: +78
Cash: Power Forward +55
Jackson: Center +47
Gearlds: Small Forward +38
Swoopes: Shooting Guard +29
Swoopes: Small Forward +27
Wright: Shooting Guard +16
Little: Center +16
Least Effective Swing Player Positions
Ely: Power Forward -45
Wright: Point Guard -36
Little: Power Forward -27
I was really surprised to see Little's numbers as a PF, but apparently the small lineups with her at Center were her overall most effective. Tanisha is only -6 at the point guard since the halfway point when she was -31 showing improved play by the team with her at the point. With her fall in the rotation, Ely's numbers have come in ineffective team garbage time.
2 comments:
Great post -- it's interesting to see that the majority of their roster is above the league average in TS%.
I was also surprised to see how well that small lineup with Little at C worked. Do you have a sense of how many minutes that lineup has logged? Is it a lineup they've used out of necessity in Jackson's absence?
The small ball lineup with Little at Center has only been used for 12 minutes so far this season. It was definitely due to Jackson's absence, but necessity is not the word I would use. Agler still had bigs in Santos and Robinson who are tall enough to play traditional WNBA center roles. Based on his substitutions during Jackson's hiatus, it appears he was focused on matching up (I guess it worked)and putting the best five players on the floor that he could.
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