Bodies Flying Everywhere

Most of the team is still overseas fulfilling the mandatory, money making responsibilities the players have engaged in during the off-season. It is surprising then that Coach and GM of the team, Anne Donovan, chose to cut almost everyone who showed up to camp yesterday. Andrea Bills, Alexis Kendrick, Victoria Lucas-Perry, Chameka Scott and former Husky, Cameo Hicks, are all gone. According to Alan Horton on his blog, that leaves eight players for pactice today. Hopefully we will have some hints from AD today on the reason for the quick camp cleanup.

Kevin Pelton got some answers on why Gortman, Merrill and Wright were cut two days ago. Gortman and Wright are both still recovering from injury and were not going to be able to compete and Merrill did not even show up.

There is talk on both Pelton and Horton's blogs about Katie Gearld's defense, but neither actually make a statement one way or the other which leads me to think she isn't playing well. In the Gearlds' feature on the Storm site, Coach Donovan gives credence to that line of thought,

"She's eager to learn and she knows she has a lot to learn, in particular on the defensive end."

In researching articles on Gearlds defense on the web, most of her defense has been through wreaking havoc on the other team with her offense. That would be par for the course with the Storm, but Katie will need to learn to use her length to disrupt opponent shooters on the perimeter and her size to keep them under control in the post if she wants playing time in the current lineup. Betty and Izzy have the offense down, though a solid perimeter shooter would be useful in certain situations. Katie will see more time early if she can come in and disrupt the opponents shooters. If she is shooting well and disrupting opponents scores, she will start before the end of the season.

If the dueling camp blogs are not enough to sate your Storm thirst, check out the daily audio report from the Storm site to hear first hand observations from Kevin and Alan.

I can't imagine any more cuts coming in the near future given that there is no one left to play until more invitees trickle in next week. I will keep an eye and and ear out, however.