According to the Seattle Times the first two training camp cuts have been made with Shaun Gortman and Debbie Merrill gone. Shaun was injured at the end of last season, tearing her ACL in a July game against the New York Liberty. This is a common injury in basketball and soccer because of the heavy amount of cutting performed by players in this sport. There has been some speculation that women are more vulnerable to ACL injuries due to the additional width of the hips. Estrogen levels during the menstrual cycle have also been linked to motion related injury of the ACL. While recovery is possible, many players fail to return to their former playing levels, which leaves a "bubble" player like Gortman at even greater risk. Her strength on the court was her defense and her length. I am not sure how much lateral movement is effected by this injury, it is not hard to imagine that any loss to Shaun's defense made her fall behind some of the new camp members. Cutting her this early seems to indicate either that she isn't where they needed her to be, or she has a better opportunity somewhere else that the Storm wanted her to have a chance to pursue. Debbie Merril was a Forward/Center out of Ohio State, whose chances of making the roster were slim to none given the current strength in the post.
The official storm blog is the new Stormtracker created by Kevin Pelton to keep us all up to date with what is happening in camp. He has also put up a page on the newcomers to camp.
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