Anne Levinson, co-owner and spokeswoman for Force 10 Hoops LLC, said the WNBA's new 11-player roster limit ensures that they make finding the right players a top priority.
"We are looking to strengthen the holes that we have within our lineup, so it's important to be as smart as possible right now," Levinson said.
Their first move towards slimming down their roster came a few weeks ago, when the Storm waived basketball legend Sheryl Swoopes, whom they acquired last spring. The action surprised many fans, and Swoopes herself, according to an interview in the Seattle Times last week.
But Swoopes, one of the marquee players of the WNBA, underwent back surgery at the end of the 2007 season, and despite showing moments of her former brilliance last year, the three-time WNBA MVP and three-time Olympic gold-medalist skipped the Beijing Olympics. Swoopes averaged just 8.7 points per game last season, less than half of her career-scoring average of 15.8. Her performance was also off in every other statistical category, except turnovers.
After scoring just three points in the Storm’s decisive Game Three loss to the Los Angeles Sparks in last season’s Western Conference Semi-Finals, Swoopes seemed concerned that she had let her team down, and spoke of exploring coaching options and becoming a “full-time mom” to her son Jordan, with whom she had had moved from Houston to the Seattle suburbs last year. Still, after Swoopes spent the off-season work making public appearances as “the face of the Storm” at various community events, most anticipated her return to action in a Storm uniform.
Levinson cited economics, rather than performance concerns, in explaining the move, stating that it was a decision Force 10 Hoops had to make to stay under the league's new $803,000 per-team salary cap.
"Sheryl's terrific, and we've been pleased to have her as part of our franchise," Levinson said. "But February 1 was the deadline that required us to guarantee her at a particular salary or allow that contract to lapse. With so many moving pieces with the rest of our court, it was prudent of us not to guarantee her that salary when things were uncertain."
The Swoopes’ waiver came in the wake of news that the Storm has, as yet, failed to resign its star post player Lauren Jackson, who became an unrestricted free agent for the first time this year. Coaches from a few other WNBA teams have beaten a path to Russia, where Jackson is currently playing professionally, to try and convince her to sign with them. Jackson has not yet disclosed where she'll play this summer –ors, for that matter, whether she’ll be playing in the “W” at all. Levinson was philosophical about the situation.
"Let the players explore their options," Levinson said of free agents. "Lauren knows how much she's valued by fans and the community."
Levinson declined to comment on rumors that All-Star forward/center Yolanda Griffith will not return to the team this summer. Griffith, a former WNBA MVP, a runner-up for that honor in the ABL, and a perennial All-Star, will soon turn 39. Her last season was marked by knee and ankle problems, and her offensive output (7.2 points per game) was markedly off her career average of 13.7. (Griffith was still a rebounding machine, however, grabbing 6.3 boards per game, down just over 20 percent from her career average of 7.9 rbg and in line with her 25 percent reduction in playing time). Speculation about Griffith’s possible retirement have circulated since she led the Sacramento Monarchs to the league championship in 2005, winning Finals MVP honors in the process.
Levinson’s comments about the Storm’s roster intentions were largely aspirational. She said, for example, that the owners' goal for their team this season is to have a squad of players who exemplify not only good basketball, but leadership.
"We look forward to another great season with players who excel both on and off the court," Levinson said.
It was in January 2008 that Levinson, a former Seattle deputy mayor who helped bring an ABL team to the city in 1996, and three other women announced they were purchasing the Storm for $10 million.
Clay Bennett, prominent in the Oklahoma City business community, had bought the Storm and the NBA's Supersonics the previous summer, and planned to move both teams to Oklahoma. Levinson assembled a group of three other businesswomen and Storm season ticket holders -- Lisa Brummel, Ginny Gilder and Dawn Trudeau -- and approached Bennett about selling the Storm to them. At first the answer was no, but Levinson politely persisted.
"When negotiating, it's important to look for the best in the other side and appreciate why they're doing what they're doing," Levinson said of her open-minded approach. "We assumed their best intentions were at heart, and we approached them with good intentions."
One of the first things the new owners did was to hire longtime NCAA, ABL and WNBA coach Brian Agler as the Storm's head coach and director of player personnel, replacing the recently departed Anne Donovan in both roles. He promptly filled up the roster with hoop legends Swoopes and Griffith, to complement long-timers Lauren Jackson and Sue Bird. Hopes for the season for many Storm fans were high. Yet, the Storm lost in the first round of the playoffs for the fourth year in a row.
Levinson said the owners' satisfaction with their inaugural season had more than endured the early-round exit.
"The community, the fans, the Governor (Christine Gregoire) partnered with us," Levinson said. "Having Brian Agler as a coach was great, and (assistant coaches) Nancy Darsch and Shelley Patterson did a terrific job."
Levinson said the owners were also happy with the players.
"It was important that our team not only be talented in the skills of basketball, but represent character and integrity and mentor each other in team play," she said. "They did that, and you like to see that, especially when you're role models for the next generation."
Force 10 Hoops made their first major off-season moves last month by signing a 10-year lease with Key Arena, the team's home for the past nine seasons, and securing a new headquarters. Both deals will help the group achieve their number-one goal, which Levinson said is to "put the team on sustainable financial footing."
The deal for the popular city-owned arena cut the rent from $15,000 to $5,000 per game and lets Force 10 Hoops retain 30 percent of concession stand revenues. The city will also give the Storm $300,000 a year in recognition of the increased value Seattle will get from the Storm being a Key Arena tenant, according to Levinson.
She said the short-term goals of the franchise are to build a strong team of players, increase ticket sales and sponsorships and broaden community outreach efforts. Long-term goals include turning the Storm into a profitable business, but Levinson added that this means putting profits back into the business.
"We want to stay true to the nature of what the WNBA and the Storm are all about, and that means not trying to make it personally profitable for us," she said.
Their new office, in an industrial section of Seattle, is part of an effort towards that end. The building is a former aluminum warehouse, and while it is bigger than their current office, the rent is less. The Storm will move in next month.
All four owners meet regularly, keep in touch by conference call, and share their Storm duties. But all four also have full-time jobs elsewhere.
Brummel, who was MVP of the All-Ivy teams for both basketball and softball while at Yale and has been named to the Ivy League Women’s Hall of Fame in Softball, has the distinction of being the group’s sole “pro” athlete, having been drafted by the Dallas Diamonds in the fourth round of the 1981 Women’s Professional Basketball League (WBL) draft. Today, Brummel is the senior vice president for human resources at Microsoft. Trudeau, who spent 14 years at Microsoft and 20 years in the software industry, leading divisions in Database and Development Tools and Consumer Products. She now chairs the Board of the Economic Opportunity Institute, serves on several other non-profit boards, and devotes much of her time to philanthropic work. Gilder, an All-Ivy Champion rower at Yale, owns an investment concern and is a dedicated philanthropist.
Levinson, an attorney has a long history of public service as a judge, Chair of Washington’s State Utilities & Transportation Commission, and Legal Counsel to the Mayor of Seattle, in addition to her stint as deputy mayor. She serves on the boards of directors of a number of local and national charitable organizations and foundations, and has also been a political activist on behalf of civil rights causes. A former collegiate field hockey player, Levinson was also involved in bringing the Seattle Reign, an ABL franchise, to the city as its first professional women’s basketball team. As the chairwoman for the ownership group, Levinson said she has done most of the interviews on behalf of Force 10 Hoops in its first year, but added that the others will begin to speak out more this year.
The owners have attended all Storm events, season ticket holder gatherings, and sit in regular, non-courtside seats during games. Levinson said they've also done speaking engagements and clinics, their focus on literacy and childhood fitness.
"We understand the importance of relationships, and as local owners, we also know the community deserves to see us," Levinson said.
Now, with a place to play and an office over their heads for the next decade, Force 10 Hoops' next task is to assemble their team.
"We are looking forward to building on the success of our inaugural season with another strong team of very talented players," Levinson said.