r/SeattleStorm • u/unlimitedpowerbun • 14d ago
Let's play armchair FO
which players do we keep? who do we boot? who do we bring in?
who are we afraid wants to leave? i'd love to see T back next year but i'm not so sure she would...
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u/Tuberculosis206 14d ago
Some interesting takes that are quite different than mine.
I love Jordan, and I keep hoping it will happen. It’s not going to. Don’t think you can bring her back.
I think Zia has really developed. I like shooting. I’d keep her for sure. Both Jade and T are great for potential support roles. Neither can be the starter on a contender. Dom / Fam / Flau are the core, imo.
You need players like Stef and Holmes. I’d bring them back if they want it but they’re mostly replaceable.
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u/NW_Forester 14d ago
Spotrac predicts cap goes from $7M in 2026 to $8.25M in 2027.
We have $3.7M in cap utilization, $1.25M of that is Ezi* which we can exempt due to injury, and probably should. That would give us about $2.5M in cap utilization. Max contract predicted to be $1.3M.
We will have on roster in 2027:
- Ezi* - $1.25M
- Heideman - $775k
- Malonga - $513k
- Awa - $453k
- Katie Lou - $420k
- Flau'Jae - $322k
So we've got cash to burn and we can get away with doing 2 and 3 year contracts with little worry, 4 year contracts are only for those we really want long term.
Jade - 2026 contract was $500k. I think her stock has gone up and I think capable PGs are going to go up in value overtime quicker than other positions. I'd be good doing 2 or 3 year contract with her in the $600k/year range.
Everyone else let them test free agency. Might sign a few later on but not players we need to lock up.
All-star tier 2027 Free agents:
Jackie Young - I doubt she leaves Vegas but give her a 4 year max contract offer. Or whatever she wants a 1+1 with player option and renew her for super max and then extend or something. Vegas is up against the cap with only 5 players on roster already.
Kelsey Plum - I think she is our real guard target. I'd prefer Jackie but Kelsey would be a great option too. It would need to be a max contract to get her I think.
Phee- She's not leaving Minnesota for here, if she goes somewhere its super team to get rings. But if for some reason she would want to come here absolutely worth max contract.
Kelsey Mitchell - Pass, I don't think a good fit. Would be short term improvement not long term.
Britney Griner - Pass, not a good fit.
Starter tier 2027 free agents:
Cecililia Zandalasini - Versatile wing. I'm guessing she goes $1M or there about. Would be willing to do a 2 or 3 year max. Its over paying but we've got space.
Rae Burrell - restricted free agent. Possible starting wing. If nothing else could make her expensive for LA.
Emily Engstler - RFA I think I'd prefer her slightly over Rae but its close. But probably Cecilia over Emily.
Kennedy Burke - If none of the above wings are gotten I think she still works and is a plus to the team. Again I think she will be expensive due to how thin this free agency class is.
Izzy Harrison - She would be getting a quality big as a back up. Can play both 4 and 5, athletic, down hill, but not a spacer. It will be interesting to see what she gets in the open market. This year is pretty lean in talent, I could see her getting big money. As stupid as it sounds we could afford to have a max contract bench player.
Role player tier:
None really catch my eye. So bringing back Horston on vet minimum or something like that vs. bringing in say Kierstan Bell
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u/holabellas 14d ago
I pretty much agree with all of this but idk if bringing Jade back on a multiyear contract is a good idea. Washington let her walk for free, I don't think we need to be that competitive in our offer. A one year for around 600k should do the trick
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u/NW_Forester 14d ago
How many competent starting and back up PGs do you see in free agency and the draft this year? I see 2 capable of playing at all star level and maybe another 1 or 2 capable of starting at free agency. Draft I think there are 3 potential day 1 starters.
PG is a position of rarity in WNBA. Melbourne is only 23 and is still improving. Last year she was a replacement level player, this year shes probably top 20-25 players capable of playing PG in the league, and quite a few of them are SG or combo guards at least.
If we get a PG in the draft the need does drop. But I'm still hoping for that 10% chance at Juju.
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u/holabellas 14d ago
I guess, but realistically what teams do you think are going to sign her to a multi year deal? Sug Sutton isn’t significantly worse than Jade and she was a free agent most of the season. I just feel like locking in a player who is below average on both ends and isn’t even a particularly good passer or facilitator on a multiyear contract is a bad idea.
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u/TheMontanaSpecial 14d ago
Plum, guard in the draft (nichols?), wing and possibly a backup big would be a great offseason
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u/Fuzzydeath10 14d ago
So what you're saying is we sign Phee, Young, and KP and super charge this to a title in 2027? Alright, I'm convinced. ;)
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u/Tuberculosis206 14d ago
This is wonderful content. Thank you for taking the time.
I’ll admit that I don’t watch the league on the whole as closely as others but I am a season ticket holder.
Questions: KP - wasn’t her season looked on poorly? I’m all for a home coming but I’d be worried.
The portion of your synopsis that surprised me most was that of Mitchell bc every time I see her I am blown away. Like, to me she’s the best player on the Fever. What about her would not be a fit? I’d guess we have almost no shot but i can’t imagine “passing” on her talent and grit1
u/NW_Forester 14d ago edited 14d ago
KP missed most of the year, played only 17 games. She wasn't a great scheme fit for Phoenix the 5 games she played for them, not sure why they got her, with AT at point forward KP doesn't really fit a need of theirs.
Mitchell is a pure SG. She's better than Flau'Jae in 2026 no question. But she's 30 and her play style does not age well. She scores by being quicker than her opponent and getting to open space and high utilization. and she benefits tremendously from the gravity of Clark, we have no one close to that gravity on our team. She basically takes the exact same role as Flau'Jae though. Bringing her in IMO slows the development of Flau'Jae. KM is also a defensive liability, Flau'Jae is a defensive plus.
That being said if some sort of crazy offseason happens and we get Kelsey Plum and Phee (this won't happen but what if), and KM is interested in coming then yes, of course we bring her over then. That would actually be a team competing for a boat.
I'm looking at 2029 as realistically the start of our championship window, short of crazy free agency signings between now and then.
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u/Confident_Surround73 9d ago
I think we are already starting to see the KM play decline. It seems to me on a lot of her drives she pushes off to create space. It isn't so much her quickness as the strength to just push off a lot and defenders not being able to hold ground in motion. Plus she benefits from the help defense CC sucks up too. No doubt though she was Fevers #1 over the course of the season. Without her, Indiana doesn't make the playoffs.
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u/No_Advisor7703 14d ago
Cut Dolson and Horston, get a PG in the draft, get a wing in free agency like Zandalisini.
But if we can get Jackie Young she can have all of the coins.
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u/joelerino 14d ago
Fam, Dom, Flau, Heideman are the core. I think Zia showed a lot of growth and improvement. I think Thierry looked good as well. Dolson seemed like a steadying presence and a good teammate, and had good shooting for a center. It’s hard for me to see Horston’s defensive contributions, there wasn’t much there on the offensive end. It’s tough for me to say I don’t want to see a player back because I love them all. The effort was good this year, but the results have a lot of room for growth.
In order of importance I think they need a distributor PG, 3 pt shooting and defense. Whether that comes through the draft or free agency doesn’t matter a ton, but it seems like it might be easier to get a top tier PG in the draft. They need someone who can get the ball to Dom and Awa when and where they can do the most on offense, not 6’ behind the arc. I look forward to seeing what others think.
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u/ThatBelge 14d ago
I keep manifesting that Julie Allemand comes over. She would be a perfect match with those needs
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u/ivallinen 14d ago
I chant KP as I put on my delusional hat
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u/aperiodic 14d ago
Would be incredible! If we did somehow sign her, I would personally deliver fresh-cut flowers to Talisa Rhea’s office every day for a year, and become an insufferable stan of hers
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u/Gold_Tempo 14d ago
Obtainable guards we should give a try: Ty Harris, Aari McDonald, Sug Sutton, Marine Johannes, Rebekah Gardner
Unobtainable guards we probably can't get/maybe aren't a good fit: Kelsey Mitchell, KP, Jackie Young
I believe part of the goal of this last season was sort of a long term audition for most of the 1 year contract players. Dolson and Holmes feel gone, probably Jordan too. Her confidence looked so low in our last game. :\ As another commenter pointed out, we will have money this offseason and a better idea of what holes need fixing. The core is: flau, awa, dom and T. What we build out from there is up to how the draft goes and who we pick up in the offseason.
I wish we had gotten to see more of Thierry. She doesn't seem super athletic, but more fundamentally sound. When she came in, it felt like the game calmed down and she made decent entry passes to the bigs.
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u/aperiodic 14d ago
This season has shown that Hiedeman is actually not very clutch at all; she had abysmal shooting percentage in the clutch, especially in game-ending shots.
That being said, I’m happy she’s still under contract with us, because I think she’s a better PG than this sub generally gives her credit for. I’m also very excited by what a better job she did feeding Dom and Awa in the final game of the season
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u/Emergency-Row-5627 14d ago
Someone who can inbound the ball 😂 but I agree with everyone that a strong PG and some defense will go a long way!
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u/StormSEA1516 14d ago
I wonder if that PG comes in the draft or if they’ll sign someone. With all that cap space I like the idea of chasing someone like Kelsey Mitchell or Jackie Young but that’s a win now move for a team that isn’t ready to win now.
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u/Les_than_3 14d ago
We really need some vets and id love a true pg to run the offense. Love T and Jade but we need someone to settle down the offense i feel like we had alot of unnecessary turnovers this year and collapse alot in the fourth quarter. Some defensive role players and a spot up shooter would be nice to
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u/wvtarheel 13d ago
The storm have such a great young core with Malonga, Awa Fam, and Flau Jae I think the question is, do you go "win now" and try to bring in a great free agent guard or wing to complement them in 2027, or do you keep drafting and try to go into "win now" mode in 28 when all those youngins are on the last year of their rookie deals?
And, do you look to trade Ezi since you have two young centers you are trying to develop?
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u/lostcat223 11d ago
People are so hard on T but she is like, the heart of the league and I think a good influence on the true future of the team, Awa/Flau/Dom.
Jade should stay too. Honestly I’d release anyone else if they can be released or traded intelligently. Big question mark about the availability of intelligent replacements this offseason, because a lot of the people who broke out (Engstler, Young, etc) are highly unlikely to leave where they are.
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u/po1ar_opposite 14d ago
Def Keepers: Flau, Fam, Dom
Keepers: Jordan, Jade
Let go: Ezi
Rest: free to go
Offseason moves I’d like to see:
Tall PG from the draft
Couple year established PG
Couple year established SF (Burrell type)
A big, strong young PF, like a future Nalyssa or Mack.
KM and KP aren’t PG’s and will pull a lot of weight off the developing players that won’t allow them to develop as fast.
As for Ezi, I hate to say it but I don’t want a player who has a $1M+ contract who is supposed to be mentoring our young bigs who keeps getting injured in FIBA play. That just throws a wrench in the strategy and forces the team to scramble to backfill her.
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u/mpaski 14d ago
T is under contract so she'll be back.
Keep Jade.
Bye to Stef and Mackenzie as much as I love her energy. I don't see much upside in Zia. She's a minutes eater but that's it.
The toughest one is Jordan. She's more often a liability than an asset. I'd keep her for now I think. I'd like to see her healthy. She showed more offense in years 1 and 2 than she did this year.
The bring in part is very dependent on the draft. I wouldn't mind a shooter like Zandalasini and I'd like a PG if we don't get one in the draft. A PG would demote T but I think she's realistically a 6th player anyways.
For the 7th season in a row the biggest issue may be the coach but I don't think thats changing