Flau’jae shines in final pre-season game

The young core of the Seattle Storm shined in Wednesday’s 91–81 preseason win against the WNBA’s newest expansion team, the Portland Fire.

The Storm were aided by a Portland Fire team that tired early due to high-pressure defense, leading to sloppy fouls, committing 11 in the first quarter alone. Their coach, 30-year-old British-born Alex Sarama, cut his teeth as an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers for two years before being hired by Portland. He seems to have carried NBA habits into his coaching style. The Fire relied heavily on threes but couldn’t find their rhythm from beyond the arc and didn’t get many second-chance opportunities. Look for Portland to rely on outside shots in the future, but with the W being a forward heavy league, it's yet to be seen if this can be a winning formula.

For Seattle, with the departure of Nneka Ogwumike, Skyler Diggins, Brittney Sykes, and Gabby Williams, many people questioned the direction of the team. This is a league that tends to lean on its vets to win, with teams like the Aces and Liberty seeing the least amount of player turnover.

Seattle settled any grumblings within their fan base quickly by making a blockbuster trade with the Golden State Valkyrie for Flau’jae Johnson moments after she was drafted. It’s impossible to make a prediction about success after two preseason games and only a week and a half in camp. Still, all signs point to Johnson being the new face of a franchise very used to winning.

During her 12-point, 4-rebound start to her WNBA career against the team that drafted her, Johnson played exactly how you would expect a rookie to play. She was tentative but building confidence. However, yesterday showed something different. She looked like a young guard who was already poised, with a true WNBA build, getting to her spots and not seeing a shot she wasn’t willing or able to make. Her 20 points and 3 rebounds seemed like very light work for a player still learning the league.

Images courtesy of the Seattle Storm via Instagram

The play of Zia Cooke this preseason should answer a lot of those questions too. Cooke’s numbers, nearly identical to those of Flau’jae, showed she only needed the space and time to shine. She has been drastically underutilized through her first two years in the league and is moving into her third season with something to prove. Their major free agent signing, Natasha Hiedeman, is still trying to find her groove on this team. Zia has made a case to start or at least play starter minutes off the bench.

The Storm have a lot of work to do before the start of the WNBA season on May 8th. They currently have 19 players either under contract or signed to camp deals, with only 12 roster spots and two development spots available. It’s going to be a tough two weeks for head coach Sonia Raman and her staff.