# 2008 Seattle Storm season

The 2008 WNBA season was the ninth season for the Seattle Storm. The Storm qualified for the postseason for the fifth consecutive season. Sue Bird was a key contributor to the club, averaging 14.1 points per game, and 5.1 assists per game. With the departure of the Seattle SuperSonics NBA franchise to Oklahoma City, the Storm were forced to look for 30 people in positions in marketing, public relations and corporate and ticket sales. The Storm had a shared services agreement with the Sonics, and the departure left the Storm with many positions vacant. By season's end, the Storm were in negotiations with the city of Seattle in hopes of a long-term lease at KeyArena.

## Offseason

On November 30, 2007, the Storm announced the resignation of head coach, Anne Donovan. Her replacement, Brian Agler, was named on January 9, 2008
The following player was selected in the Expansion Draft:
* Betty Lennox was selected in the 2008 Expansion Draft for the Atlanta Dream.
* Also acquired the fourth pick in the 2008 WNBA draft and Roneeka Hodges from the Atlanta Dream for Iziane Castro Marques and the eighth pick in the draft.

### WNBA draft

| Round | Pick | Player | Nationality | School |
| 2 | 22 | Allie Quigley | United States | DePaul |
| 3 | 36 | Kimberly Beck | United States | George Washington |

## Transactions
### Trades

| February 6, 2008 | To Seattle Storm Roneeka Hodges and the 4th pick in the 2008 WNBA draft | To Atlanta Dream Iziane Castro Marques and the 8th pick in the 2008 WNBA draft (Tamera Young) |
| February 19, 2008 | To Seattle Storm Swin Cash | To Detroit Shock No. 4 pick in the 2008 WNBA draft (Alexis Hornbuckle) |
| June 22, 2008 | To Seattle Storm Camille Little | To Atlanta Dream Second-round pick in the 2009 WNBA draft |

### Free agents

| Player | Signed | Former team |
| Sheryl Swoopes | March 3, 2008 | Houston Comets |
| Yolanda Griffith | April 8, 2008 | Sacramento Monarchs |
| Player | Left | New team |
| Roneeka Hodges | May 14, 2008 | Houston Comets (July 5, 2008) |
| Player | Re-signed |
| Shyra Ely | March 6, 2008 |
| Sue Bird | March 14, 2008 |
| Janell Burse | April 14, 2008 |
| Ashley Robinson | April 18, 2008 |

## Regular season
### Season standings

| Western Conference | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Conf. |
| San Antonio Silver Stars $^x$ | 24 | 10 | .706 | – | 15–2 | 9–8 | 10–10 |
| Seattle Storm $^x$ | 22 | 12 | .647 | 2.0 | 16–1 | 6–11 | 13–7 |
| Los Angeles Sparks $^x$ | 20 | 14 | .588 | 4.0 | 12–5 | 8–9 | 12–8 |
| Sacramento Monarchs $^x$ | 18 | 16 | .529 | 6.0 | 5–12 | 13–4 | 9–11 |
| Houston Comets $^o$ | 17 | 17 | .500 | 7.0 | 13–4 | 4–13 | 10–10 |
| Minnesota Lynx $^o$ | 16 | 18 | .471 | 8.0 | 10–7 | 6–11 | 8–12 |
| Phoenix Mercury $^o$ | 16 | 18 | .471 | 8.0 | 9–8 | 7–10 | 8–12 |

### Season schedule

| Date | Opponent | Score | Leading Scorer | Attendance | Record |
| May 17 | vs. Chicago | 67-61 | Lauren Jackson (14) | 12,079 | 1-0 |
| May 20 | vs. Sacramento | 74-62 | Lauren Jackson (17) Sue Bird (17) Swin Cash (17) | 6,871 | 2-0 |
| May 22 | @ Phoenix | 87-83 | Lauren Jackson (30) | 7,059 | 3-0 |
| May 24 | @ San Antonio | 72-87 | Swin Cash (15) | 9,767 | 3-1 |
| May 30 | vs. San Antonio | 78-57 | Lauren Jackson (28) | 6,810 | 4-1 |
| June 1 | vs. Houston | 64-63 | Swin Cash (19) | 6,116 | 5-1 |
| June 3 | @ New York | 63-77 | Lauren Jackson (19) | 6,928 | 5-2 |
| June 4 | @ Detroit | 67-77 | Lauren Jackson (27) | 8,108 | 5-3 |
| June 7 | vs. Detroit | 75-67 | Lauren Jackson (24) | 7,105 | 6-3 |
| June 11 | vs. Phoenix | 83-77 | Lauren Jackson (20) | 7,483 | 7-3 |
| June 13 | @ San Antonio | 69-74 | Sue Bird (21) | 6,478 | 7-4 |
| June 13 | @ Houston | 60-68 | Lauren Jackson (18) | 7,023 | 7-5 |
| June 16 | vs. Connecticut | 67-74 | Lauren Jackson (26) | 6,872 | 7-6 |
| June 20 | vs. Indiana | 78-70 | Lauren Jackson (18) | 7,393 | 8-6 |
| June 24 | @ Los Angeles | 62-76 | Sue Bird (11) | 8,032 | 8-7 |
| June 29 | vs. Washington | 64-49 | Sue Bird (14) | 7,965 | 9-7 |
| July 3 | vs. New York | 84-71 | Lauren Jackson (33) | 6,973 | 10-7 |
| July 5 | vs. Minnesota | 96-71 | Lauren Jackson (34) | 7,553 | 11-7 |
| July 8 | @ Sacramento | 79-64 | Lauren Jackson (17) | 5,727 | 12-7 |
| July 10 | vs. Phoenix | 89-78 | Lauren Jackson (25) | 10,454 | 13-7 |
| July 12 | vs. Los Angeles | 70-52 | Sue Bird (18) | 10,833 | 14-7 |
| July 18 | @ Indiana | 65-59 | Sheryl Swoopes (15) | 7,450 | 15-7 |
| July 20 | @ Washington | 57-89 | Katie Gearlds (13) | 8,543 | 15-8 |
| July 22 | @ Minnesota | 76-73 | Sue Bird (22) | 12,276 | 16-8 |
| July 25 | @ Phoenix | 80-94 | Yolanda Griffith (17) | 8,323 | 16-9 |
| July 27 | vs. Sacramento | 77-71 | Sue Bird (24) | 8,651 | 17-9 |
| August 28 | vs. Houston | 66-49 | Sue Bird (22) | 8,320 | 18-9 |
| August 31 | @ Connecticut | 76-80 | Sue Bird (24) | 9,518 | 18-10 |
| September 2 | @ Atlanta | 83-69 | Sue Bird (21) | 7,390 | 19-10 |
| September 4 | @ Chicago | 70-62 | Sue Bird (19) | 3,829 | 20-10 |
| September 6 | vs. Minnesota | 96-88 | Sue Bird (23) | 9,339 | 21-10 |
| September 9 | @ Sacramento | 74-77 | Tanisha Wright (17) Katie Gearlds (17) | 11,644 | 21-11 |
| September 12 | vs. Atlanta | 77-72 | Camille Little (21) | 9,686 | 22-11 |
| September 14 | @ Los Angeles | 48-65 | Shyra Ely (16) | 13,142 | 22-12 |

## WNBA Playoffs

| Date | Opponent | Score | Leading Scorer | Attendance | Series |
| Western Conference Semifinals ||||||
| September 19 | @ Los Angeles | 69-77 | Sue Bird (23) | 9,601 | LA leads 1-0 |
| September 21 | vs. Los Angeles | 64-50 | Sue Bird (20) | 8,230 | Tied 1-1 |
| September 23 | vs. Los Angeles | 64-71 | Tanisha Wright (20) | 7,805 | LA wins 2-1 |

## Player stats
### Regular season

| Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
| Lauren Jackson | 21 | 21 | 33.0 | .452 | .295 | .934 | 7.0 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 20.2 |
| Sue Bird | 33 | 33 | 33.7 | .441 | .343 | .871 | 2.5 | 5.1 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 14.1 |
| Swin Cash | 31 | 28 | 29.9 | .389 | .125 | .772 | 5.4 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 11.3 |
| Camille Little | 19 | 13 | 23.3 | .532 | .333 | .667 | 4.4 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 9.7 |
| Tanisha Wright | 34 | 14 | 23.8 | .432 | .167 | .787 | 3.4 | 2.5 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 7.9 |
| Yolanda Griffith | 30 | 30 | 21.9 | .462 | .000 | .648 | 6.3 | 1.5 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 7.2 |
| Sheryl Swoopes | 29 | 25 | 24.3 | .391 | .222 | .695 | 4.3 | 2.1 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 7.1 |
| Katie Gearlds | 34 | 3 | 13.8 | .373 | .391 | .739 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 5.0 |
| Shyra Ely | 34 | 1 | 11.4 | .409 | .364 | .625 | 2.6 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 3.3 |
| Kelly Santos | 22 | 1 | 6.1 | .390 | .000 | .652 | 1.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 2.1 |
| Kimberly Beck | 17 | 0 | 5.5 | .444 | .667 | .833 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 1.0 |
| Ashley Robinson | 33 | 1 | 10.0 | .302 | .000 | .300 | 2.2 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.9 |
| Kristen O'Neill | 11 | 0 | 2.8 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Florina Pascalau | 3 | 0 | 3.0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Seattle Storm Regular Season Stats

### Postseason

| Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
| Sue Bird | 3 | 3 | 37.0 | .460 | .294 | 1.000 | 2.3 | 3.0 | 1.3 | 0.0 | 19.7 |
| Tanisha Wright | 3 | 3 | 34.3 | .412 | .500 | .750 | 5.7 | 2.7 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 13.7 |
| Camille Little | 3 | 3 | 35.0 | .333 | .500 | .833 | 3.3 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 11.7 |
| Sheryl Swoopes | 3 | 2 | 24.0 | .320 | .200 | .889 | 3.3 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 8.7 |
| Yolanda Griffith | 3 | 3 | 29.0 | .214 | .000 | .875 | 6.3 | 1.7 | 3.0 | 1.3 | 4.3 |
| Swin Cash | 3 | 0 | 14.7 | .333 | .000 | .000 | 3.7 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 2.7 |
| Ashley Robinson | 3 | 1 | 15.3 | .500 | .000 | .500 | 4.0 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 2.3 |
| Katie Gearlds | 3 | 0 | 7.0 | .333 | .250 | .500 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| Kelly Santos | 2 | 0 | 1.0 | .500 | .000 | .000 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
| Shyra Ely | 2 | 0 | 1.0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Kimberly Beck | 2 | 0 | 2.5 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Seattle Storm Playoff Stats

## Awards and honors

* Lauren Jackson, WNBA Player of the Week (June 30 - July 6)
* Lauren Jackson, ESPY Award for Best WNBA Player
* Lauren Jackson, WNBA All-Defensive Second Team (Forward)
* Sue Bird, All-WNBA Second Team (Guard)
* Lauren Jackson, All-WNBA Second Team (Forward)