May 14, 2024 • 12 mins
Richard Fain, host alongside Softy 3-7pm daily, Seattle Storm TV Play by Play announcer joins the show to talk about all things Storm. What are expectatios for the Storm this season, will the Storm have chartered flights for the season, will WNBA players have an opportunity to stay stateside regarding their contracts, and much more.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
We have announced that Dick Fame wasgoing to join us and talk about the
storm season ending beginning tonight, andhow retold they are. You hear him
all afternoons from three to seven withDave Softy Maller, and you're hearing him
right now in the Beacon Plumbing hoghline. Dick, thanks for joining us,
And what is this storm season?And how different already does it feel compared
(00:21):
to others you've kicked off? Well, I think it's twofold. We'll talk
about the storm and then you talkabout the WNBA in general. Maybe both
feel very very different. We'll startlocally here with Seattle. I mean last
year was a rebuilding season, thelikes that we really haven't seen since pre
Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson. Imean you're talking to you had to go
(00:44):
back all the way to the franchisestarting in two thousand to have the type
of rebuild season that we had lastyear. And yet it was still a
pretty exciting season because you had JewelLloyd breaking the all time WNBA scoring record
for a single season with nine hundredand thirty nine points. So you had
that even though you knew they weren'tgoing to make the playoffs. In the
last two three weeks of the season, you were just watching that every single
(01:06):
night on how many points was shegoing to score? Was she going to
finally get to that record? Andshe ended up doing it. So it
was a fairly exciting season. Andthey just decided, all right, we're
we're not gonna rebuild any longer.One season for the Storm is enough for
rebuild. It's not like other franchisesaround here that take three, four,
five, seven, fifteen years forrebuild. The Storm said, nope,
one year rebuilds. Fine, we'regonna get too all WNBA players and bring
(01:29):
them in in free agency. Andthey've done that and Skyler Digg and Smith
and Mekka guma Kay. Speaking ofthose two players you just mentioned, Seattle
Storm now have a big three.I'd imagine with Nikogumakay and Jewel Lloyd,
who led the league in scoring lastyear with twenty four points per game,
and then Skylar Digg and Smith.What are expectations for this team this season?
Well, I mean you really haveto add Asie Magmagor as well.
(01:53):
They call it the core four.So yes, you have a big three.
You're right, you have a bigthree. A veteran, you know,
experienced veteran players, as he's nowin her fifth year, but she's
still a very young player because shestarted playing at the age of nineteen.
So but you've got this this corefour that stacks up really with any four,
I would say, probably other thanLas Vegas, but you know,
(02:14):
this four could push Las Vegas isthe best four in the WNBA as far
as overall. I see most prognosticatorsputting them three four overall in the WNBA,
and I think that's a I thinkthat's a fair expectation. I think
that by the end of the season, you're gonna see a much more geled
(02:35):
team than you will at the beginningthe season. It's gonna take time.
Like any one of these teams thatis put together in free agency, in
both the WNBA and the NBA,you don't just snap your fingers and have
all these superstars play well together rightoff the bat. So I would anticipate
a few bumps in the road alongthe way in the first couple months of
the season, then you get theOlympic break, and then you really hit
(02:57):
the stretch run come the backside ofAugust into September. So I think a
reasonable expectation for this team would bemaking the Final four, making the w
NBA Semi Finals, and then youknow, anything can happen from there.
Tick Fane, you recognize the voicetalking to us about the Storm. They're
STARTINGWNBA season tonight. Dick, youmentioned the Olympic break. In a normal
(03:22):
year, the WNBA schedules condensed andthey play so many games in a short
amount of time. But this year, I mean the first week they're playing
the night, then they go backto Minnesota for a Friday game, Then
they're in DC to play the MysticsWashington Sunday Monday against the Storm or the
Liberty Wednesday Indiana Fever. Come outhere with Caitlyn Clark. I mean this
(03:47):
talk of charter flights, How excitedis of all the teams in the WNBA
of Seattle and tell us is Seattlegetting one? Is that a done deal
that the Storm are traveling to MinnesotaFriday on a charter Yes, as far
as I know that the entire leaguehas got it wrapped up. Delta Airlines
(04:08):
came through big. I had Mekagomakayon the show. She's the WNBA player
president last week and yeah, youguys asked her about it. You could
just you could just feel not onlyexcitement but relief. And you're exactly right.
I mean, Greg, it's manyof the fourteenth. They've got eight
games between now and the end ofthe month. Yeah, I mean that
(04:29):
is that's nearly a baseball sketch,right, this is just unbelievable. So
I talked about this team, youknow, having to gel, Well,
they're gonna have to gel on thefly because there's not gonna be much practice
time for this team to to gel. So, yes, the charter flights
are gonna be absolutely huge for them, particularly on this long road trip coming
(04:49):
up with Minnesota Friday, Washington Sunday, and New York Monday. And for
you, right, do you travelwith the charter? I did for a
long time, and then we westopped flying the broadcast team. But it
works out pretty well because I stillget to call the road games, so
I do them in a studio herein Seattle. I guess that's one of
the uh, you know, oneof the outcomes of COVID, Right,
(05:11):
we all had to we all hadto adjust. So as soon as COVID,
you know, hit, we werelike, all right, how are
we going to do this. AndI've been doing the road games in the
studio in Seattle ever since. Iget to do them in a beautiful new
studio in that new performance center.So I'm really excited about that. Well,
tell us what the whost scene ofLauren Jackson or a Sue Byrd being
(05:33):
in baggage claim at Hartford's airport beforethey get to a Connecticut game I Main
or Newark Airport. I mean,if anyone knows anybody anything about women's basketball,
they're gonna not be at least gawkingif not. I mean, what
has that whole experience been like forw NBA plays, especially the high profile
(05:55):
ones going through terminals and gates andand sitting in twelve B. I mean,
yeah, what's that been like?And it's it's you know, it
is bizarre, but you do justkind of get used to it because whatever,
whatever is the norm, you kindof get used to it. It's
not it's not ideal. And wedid have amazing travel representatives, not only
(06:15):
on the Storm side. Missy Beckettwas an unbelievable you know, basically an
assistant to everything over at the Stormthat just made sure that our travel was
as seamless as possible. She crossedevery tea, dotted every eye, and
then she had friends in every cityat every airport. So as soon as
(06:38):
we landed, we were taking careof very well. So it wasn't just
like you know, Dick Fane orGreg Bell travel on to a sporting event.
We had a lot of help.But excuse me, you're right,
it's it's a lot different than thanthe Charter experience, and the Charter experience
the Caitlin Clark effect of higher profile, perhaps the money and the red chasing
(07:00):
that and higher advertising revenue. Dickis the w NBA. The players within
it thinking that the tide is turningand maybe now they don't have to go
to Russia or China or Turkey andplay their off seasons to make ends meet
and make more money, that theywill be able to self sustain on a
contract that would be comparable to Europenow in the WNBA. Yeah, that's
(07:23):
certainly the goal. And they putthe rule in place that players that are
after three years of WNBA experience,I mean, they have to be here
by a certain date. They haveto report by a certain date or they
cannot play in the w n B. A so they have to make that
choice, and sometimes the choice isplaying for European team in the playoffs or
not and going to the WNBA.A former Storm player, Gabby Williams,
(07:46):
is experiencing that right now where hecan't play in the w NBA this year
because he's going to continue to playin the offseason. But we are seeing
less and less of that now becauseof that. And plus, you know,
some of these women are going tobe not independent wealthy, but they're
certainly going to have a really goodnest egg financially, you know, Juju
Watkins, Page Becker's. I mean, they're going to be a lot more
(08:09):
well off coming into WNBA financially thanSue Bird and Lauren Jackson ever were.
That's for sure, right, DickFane joining us on the day of the
Storm WNBA season opening, they playedin Minnesota Links and I climb and pledge
Arena. Dick. I'm looking atthe roster and we all know the names,
and you mentioned the big ones andhow they have stars on this team.
(08:30):
Name someone that is going to bea key contributor that maybe isn't the
headliner of the core four, thatcould end up being really influential to this
season. Yeah, I've got acouple of them. One's going to be
Jordan Horston, who was really unfairlythrust into a starting role last year when
she wasn't ready. She plays reallyhard, she's a fabulous athlete. She's
(08:52):
just not a fine tuned offensive basketballplayer yet. And so it would have
been really good last year for herto play, you know, ten minutes,
you know, coming off the bench, getting time here, getting time
there. But she couldn't. Shejust was thrown into this rebuilding team and
at times she looked fantastic, atother times she looked like a rookie.
And so now she's going to beable to kind of have almost a rookie
(09:16):
season minutes wise, in her secondyear in the WNBA, And so I
really think she's going to going todevelop very very well. And then the
other one i'd say is Nika Mule, the rookie from Yukon. I'm really
really excited to see her play.I mean, she broke Sue Bird's single
season assist record at Yukon. That'sa pretty sizable name to be breaking the
record at. And if you hadthe most assists of Yukon women's basketball in
(09:39):
a single season and in a careerthat's pretty impressive. She can play both
the one and the two, soI'm really interested to see how much she's
going to be used right away andby mid season. How much of an
impact is she having in these games? And Jill Woyd's not going to break
the WNB season record again. Withall the stars on this team, who
(10:00):
how does that scoring look like it'sgoing to distribute itself? Or is Lloyds
still going to be the leading scorerin the go to player? Probably Lloyd?
And with Neck and Neck, youknow, pardon the pun with Nekka
gumakay I mean, Agumaka is comingoff her best scoring season in seven years
last year at nineteen points a game, so she really had a renaissance season
(10:22):
last year. Jewels at twenty five, but I think both of those in
you know, maybe Jewel in theold twenty range and Neka in the seventeen
to eighteen range. And then yougot Skyler digg and Smith and Essie Magnacor
which will both definitely be in doublefigures as well, So you're gonna have
four double digit scorers on this team. So the offense will certainly be much
(10:43):
better than they were last year whenthey were second to last in the league
in scoring. You talked about Nikaand I'm curious, how do you see
her role finalizing with the Storm Becauseobviously she did some great stuff at Yukon
breaking Sue Bird's record, so shecan be a playmaker. But how do
you see the Storm using her asthe years progress. Well, you know,
she had to fight to make theteam too. I mean, because
(11:03):
we had a young Jade Melbourne lastyear at the backup point guard spot,
and again, she liked Jordan Horston, was thrust into kind of an unfair
role where she had to play alot more minutes than she was ready for.
She was like twenty years old andshe was playing in the WNBA a
lot of minutes last year. Andthen we thought, hey, you know,
she's probably going to be the pointguard of the future for this team.
(11:24):
And then Niican Mule comes in andbeats her out and they couldn't keep
both and so Nicka Mule's going tobe the backup to Skyler digg and Smith
at point guard. She's probably gonnabe the backup to Jewel Lloyd along with
Sammy Wickham and shooting guard and soI anticipated her playing you know, fairly
decent bench minutes coming in to startthis season. Dick, where can we
(11:48):
watch you in storm and hear yourcalls? Do you have another Fox thirteen
season coming up? Right? Yeah? Yeah, Fox thirteen plus Tonight as
well as Amazon Prime. Friday Nightis an Ion National Games, So I
only call the Ion National Games whenthey're home. Since this was on the
this one's on the road. TheMinnesota crew will call that one on Ion
(12:09):
on Friday, but you can stillwatch it on Ion on Friday and then
on Sunday. I'll be on thebig Fox, Fox thirteen looking forward to
Dick. We'll let you rest yourvocal cords for what's going to be what
hell? Yeah you do? Man? You got like eight games and six
days coming up or something. Thanksfor joining us, Hey guys,
We have announced that Dick Fame wasgoing to join us and talk about the
storm season ending beginning tonight, andhow retold they are. You hear him
all afternoons from three to seven withDave Softy Maller, and you're hearing him
right now in the Beacon Plumbing hoghline. Dick, thanks for joining us,
And what is this storm season?And how different already does it feel compared
(00:21):
to others you've kicked off? Well, I think it's twofold. We'll talk
about the storm and then you talkabout the WNBA in general. Maybe both
feel very very different. We'll startlocally here with Seattle. I mean last
year was a rebuilding season, thelikes that we really haven't seen since pre
Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson. Imean you're talking to you had to go
(00:44):
back all the way to the franchisestarting in two thousand to have the type
of rebuild season that we had lastyear. And yet it was still a
pretty exciting season because you had JewelLloyd breaking the all time WNBA scoring record
for a single season with nine hundredand thirty nine points. So you had
that even though you knew they weren'tgoing to make the playoffs. In the
last two three weeks of the season, you were just watching that every single
(01:06):
night on how many points was shegoing to score? Was she going to
finally get to that record? Andshe ended up doing it. So it
was a fairly exciting season. Andthey just decided, all right, we're
we're not gonna rebuild any longer.One season for the Storm is enough for
rebuild. It's not like other franchisesaround here that take three, four,
five, seven, fifteen years forrebuild. The Storm said, nope,
one year rebuilds. Fine, we'regonna get too all WNBA players and bring
(01:29):
them in in free agency. Andthey've done that and Skyler Digg and Smith
and Mekka guma Kay. Speaking ofthose two players you just mentioned, Seattle
Storm now have a big three.I'd imagine with Nikogumakay and Jewel Lloyd,
who led the league in scoring lastyear with twenty four points per game,
and then Skylar Digg and Smith.What are expectations for this team this season?
Well, I mean you really haveto add Asie Magmagor as well.
(01:53):
They call it the core four.So yes, you have a big three.
You're right, you have a bigthree. A veteran, you know,
experienced veteran players, as he's nowin her fifth year, but she's
still a very young player because shestarted playing at the age of nineteen.
So but you've got this this corefour that stacks up really with any four,
I would say, probably other thanLas Vegas, but you know,
(02:14):
this four could push Las Vegas isthe best four in the WNBA as far
as overall. I see most prognosticatorsputting them three four overall in the WNBA,
and I think that's a I thinkthat's a fair expectation. I think
that by the end of the season, you're gonna see a much more geled
(02:35):
team than you will at the beginningthe season. It's gonna take time.
Like any one of these teams thatis put together in free agency, in
both the WNBA and the NBA,you don't just snap your fingers and have
all these superstars play well together rightoff the bat. So I would anticipate
a few bumps in the road alongthe way in the first couple months of
the season, then you get theOlympic break, and then you really hit
(02:57):
the stretch run come the backside ofAugust into September. So I think a
reasonable expectation for this team would bemaking the Final four, making the w
NBA Semi Finals, and then youknow, anything can happen from there.
Tick Fane, you recognize the voicetalking to us about the Storm. They're
STARTINGWNBA season tonight. Dick, youmentioned the Olympic break. In a normal
(03:22):
year, the WNBA schedules condensed andthey play so many games in a short
amount of time. But this year, I mean the first week they're playing
the night, then they go backto Minnesota for a Friday game, Then
they're in DC to play the MysticsWashington Sunday Monday against the Storm or the
Liberty Wednesday Indiana Fever. Come outhere with Caitlyn Clark. I mean this
(03:47):
talk of charter flights, How excitedis of all the teams in the WNBA
of Seattle and tell us is Seattlegetting one? Is that a done deal
that the Storm are traveling to MinnesotaFriday on a charter Yes, as far
as I know that the entire leaguehas got it wrapped up. Delta Airlines
(04:08):
came through big. I had Mekagomakayon the show. She's the WNBA player
president last week and yeah, youguys asked her about it. You could
just you could just feel not onlyexcitement but relief. And you're exactly right.
I mean, Greg, it's manyof the fourteenth. They've got eight
games between now and the end ofthe month. Yeah, I mean that
(04:29):
is that's nearly a baseball sketch,right, this is just unbelievable. So
I talked about this team, youknow, having to gel, Well,
they're gonna have to gel on thefly because there's not gonna be much practice
time for this team to to gel. So, yes, the charter flights
are gonna be absolutely huge for them, particularly on this long road trip coming
(04:49):
up with Minnesota Friday, Washington Sunday, and New York Monday. And for
you, right, do you travelwith the charter? I did for a
long time, and then we westopped flying the broadcast team. But it
works out pretty well because I stillget to call the road games, so
I do them in a studio herein Seattle. I guess that's one of
the uh, you know, oneof the outcomes of COVID, Right,
(05:11):
we all had to we all hadto adjust. So as soon as COVID,
you know, hit, we werelike, all right, how are
we going to do this. AndI've been doing the road games in the
studio in Seattle ever since. Iget to do them in a beautiful new
studio in that new performance center.So I'm really excited about that. Well,
tell us what the whost scene ofLauren Jackson or a Sue Byrd being
(05:33):
in baggage claim at Hartford's airport beforethey get to a Connecticut game I Main
or Newark Airport. I mean,if anyone knows anybody anything about women's basketball,
they're gonna not be at least gawkingif not. I mean, what
has that whole experience been like forw NBA plays, especially the high profile
(05:55):
ones going through terminals and gates andand sitting in twelve B. I mean,
yeah, what's that been like?And it's it's you know, it
is bizarre, but you do justkind of get used to it because whatever,
whatever is the norm, you kindof get used to it. It's
not it's not ideal. And wedid have amazing travel representatives, not only
(06:15):
on the Storm side. Missy Beckettwas an unbelievable you know, basically an
assistant to everything over at the Stormthat just made sure that our travel was
as seamless as possible. She crossedevery tea, dotted every eye, and
then she had friends in every cityat every airport. So as soon as
(06:38):
we landed, we were taking careof very well. So it wasn't just
like you know, Dick Fane orGreg Bell travel on to a sporting event.
We had a lot of help.But excuse me, you're right,
it's it's a lot different than thanthe Charter experience, and the Charter experience
the Caitlin Clark effect of higher profile, perhaps the money and the red chasing
(07:00):
that and higher advertising revenue. Dickis the w NBA. The players within
it thinking that the tide is turningand maybe now they don't have to go
to Russia or China or Turkey andplay their off seasons to make ends meet
and make more money, that theywill be able to self sustain on a
contract that would be comparable to Europenow in the WNBA. Yeah, that's
(07:23):
certainly the goal. And they putthe rule in place that players that are
after three years of WNBA experience,I mean, they have to be here
by a certain date. They haveto report by a certain date or they
cannot play in the w n B. A so they have to make that
choice, and sometimes the choice isplaying for European team in the playoffs or
not and going to the WNBA.A former Storm player, Gabby Williams,
(07:46):
is experiencing that right now where hecan't play in the w NBA this year
because he's going to continue to playin the offseason. But we are seeing
less and less of that now becauseof that. And plus, you know,
some of these women are going tobe not independent wealthy, but they're
certainly going to have a really goodnest egg financially, you know, Juju
Watkins, Page Becker's. I mean, they're going to be a lot more
(08:09):
well off coming into WNBA financially thanSue Bird and Lauren Jackson ever were.
That's for sure, right, DickFane joining us on the day of the
Storm WNBA season opening, they playedin Minnesota Links and I climb and pledge
Arena. Dick. I'm looking atthe roster and we all know the names,
and you mentioned the big ones andhow they have stars on this team.
(08:30):
Name someone that is going to bea key contributor that maybe isn't the
headliner of the core four, thatcould end up being really influential to this
season. Yeah, I've got acouple of them. One's going to be
Jordan Horston, who was really unfairlythrust into a starting role last year when
she wasn't ready. She plays reallyhard, she's a fabulous athlete. She's
(08:52):
just not a fine tuned offensive basketballplayer yet. And so it would have
been really good last year for herto play, you know, ten minutes,
you know, coming off the bench, getting time here, getting time
there. But she couldn't. Shejust was thrown into this rebuilding team and
at times she looked fantastic, atother times she looked like a rookie.
And so now she's going to beable to kind of have almost a rookie
(09:16):
season minutes wise, in her secondyear in the WNBA, And so I
really think she's going to going todevelop very very well. And then the
other one i'd say is Nika Mule, the rookie from Yukon. I'm really
really excited to see her play.I mean, she broke Sue Bird's single
season assist record at Yukon. That'sa pretty sizable name to be breaking the
record at. And if you hadthe most assists of Yukon women's basketball in
(09:39):
a single season and in a careerthat's pretty impressive. She can play both
the one and the two, soI'm really interested to see how much she's
going to be used right away andby mid season. How much of an
impact is she having in these games? And Jill Woyd's not going to break
the WNB season record again. Withall the stars on this team, who
(10:00):
how does that scoring look like it'sgoing to distribute itself? Or is Lloyds
still going to be the leading scorerin the go to player? Probably Lloyd?
And with Neck and Neck, youknow, pardon the pun with Nekka
gumakay I mean, Agumaka is comingoff her best scoring season in seven years
last year at nineteen points a game, so she really had a renaissance season
(10:22):
last year. Jewels at twenty five, but I think both of those in
you know, maybe Jewel in theold twenty range and Neka in the seventeen
to eighteen range. And then yougot Skyler digg and Smith and Essie Magnacor
which will both definitely be in doublefigures as well, So you're gonna have
four double digit scorers on this team. So the offense will certainly be much
(10:43):
better than they were last year whenthey were second to last in the league
in scoring. You talked about Nikaand I'm curious, how do you see
her role finalizing with the Storm Becauseobviously she did some great stuff at Yukon
breaking Sue Bird's record, so shecan be a playmaker. But how do
you see the Storm using her asthe years progress. Well, you know,
she had to fight to make theteam too. I mean, because
(11:03):
we had a young Jade Melbourne lastyear at the backup point guard spot,
and again, she liked Jordan Horston, was thrust into kind of an unfair
role where she had to play alot more minutes than she was ready for.
She was like twenty years old andshe was playing in the WNBA a
lot of minutes last year. Andthen we thought, hey, you know,
she's probably going to be the pointguard of the future for this team.
(11:24):
And then Niican Mule comes in andbeats her out and they couldn't keep
both and so Nicka Mule's going tobe the backup to Skyler digg and Smith
at point guard. She's probably gonnabe the backup to Jewel Lloyd along with
Sammy Wickham and shooting guard and soI anticipated her playing you know, fairly
decent bench minutes coming in to startthis season. Dick, where can we
(11:48):
watch you in storm and hear yourcalls? Do you have another Fox thirteen
season coming up? Right? Yeah? Yeah, Fox thirteen plus Tonight as
well as Amazon Prime. Friday Nightis an Ion National Games, So I
only call the Ion National Games whenthey're home. Since this was on the
this one's on the road. TheMinnesota crew will call that one on Ion
(12:09):
on Friday, but you can stillwatch it on Ion on Friday and then
on Sunday. I'll be on thebig Fox, Fox thirteen looking forward to
Dick. We'll let you rest yourvocal cords for what's going to be what
hell? Yeah you do? Man? You got like eight games and six
days coming up or something. Thanksfor joining us, Hey guys,
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