With the Seattle Storm’s brutal start to the season – a league-high five games in the first nine days, four of them on the road – now behind them, Head Coach Brian Agler was ready to declare the start neither a great success nor a failure, but about what could be expected.

“To me, it could have been disastrous, but it also could have been a great scenario if we won all the games,” said Agler after the Storm practiced Tuesday. “Get five games under your belt, win all five of them, that would have been perfect. We landed somewhere in between there. We’re in decent shape. We’re not in great shape, and we’re not in poor shape. We’re in the thick of things. Now we get some time to get some practice.”

Tuesday’s was the first of three practices for the Storm before taking on the Minnesota Lynx Friday on Dads & Daughters® Night (7:00 p.m., 1150-AM KKNW, ). In that span, Agler hopes to see the team continue to improve, to prepare for this weekend’s slate of games and stay fresh for them. The first five games of the season have provided some focal points for improvement.

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With less than 48 hours remaining until the Seattle Storm opens the 2009 season Saturday in Sacramento (1:00 p.m., Alternative Talk 1150 AM), the Storm is beginning to close in on some important decisions. The first of those came after Thursday’s practice, when the Storm waived guard A’Quonesia Franklin and wing Aja Parham to get down to its 11-player roster (which will actually be 10 for the opener because center Suzy Batkovic-Brown will be arriving from Australia Sunday).

Storm Head Coach Brian Agler also said after the practice that he’s got a likely starting lineup in mind to face the Monarchs.

“We’ll probably go with Lauren (Jackson) and Camille (Little) and Sue (Bird), T (Tanisha Wright) and Shannon (Johnson) starting the game,” said Agler.

Center Janell Burse will likely come off the bench after experiencing a subluxation of her left shoulder that limited her in practice yesterday. Burse was back on the court today.

“I haven’t had a chance to talk to her since practice was over to see how she feels and how she responds,” said Agler. “She’s going to play, I know that. She was in practice the whole day. We went into practice thinking it might be in and out – she was pretty much in the whole time.”

Burse felt good about her practice effort. She wore a sleeve on her left shoulder, something she has not done in the past because she hates the sleeve, which slightly limits the mobility of her shoulder.

“Before, I never wore it even when it was more serious,” Burse explained. “Now I’m trying it because I really want to be out there and hopefully not reinjure it. When you’re out there playing and you’re ‘in the zone,’ I guess, you don’t think about it.”

Forward Swin Cash was also out on the floor.

“I envision her playing this weekend,” said Agler, though her minutes will likely be limited. “I think it will all depend on her. I’m sure we will (limit her). She has practiced sparingly.”

How much Cash can play may impact the rest of the rotation and how Agler uses his other three active reserves – Katie Gearlds, Ashley Robinson and rookie Ashley Walker. He anticipates the Storm’s first-round pick being in the rotation, though finding time for her could be difficult.

“It’s not easy to get everybody in here who we feel like can help us,” Agler explained. “We’re still sort of evaluating how things are going to go. I think she’s going to be in the rotation. How much? I don’t know.”

As other teams have been cutting down to their final rosters, experienced players have been hitting the waiver wires. In the short term, Agler has no plans to bring anyone in. He wants to see his team at full strength, with Batkovic-Brown in the mix, before seriously considering adding a player who has come available.

“I like a lot of them,” said Agler, “but to make that decision … I don’t think we can really do a whole lot before we fully understand what Suzy’s going to bring.”

- While taking Sunday off, the Seattle Storm made the decision to waive training-camp invitees La’Tangela Atkinson and Kasha Terry, bringing the roster to 13 players. 12 are now in camp, with Suzy Batkovic-Brown (spending this week on her honeymoon after her marriage last weekend) the only player remaining overseas. Amongst that group, the Storm has two invitees remaining – guard A’Quonesia Franklin and guard Aja Parham.

Franklin

Parham

“I think it’s a tribute to them that they’re still here if you look around the league at who’s getting waived and who’s released right now,” said Storm Head Coach Brian Agler. “They’ve worked hard and they’re good players. They can play in this league, and that’s why they’re here.”

The deadline for finalizing rosters is Thursday, and Agler indicated the working assumption is the Storm will not make its final cuts to reach an 11-player roster until then.

Having a slightly smaller group will help the Storm’s regulars spend more time on the court, an important consideration after Agler said the team appeared to wear down in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s preseason loss at Phoenix.

“I think reps is the most critical thing right now,” he said. “We’ve got a few days to prepare. Hopefully we’ll make use of them.”

- For the first time all training camp, the Storm had a couple of players on the sidelines during Monday’s practice, though neither injury is considered serious.

Forward Swin Cash was watching her teammates, but not because of anything relating to her back surgery. Cash has experienced some swelling in her left knee.

“That’s the extent of it,” explained Agler. “She’s going to get back out, hopefully tomorrow, doing some things.”

Rookie Ashley Walker was also sidelined due to her calf.

“She’s fine – she’ll be back out tomorrow,” said Agler. “In the past, she’s had some issues with her calf. After that game the other night where she played extremely well, she had some tenderness there and we wanted to get it checked out.”

Aaron Last/Storm Photos

The Seattle Storm’s preseason finale will be Saturday night in Phoenix against the Mercury, and Head Coach Brian Agler has indicated he sees the game as a dress rehearsal of sorts for the start of the regular season just over a week away. After the Storm practiced Friday in the Valley of the Sun, Agler said he’ll draw his starting lineup from the group of Sue Bird, Shannon Johnson, Tanisha Wright, Camille Little, Ashley Robinson and Janell Burse. The players likely to be in the Storm’s rotation will get the bulk of the playing time.

“Obviously we need to keep improving in our defense,” said Agler of his focus for the game. “That and playing together, trying to get our people acclimated to playing together and go from there.”

Though Swin Cash got in her first work with contact during Friday’s practice, Agler does not necessarily expect her to see any action against the Mercury as part of her rehab process.

“I don’t know if we’ll get that far,” he said. “I have no idea, but we’ll see. I envision her, though, getting back in the swing of things here next week. She didn’t necessarily play herself out today, so that was a good thing.”

As for evaluating the players fighting for roster spots, that was done in part during Thursday’s series of scrimmages between the Storm, the Mercury and the Sacramento Monarchs. “They got plenty of time,” said Agler, who enjoyed the format and singled out Robinson as playing well in the scrimmage setting.

Kasha Terry and Janell Burse battle for a rebound in practice. Aaron Last/Storm Photos

After spending the first week and a half of training camp in Seattle, the Storm is ready to head out on the road for the first time. The team flew to Las Vegas this afternoon and will join the host Sacramento Monarchs as well as the Phoenix Mercury for a three-team controlled scrimmage tomorrow. Friday, it’s on to Phoenix for Satuday’s exhibition finale against the Mercury. Since the Storm hosted Sacramento in its home preseason game, the WNBA’s three westernmost teams will know each other intimately by the start of the regular season.

The Storm has now had eight days of practice, having taken Tuesday afternoon off before returning to the floor at The Furtado Center for a session Wednesday morning.

“I think we’re improving,” Head Coach Brian Agler said afterward. “I think that’s a better question to ask after we play, how we stand. We’ve really been proactive on trying to get a lot of things in. When you do that in a short period of time, you don’t get the reps that you want on certain things. I like how we’re advancing, but how sharp we are trying to do those things, that’s another question.”

Agler explained that the coaching staff will use the two settings for different purposes. On Thursday, the focus will be on evaluating talent. The teams will alternate playing quarters against each other – two teams on, one team watching.

“I think tomorrow will be a good (test),” said Agler. “Tomorrow we’ll get a chance to watch people in more of a controlled situation, up close. I think it will be a good evaluator.”

Saturday, the focus changes to what Agler calls “our last dress rehearsal.” Rotations will be more “game-like” as the Storm prepares for the regular season. The lineups will be different from the ones Agler used in the Storm’s previous preseason game.

“We have Tanisha (Wright) now and we see Tanisha playing big minutes for us this year. She’ll get some quality time. Obviously Sue (Bird) will be on the court. Sue didn’t play the last game.”

Then there could be a wild card on Saturday – the potential availability of Swin Cash, who is making progress in returning from her back surgery and continues to feel good.

“I sort of envision Swin trying to get in the swing of things sometime either Saturday or early next week,” Agler said. “Everything’s based on her. Knowing Swin and knowing how well she’s feeling, I would guess she’ll get on the court more in practice as time goes on. If she feels like she can go, then we’ll give her some minutes.”