Good news from Israel, where safsal.co.il reports that Storm forward Ashley Walker has been named MVP of the Israeli D-I League. Walker averaged 20.0 points and 8.1 rebounds in leading her Maccabi Ashdod squad to the league’s second-best record. Ashdod, currently playing Electra Ramat Hasharon in the league’s final series, is hoping to win its first Israeli championship.
Previously, teammate Tanisha Wright was the Israeli MVP for the 2007-08 season.
HT: RebKell
The last round before the break in Israel matched the league’s top two teams – Electra Ramat Hasharon and Ashley Walker’s Maccabi Ashdod squad. Getting 21 points from former Storm forward Sheri Sam, Hasharon defeated Ashdod 70-60 to remain undefeated atop the D-I. Walker had 17 points and Courtney Paris 16 points and 18 rebounds, but Ashdod’s non-imports struggled, totaling just 10 points. At 8-3, Ashdod is now tied with Elizur Maccabi Natanya for second place in the league, but has a far superior point differential. However, it will be a different Ashdod squad after the break, as Safsal.co.il reports Paris will not be rejoining Ashdod for the 2010 portion of the schedule.
Next week, Seattle Storm forward Swin Cash will join teammate Sue Bird in Washington, D.C. for the U.S. Women’s Senior National Team training session at American University’s Bender Arena. Bird was one of eight players, all of them members of the 2008 Olympic squad, named to the National Team for the 2009-12 quadrennium. They will be joined by other potential members of the National Team, including Cash, for practices from Sept. 30 through Oct. 5, highlighted by an intrasquad scrimmage on Oct. 4.
 Cash in the 2004 Olympics. Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images |
“I’m looking forward to it,” said Cash, who represented the USA in the 2004 Olympics alongside Bird. “I think I’m in a really good place health-wise and basketball-wise. I think I’ve made it clear that I want to make the team next year for the World Championships. That’s one thing I haven’t done.”
Cash is happy to have the opportunity to play for USA Head Coach Geno Auriemma, who coached both her and Bird at the University of Connecticut.
“It’s going to be exciting, because a lot of players, whether they played at Tennessee or other colleges who haven’t played for him don’t know what to expect,” she said. “It’s funny the questions you’ll get. ‘I heard he’s this way or that way.’ As long as you’re working hard, you’re good. No worries. Trust me.”
While Auriemma will not have final say on the team’s roster, he told reporters on a conference call highlighting the initial selections to the National Team that players could play their way on or off based on how they fare in upcoming training sessions as well as in the WNBA. Cash takes Auriemma at his word, noting his desire to win rather than play favorites, and is ready to make the most of her bid for the roster.
“I just feel like there’s an opportunity,” she said. “That’s all I need. If you give me the opportunity, then it’s up to me to go in there and perform.”
Storm rookie forward Ashley Walker will have a familiar face alongside her as she heads overseas to play for the first time. Walker signed to play in Israel for Ashdod, reuniting her with Sacramento Monarchs center Courtney Paris. Like Walker, Paris and her twin sister Ashley (who will play for Israeli rival Ramla according to Safsal.co.il) grew up in Modesto, Calif. The last time Walker remembers the two playing together, however, was in fifth grade. Thereafter, they played for the same traveling team – which also included Walker’s future Cal teammate Devanei Hampton – but Walker played up in age because she is seven months older than the Paris sisters, who turned 22 on Monday.
“It’s kind of weird that we’re going back and going to be around each other again,” said Walker, who squared off against Paris during the preseason and early in the regular season.
Paris’ physical presence in the paint means Ashdod will ask Walker to play on the perimeter. That fits her goal of developing her skills as a wing player, a process that started during the season but was interrupted by the toe injury that sidelined her for half of the year.
Earlier today, I wrote that Storm rookie Ashley Walker had been scheduled to visit a doctor yesterday for a checkup on the injury to the sesamoid bone near her right big toe. Further examination revealed the toe has not been healing as well as doctors hoped.
“She’s going to be in a boot for a couple more weeks,” said Storm Head Coach Brian Agler after the team practiced Friday. “It’s not healing as well as what we anticipated or as what we thought it might be.
“I don’t know the extreme details of it, but it’s an injury that, because of the low amount of blood flow to the area, it doesn’t get a chance to heal quite as quickly. We want to be patient with it so we don’t eventually have to do surgery on it. It’s going to take some time.”
Walker’s injury leaves the Storm with 10 active players for the near future, and changes are unlikely. On Monday, all player contracts became guaranteed for the remainder of the season. There’s still more than two weeks until the Aug. 17 trade deadline, but Agler doesn’t anticipate making a move.
“As far as I know, we’re not,” he said. “It’s not that i’m totally closed to anything, but do we have anything on the burner? No, we don’t. There’s a lot more that goes into trades than calling somebody up and making a trade. Even if two teams want to make a trade, it’s still got to work under the cap. That’s what makes it so difficult. To answer that question, our plans are to stay pat. That doesn’t mean things can’t change either.
Yesterday was the Storm’s first practice in Seattle since Lauren Jackson returned from her mild left Achilles strain, so I wanted to check in on her status. Jackson played sparingly in the All-Star Game to rest (seven minutes, all in the first half), but then played a normal 34-minute night Tuesday in San Antonio.
Did Jackson feel limited at all?
“Not really, I don’t think so,” she said. “It’s just a matter of getting back on the court and getting my confidence back. But I feel good. I played last game and had a couple of good practices.”
Neither Jackson nor Head Coach Brian Agler said there were any restrictions on Jackson in terms of how much she can play.
Storm rookie Ashley Walker still has rehab work to do before getting back on the floor. While Walker is able to do some work without a protective boot, doctors were still limiting her activity pending a checkup yesterday.
“Pretty much all I can really do is I can ride the bike for about 45 minutes at the longest before it starts to get real sore,” said Walker. “No running, no jogging yet. It’s still pretty tender. I’ve got to still take my time with it.”
Walker is able to shoot, but cannot jump. That limits her to free throws and set shots from the perimeter. For now, she must be patient.
“Rehab’s going good,” Walker said. “Just slow. Rehab is rehab; you have to take your time with it, let it heal.”
For the first time all season, the Seattle Storm lost a player game to injury yesterday, with rookie Ashley Walker in street clothes during the Storm’s win over San Antonio. After further testing on Walker’s injured right big toe, she will miss more time – though not as long as was feared when doctors initially believed she had fractured a bone. The latest diagnosis from the Storm’s medical staff that Walker has a stress reaction in the sesamoid bone, located on the first metatarsal in her right foot.
Walker - Aaron Last/Storm Photos
“We’ve been back and forth on this,” said Head Coach Brian Agler after the team’s practice on Wednesday. “Initially we thought it was a fracture of a bone in her big toe. Now we think it might go back to a soft tissue type of fracture, which I just learned about 15 minutes ago, which might mean that she might not be out as long. We’re still trying to figure out what it is. Whatever it is, we hope it’s for the shortest time.”
Under the current diagnosis, Walker’s recovery period will depend on how her foot reacts to rest. In that sense, an injury to the sesamoid – because it is embedded within the flexor tendon that controls the big toe – is akin to a sprained ligament or strained tendon.
“It could be 10 days; it could be three weeks,” explained Walker. “It has to heal on its own; you have to stay off of it, ice, elevation. You kind of have to treat it like a sprain, I guess. Whenever I can put weight on it, I’ll get new shoes, orthotics, and then I can test it out again.”
Walker injured her toe during a recent practice.
“I knew something was wrong with the way I was hurting instantly when I did it,” she recalled. “I was like, ‘Oh yeah, something’s not right.’ We were doing a defensive drill and I stepped funny. My foot started to hurt and it hurt all day next day. It’s all doctors after that.”
While Walker has not been a part of the Storm’s rotation recently, having to stay off the court will keep her from getting valuable experience in practice. Reps during practice have been allowing Walker to make the transition from power forward to small forward, where she has been playing exclusively the last couple of weeks.
Being injured is, “Very frustrating,” Walker said. “I had a couple of good weeks in practice the last couple of weeks, I was doing a lot better and learning a lot of things, and then you’ve got to take a step back. I’ve just got to keep my conditioning up as best I can, keep lifting, eat right and then get back out there and try again.”
“Obviously it’s not going to help her any,” said Agler, “but I think getting her healthy is the most important thing, so we’ll just focus on that.”
Before being injured, Walker did get a chance to see her first game action at small forward during the regular season. She played the entire fourth quarter of the Storm’s loss on June 28 in Los Angeles at the position, learning on the job.
“It gets you a little more acclimated playing the three,” said Walker. “I haven’t had a chance to be out on the floor for extended minutes playing the three. It was fun. It was new; it was uneasy at times, but I got used to it. After a couple of minutes, I was like, ‘Alright, I can do this.’”
As the Seattle Storm has practiced this week at The Furtado Center, rookie Ashley Walker has had a new focus. Walker is now playing at small forward after splitting her time between the two forward positions during training camp and the early part of the season.
Walker
“The reason is she’s 5-11, 6-0 – her future is going to be there,” explained Head Coach Brian Agler. “We have a lot of depth at the post. I just think it’s for the benefit of her career and our situation that she play there.”
“I definitely think in the league I’m not that tall,” agreed Walker, “so I’m a tall guard and a good rebounding guard.”
During the preseason, Walker played at times alongside Camille Little in a versatile lineup where the two forwards were largely interchangeable. She showed the ability to score off the drive from the perimeter, and improved her shooting range over the course of her college career at California, work which is paying off now in the pros. The bigger adjustment for Walker may come at the other end of the floor, where she’ll now be asked to chase players around instead of playing in the paint.
“You have to guard faster players, be able to guard everybody – all the ones, shorter, quick little players,” Walker said. “That’s difficult. I’m a good defender anyways, so it’s not too, too bad, but that’s the most difficult part.”
It was harder for Walker to get comfortable on the wing when she was switching back and forth with the more familiar power forward position. Focusing on playing the three should accelerate that process.
“I definitely have to focus solely on it,” said Walker. “It’s not like you can go back to your comfort zone. You’re always being uncomfortable and have to get used to being in that position all the time.”
The Storm is going to be patient with the transition.
“It just takes time, changing your game at a high level against the best players in the world,” said Agler. “It’s going to take some time, but I think she’s got the right demeanor to make that change.”
Courtesy University of California/Mollie McClure Photo
Last week, we began our season-long Where Are They Now? series with former Storm guard Charmin Smith, now an assistant coach at Cal. That gave Smith unique insight into the Storm’s first-round pick, Cal forward Ashley Walker, which she shared with the coaching staff before the draft. When I interviewed Smith, I made a point of asking her to offer some observations on Walker.
stormbasketball.com: What can you tell us about Ashley Walker?
Smith: Ashley is really a phenomenal player. She basically carried this program the past year; she did so much for us. She’s, I guess you’d say, a versatile four player. I just describe her as a beast. She thinks every rebound is hers; she’s extended her game to shoot threes now. She just battles every single possession and kind of wills herself to be successful. It was definitely a pleasure to have the opportunity to be able to coach her here at Cal, and I’m expecting big things for her at the next level.
How much did you see Walker develop over the course of her career?
If you look at her statistics, she just got better and better every year. She came in with a very talented recruiting class, that freshman class, but she was the one that no one really had very high expectations for. People weren’t talking about Ashley Walker when she walked through the door, and very quickly in her freshman year she established herself as a significant presence on the team. I know that having had to scout against her when I was at Stanford her freshman and sophomore years. She really decided to assert herself and really took over. She spent a couple of years being kind of the Robin to Devanei Hampton and Alexis Gray-Lawson, who was the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year. Devanei Hampton was the Pac-10 Player of the Year in 2006-07, their sophomore year. Then the last couple of years, Ashley has pretty much asserted herself as the ‘Batman’ of the team and has really taken over. In terms of specifics of her game, she’s always had a rebounding desire and gets after the board. She’s had good moves in the paint, but since her freshman and sophomore year, she’s extended it to be able to hit the high post shot her junior year and her senior year stepping out and knocking down threes. She was one of the best three-point shooters on the team. You saw her hit some of those in the UConn game. She shoots it with confidence. Being able to do a lot more defensively as well – guard a little bit more on the perimeter, things like that. She’s had to guard people like Noelle Quinn when she was at UCLA. She’s pretty versatile.
What did you tell Walker about what to expect after she was drafted by the Storm?
I told her that it’s a great city. There’s a lot to do in Seattle, but I told her she won’t have time to do any of it as a rookie because she’ll be working so hard. I just told her how much I love it there, that they’re great fans. I’ve had people e-mailing me and saying, ‘We’re getting one of your players. Let her know if she needs anything, we’re here.’ That’s been really special. The first thing I did when I saw Ashley was coming to Seattle was I got online and hit up Sue (Bird) on AOL Messenger and let her know she was getting a Cal Bear. Just things like that. I want it to be her experience. I’m obviously really happy that she’s going somewhere I’m familiar with and a place I really like, but this is all about Ashley Walker. I just want her to do the best that she can and go out and earn a roster spot and enjoy Seattle. I know the fans will really, really enjoy how hard she plays and her passion for the game.
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