As we head into the last few days of voting for the Storm All-Decade Team, which concludes on Friday, I wanted to share some more All-Decade Teams chosen by those who have covered the team most closely over the last 10 years. You’ve seen my squad as well as that of Seattle Times reporter Jayda Evans, and today the Storm’s two play-by-play broadcasters pick theirs.

Current play-by-play broadcaster Dick Fain chose Adia Barnes, Tully Bevilaqua, Sue Bird, Janell Burse, Swin Cash, Simone Edwards, Lauren Jackson, Betty Lennox, Kamila Vodichkova and Tanisha Wright (pictured above). See original Voice of the Storm David Locke’s picks and his explanations below.

Wow, what a way to become nostalgic. I could easily do the team I miss the most, but I would have too many players. The task of choosing the Storm All-Decade Team is tough on many levels.

How do you differentiate a great player from a great member of the community or from someone who represented the Storm and what the Storm meant to us?  Some players left us with moments that will forever be etched into our memories (Michelle Marcinak going after Latasha Byears or Stacey Lovelace coming out of nowhere to help us get our first win). Others were inspirational for their off-the-court thoughts and conversations (like Wendy Palmer and Simone Edwards). And who can forget the starting lineup in our opening season that would probably have worked better as the board of directors for a Fortune 500 company?

Enough of the stalling. Here is my version of the Seattle Storm All-Decade Team.

Adia Barnes – We need someone to not only play but to broadcast the game as well.

Tully Bevilaqua – We loved her when she was in Seattle and only when she left did we really realize how much we loved her.

Sue Bird – Some decisions are easy. This was as easy as it was for as it for Lin Dunn to choose Sue first in the 2002 Draft. Can I tell you how much I miss seeing Sue both on and off the floor? My best memory of Sue on the floor is the confidence and pizzazz she played with against the Portland Fire to lead us to our first playoff birth. That is not to be outdone by the great game-winner against Washington and Chamique Holdsclaw. Off the court, Sue and I got placed next to each other on a flight back from Houston (long) and had a wonderful conversation about what she wanted to achieve, how she viewed the game, etc.

Please make sure you enjoy watching Sue. I miss it every day.

Janell Burse – That sweet voice and that subtly vicious game.

Simone Edwards – It is not a Storm team without Simmy.

Lauren Jackson – Watching the greatest female player every night was an honor. No more needs to be said. For those who have ever interacted with her, she reaches into your heart and stays with you. She is a lovely mate.

Betty Lennox – We don’t have a banner hanging from the KeyArena rafters without the performance Betty had during the Finals.

Michelle Marciniak – The fight is enough but the spinning, game-winning layup against Orlando adds to it.

Kamila Vodichkova – In my opinion, the greatest moment in Storm basketball history is the night that Kamila came on the floor for the first time since her injury and the crowd rose to give her a standing ovation and tears ran down her cheeks. Kamila had been so worried the fans would feel that she let them down. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

Tanisha Wright – Every night the Storm play I check the box score and could not be more proud of Tanisha. I thought on more than one occasion she would be the one who got the short stick and got cut . Instead, she become a bona fide player in the W. Never doubt a fighter.

- David Locke

This entry was posted on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 3:58 pm and is filed under history. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.