Quinn: “The great thing is Gabby wants to be with us.”
By Christan Braswell, edited by Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - Storm head coach Noelle Quinn could hardly contain her excitement when speaking to reporters about retaining the talents of one Gabby Williams, who the team officially signed to a rest of the season contract on Tuesday, August 20th.
“I’ve been thinking about it, yeah. Watching her in the Olympics and you think about her back in the fold. She’s so versatile. She can play multiple positions. I think about how it really impact our defense first and foremost. What she’s been doing comfortably offensively too is going to really, really help us. Another playmaker, another person who can get downhill, get to the paint and distribute and find [players]. Just an infusion of a lot of things. Got some time now to really think about it now that it’s confirmed that she’s with us, but I’ll think about that in a couple of days.”
Suppose Williams, a two-time national champion at UConn, wasn’t a household name among basketball fans after highly successful stints with European clubs like Spar Girona, Sopron, and Fenerbahçe, where she won a Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2021 and a championship in the year following. In that case, she is now after her remarkable performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Ultimately winning a silver medal as Team France fell to Team USA in the gold medal game, Williams emerged with a Best Defensive Player award and a selection to the All-Star Five, averaging 15.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 2.8 steals throughout the tournament. She led France in scoring and assists.
Williams is one of few players, if any, to win a DPOY award in the college ranks, overseas play, and the Olympics. Wherever she goes, she wins, and her defensive game is a big part of that.
Upon entering the season, Seattle was championed as a contender on paper after signing future Hall of Famers Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins-Smith to a roster with Jewell Loyd, Ezi Magbegor, and Jordan Horston. Despite an 18-10 record to date, Seattle has missed the mark on several occasions when facing teams they will see on their quest to achieve their goal.
When facing the Las Vegas Aces, Connecticut Sun, New York Liberty, and Minnesota Lynx, Seattle is 3-6. In these instances, they lacked a certain sharpness to their bite on the wing on both ends of the court. With Horston being the only true wing on the roster, the team’s defense has relied heavily on the pressure generated up top by Diggins-Smith in on the versatility of Ogwumike and Magbegor, bringing them out of the paint frequently to step up to guards and threes and doing so efficiently.
On offense, the forward duo has ample responsibility, whether that’s getting teammates in their preferred spots, running plays, or jumpstarting the fastbreak. Still, it hasn’t been enough. That’s where Williams fits perfectly like the last piece of the puzzle.
Williams may not solve Seattle’s shooting issue, ranking last in the WNBA in three-point percentage (28.7), but she didn’t sign with a team she calls “home” to be a knockdown shooter. Gabby is back in the Emerald City to accentuate areas of the team’s game that will help win a WNBA championship.
“The great thing about is that Gabby [Williams] wants to be with us, that’s one. She’s known our system and she’s playing at a high level. She loves our organization, players, and staff. There’s some familiarity that helps when you’re trying to incorporate her back. I’m going to be positive. No cons about bringing in a silver [Olympic] medalist.”
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