Agler counting on All-Star Jackson's return in '10

Brian Agler didn't have Lauren Jackson on the court for the last six games of the WNBA regular season or for the playoffs.

But the Seattle Storm coach is all but certain that the perennial all-star and two-time league MVP from Australia, who flirted with leaving for Phoenix as an unrestricted free agent last winter, will be back in 2010.

"I think she has verbalized to both of us (Agler and team general manager Karen Bryant) that not only is she going to re-sign - we're confident about that - it wouldn't surprise either one of us if she ends her career in Seattle," Agler said on Tuesday as he summed up the Storm's season.

Jackson, who missed her second straight WNBA postseason, this time with a stress fracture in her back, was a major topic of conversation with Agler and Bryant after the Storm was bounced in the first round of the playoffs for the fifth straight time since winning the league championship in 2004. Seattle lost to the Los Angeles Sparks 75-64 in the deciding third game of the Western Conference semifinals Sunday.

"Certainly, the coaching staff and the players are as disappointed, if not more disappointed, than our fans," Bryant said. "Had we had Lauren, that's the question we've asked ourselves the last couple years. But we can't belabor it, and we can't live in it. We have to figure out how to go on and how to learn."

One thing the Storm and the rest of the league had to learn in 2009 was how to get by with 11-player rosters, reduced from 13 in a cost-saving move.

At times, Seattle was down to eight players, with Jackson, all-star guard Sue Bird, all-star forward Swin Cash and reserve Katie Gearlds all missing late-season action for various reasons. They had nine in uniform for the playoffs, with Jackson and Gearlds watching in street clothes.

Whether that roster size remains in place for 2010 will be decided later this year during league meetings.

"It's a juggling act," Agler said. "We went into this season now knowing whether Lauren was going to be here, so we had to strengthen our roster with post players. Unfortunately, post players aren't always versatile enough to play a variety of positions. Next year, with the confidence that she will be back, I think our roster will have better balance to it."

Seattle has most of its team under contract. That includes Bird, who signed a multi-year extension before the end of the regular season. It also includes Agler, who has gone 42-26 in his two years as head coach.

The status of Jackson, who can't officially re-sign until the offseason, will affect how Agler adjusts the roster to try getting out of the first-round playoff rut.

"Our team needs to become more athletic. And we need to be deeper on the perimeter," Agler said. "The Western Conference is extremely competitive, it's very athletic, and I think we need to keep building our team that way."

The Storm is regarded as one of the league's most stable franchises, owned by four Seattle-area women, and averaging nearly 8,000 fans per game.

"With the players we have signed for next year, with Brian and Sue signed for multiple years, the ongoing and growing commitment of our local ownership group is significant," Bryant said. "I don't think our future has ever been brighter."