Texas tugged at Storm coach

SAN ANTONIO — Sure, the Storm has been able to come back. But can it do it against the team that bred the comeback coach himself?

That Storm offense, you see. And that buckle-down defense. Even the wheeling point guard who may shoot or dribble around until she finds an open teammate. They were all honed here in San Antonio.

First-year Storm coach Brian Agler returns to Texas to face the Silver Stars (1-1) team that allowed his creative offense to blossom. And to face San Antonio coach Dan Hughes, who allowed Agler to erase a six-year absence from the sideline by making him a lead assistant in 2005 and stand-in coach when Hughes suffered an injury last season.

"I don't know if I've ever had an assistant with as much experience as Brian," Hughes said of Agler, who won two titles in the ABL. "I knew he wanted to be a head coach again and if I saw the opportunity, I wanted to work as hard as I could to help him do that because he helped us a lot."

Agler, 49, replaced former Storm coach Anne Donovan in January.

While the change breathed new life into the organization, things weren't easier.

Forward Shyra Ely could be seen turning her back and shaking her head in disgust as Agler corrected an error in her play at training camp. He stopped practice to tell veteran Sheryl Swoopes publicly that she needs to shoot when open no matter the misses. And Agler told second-year guard Katie Gearlds he'd be on her like "white on rice" to improve her plodding defense.

"Brian is the second-toughest coach I've played for," said Swoopes, who said former Olympic coach Tara VanDerveer tops the list. "When you get to this level, if you have a team full of veterans, they're going to assume you know all these things. He takes the time to explain why we're doing things. And he's not satisfied with going through it. You're going to go through it until you get it the way he wants it done."

Agler is like a rover at practice, floating behind his players, stopping action to physically rewind a set gone awry. Or he pulls everyone together in a huddle to point out positives.

In tight, late-game situations, eight-year veteran Lauren Jackson points out that he always has the right play due to his being a "connoisseur" of the game.

"He gets the best out of you and he makes you want to play for him because he has so much confidence in [you]," Ely said.

Agler's legacy at the Storm helm may be solidified with forward Swin Cash.

Stealing a page from Hughes' playbook, Agler traded his fourth overall draft pick to Detroit for the established veteran. Hughes had traded 2007 No. 2 pick Jessica Davenport to New York for guard Becky Hammon, who was unsuccessful in leading the Liberty back to the Eastern Conference finals.

With the Silver Stars last season, Hammon led the team to the Western Conference finals and was a runner-up to Jackson in MVP voting.

Many raised an eyebrow at Agler's move, especially with the Storm desperately needing a perimeter scorer after the coach didn't protect Betty Lennox, the team's second-leading scorer in 2007, in the expansion draft. The team also hasn't had a quality backup for point guard Sue Bird since Tully Bevilaqua left in 2005. The void could have been filled by Candice Wiggins (drafted third overall) or Alexis Hornbuckle (taken fourth).

But Agler believed in Cash, 28, despite her averaging just 11.1 points and 6.1 rebounds in 2007. And in three games with the Storm, the 6-foot-1 wing has been an unsung hero, averaging 15.5 points, 5.5 boards and 3.0 assists.

Hornbuckle, who would have most likely been the Storm's selection, too, is averaging 5.3 points, 4.0 steals and 3.0 rebounds in 20.7 minutes off the bench for Detroit.

"We needed to keep an eye on our future," Shock coach Bill Laimbeer said. "Seattle has — rightfully or wrongfully so — put a lot of the eggs in the basket that they're going to play with right now."

While 3-0 for the first time in franchise history, the Storm shot a combined 29 percent from the field in the first half of its first two games. The team has needed to outscore its opponents 138-85 in the second half to win its three games.

You'd figure the ability to whip together late surges would run out.

Then you glance over the roster of names like Swoopes, Bird, Jackson, Cash and Yolanda Griffith and wonder if the Storm is just the first in the WNBA to copy the style of great NBA teams that fiddle around in the first half before crushing opponents in the second.

"We've got a team of some serious competitors," Agler said. "I wish I had an answer for our beginnings. The main thing is to live in the moment, keep our poise and just keep playing."

Jayda Evans: 206-464-2067 or jevans@seattletimes.com