Kevin Pelton of StormTracker reports that Sue Bird is making progress on her injury practicing for the first time today. However, the dilemma now might be whether Bird should play against the 3-11 Los Angeles Sparks this weekend.
The Storm is being cautious in dealing with Bird’s back. Head Coach Brian Agler pointed out at Tuesday’s game that the Storm doesn’t want to deal with the injury all season long. Yet teammate Lauren Jackson is excited at the prospect of getting Bird back on the floor.
“I want her to play,” said Jackson. “If it’s going to jeopardize herself, obviously then we want her to rest as long as possible to get it right, but me personally I miss her so much. I miss playing with her. T (Tanisha Wright) has been great, but Sue Bird is a legend in my eyes, so I love her out there.”
As much as Jackson might want her friend and legend to play, the fact remains that if Bird is less than 100%, resting her might be reasonable.
The Storm have already beaten the Sparks three times this season, Tanisha Wright dropped 12 dimes running the offense in place of Bird in Tuesday night’s victory over the Silver Stars, and given that the Sparks are currently without star forward Candace Parker… this game is conceivably quite winnable without Bird.
However, when asked about sitting Bird at practice today, Agler was hardly so overconfident.
“The Sparks are good,” said Agler. “The Sparks are a good team. Everybody’s good in this league. We’re just trying to get better and win every game we can.”