The dynamic of the Seattle Storm’s season changed dramatically, well before it started. In the middle of April, they lost reigning MVP Breanna Stewart for the season to a ruptured Achilles tendon. Just a few weeks later, it was announced that starting point guard and future of Hall-of-Famer Sue Bird would undergo knee surgery and could miss the entire season as well.
That brought the Storm to opening night with two giant holes in their starting lineup and needing several players to step up and help carry the load. Through five games, they’ve managed a 3-2 record and already seem to be finding some answers. Rookie Jordin Canada has done a nice job filling in for Bird at point guard, averaging 12.6 points, 6.0 assists and 3.4 steals per game, with the latter two marks both ranking in the top-five in the league.
On the interior, ace defender Natasha Howard has stepped up her offensive game, putting up star numbers. Through five games, Howard is averaging 18.2 points and 10.0 rebounds per game, shooting 47.4 percent from the floor. She emerged as a key contributor on last year’s championship team, averaging 13.2 points, which was nearly double her previous career-high. However, last season she was an offensive endpoint — a finisher who was assisted on 72.6 percent of her made baskets.
This season, she’s dramatically increased her scoring output and also taken on greater responsibility for creating scoring chances for herself. After five games, she was sixth in the league in usage rate among players who have appeared in multiple games and averaged at least 15 minutes per game.
The chart below shows all player seasons in WNBA history with a player appearing in at least 15 games and averaging at least 15 minutes per game, charted by their true shooting percentage and usage rate. You can see the dramatic shift for Howard. While her true shooting percentage has declined, from roughly the 96th percentile to the 57th in this sample, her usage has increased from the 68th to the 94th.
For comparison’s sake, Howard’s true shooting percentage and usage rate so far this season are almost identical to Maya Moore’s last year.
After being assisted on nearly three-fourths of her made baskets last season, Howard is leading her team in scoring while being assisted on less than half of her shots this year. She’s getting slightly more post-up and isolation possessions per game but her nose for the ball and prowess on the offensive glass have helped drive her production. Howard is third in the league in offensive rebound percentage among regular rotation players and has already scored 17 points on put-backs through five games. Per Synergy Sports, she’s also been much more effective on those more complicated self-created opportunities — scoring 1.44 and 1.00 points per possessions on post-ups and isolations, respectively, compared to 1.06 and 0.92 last season.
Howard has not suddenly morphed into Liz Cambage, a player you can just throw the ball to and clear for a bucket, but she clearly understands what the Storm need from her this season and is making the most of every advantage — catching slower bigs off-balance on the perimeter, getting her hands on seemingly every ball in the paint, making the most of pick-and-pop opportunities, and using her awareness to slip into excellent position in the paint, finishing with footwork and soft touch. That’s what makes this hot start so impressive. Howard hasn’t become an elite isolation scorer. But she’s putting up the numbers of a primary creator by making the absolute most of her skill set and just pushing at the margins of what she’s done in the past.
As a team, the Storm’s offense has taken a dip in efficiency, going from second in the league last season to sixth, a decline of more than 10 points per 100 possessions. But their defense is still elite (another area Howard shines) and their point differential is among the league’s best. Without Stewart and Bird, the Storm’s ceiling is indisputably lower this season. But Natasha Howard is doing her best to make sure their faces are still pressed up against it.
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