Bird takes a trip inside Storm's practice facility
Sue Bird goes inside the Seattle Storm's practice facility and catches up with the team's next generation of stars.
Video Transcript
Is anybody home?
Ezy.
Hey.
Hi.
Hi.
How are you?
Good.
Fancy door.
I know.
Welcome to our crib.
Oh.
You gonna show me around?
Yeah, of course.
Welcome.
Wow.
This one bring back any memories?
It does.
2020?
I know, my rookie year.
You're kind of a vet now.
Yeah.
Flau'Jae calls me grandma every day.
Oh my God.
She was like, "Damn, you were born in the 1900s?"
All right.
I mean, I could stare at the trophies all day- I know, me too but I know there's a lot more to this place.
There is a lot.
Please show me.
Come on down to the shoe wall.
Yours are somewhere here.
Those are Gabby's.
Gabby's.
Yeah.
Jordan.
Stewy.
Stewy's, yeah.
That's one of our Kicks for Equality.
We used to practice at a D2 school.
Yeah.
Now you literally have- I know your own home.
Yeah, I just think this should be the standard, and it matches the professionalism that we wanna have.
Well, I love the sneaker wall, 'cause it does kinda give, like, a nod to players who have come through, and it kinda shows the journey of all the years.
So yeah, come on down.
We're gonna take you to the court.
Okay.
Aw, look who it is.
Hi, guys.
Hey, how are you?
Usually when you do a, a Cribs, the magic happens in the bedroom, but here- Yeah.
It's the court.
Well, I heard there's, like, a little bird in here that's just always watching you guys.
Big Bird.
Big Bird.
You know there's a camera in it- For real?
That I can just tap into anytime?
No, that's- No.
I never got to practice in here- Oh so they, they put a little bird here for me.
Ooh.
Dom, Awa, like, you guys probably never had a practice facility.
Yeah.
Yeah, first time.
Yeah.
And, like, this literally makes you wanna stay all day.
Yeah, yeah.
You know, it's just felt like home since day one, so it's really, really good.
I mean, you had a lot in the LSU practice facility.
Yeah.
Did you have four of them things?
No.
Big Four didn't have four?
Not four, just one.
Ezy, the grandma- The grandma you need to get treatment.
What's happening?
Yeah, no.
I'm gonna head off, let the kids take the rest of the tour.
Yeah.
Yeah, sure, we got you.
So enjoy.
Oh, wait, I need to get my smoothie real quick.
This my daily, my usual.
You guys are pretty Everybody's pretty neat in here.
Yeah, we be- Is this, is this staged?
Yeah.
This is my space, okay?
And Flau'Jae Johnson is here, okay?
And normally she's here.
And I can't be here.
We- I can't.
This is my space.
Go to your space.
This right here is our space right here.
You can't put You should put all her shoes and line them up.
Yeah, because I need space for my shoes.
Well, I have a couple more questions for you guys.
We go chat?
All right, yeah.
Yeah.
Here we go.
The Storm are in last place right now, so it's a lot of losing.
But you're not necessarily driven just by wins and losses.
So who wants to start?
How do you manage those two things?
I'll start.
You'll start?
Okay.
For me, at first, it was hecka hard.
Like, you know, the highs were super high, and then the lows were super low.
So it's kinda learning to find that middle ground and kinda, like, trust the process.
But it's also, like, the way we losing, like, we not getting blown out.
No.
You know what I'm saying?
We playing the best teams in the league, we probably losing by like five points, seven points, two points.
Like, close games.
So that kinda give you a little hope of, like, so, like, we just gotta come in and just get a little bit better, like 1%.
And that's the kinda mentality I think we all kinda got.
And also what I will add is that this group, like, really matter, and, like, just the way, like, we really wanna win for each other.
And every time, even despite the loss, we stay together.
We never, like, blame each other.
Like, it's never, the resentment towards the group.
It's always we're trying to figure out, trying to find solution.
And, like, basketball, we can't, but if we still have the soul and the c- and the culture, we're gonna be fine for sure.
Okay, now we're taking it off the court.
I mean, I feel like- Like, I'm, I'm more excited just to hear, like- I got one.
I got one.
You got one?
Let's hear it.
What time?
All good.
Gracias.
Um- She said, "Gracias."
No, no, I got one.
I would say one thing I learned about Awa off the court is that she's nonchalant.
No.
She is nonchalant, bro.
That's sweet.
Awa is, like, very chill.
It's the hand.
Like- I mean, that's- I feel I'm kinda like that.
You agree?
Yeah, that's good.
Awa is just like- Awa, that's good she's chilling.
She's just like- Awa is like- No the most mature 20-year-old I ever in my life.
Like, and she's so chill, and, like, I'm so hyper.
Flau just never stops.
She's just, like, from 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM, she just never stops.
She has a lot of energy.
Like, maybe it's, like, "Fla- stop, bro."
Sometimes, like, "Fla, stop."
Like, "I need you there, there."
But no, yeah, she may be that, but because she's sleeping all the time, so maybe she has a lot of energy like that.
She's rested up, yeah.
Yeah, all the f- all the time.
All the time.
And Dom, she's just cool girl.
Dom lit.
I feel like Dom- she be acting like she quiet, but Dom is lit.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Dom lit.
All right.
All right.
So that's what I'll say, like You guys, this is your second year, you guys' first year.
What do you think about just, like, the culture of Seattle, like, from a sports standpoint?
Like, how would you describe that?
It's amazing.
It's the For me, it's the best fan base in the WNBA, for real.
Like, because it's the most genuine fan base.
Like, they will always support you.
They are still supporting us now despite our record, despite our, how our season looks like.
They still believe in us.
They still show up to games.
We still have sold-out games.
And, and they support on, even on social, everything you see all the time.
They're really behind us all the time, and it's so great to feel that love, and how they just embrace us since, since day one.
Do you feel comfortable here?
Do you feel like with this core group you have what it takes to, to, to build the franchise back?
100%.
I- Yeah.
100%, yeah.
No doubt.
Yeah.
I feel like we can.
Like, I feel like, you know, like, it's really good because, like, we really enjoy each other.
Like, you know what I'm saying?
On the court, but off the court as well.
Like, and I just think that, like, it's fun.
Like, you know, and I feel like we gonna get so good, and we just, we gonna be turnt up.
Yeah.
Period.
Facts.
So everything.
I agree.
