Sue Hen retires a legend and future Corridor of Famer, however the Seattle Storm level guard solely made it look simple

SEATTLE — Sue Bird walked off the court docket Tuesday for the final time, her WNBA profession concluding the place it began 20 years earlier. Regardless of a season-ending loss, the Seattle Storm level guard obtained a becoming tribute from the group at Local weather Pledge Area. The followers roared their appreciation for her 19 seasons as Hen unsuccessfully fought again tears, repeatedly acknowledging the group by elevating her fingers, earlier than disappearing into the tunnel.

Hen’s path from No. 1 total decide of the WNBA draft to future Corridor of Famer appeared direct. She walks away from the WNBA as probably the most adorned participant in league historical past, with a document 13 All-Star appearances and 4 championships throughout a profession spent fully in Seattle.

Over 20 years right here, Hen was a paragon of consistency, averaging double-figure scoring every of her first 16 seasons and not less than 4.8 assists in all however certainly one of her campaigns. But the regular play required Hen to navigate a collection of career-threatening surgical procedures on her troublesome left knee, an ever-changing group of teammates and her personal getting old.

All of it got here to an finish Tuesday, when the Las Vegas Aces eradicated the Storm 3-1 within the WNBA semifinals. As Hen has mirrored on her profession over the past a number of weeks, she was maybe proudest of profitable 4 WNBA championships throughout three completely different phases — and many years — of her profession. Hen first received as a part of a duo with fellow 23-year-old Lauren Jackson, then once more with the 2 stars of their prime six years later. She added the ultimate two championships as a veteran presence on a roster anchored by youthful stars Jewell Loyd and Breanna Stewart.

“It wasn’t identical to lightning in a bottle the place you had an ideal roster for a few years,” Hen mentioned. “I used to be a part of groups the place every time we received we needed to determine it out. It was a very completely different equation and we did it. I am actually happy with that.”

On the best way there, Hen thought-about leaving to complete her profession elsewhere earlier than recommitting to the Storm, finally outlasting six head coaches, six teammates who’ve already beat her to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Corridor of Fame and even a constructing. (Longtime residence KeyArena, now renovated as Local weather Pledge Area.)

Because the curtain comes down one closing time, we revisit the 4 phases of one of many best skilled careers in girls’s sports activities historical past, together with the second Hen knew she would end her profession in Seattle.

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Sue Hen will get emotional reflecting on her 20-year profession within the WNBA.

Act I: ‘Huge Youngsters’

Scene: October 2004. Confetti is falling at KeyArena. A sellout crowd has seen the Storm beat the Connecticut Sun to win Seattle’s first main professional sports activities championship for the reason that Sonics 25 years earlier. Hen and Jackson, of their third season collectively, rejoice the primary of what appears to be like to be many titles collectively.

“We had no thought what we had been doing, we had been completely new to it,” Hen recalled. “It felt superb. It was the primary time. It was the town’s first in [25 years] in order that pleasure was actual. We had been 23. We felt like we had been going to be within the Finals yearly — after which we weren’t.”

When Hen was drafted No. 1 by the Storm in 2002, the franchise was younger in each sense. The WNBA had expanded to Seattle simply two years earlier, and in contrast to different growth groups that constructed up shortly, the Storm operated patiently. That resulted in back-to-back prime picks yielding Hen and Jackson, precocious basketball abilities whose video games meshed completely.

“She and Lauren each, huge youngsters,” mentioned Jenny Boucek, who joined the Storm as an assistant underneath Anne Donovan forward of Hen’s second season. “They performed for the love of the sport. There was a pleasure about them that was indescribable and that was their edge. Sue and Lauren’s pleasure gave them a fearlessness and virtually a naiveté that trumped numerous issues that maintain groups and gamers again. They had been simply having a lot enjoyable.

“That was truly a little bit little bit of a problem for Anne as a result of it was so opposite to her character. I might typically have conversations with Anne like, ‘We have got to maximise this. That is our edge. Although it is not how you use, our star gamers, they thrive in a enjoyable, playful surroundings.'”

It is exhausting to consider now, however one of many questions for Hen early in her profession was how you can be a frontrunner in a locker room filled with older gamers. Within the wake of a 2003 season that ended with Seattle simply outdoors the playoff image regardless of Jackson profitable MVP for the primary time, the Storm targeted on including extra expertise. Seattle added a pair of veteran starters, choosing Betty Lennox in a dispersal draft after the Cleveland Rockers folded, and buying Sheri Sam and key reserve Janell Burse by way of commerce.

“I feel the entire thought then was ‘Sue and Lauren are the cornerstones on this second, they’re this duo that we have to construct round,'” Hen mentioned. “‘How can we make their lives simpler as younger gamers? How can we make it so they simply need to go on the market and play?'”

The strikes labored as envisioned. The Storm received 20 video games for the primary time and loved home-court benefit all through the playoffs due to upsets elsewhere. Regardless of Hen breaking her nostril through the workforce’s first-round win over the Minnesota Lynx and present process surgical procedure the day earlier than the deciding Recreation 3 of the convention finals, she handed out 14 assists as Seattle superior to the WNBA Finals.

After dropping Recreation 1 in Connecticut, the Storm got here residence to a full KeyArena and received the following two video games. Lennox received Finals MVP honors as Seattle celebrated a championship at residence.

Free company, new to the WNBA as a part of a collective bargaining settlement signed after Hen’s rookie season, took a toll on the Storm’s championship roster. Sam and fellow starter Kamila Vodichkova departed, as did Hen’s backup, Tully Bevilaqua. Seattle nonetheless received 20 video games the next season, however was upset within the opening spherical by the Houston Comets. By 2007, when Jackson received MVP a second time, the Storm had dropped to .500 and had been swept out of the playoffs within the first spherical.

“We had a championship roster and we by no means bought to construct on it,” Hen mentioned. “We by no means bought to see what was going to occur with it as a result of free company got here in. Now you fast-forward to 2006, 2007, I will be sincere: These rosters weren’t adequate to win. May we have now overachieved and gotten additional? Positively, however these rosters weren’t essentially championship rosters.”

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Sue Hen passes to Breanna Stewart, who knocks down one other 3-pointer for the Storm.

Act II: Peaking

Scene: September 2010. Philips Area, Atlanta. Coco Miller misses a 3-pointer that would have tied the rating and the Storm full an ideal postseason within the wake of a 28-6 common season. For the primary time since 2010, Hen is a WNBA champion. She leaps into Jackson’s arms to rejoice.

“We had been very mission-oriented in a means,” Hen recalled of the 2010 season. “There was a mission. It was to win.”

Boucek, who returned to Seattle’s teaching employees in 2010 underneath coach Brian Agler, noticed the distinction 5 consecutive first-round exits made.

“I feel all of us took it as a right how ‘simply’ that got here and that we had been simply going to win numerous them,” Boucek mentioned. “It had been a very long time in our world that it did not occur. So there was a seriousness that wasn’t there the primary time, a spotlight, an appreciation for a way tough this was.”

This was additionally a special model of Hen. After profitable the primary title, she did not elevate her recreation as anticipated in her mid-20s. She made the All-WNBA First Staff every of her first 4 seasons, however was left off each groups at ages 25 and 26. In 2007, when Hen handled midseason arthroscopic knee surgical procedure, her scoring common dropped to 10.4 PPG — the bottom it could be for a decade.

Taking part in with out Jackson, injured throughout first-round exits in 2008 and 2009, compelled Hen to change into extra aggressive offensively. In 2008, her scoring common bounced again to 14.1 PPG. In 2011, Hen averaged a career-high 14.7 factors, incomes All-WNBA honors each years.

“I at all times joke I am a Robin, I am not a Batman,” Hen mentioned. “However I am additionally like a chameleon in some methods. I’ve to suit into what the workforce wants. We had this participant that every part was based mostly round. Now it was like, ‘Alright, we have to choose up the slack.'”

Throughout this stretch, Hen earned an unforgettable however profane nickname on a preferred WNBA message board for her tendency to make huge photographs late in video games to assist the Storm put opponents away: Sue Die Bulls— Hen. Teammate Tanisha Wright delighted in joking together with her about it.

“I do not know the primary time I heard it,” Hen mentioned, “nevertheless it’s a hell of a f’ing nickname. It is a praise.”

Within the 2010 playoffs alone, Hen made a pair of game-winning photographs to assist hold the Storm unbeaten. In Recreation 2 at Phoenix, Hen moved off the ball whereas Wright ran a pick-and-roll, then delivered a catch-and-shoot 3 to cap a comeback from down 12 with 3:21 left and full the sweep.

Every week later, it was Hen operating pick-and-roll with Jackson, whose transferring display screen freed Hen to make a pull-up jumper within the closing seconds to win Recreation 1 of the WNBA Finals towards the Dream.

“I’ve by no means been round a extra clutch shooter than Sue Hen,” Agler mentioned. “Her skill to hit key free throws, hit key photographs within the guts of the sport, there have been a number of occasions she did that within the years I used to be there. There is not any means I might have extra confidence in anyone else than her.”

The 2010 postseason marked one other turning level for Hen: With Boucek unable to journey for playoff video games resulting from a rule briefly limiting groups to 1 full-time assistant coach, they started watching movie collectively to check opposing defenses and determine how Hen might greatest counter them, one thing Agler mentioned “took her recreation to a different degree.”

“I’ve by no means been round a extra clutch shooter than Sue Hen.”

Former Storm coach Brian Agler

“Sue’s mind could be very very like a pc,” Boucek defined. “Should you put the information within the file cupboards and also you load up that database, she is best than anyone I’ve ever seen at having the ability to pull from massive quantities of knowledge on the proper time. By the point she bought to the sport, she would use her genius to tug from it, however she was ready.”

To Hen, the additional research was all about discovering any edge needed throughout a playoff run the place the workforce’s closing 4 wins got here by three factors or fewer.

“Should you can steal a possession in that means, simply by outsmarting them,” Hen mentioned. “I’ve form of discovered that is the place numerous my energy lies — having the ability to use my IQ to form of manipulate. Jenny helped me set up that.”

Act III: Rebuilding and recommitting

Scene: September 2015. Night time of the WNBA draft lottery. UConn star Breanna Stewart, who has already received three consecutive NCAA titles, is the prized No. 1 decide subsequent spring. Seattle has one of the best odds. Watching at a sports activities bar close to Seattle, Hen sees WNBA president Laurel Richie open an envelope with the Storm’s brand and is aware of it means she’ll end her profession the identical place it began.

“Stewie would not understand it,” Hen mentioned, “however she form of saved my profession right here in numerous methods. If we do not get the No. 1 decide that yr, I do not know. I actually do not know. On the similar time, if I’m going to New York, who is aware of if I final so long as I’ve lasted now. Issues occur for a cause and I am glad they occurred the best way they did.”

To get in place to land Stewart required Seattle to rebuild for the primary time in Hen’s profession. The roster had aged and atrophied, with Jackson final taking part in within the WNBA in 2012 resulting from damage. The Storm had been coming off a 12-22 document in 2014, when Agler departed for the Los Angeles Sparks. Hen’s future in Seattle was additionally changing into a query mark.

“The query I needed to ask myself,” Hen mentioned, “Nicely, any individual else, I feel it was [UConn] coach (Geno) Auriemma, posed it to me this fashion, which was: ‘Do you ever need to play in a significant WNBA recreation once more?’ I used to be like, ‘Oh man, once you put it that means.'”

Taking part in for her hometown New York Liberty loomed as an choice. Not solely had been they a contender led by a pair of native New Yorkers — Tina Charles and Epiphanny Prince, each of whom performed with Hen throughout her closing season — the Liberty additionally had added former Seattle teammates Wright and Swin Money, two of Hen’s closest buddies within the league.

“Stewie would not understand it, however she form of saved my profession right here in numerous methods. If we do not get the No. 1 decide that yr, I do not know.”

Sue Hen, who thought-about leaving Seattle previous to Seattle profitable the 2016 WNBA draft lottery and the suitable to pick Breanna Stewart at No. 1

Inevitably, they tried to recruit Hen to New York. And Hen might simply envision taking part in at iconic Madison Sq. Backyard with family and friends in attendance.

“I undoubtedly fell in love with the fantasy of that,” Hen mentioned. “It turned very enticing.”

Particularly as losses mounted through the 2015 season.

“We’re dropping numerous video games,” Hen recalled. “That is what we signed up for. That is what I signed up for. Clearly Stewie was popping out of school the following yr, in order that was very a lot the motivating issue, nevertheless it bought exhausting. Shedding is difficult.

“You simply need to really feel good on the market. It would not at all times need to be about dropping and profitable, however you need to really feel good on the market. It was powerful.”

On the similar time Hen was deciding the place she would end her profession, she was additionally taking steps to make sure she saved taking part in at a excessive degree deep into her 30s. Hen started working closely with performance coach Susan King Borchardt, who had been a part of the Seattle group seasonally, on a year-round foundation. The distinction was evident.

“She did an outstanding job of constructing the choice that she was going to spend money on her physique and handle her physique in these latter years,” Wright mentioned. “I do know that is a irritating half since you’ve had these knee points … however I feel Sue did an outstanding job of constructing the choice to say, ‘I am committing to this,’ and clearly it is helped her tremendously these final 5 years.

“When you noticed her in motion, it is like, ‘Oh, s—.’ That is real-deal stuff. For her to make that dedication at that age? Kudos to her.”

“Sue’s mind could be very very like a pc. Should you put the information within the file cupboards and also you load up that database, she is best than anyone … at having the ability to pull from massive quantities of knowledge on the proper time.”

Former Storm coach Jenny Boucek, on watching recreation movie and serving to Hen put together for opposing defenses

In the meantime, Boucek — who changed Agler as head coach in 2015 — was putting in an offense that would spotlight Hen’s decision-making prowess in addition to function Stewart, ought to the Storm be capable of draft her.

“I am so grateful for that,” Hen mentioned, “as a result of I used to be at a spot in my profession the place I felt like I used to be plateauing and wanted to alter my weight loss program. That model actually breathed new life for me. It wasn’t like catered towards me nevertheless it actually was designed for a participant like myself.”

With Seattle locked right into a battle towards the San Antonio Silver Stars for pole place within the draft lottery, Hen sat out 4 of the final 5 video games in 2015, together with a loss to San Antonio within the regular-season finale that assured the Storm one of the best odds. When the profitable mixture got here up for Seattle, Hen’s selection in free company was clear. She took conferences to undergo the free company course of however by no means severely thought-about leaving.

“I knew deep down,” Hen mentioned, “if we bought the No. 1 decide I used to be not going wherever.”

Act IV: Again on prime

Scene: September 2018. Hen is celebrating a championship once more, this time towards the Washington Mystics. She’s now the veteran on a gaggle of gamers largely experiencing profitable a title for the primary time, as is coach Dan Hughes.

“For me personally,” Hen mentioned, “what was completely different from 2004 and 2010 is I legitimately by no means thought I’d be on the No. 1 workforce going into the playoffs and having an opportunity to go to the Finals. That was off the desk for me. I simply did not even permit myself to consider it that means. I haven’t got like a favourite Sue Hen retires a legend and future Corridor of Famer, however the Seattle Storm level guard solely made it look simple per se, however I feel when it is all mentioned and executed, 2018 will at all times stand out.”

Seattle’s success with Stewart wasn’t fast. After reaching the playoffs throughout Stewart’s rookie season, when Hen was voted All-WNBA First Staff at age 35 after taking pictures what was then a career-best 44% from 3-point vary, the Storm backslid in 2017, costing Boucek her job. Hughes, one of many league’s winningest coaches, took over however retained a lot of the offense Boucek had put in.

Regardless of Stewart’s potential, Hen famous Seattle was nonetheless picked seventh going into the 2018 season, when Hughes, a longtime WNBA head coach, took over. Hen and newcomer Natasha Howard, a reserve on championship groups in Indiana and Minnesota, had been the lone core gamers with important postseason expertise.

“No one realized the affect Natasha was going to have on our workforce,” Hen mentioned. “I do not assume we realized it. In actuality, if you happen to take a look at it, she did not even begin [the first game]. It wasn’t till [Crystal Langhorne] bought damage after which she needed to begin. We had all the proper items in numerous methods and Natasha Howard getting into that lineup unlocked all of it.”

In Hen, who had seen all of it by that time, a younger workforce additionally had the proper veteran chief. All the time able to main by instance — Boucek referred to as her an ideal “influencer” of her teammates — Hen had change into extra comfy as a vocal presence within the locker room over time.

“Sue had the knowledge to know that numerous issues bought to occur to place your self in place to be champion once more,” Hughes mentioned, “particularly after a rebuild scenario. I feel the identical issues she appreciated, I appreciated.

“I feel that appreciation is one thing that wasn’t misplaced to the teammates that hadn’t lived that life to know that that is uncommon air. You need every part you’ll be able to at that second to be invested in the suitable means. As a frontrunner of our workforce, that was an ideal message she carried.”

Two years later, after each Hen (resulting from one more knee surgical procedure) and Stewart (Achilles rupture) missed the chance to defend the title in 2019, the Storm received a fourth championship underneath distinctive circumstances. The 2020 season was performed in a bubble on the IMG campus in Bradenton, Florida, with gamers using their platform to spotlight social justice, particularly the “Say Her Name” campaign.

To Hen, the 2020 Seattle workforce — additionally undefeated within the playoffs — deserves to be thought-about among the many WNBA’s best groups ever.

“We had the identical expertise from 2018, solely we bought higher and deeper,” she mentioned. “Now we had these vets — clearly I am an older vet, however Stewie and Jewell are actually vets. You then add Jordin [Canada] and Cedes [Mercedes Russell], they are not vets, however they’re WNBA gamers. It isn’t their rookie yr anymore.”

For all of the younger expertise round Hen, she remained an indispensable a part of the Storm’s final two championship groups. In 2020, they went 16-1 within the 17 video games Hen performed, struggling three of their 4 losses together with her sidelined through the common season.

As Hen turned older, she discovered methods to compensate for dropping the velocity Agler mentioned made her a “a lot, significantly better athlete than folks gave her credit score for” in her prime. Alongside the best way, Hen’s manufacturing remained remarkably constant into her 40s.

“I’ve actually been a special participant in every five-year phase,” Hen mentioned. “I have been a little bit bit completely different bodily and I’ve simply been capable of finding methods.

“I by no means in my life have relied on my dimension, on my energy. I feel there have been occasions earlier in my profession the place I relied on quickness a little bit bit — not relied on however I wanted it. It is how I bought locations. With every change bodily that has come, I have been in a position to adapt as a result of I by no means really relied on it in these different methods. My expertise and my smarts, so long as I had that, you’ll be able to overcome a number of the bodily adjustments.”

Now Hen is strolling away from the WNBA after taking part in extra video games than another participant in league historical past (579; solely Diana Taurasi has additionally performed in not less than 500 video games) and doing so on her phrases, having determined to return for a closing season after fans chanted “One more year!” following Seattle’s 2021 playoff loss to Phoenix.

After initially leaving the door open to extending her profession, Hen introduced her retirement halfway by means of the Storm’s schedule, giving followers a chance to indicate their appreciation throughout her closing marketing campaign. A sellout crowd of 18,000-plus, the biggest in franchise historical past, turned out for her closing regular-season recreation in Seattle.

Hen is conscious well being might have prevented that ending, because it did for Jackson’s WNBA profession — particularly contemplating Hen’s left knee points courting to an ACL tear throughout her freshman yr in 1998 however accelerated by microfracture surgical procedure to deal with a meniscus damage in 2003. No different skilled basketball participant is understood to have performed so lengthy after microfracture, which has change into more and more uncommon as a standard therapy.

“The story that no person talks about is my knee,” Hen mentioned. “That is the knee of a 70-year-old. Within the bubble I had a bone bruise. I bought an MRI and the physician who was on web site opened it up and was like, ‘WTF?’ My knee normally will get that response from docs. Individuals consistently inform me, ‘I do not understand how you are doing it.’ I do not understand how I am doing it both! A few of it’s luck, a few of it’s good genetics.”

Because the psychological and bodily toll of taking part in grew and Hen prepared for her next act as an investor in NJ/NY Gotham FC of the Nationwide Ladies’s Soccer League, co-owner of the ladies’s sports activities media model TOGETHXR and a broadcaster, the time to retire was proper “for thus many causes,” she mentioned.

Certain, there is a recreation right here or there Hen needs had gone otherwise, a go she hadn’t made or a shot she had taken. Nonetheless, she’s retiring happy with a profession that will probably be tough for future generations of WNBA stars to match.

“There’s like these tiny little regrets by way of that,” Hen mentioned. “However I feel that is simply pure as an athlete to be like, ‘Dang, I want we’d have received that one.’ However typically talking, I really feel very a lot at peace and relaxed with my profession. I haven’t got heavy remorse. I haven’t got just about any shoulda coulda wouldas.

“I do know that I did every part I might to win championships and we had been profitable in that regard, so it feels actually good. I do know I had a constructive affect on my neighborhood, on my groups. I do not really feel like several stones had been unturned in that means.”

Earlier than becoming a member of ESPN, Kevin Pelton spent 10 years working for the Seattle Storm because the workforce’s web site reporter.