Jordan Horston hopes ‘boot camp’ spent with Jewell Loyd leads to big season for Storm

Storm forward Jordan Horston isn’t happy with her WNBA rookie year, which largely explains why she spent four weeks in the offseason living with teammate and five-time All-Star Jewell Loyd.

“She took me in and let me stay at her home,” Horston said. “We were waking up at 4 o’clock in the morning. It was like boot camp, literally.

“All I had to do was go up there and workout. She took care of me. It was really cool just to see her people and how she works out. Just to see what it takes to be great. I learned a lot and I’m thankful.”

What was her biggest takeaway?

“It’s consistency,” Horston said. “It’s not about how long or how hard [you practice]. Some days you got to listen to your body and recover. But it’s being consistent with all your work.”

After the Storm selected Horston with the ninth overall pick in the first round of last year’s draft, Loyd took great interest in the 6-foot-2 forward who starred with the Tennessee Volunteers and struggled to find a productive role with her new team.

Loyd, a former No. 1 overall draft pick, won the WNBA Rookie of the Year award in 2015, but she also had bouts of inconsistency her first year with the Storm and was benched early in the season during an 11-game stretch.

So, the two talked frequently last year during a season Horston called “not my best.”

She started 17 of 36 games while averaging 6.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.2 steals and shooting 36.7% from the field and 24.4% on three-pointers.

In many ways, it was an above-average first year considering Horston battled a nagging shoulder injury most of the season and was voted to the 2023 All-Rookie team.

However, she wasn’t pleased and admittedly lost a little bit of confidence in her abilities.

“I felt like I was sped up,” Horston said. “I was just like, I don’t know, my mindset is just completely different now. Like, it’s crazy how much more comfortable I am just playing out there. I felt like last year, it was like, I was tense and I was missing bunnies and stuff because I was so worried about not messing up.”

Following Horston’s surgery in October on her right shoulder and five months of rehabilitation in Seattle, Loyd invited her protegee to her Lincolnwood, Ill., home to train.

“The biggest thing with Jordan is making sure that mentally she’s locked in,” Loyd said. “Physically, she’s all there. We know she has high potential in this league, but I think for her it was important to see who she is outside of basketball and who she could be.

“And that’s what we see now. She’s coming back. She’s talking more. She’s engaged in there, and that’s pretty cool to see.”

This season, the Storm are giving Horston first dibs at a starting spot in a retooled lineup that includes Nneka Ogwumike, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Ezi Magbegor and Loyd.

In many ways, it’s an enviable assignment considering Horston can lean on and learn from four veterans who have collectively played in 1,022 games, 20 WNBA All-Star Games and won three WNBA titles.

“It’s amazing,” said Horston, who turns 23 in two weeks. “I love it. I’m just learning so much from them just watching how they work and how they recover. I’m taking in bits and pieces of information on everything.”

Playing alongside the star-studded quartet dubbed the “Core Four” is also a potentially thankless job, considering the Storm are tasking Horston to take over the perimeter defensive stopper role that has held by Gabby Williams the past two seasons.

“It’s important for everyone to buy and invest into what their roles are going to be because everybody is valuable,” coach Noelle Quinn said. “The attention that a lot of the players that she may be playing with will garner means she has to be … ready to knock down open shots.

“She has to be very efficient in what she does on the floor because she’s going to have a lot of opportunities. I think she’s ready to buy into that role.”

An ankle injury prevented Horston from participating in last week’s training camp and Saturday’s 84-79 exhibition loss against the Los Angeles Sparks in the WNBA Canada Game in Edmonton, Alberta.

The Storm welcomed Horston and Magbegor, who also sat out last week, to their first practice Monday and both are expected to play in Tuesday’s 7 p.m. preseason matchup versus the Phoenix Mercury at Climate Pledge Arena.

It’s an important outing for Horston, who is hoping to establish some chemistry and cohesion with her All-Star teammates, and one last dress rehearsal before Seattle’s regular-season opener May 14.

“My expectation is to be better than I was last year,” Horston said. “They’re going to put some respect on my name this year. Defensively, offensively, you’re going to see a different me. I’m just ready to do whatever it takes to get that championship. That’s all I’m playing for, that championship. We got the pieces, too, so I’m excited.”

Note

• Second-year point guard Jade Melbourne suffered a concussion during Monday’s practice and is out for Tuesday’s preseason game.