SEATTLE -- The worst team in the WNBA is talking playoffs.

The Seattle Storm lost 15 of their last 18 games. Fan attendance reached record lows. Coach and general manager Lin Dunn is feeling the pressure as the Storm start their third season.

	Lauren Jackson, last year's No. 1 pick, averaged 15.2 points for Seattle.

But now they have Sue Bird.

This year's No. 1 draft pick has never had a losing season. She led the Connecticut Huskies to a 39-0 record and the NCAA title in April.

"I think we're definitely a different team," said second-year guard Semeka Randall. "You're going to see some special players do some spectacular things, so it's going to be fun."

That was last year's story too.

Seattle also had the first draft pick in 2001, choosing 6-foot-5 center Lauren Jackson, an Australian Olympian considered one of the top players in the world.

But the Storm ended the summer 10-22, tying three other teams for last place. That was only four wins better than their inaugural season, when they finished dead last.

"We just want to see incremental progress each year and one of the ways you do that is continuing to build teams with top talent," executive vice president Billy McKinney said.

The 5-9 Bird has picked up almost every national honor. The Huskies also were national champions her sophomore season in 2000. Bird won four Big East Conference titles, and four state titles at New York's Christ The King High School.

She even won at the youth level.

"I've got a good track record," she said. "This is a new year, so I can't really compare it to the one prior. I just hope to bring some good winning vibes."

Dunn believes Bird is the scoring threat the team desperately needs and could carry them into the playoffs.

Seattle shot a dismal 37.8 percent from the field last season, including 31.3 percent from 3-point range.

"If you look at us statistically as a team, when we shoot 42 or 43 percent from the field we win," Dunn said. "We know we need to score five or six more points and we win five or six more games. We get five or six more rebounds we win five or six more games. It's not a complicated formula."

Jackson led the Storm in scoring with 15.2 points per game last year and also pulled down 6.7 rebounds. No other Storm player averaged double figures in scoring.

Jackson missed the final two games of the 2001 season with a shoulder injury, but underwent surgery and has recovered. She spent the offseason playing with her national team.

With Bird, Randall and veteran Michelle Marciniak, the Storm's backcourt should possess the ability to play a more up-tempo style than a year ago.

"We're starting to develop the attitude of 'we can beat anybody,"' McKinney said.

The Storm need to boost attendance and are counting on Bird to be the face of their marketing campaign. Seattle averaged a league-worst 5,954 fans per game last season.

"I think as you get better you're going to generate more attention," Dunn said. "We feel like we definitely have more talent, and we're also deeper."

Randall, the team's second-leading scorer last season with a 9.4 average, spent the offseason playing in Israel working to perfect her outside shot. Bird averaged 14.4 points for UConn this season and led the nation in free-throw shooting at 89.2 percent.

Bird said she expects her biggest adjustment to be playing on consecutive nights, something she hasn't done since her youth basketball days.

"I've never played a back-to-back game in my life unless you count AAU when you're 13, but you have a lot of energy then," she said. "There's always pressure and expectations when you're the No. 1 pick. It just comes with it, regardless of the player."

The Storm open the regular season May 30 against the New York Liberty at Key Arena.