MINNEAPOLIS — It took both practices in April for Cheryl Reeve to truly believe this would work. The new pieces she’s acquired through the WNBA offseason, not through high-profile contracts or superteam titles, and the rest of the players who have developed in Minneapolis over the past few years could play out in a way that actually feels like a season has passed.
During two practices, the players and coaches looked around the gym and realized that the chemistry they were feeling and how quickly the players and staff were coming together was a rare feeling. External expectations for Minnesota, which failed to advance to the 2022 playoffs and was eliminated in the first round of the 2023 playoffs, were not very high. But inside the gym, Lynx saw, heard and felt something completely different. Sometimes it takes several weeks to build this type of foundation, which means the team has to struggle and fight back from the bottom over the course of a three-month season. But for Lynx, exercise number 2 made it clear.
“It was the way we played for each other on the court,” Reeve said. “I didn’t know all the personalities, how we were going to go through the travel, the road trips, all that, the wins, the losses. But on the second day of training camp, we had a way of playing for each other. … I didn’t necessarily know what it was going to translate to, but it was day two for me.”
That’s our coach. 💪
Cheryl Reeve is the 2024 WNBA Coach of the Year. pic.twitter.com/9qSrFPpNn5
— Minnesota Lynx (@minnesotalynx) September 29, 2024
It’s been seven years since Minnesota won a WNBA championship, which is practically a lifetime in Lynx years (slightly longer than a dog’s age). From 2011 to 2017, Minnesota won four titles and advanced to the WNBA Finals twice. The core players on that team were iconic All-Stars in their own right (and in the WNBA All-Star sense of the word). When the 2024 WNBA season began, every player except Maya Moore, one of the most integral players in that legendary game, had their jerseys hanging from the rafters. In August, Moore’s was also joined by Lindsay Whalen, Rebekkah Brunson, Sylvia Fowles and Seimone Augustus. There were always naysayers and whisperers. Of course, Reeve won the title while coaching four Olympians and five athletes in retired uniforms. But who doesn’t?
One season after Minnesota won its final title in 2017, Moore, Whalen and Brunson all retired. Fowles and Augustus remained, but Lynx was passed on to the younger generation. In 2019, Minnesota drafted Nafisa Collier out of Connecticut. “There was no one yelling, ‘Draft blood!’” said Brunson, now a Minnesota assistant. But there was a possibility.”
One of the greatest achievements in professional sports history was to hang a fourth title banner and speak of potential and growth again just 12 months later. But that’s how dynasties work. It has a shelf life. There are ups and downs. Rapidly, gradually or otherwise.
I couldn’t go back to those days, and in some ways it was impossible. The league was changing, and the free agency was changing significantly with it.
Free agency actually opened up before the 2021 cycle and the Lynx made some big moves, including bringing in Kayla McBride, Natalie Achonwa, and Aerial Powers. Throughout the WNBA, superteams have been formed as players gain more power to choose their destination. The Las Vegas Aces added point guard Chelsea Gray to an already stacked 2022 team to win the franchise’s first championship, and then added Candice Parker before the 2023 season. At the same time, the New York Liberty captured the hearts of two-time MVP Breanna Stewart, MVP Jonquel Jones, and All-Stars Betnijah Laney-Hamilton and Courtney Vandersloot.
Minnesota threw its hat in the ring for some big-name players, but came up empty-handed in free agency.
Entering 2024: Other franchises have followed the Liberty and Aces’ lead, with Seattle adding All-Stars Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins Smith to Jewell Loyd and Ezi Magbegor, and the Mercury signing Kahleah Copper to join Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner. But Minnesota decided to take a path a little less traveled (read: less traveled).
“Everyone’s goal is to improve every year,” Lynx GM Clare Duwelius said. “We had a very clear idea of what we wanted. “It’s no different from a basketball game where you take it one point at a time.”
With that mindset, Minnesota began free agency to avoid signing big name players or stealing headlines. The Lynx wanted to address a few basic areas: players who could add offensive firepower around Collier and McBride, who are already on multi-year deals, and defensive stalwarts who could succeed in Reeve’s system. Likewise, Reeve emphasized that every player joining the franchise needs to fit into the right culture, someone who can exceed expectations.
The franchise’s first move was a trade with Connecticut in January that garnered minimal attention and brought in Natisha Hiedeman as a backup guard and 3-point threat.
A day later, the Lynx announced that they had re-signed Bridget Carleton. Her 2023 numbers were good, but not outstanding. She was thought of as a rotational depth player, but coaches believed she was close to a breakthrough if only she could instill more confidence in her outside shooting. (Spoiler: They were right. She’s increasing her shooting minutes this season: a massive 44% from long range).
On February 1, the first day that WNBA free agents could sign, Minnesota announced the signing of guard Courtney Williams and forward Alanna Smith, addressing the offensive and defensive issues for the Lynx.
Like Carleton, Smith once thought her WNBA days might be over. After the Fever cut her in 2022 (a season in which she recorded just five wins), it was thought she would focus on playing professionally overseas with the Australian national team. Williams, who played for three teams in three seasons, was hired by Minnesota as a starting point guard.
In April, with room to add one more three-point shooter, Reeve and Duwelius went after Cecilia Zandalasini, who has been under contract with the franchise since 2017 but whose timing wasn’t right to play regularly in Italy. us
Minnesota’s free agency period ahead of the 2024 season was generally considered good. It’s good enough for a team looking to keep up the pace, but not as impressive as what other teams across the league have achieved. Swish Appeal ranked the Lynx eighth in free agency success. ESPN ranked him 9th in its preseason power rankings. “If everything comes together, the Lynx could make the playoffs again,” the story read.
Former Sparks coach Curt Miller, from Los Angeles, considered Minnesota dangerous. “This might not be noticeable on free-agent signing day, but they had an unbelievable offseason of signing free agents,” he said.
Midway through the season, with the Lynx’s playoff potential becoming more apparent to the outside world, Reeve decided one more step was still needed to fix their paint woes. Bringing in small post Myisha Hines-Allen from Washington.
With her previous championship roster, Reeve’s job was to bring in superstars and mold them into the right pieces. Her duties on the Olympic team for the 2024 season were the same. It’s about bringing in the best players in the world and creating the best team in the world. This often included asking players to minimize aspects of their game and make them smaller than they would be in any other basketball environment.
But in Minneapolis it was almost the exact opposite. Collier’s standout stars and career players with complementary pieces make this the best team in the league. Brunson said this is where Reeve’s ability to find the right culture fit is what stands out the most.
She was a part of all four of the Lynx’s WNBA titles and felt the unselfish nature of the locker room. She knew what the second practice felt like during a championship season, and when the 2024 roster (filled with question marks and new faces) took the floor, something felt familiar.
“There’s a feeling about whether the team is going to fall apart or not,” Brunson said. “As soon as this team got into training camp, I knew we had a chance to be special.”
.@minnesotalynx Coach Cheryl Reeve explains her mindset heading into Game 3 of the WNBA Finals.
“We know they have two games at home, but we are stuck in the first five minutes of Game 3. It will all depend on how we go about our business.” @FOX9 pic.twitter.com/JdPkUhW5i0
— Jeff Wald (@JeffWaldFox9) October 15, 2024
The road from Practice No. 2 to Game 3 of the WNBA Finals was a long one, and despite the twists and turns, it didn’t take quite as long of a runway as many expected. But now the Lynx are two wins away from getting back to a familiar place where the franchise once seemed to belong. Minnesota’s version was canonized in the rafters. Is this starting at 5 o’clock? Aside from Collier, it’s hard to say how many actually have a chance to join these five uniforms.
Over the next three days in Minnesota, current players – underrated signees and need-filling, unheralded Lynx players – will have the opportunity to achieve something few thought possible outside the locker room this year in the Twin Cities. Take down the super team.
“I personally think this is her best coaching year with all the championships,” Miller said of Reeve, who won the WNBA Coach of the Year Award and Executive of the Year Award this season. “I think she has done the best coaching job of her historic and award-winning career this year, blending a high basketball IQ team that plays with tremendous energy. But most importantly, we play the most unselfish basketball in our league. ”
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Minnesota Lynx, WNBA
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