Todd Barin

Web Editorial Associate

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It was media day inside of Mayo Clinic Square on Monday as all of the Lynx players and coaches, besides Seimone Augustus and Rebekkah Brunson who are playing overseas, posed for pictures and gave their thoughts on training camp and the upcoming season.

Here are some snippets of what each player and coach talked about:

Head Coach Cheryl Reeve:

It has been clear this training camp that defending their 2015 Title is their top priority, and according to coach Reeve, the third time needs to be the charm.

“We’ve had two cracks at it, unsuccessfully, I can tell you we learn something from every journey that we go through, particularly in those years,” Reeve said. “In those two seasons, you see the acquisitions that we made, in preparation for being able to manage things a little better. This is the year that we have got to get the miles down, because it is such a long summer.”

Fortunately for Reeve and the team, Lindsay Whalen opted to take the offseason to rest and not play overseas in order to give her body and mind a break.

“I think you’ll see it in Lindsay physically, there are words that I can put on it, and then there’s what you’ll see visibly that will tell you everything,” Reeve said. “It was incredibly unselfish of her to forgo hundreds of thousands of dollars to not play. She wants to be the best Lynx captain of a Championship team and she wants to be the best Olympian that she can be.

Another guard who is coming back healthy and refreshed is Renee Montgomery who adds to the team both on and off the court.

“She’s goofy, she’s good for the locker room and I think we’ve been good for her,” Reeve said. “When we’re between the lines, that goofiness gets turned off and your attention to detail gets turned up. Having both is important, it’s really important, and I told Renee that we don’t get to be WNBA Champions without her play for us.”

Renee Montgomery:

One of many players on the roster who is taking in her first Lynx training camp, Montgomery joined the team mid-season last year and was a crucial part in Minnesota’s run to their third Championship in five seasons.

“I’m excited just to experience the whole run,” Montgomery said. “Last year I came halfway through the season, when I was here in 2009, we didn’t win, so I’m excited just to be here from start to finish and experience what a Championship run can feel like if we win.”

Having been a part of the Championship last season, Montgomery has been relied on this training camp to mentor the younger and/or new players and to get them acclimated to play Lynx style basketball.

“We have a lot of young people and I think that they’ve really been receptive,” Montgomery said. “It’s overwhelming coming in and you’re young and you’re trying to make a team, and constructive criticism can kind of be hard to take, but I think they’ve all taken it really well.”

Maya Moore:

One player who is vital to Minnesota’s push for a second-straight Championship is guard/forward Maya Moore who is not taking this opportunity for granted.

“I think we have such a unique opportunity to have a third chance at trying to expand our history, so that’s an easy sense of urgency that will be added to the motivation that we have this year,” Moore said. “I think every year that we’ve played, we’ve been able to learn from our successes and our failures. We’re taking these past four, five, six seasons and taking everything we’ve learned and gained in order to make us better this year.”

One of many topics Moore touched on was the capability of being mentally strong in order to form a winning atmosphere.

“I think you have to have a good amount of discipline, meaning you have to do all of the little things so that you’re prepared to take all of this, you can’t just casually come into an environment like this, you have to come in having your mind ready, having your body ready, your emotions ready, you have to be willing to take that criticism, have to be willing to put in the extra work,” Moore said. “When you come in having an idea of what it takes to win, which several of us have now, it’s not as overwhelming, but it doesn’t make it easier.”

Despite being the top team in the league last season, the Lynx believe they have more to prove and think they’re putting themselves in a great position to do so.

“Having the people that we have around us every day, helps us maintain that level of excellence and that level of competitiveness because we truly enjoy it, so that’s one of the benefits of having great people around you as you’re trying to maintain that culture of excellence and history making,” Moore said.

Sylvia Fowles:

It’s not very often that a player wins the WNBA Finals MVP award after joining the winning team halfway through the season, but Fowles did that last year and is looking forward to taking everything in from the beginning.

“I came in last year and I was pretty much thrown into the pit, but just getting to the basics of how Coach Reeve and her staff want things and me just being comfortable with the offense,” Fowles said. “Just to think about the situation that I was in and I got it accomplished. It definitely will give you a sense of urgency to want to get back and get it done right.”

Training camp differs for every team, so the fact that Fowles gets to be a part of the Lynx for training camp heading into the season means more opportunity for success.

“Everybody comes out hard, Reeve does not take anybody slackin’ and lackin’, you’re not going to make the same mistake more than twice,” Fowles said.
We did our first scrimmage yesterday and I think within the first three minutes I turned the ball over three times and she pulled me out but that was the last time she had to talk to me the whole practice. It’s the little things like that, that she has to pay attention to and it makes you pay attention as a player. You just have to go out there and be mentally focused and get it done.”

Lindsay Whalen:

Coming off an unfortunate injury-plagued season, Whalen is back healthy and ready to lead the new faces to the franchise’s first back-to-back Championship.

“It’s something that we’re all aware of and thinking of and that’s why we put together the kind of practices and the kind of training camps that we do, because we want to keep working hard and keep searching for that,” Whalen said. “It’s tough, it hasn’t been done in a lot of years, so it’s a big challenge but I think when we’re all back here together it’s our focus and what we’re working towards.”

As mentioned before, Whalen chose to rest this offseason and not play overseas.

“I was kind of feeling all summer that I should probably take a break,” Whalen said. “I was just talking about it last night how I feel really good, I feel mentally fresh and really excited, not that I wasn’t excited before, but there’s a different feeling when you miss it for a whole offseason.”

Natasha Howard:

One of the newest members of the Lynx played against Minnesota in the finals last season with the Indiana Fever and is excited to play for the defending champions.

“It’s a great opportunity to play with the team I played against in the playoffs, I think it’s going to be a good opportunity for me this season and for the Lynx also and what we can accomplish this season,” Howard said.

A Championship atmosphere is something Howard is used to and the forward is thankful for the leadership and help the veterans have shown her since arriving.

“They take their time with the players, anything that you need it doesn’t matter if you’re good at anything, they want to make sure every detail not matter what,” Howard said. “It’s like a dream come true coming in and walking into the practice arena.”

Jia Perkins: 

“The team and players have welcomed me with open arms and training camp is going well. When you come in here it’s a Championship mentality from the start and we have a goal and we’ve said from the beginning that we want a Championship and that’s what we’re playing for. It’s fun to have that mentality coming in at the beginning of training camp.

I think Cheryl is keen on little things and attention to detail throughout the practices and we work on stuff that we need to work on, we’re not wasting our time doing things we don’t need to work on. She doesn’t want to waste our time and she doesn’t want us to waste hers. We have a great group of girls and we have awesome practice players, those guys are amazing, they challenge us and they’re really helpful.”

Bashaara Graves:

“I think just learning the way they play, especially going from college to professional, there are a lot of things that have changed, so trying to learn that and also learn the plays and learn the little things that go along with being a part of this team.

They’ve been great, anything that you need they got you, if you need help with the plays they’ll help you study, they’ll help you during practice with the plays. It’s been great, they are all kind, they’re generous and they’re All-Star players, they’re Olympians, so you can learn a lot from them just watching what and how they do things, the way they talk, the way they walk, they walk around like Champions and it’s great to be a part of.”